Where the axe will fall...

This with a bowler tip to Sir Herbert Beeching...

Eye's readers may be interested in the following savings agreed by my colleagues...

• A £309m reduction in the Department's specific grants to local authorities

• The Secretary of State is consulting the Mayor on a proposed £108m reduction in the Department’s grant to TfL, the same percentage reduction proposed across local government.

• Network Rail will reduce spend by £100m

• The Department is also making £112m savings in its direct expenditure.

• The Department will not be going forward in 2010-11 with planned spend on the HLOS rolling stock schemes that have not already been contractualised.

Wither IEP, Tram-Train and new fleets for London Midland & Thameslink?

Farewell Messrs Hall and Green, Stationers to the late Lord DafT Vader, and their Better Stations Programme?

Who knows?

One piece of good news.

Happily my First Division colleagues have confirmed that the entire £683m saving will no longer be achieved by simply cancelling Stuart Baker...

Don't poo-poo Looby Loo

This from Thomas Crapper...

Unveiling plans for a new 'bog standard loo' for train travellers, Chris Green said ancient, dirty and inadequate toilets that hark back to the Victorian age of steam must be ripped out.

He urged Britain's 2,500 stations to install a standardised national model that is clean, efficient and available to waiting passengers.

Clearly the so-called 'station tsar' is behind the times.


This three year old photo of the formal opening of the new toilets at Welwyn Garden City shows that the Government's rail manager of choice was well ahead of the times.

UPDATE: This from S N Barnes...

I do hope that the new equipment will come with the same clear instructions, here is an fine example from the urinals which graced the facility at Stirling Station.


Of course Crapper's patent actually refers to the U bend, which forms the airtight seal to stop the smell of the sewer from coming back up the pipe.

Could we perhaps see this as a retrofit to some of the more modern on-train 'facilities' that seem to suffer from this problem?

Ugly platform furniture - Dinsdale

Through a Pacer window darkly...


Down platform, Dinsdale.

Whilst this will shelter customers from vertical rain... comfy seat anyone?

Stations - Pay attention Adonis, Hall and Green!

News of the latest campaign on Facebook.

Carlisle station was recently 'done up' for a Homebase advert with wallpaper, hanging lights and a stripey footbridge.


Now a Facebook campaign has been started to Keep Carlisle train station like this!

As at 16:00 on Friday it had 5,310 members!

Perhaps not quite what Messrs Hall and Green, Stationers to Lord DafT Vader, had in mind?

Lord Adonis in PPM shocker

Lord Adonis has been much exercised over the accuracy of PPM recently.

Only last week Her Majesty's Daily Telegraph suggested he was keen to tighten up the measure used to calculate on time arrival, so as to make the figure a more accurate reflection of time in the real world.

Of course no such strictures apply to the Noble Lord himself.

Why only this morning the High Speed Evangelist kept a bevy of TOC MDs waiting 20 minutes before he finally arrived to open the Stations Summit.

Fortunately right time arrival was achieved, but only after career railwayman, Chris Green, had jettisoned the final section of his presentation.

Leadership by example - shome mishtake shurley.

UPDATE: This from Strawbricking...

Instead of seeking to re-define "On time", currently within 10 minutes (for InterCity TOCs, Ed) at the "Final Destination", would not Lord A's attention be better directed at looking at trains which are late during their journey but still arrive "On time" because of the slack built into the time-table?

And then there are the ways in which the figures are "massaged", such as:

• "stop-skipping" - leaving out stations on the way to claw back a delay (but not leaving a trace on the system as a cancelled train),
• "early termination" - stopping short and starting the return journey to claw back delay (again not leaving a trace as a cancelled train)
• or cancelling a severely delayed train - thereby wiping out the delay minutes.

UPDATE: This from AMonkster via Twitter...

Trains that 'skip stops' or are cancelled entirely/midway already fail PPM, they're not 'massaged' out

To make PPM train must serve all booked stations and arrive at destination within 5 minutes (or 10 for Long Distance).

PPM is at least an improvement on Charter!

Royal visit to Workington North at speed

Forget London to Brighton in two minutes!

Here, courtesy of Network Rail, is the building of the emergency station at Workington North in just one minute and 43 seconds.

Apparently you can also see the visit of our future Sovereign at around the 49th second.



A very good effort!

And Eye congratulates all involved.

But can it be long before Messrs Hall and Green complain about the lack of a coffee shop?

Guido claims Pilgrimage of Pork

Telegrammed by Lobby Fodder
So Guido's not convinced about yesterday's Pilgrimage of Grice, detecting the sulpherous whiff of Porkbarrel politics.

This interesting list from Guido's blog:

• Manchester Victoria – Tony Lloyd LAB
• Clapham Junction – Martin Linton LAB
• Barking – Margaret Hodge LAB
• Warrington Bank Quay – Helen Southworth LAB
• Preston – Mark Hendrick LAB
• Wigan North Western – Neil Turner LAB
• Luton - Margaret Moran LAB
• Liverpool Central – Louise Ellman LAB
• Stockport – Ann Coffey LAB
• Crewe – Edward Timpson CON

Of course yesterday's jolly round the network had little to do with the top ten worst stations and rather more to do with what could be reached in a day's travel from London.

Which may explain why five of the 10 "worst" stations the Noble Lord visited actually belong to Virgin.

As the total number of Beardie Rail run stations is just 17 this means that roughly one third of them are substandard. Perhaps more deserving of a bollocking than a bung?

To be fair none of the stations selected were truly representative of Britain's worst.

Aides to the Noble Lord were seen imploring various strange deities to open the heavens as the media pack descended on Manchester Victoria - as apart from a leaky roof the station is more down at heel than truly grotty.

Meanwhile the magical figure of £50m to tart up the ten stations is already in question.

In his blog Adonis claimed the money would come from Network Rail, a suggestion that was quickly denied by the infrastructure controller.

So yesterday was a triumph of spin over substance (again). Eye salutes all involved.

UPDATE: This just in from Secret Squirrel...

I hear Stockport was added at the very last minute at the insistence of the Noble Lord.

Interesting to see whether, when HS2 reports, the route it proposes will scythe through Tory constituencies in the Chilterns (without stopping of course)...

Adonis blogs on latest Pilgrimage of Grice

Lord Adonis is blogging as he inspects shabby stations.

Updates are being posted here.

Whilst not quite up to the standard of Tom Harris MP or the twitterings of Sadiq Khan it's a noble effort (geddit!).

Number crunching - Ministerial cars and station investment

Amount to be spent by the Government "in the near future"on the 10 worst stations identified by the Stationers to Lord DafT Vader - £50 million.

Amount spent by Ministers in the last four years on ministerial cars and chauffeurs: £24 million.

Lord Adonis embarks on mini Pilgrimage of Grice

Lord Adonis is indeed a wag.

The Secretary of State is racing round the country, escorted by Captain Deltic no less, to highlight the 10 worst stations on the network - as identified by Messrs Hall & Green, official Stationers to Lord DafT Vader.

To celebrate this mini Pilgrimage of Grice the DafT website has some words, apparently crafted by the Noble Lord himself:

And yes, I am travelling around on another national Rover ticket to minimise the cost. I confess that this time it is First Class – at a cost of £650 for seven days – because it also had to get me to and from York on Saturday for the first day of the new nationalised East Coast service and it also needs to get me to and from the regional Cabinet meeting in Nottingham on Friday (with official papers intact.)

So not as good value as my last Standard Class Rover (then £375) – but not bad for a week of unlimited First Class travel across the rail network.

Last time I publicised these Rover tickets, the train companies put up the price immediately, so buy yours now to avoid disappointment.

Nice, with an appropriate dig at ATOC.

Speaking of which do we know whether ATOC's "1.1% average increase in rail fares" includes a further hike in the price of the All Line Rover?

UPDATE: This from Scotch Corner...

Interesting the number of Virgin West Coast stations in the top ten worst list (Crewe, Stockport, Preston, Wigan North Western & Warrington Bank Quay).

Especially as we could all mention worse ones.

But who authored the report?

Step forward Chris Green, former Chief Executive of errr... Virgin Trains!

UPDATE: The report by the Stationers to Lord DafT Vader can be downloaded here.

And the Government's response here.

UPDATE: This from Globetrotter..

I note that media reports about the worst stations emphasise the fact that none are in Scotland, where steps had apparently been taken to invest in station modernisation over many years.

Those of us with long memories may remember who started the ball rolling by installing Terazzo flooring at Inverness some 25 years ago ... a certain C**** G**** if I recall correctly...

Eye suspects that the silence on the state of Jockanese stations has more to do with transport North of the border being devolved to the Scottish Executive.

UPDATE: This from @swlines via Twitter...

RE: Price increases to the All Line Rover:

ATOC supposedly not releasing NFM 05 data until 30th Nov on FRPP/The Manual so we'll find out then!

NR survey - money for old rope

Exciting news from Network Rail!

Network Rail today launched the first ever piece of passenger research targeting stations, as it unveiled its plans to improve thousands of stations across the country in a five year, £3.25bn, programme of investment.

As we know from Coachgate the infrastructure company is keen to save money.

So rather than have NR spend all that lolly on a survey, Eye has the answers to what passengers want from stations here - for free!

Trains. On time. With enough seats. End of.

A case for Hall and Green!

Telegrammed by The Master
Plymouth may be home to the Royal Navy, but the Spar shop on the railway station certainly isn't home to any wine buffs.

As the chiller cabinet contains bottles of Merlot - a red wine!

Perhaps Lord DafT Vader will ask his 'stationers' to demand that Network Rail address this epicurean faux pas (once they've taken direct control of the station)?

Stationers to Lord Daft Vader offered a role

More common sense from Tom Harris MP:

"Will the new Stations Champion be responsible for defending the legitimate rights of trainspotters? There is a serious civil rights issue here, with station staff obstructing rail enthusiasts in their activities which, at worst, are harmless and which, at best, provide extra security at some stations."

When the Old Bill have finished with all the hoons we can but hope that there will be a vacancy in your old department...

Buy paint shares NOW!

Who would be a train operator on today's railway.

Obviously the "thinly capitalised equity profiteers of the worst kind" cannot now even be trusted to run their own stations without some apparatchik of the state sticking their oar in.

Comrade the Lord Adonis today unveiled his latest big idea - "Station Czars".

“I have asked Sir Peter Hall and Chris Green to look at how we can get the basics right as well as to consider the broader role of stations in the future” said Adonis.

Sir Peter Hall is currently the 76 year old President of the Town and Country Planning Association, whilst Chris Green, 65, is a non Executive Director of Network Rail.

How clever of this tired administration to select two men so obviously at the cutting edge of twenty first century retail and facilities management thinking.

No matter.

Messrs Hall & Green, Stationers by appointment to Lord DafT Vader, has a certain ring to it!

On the up-side, shares in Dulux have rocketed on the expectation of an immanent return to the Red Lamp-post Railway.

UPDATE: This just in from Ithuriel...

Given that Adonis described British Rail in the Guardian as "a national joke in terms of quality and reliability" one wonders what is the point of inviting an old-BR retread like Chris Green to be his station czar.

Surely he should appoint some thrusting dynamic new-railway-man, in touch with today's demanding rail travellers like, err... Richard Bowker or Brian Souter or Moir Lockhead or, why not Sir customer focus himself, Richard 'Beardie' Branson?

Odd that when Adonis is in a hole he turns to someone who ran not one, but two "national jokes".

"Railways, like any other industry, have got to modernise." Adonis told the Guardian.

So that's back to the future then!