Hammond back!

This from @Number10gov...

PM appoints Stephen Hammond as Parliamentary Under Secretary at Department for Transport.

Finally!

Rail brief please.

Captain Deltic's bonus bashing quiz

Captain Deltic asks "Who said this and when?"...

But Network Rail's remuneration committee still allowed substantial bonuses this year despite a formal letter warning that performance had been mixed. All the regulator could do was to say that he was "surprised and disappointed".

Under a Conservative Government, if the regulator is disappointed, the senior management will feel it. We will give the regulator the power to inflict real financial pain on Network Rail via the confiscation of reduction of bonuses in cases of serious under-performance.

At present, Network Rail's senior management is theoretically accountable to "members" who are supposed to function like the shareholders of a public limited company. In reality they do no such thing. The senior management can get away with scooping the bonus pool because an amorphous grouping of 100 members, the appointment of which can be vetoed by the very management team they are supposed to scrutinise, simply aren't strong enough to stop them.

So a further measure a Conservative Government would adopt to give Network Rail much stronger incentives to respond to their customers is reform of the company's governance.

We will streamline and shrink the membership to turn it into a supervisory board. We will ensure that members will be appointed independently of Network Rail's management.

And we will make sure we have people on it who will provide a strong voice for passengers and for train and freight operators, in setting the overall direction of the company and holding its management to account.

And, in addition, we will inject more contestability into areas of Network Rail's remit. At present, the company has an almost complete monopoly over publicly funded rail improvements.

Clue: It's not just promises that get broken.

UPDATE: This from The Archer...

I’m feeling pedantic so I’ll point out that no promises were broken as we don’t have a Conservative Government.

As I'm sure members of the 1922 Committee will be only too pleased to confirm...

Villiers vignettes... there may be troubles ahead...

Has the Saviour of the Jammy Dodger turned against Rail Barbie?

This from a House of Commons debate on the 15th September 2010:

Theresa Villiers (Minister of State (Rail and Aviation), Transport; Chipping Barnet, Conservative): That franchise experienced significant disruption between October 2009 and January of this year. That was largely caused by industrial action, and Thameslink services were the worst affected. However, there were also problems on the Great Northern line, which serves Enfield.

It was particularly regrettable that action by drivers meant that no trains ran on Remembrance Sunday last year on the suburban Great Northern line services.

I am relieved that the problems that led to that disruption have gone away for the moment, and that First Capital Connect's overall public performance measure has recovered to reach the levels prevailing prior to that episode.

Eye thinks we should be told.

Villiers vignettes... on the benefits of privatisation

Telegrammed by Our Man at 222 Marylebone Road
That Bourbon moment...

Theresa Villiers: on 22 July. "The hon. Gentleman's views on the railways are well known, although I am afraid that I do not share them. It would have been impossible for there to have been the significant growth in passenger numbers that we have seen since privatisation without the benefits that private sector innovation and enterprise have brought. Reversing things and renationalising the *railways* would be a retrograde step."

Oh bliss, John Major lives!! Talk dirty to us, Theresa

But why did you miss out 'entrepreneurial flair'.

And where was the obligatory side swipe at 'deeply inefficient British Rail'?

The key to good retro lies in the detail. So, sadly, only 7 out of 10.

But thanks for trying.

UPDATE: This from Leo Pink...

Surely the bulk of the growth came after the Strategic Rail Authority was subsumed into DfT and the state took control of timetabling, rolling stock policy, franchise service specification.

UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic...

Isn't "rolling stock policy" an oxymoron?

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

So how does Theresa explain the growth on state owned London Underground over the same period which was equal to, if not greater than, that experienced on the privatised BR network?

The new improved DfT at a glance!

Philip Hammond's exciting and vibrant new team as below...

Theresa Villiers MP has been appointed Minister of State. Theresa Villiers is MP for Chipping Barnet.

Norman Baker MP has been appointed Parliamentary under Secretary. Norman Baker is MP for Lewes.

Mike Penning MP has been appointed Parliamentary under Secretary. Mike Penning is MP for Hemel Hempstead.

Errr... that's it.

Eye welcomes The Scrawny Controller

So welcome Philip Hammond, MP for Runnymede and Weybridge and now Secretary of State for Transport.


Eye salutes Tory uber-blogger Iain Dale for suggesting Hammond's appointment at 08:25 this morning!

No matter.

Biog below with a bowler tip to the Industry Forum:

Philip Hammond has been a Member of Parliament representing Runnymede and Weybridge since 1997. He previously fought a parliamentary by-election in Newham North-East in 1994. Philip was Secretary of the Conservative Party Health Committee and has also served as a member of the Select Committee for Environment, Transport and the Regions and the Trade & Industry Select Committee.

In June 1998, Philip was appointed to the Opposition Front Bench as Shadow Minister for Health. In September 2001, he was appointed Shadow Trade & Industry Minister with the additional role of Shadow Minister for Small Business.

From 2002 to 2005, he was Shadow Minister for Local Government. In this role Philip was responsible for developing Conservative Party policy on local government finance (including council tax), the Fire and Rescue Service and traveller management.

In May 2005, he became the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. From December 2005 until July 2007, Philip served as the Shadow Secretary of State for Work & Pensions, when he was re-appointed Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

And one piece of good news.

Today's egalitarian Conservative party couldn't have selected a better man to tackle the thorny issue of Network Rail governance.

With a personal fortune estimated at £9m Hammond will clearly not feel too inferior at his first meeting with NR's bonus encrusted directors.

UPDATE: This from Fareham Philip...

Although representing Weybridge, Philip Hammond did not want to travel up to Westminster on his local SWT Class 450 every day as his constituents have to.

So he bought a second house in London and charged the taxpayers over £100,000 (as reported in Telegraph) for paying his mortgage and running it.

Perhaps a daily 2nd Class commute on the 3+2 seating of a 450 will enlighten him a lot more as to the problems of the railway industry.

Rolling stock strategy is heading for a fall

It's late.

The Department for Transport originally promised it in Autumn.

It now admits it will be published at the 'end of the year'.

Shadow Transport Minister Stephen Hammond is unconvinced.

At a conference in Manchester today he said he expected it to emerge in March next year!

Hammond is clearly realistic about his future Department's ability to deliver.

Contempt of Parliament?

A letter from Shadow Transport Minister, Stephen Hammond to Speaker Bercow:

Dear Mr Speaker,

I write to protest about the discourtesy shown to the House today by the Secretary of State for Transport.

This morning, merely two days after the House rose for the summer recess, Lord Adonis made a major announcement on the UK national rail network – with significant implications for public spending. The announcement to electrify the main rail route between London and Swansea was made on the morning BBC broadcast.

Today’s announcement was trailed by the Government back on 29 June. On that day the Prime Minister launched a document entitled Building Britain’s Future, which included a reference to plans for a major electrification programme. It is clear therefore that the plans were in place long before the House rose and could have easily been made to Parliament. Indeed, it seems that the only reason for making the announcement today is that it coincides with a Cabinet meeting in Cardiff.

Today’s events are in blatant disregard of your, and the previous Speaker’s, instructions to Ministers to make announcements to Parliament first.

This is regrettably the second time this has happened this month. On 1 July Lord Adonis announced the nationalisation of the National Express East Coast rail franchise not to Parliament but, again, on BBC Radio.

Ministers persistently disregard your instructions to respect the protocols of Parliament, and I would be grateful for your advice as to what can be done to ensure that Ministers respect your wishes.

Yours ever,
Stephen Hammond

The Fact Compiler doesn't want to be overly pedantic but actually The Times had the announcement first, on Wednesday night.

UPDATE: This from the Velopodist...

One is moved by the concern of both the Fact Compiler and Stephen Hammond for democracy, but not sure they have their facts straight.

It's true that the government intended to announce the electrification programme this week and that it's unfortunate it ended up being after parliament went into recess.

But the idea the DfT was sitting on the announcement for days ahead of time just doesn't fit with the facts.

There's every sign that there was desperate horse-trading going on between the DfT and Treasury up until certainly Tuesday and possibly Wednesday as they tried to work out what precisely was going to happen.

This is why the most responsible national newspaper reporters held off writing about the speculation for several days - it was clear the exact shape of the scheme wasn't decided.

The Fact Compiler himself made one erroneous posting saying nothing would go into Wales and a Guardian story on Wednesday missed out both the Liverpool to Manchester element and Cardiff-Swansea.

At the point national newspaper reporters were briefed on Wednesday afternoon, Network Rail was still in the dark about some minor details such as whether the Midland main line was included.

As for the Times having the announcement first on Wednesday, the national newspapers were all briefed at the same time on Wednesday, on condition the information was embargoed until 00:01 on Thursday.

Certain newspapers protested the embargo should be dropped on the grounds there had been speculative stories elsewhere but were told it was still in force.

Some of them seem to have decided to break it all the same.

UPDATE: This from Fat Mark...

The Gruaniad actually had the story Wednesday morning!

And Radio 4's You and Yours led with the same at lunchtime.

When silence really is golden

This piece of grandstanding tosh from the Tories:

Commenting on the news that the Government has ruled out an inquiry into the Potters Bar and Grayrigg rail crashes, Shadow Transport Secretary, Theresa Villiers, said:

“This is a real blow for the families of those who died in these terrible crashes. It is unacceptable for the Government to have left those campaigning tirelessly for a Potters Bar inquiry hanging on for seven years. The delay has only served to increase the distress to those who were injured or lost loved ones as a result of the crash."

Hmmm.

One of the reasons that organisations like the RMT, and others, have called for a public inquiry rather than an inquest is to see what role privatisation played in these two major accidents.

That would of course be the same privatisation carried out by the "back to basics" adulterer John Major in the dying days of the last Tory govenment.

The same privatisation that destroyed an integrated railway on dogmatic grounds and added billions to its annual operating costs.

A privatisation that even Chris Grayling, the former Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, had to conceed was a 'mistake'.

Perhaps best to butt out of this one Theresa.

Peter - we need you!

The Fact Compiler has an apology to make. He has in the past accused DafT of being clueless. He accepts that this is not true.

They are in fact completely clueless.

Railway Eye readers may recollect an amusing Parliamentary exchange on the 19th June when Tom Harris 'fessed-up that his civil servants have no idea how much rolling stock there is on the network and are reliant upon a Roger Ford crib.

Now of course this could not possibly be true because in January of this year DafT published a Rolling Stock Plan which said where new trains should go. So they must know where the existing trains are.

To help clear the matter up Shadow Transport Minister Stephen Hammond MP tabled a further question along the same lines asking the Secretary of State "on what date her Department ceased to hold and collate this information?"

Yesterday Tom Harris gave the written answer: "I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 19 June. This information has never been routinely collected in the Department."

The Fact Compiler hopes that the MoD doesn't allocate new rifles on the same basis that DafT allocates new trains.

Meanwhile an urgent message to Peter Fox: A case of your finest "Platform 5 Combi" spotter books to Marsham Street please!

Clueless!

Rail Minister Tom Harris had a difficult end to his week on Friday when there was quite a media brouhaha over his blog question demanding why Britons are "so bloody miserable".

The Fact Compiler fears that he must add to his woes by drawing attention to an extraordinary written reply he gave last Thursday to a Parliamentary question on rolling stock.

Railway Eye readers will recollect the hoots of derision that greeted DafT's Rolling Stock Plan (RSP), published on the 30th January this year.

In this fantabulous document DafT identified the need for an additional 1,300 vehicles for the network and even presumed to guess where these should be allocated (the three vehicles the RSP assigned to East Midlands Trains prompted a senior executive's exasperated response that he hoped they wouldn't all arrive at once!).

Despite considerable concerns within the industry about the paucity of the RSP there was at least a belief that the decisions it contained were based on a degree of knowledge about current rolling stock allocation.

Alas - this is not the case!

Last Thursday DafT released an answer from Tom Harris to the following question from his Tory Shadow:

Stephen Hammond (Shadow Minister, Transport; Wimbledon, Conservative): To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) locomotives, (b) multiple units, (c) freight wagons and (d)carriages were in use on the rail network in the most recent period for which figures are available, broken down by (i) train operating company and (ii) class.

Tom Harris (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Glasgow South, Labour): This information is not held by the Department for Transport, but is widely available in the specialist press.

Frankly this is an extraordinary admission and must call into question the whole basis upon which the Department for Transport has drawn up its Rolling Stock Plan.

The Fact Compiler was so shocked by this admission that he sought clarification from wiser heads,

It emerges that at a media briefing with Tom Harris in May the Minister was told that his Department officials were reliant on an Informed Sources table from Modern Railways as their rolling stock crib!

"Is this true?" demanded the Minister. "Yes Minister" replied the Minister's minder.

So at least it is now official - the Department for Transport really hasn't got a clue what is going on.

David Davis resigns

***David Davis is standing down from both Shadow Cabinet and Parliament to trigger a by-election on the ticket of setting the people free from this overweening Government.***

The Fact Compiler wishes him all the best and hopes that the resultant reshuffle will see a Shadow Transport Secretary of the stature of Chris Grayling rather than the one we now have, whose name eludes me...