Hitachi continues to fight for the IEP

Whilst Tony Mercado (the new Stuart Baker?) and team are busy playing The Fat Controller with Pendolini what news of the IEP?

Clearly DfT Rail's sudden enthusiasm for Alstom's finest has nothing to do with the near universal view that the IEP is dead in the water. Although Captain Deltic's waggish suggestion that the acronym now stands for 'Intercity Eastcoast Pendolino' may yet be officially adopted by Marsham Street, allowing some small degree of face saving in the Minster House bunker.

No matter

With DfT washing its hands of the IEP, now known as the Super Express, it now falls to Hitachi to keep the embers of the doomed project glowing.

Over the last few days there has been a flurry of desperate stories appearing in regional media promising jam tomorrow to local economies should an order for the trains ever be placed.

This from the Daily Post today...

NORTH Wales is on the short list for the site of a manufacturing plant for a new generation of ‘super express’ trains.

About 1,000 jobs could be created if Japanese firm Hitachi finally decides to build carriages for the trains on Deeside...

A spokesperson for Hitachi Europe confirmed that up to 200 people could be involved in the construction of the new plant and Deeside was among sites under consideration.

Whilst this appeared on the BBC Wear website on Monday...

County Durham 'first choice' for super trains

About 1,000 jobs could be created in County Durham if Japanese firm Hitachi decides to build carriages for "super express" trains in the area.

The firm said Newton Aycliffe was the "first choice". Another site in North Wales has also been short-listed.

A spokesperson for Hitachi said up to 200 people would be involved in the construction of the new plant.

A further 800 would be employed in manufacturing the trains - which could begin in 2013.

Presumably Hitachi is working on the basis that if you repeat something often enough it might actually happen?

You can't blame them for trying.

UPDATE: This from Kendo Nagasaki...

Hitachi have failed to explain a key change to their Red Castle project which aims to set up a UK manufacturing unit.

Emulating Chairman Mao's policy of a steel furnace in every village Hitachi will now have lots of factories.

Clearly this policy is simplified if the new locations can offer a pool of management with existing railway experience.

Priority sites include Iainland in Scotland and Adrian Shooter's country estate, which has the added advantage of a rail test track already in place (subject to re-gauging)...

IEP resurrected - Shocker

Telegrammed by Sir Humphrey Beeching
Although retired I still receive all the Departmental bumpf, including updated pages for the DfT officers handbook.

One replacement page in the post today foxed me, but my sharp eyed lady wife spotted the change

In the section on abbreviations and acronyms (there is a difference, you know), all the initials were the same, but IEP now stands for Intercity Extension Project now defined as 'Further life extension of IC125 high speed diesel trains, with re-engineering and reliability upgrades to 2025 or 2035'.

I look forward to seeing what my erstwhile colleagues will make of the SOFA (currently Statement of Funds Available) following October's Comprehensive Spending Review.

Ding dong the train is dead!

***Foster review of IEP expected 07:00 Tuesday morning***

More tomorrow...

UPDATE: This from Reuters...

A decision on whether to proceed with a programme to replace the Intercity Express trains will be taken alongside a wider review of government spending in October, the Department for Transport (DfT) said.

No shit Sherlock.

UPDATE: Foster report here...

And just a flavour to wet your appetite:

The Department for Transport’s strategic positions have appeared to some in the industry as susceptible to change and unpredictable. Questions are asked about the coherence of IEP, extended electrification, high speed rail and overall strategy.

The real issue here, I believe, is that there has been insufficient communication between the Department and the industry, including communication about IEP, and this has opened the way for significant negativity to develop. This is a key area for attention and further improvement.

This problem, particularly with IEP, appears to have been amplified by DfT’s procurement approach, which has placed heavy emphasis on commercial confidentiality and thus relied on independent advisers and consultants rather than industry expertise. This has engendered a sense of disengagement and disenchantment which I believe could and should largely have been avoided. I also ask a number of questions about arrangements for managing the costs and coherence of independent advice within the Department.

Smooth words fail to mask damning conclusions.

UPDATE: This from the Shunter...

Erm, so the review concludes by suggesting a further review?

I propose that Captain Deltic should be remitted to do it, but by Friday lunchtime, if he needs that long...

UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic...

Whilst Sir Andrew has taken a notably gentle tone, I found this variant of the motorist seeking directions in Ireland, diverting.

"I must record here that if I had a reasonably blank sheet of paper I would not manage the programme like this"

As for the suggestion made by The Shunter - please accept my apologies, but owing to pressures of work the earliest I could do this is next Wednesday.

UPDATE: This from the Torygraph...

The announcement by Mr Hammond could also jeopardise as many as 12,500 jobs which the previous Government said would have been created or safeguarded by the project.

Indeed - in Japan.

UPDATE: This from @sharpsharp, via Twitter...

From p22:

Depending on the exact mixture of newly acquired, re-engineered and cascaded rolling stock, and the technical approach to the provision of services beyond the present electrified network, it seems likely that more than half of the benefit on the East Coast route, and probably around three quarters of it on the Great Western routes, could be captured for between 40% and 60% of the cost.

Eye congratulates the Department for Transport on its masterful understanding of Value for Money procurement.

Foster report on IEP set to music - Shocker

Telegrammed by our Cultural Correspondent
Cultural icons abounded in Marsham Street last evening as Lord Andrew Lloyd Weber's Really Useful Company sought to gain publicity from the delivery of Sir Andrew Foster's report on the value for money of the Intercity Express Programme.

As he arrived Sir Andrew (Foster that is) was swept up in a parade of Dorothys and Munchkins from the Wizard of Oz singing 'Ding dong, the train is dead, which old train, the Zombie train, Ding dong the Zombie train is dead'.

They were followed by the cast of Starlight Express with Speedy the revitalised diesel train pushing Origami the incredible paper train into a symbolic shredder.

Finally the cast of Joseph serenaded Sir Andrew into DfT's Marsham Street Offices with a chorus of 'Any dream will do (so long as it's value for money and credible)'.

Then, like some insubstantial pageant faded. Left not a jot behind.

UPDATE: This, implausibly, from motoring guru Jezza Clarkson...

'Oi! Compiler, get your facts straight. Weber make carburettors, including the twin-choke downdraught 38 DGAs fitted to the iconic Essex engine.

The music bloke is Webber.

UPDATE: This, remarkably, from Herr Carl Maria von Weber...

I think you must have your composers confused.

But if you would like a comic opera on the subject of the IEP I would be happy to oblige.

UPDATE: This, even more remarkably, from Sir W.S Gilbert...

I say, what a cracking idea for the next Savoy Opera.

We could have a magic potion which drives civil servants into increasingly bizarre specifications for new trains.

UPDATE: This, from a somewhat tetchy, Sir Arthur Sullivan...

I've told you again and again, Gilbert NO MORE MAGIC POTIONS'

Right. Enough. No more dead composers please. Ed

"Will this waste of our money never stop?" - Telegraph

Telegrammed by our man at 222 Marylebone Road
Here is Philip Johnston writing in today's Torygraph:

All the familiar ingredients are there: the waste of taxpayers' money on an ocean-going scale, incompetent management, political naivete, wildly over-optimistic promises, IT failures, the liberal use of outside consultants and the refusal of anyone in Whitehall to listen to the experts.

Eye was looking forward to some weapon's grade pyrotechnics once Captain Deltic found out that this Johnston-Come-Lately had wandered on to his patch!

Alas.

Mr Johnston was fulminating about proposals to set up a network of national fire control centres, which in 2004 this was due to cost £72m and be ready by 2008. Now the final bill looks closer to being £240m.

Wonder if he knows about the IEP yet?

NR Western to go it alone on HST replacement?

Telegrammed by Sir William Pollitt
Good to see that NR's Swindon press office is still convinced that the Western can do its own thing.

Or so it would appear from this NR press release issued today:

The Great Western RUS - published by Network Rail - confirms an industry consensus that there is a compelling case for the railway to grow further by the end of the decade, enhancing the benefits from the capacity-boosting electrification scheme and new trains.

New trains?

Did NR miss Friday's announcement that the IEP is now unaffordable?

Perhaps the Great Western zone has secret plans to procure its own Hydraulic fleet to replace the HSTs?

UPDATE: This from The Archer, obviously in pedantic mode...

Given that today is the 1st of March, how are NR going to take delivery of said new trains by the end of the decade, which is of course just 10 months away?

Should they not have waited until the 1st of April to issue such a foolish press release?

UPDATE: This, surprisingly, from Christian Dior...

It's yet another example of people confusing trains, locos, units, coaches, vehicles etc.

It should have read 'new locomotives'.

These would be marshalled in place of an IC125 power car with a Driving Car at the other end.

As we fashionistas say Electric loco hauled Mk3s are the new IEP - how else can we continue to enjoy that divine ride.

Mwah, mwah!

IEP announcement delayed until after election?

This from @cbuchanancubed, via Twitter...

delays on HST replacement announced till after general election

More to follow...

UPDATE: This from PA...

Plans to replace the ageing fleet of intercity trains have been postponed, Transport Secretary Lord Adonis announced.

He said the multi-billion pound, 30-year intercity express procurement programme had run into difficulties.

No shit Sherlock!

UPDATE: This morning's DfT statement in full...

In order to replace Britain's ageing fleet of Intercity 125 Trains and to invest in capacity and passenger journey improvements on the East Coast and Great Western Main Lines, the Government began the Intercity Express Programme procurement in 2007. The Programme's key objective has been to achieve value for money across the lifetime of the trains, taking account of costs right across the rail industry.

Good progress has been made, including the announcement of Agility Trains as preferred bidder in February 2009. Over the course of the procurement, however, there has been a reduction in the capacity of the debt market to support the transaction as originally envisaged, and passenger growth has also slowed. In addition the Government and Network Rail have committed to electrify the Great Western Main Line from 2016. The Government has identified appropriate adjustments to the original programme to take account of these developments. This has inevitably extended the contractual negotiations, which are not yet complete and would not be so until mid-March at the earliest.

The negotiations are for a contract of nearly 30 years, a multi-billion pound spend over the course of many Parliaments. In all the circumstances, the Government does not believe it would be appropriate to enter into this particular contract in the immediate run up to a general election. To ensure that a decision is taken at the beginning of the next Parliament on the basis of the fullest evaluation, I have today asked Sir Andrew Foster, former controller of the Audit Commission, to provide an independent assessment of the value for money of the Programme and the credibility and the value for money of any alternatives which meet the Programme's objectives. It is critical for rail passengers that the right long-term decision is made about the next generation of inter-city trains, which will have a life of 30 years or more.

The existing rolling stock dates back to the 1970s and needs to be replaced. If Sir Andrew Foster reaffirms that the Intercity Express Programme is better than the alternatives, my intention would be to proceed with the project in the next Parliament, subject to satisfactory resolution of all the contractual issues.

Sir Andrew Foster will consult Agility Trains, the Department, the relevant Train Operating Companies, the Office of Rail Regulation, Network Rail, passenger groups and the devolved Scottish and Welsh administrations.

Sir Andrew Foster will report within three months. The report and the Government's response will be published and reported to Parliament.

Andrew Adonis, Transport Secretary

UPDATE:This from Sir Humphrey Beeching...

The appointment of Sir Andrew Foster to consider value for money suggests a classic attempt to head off expensive post cancellation claims for compensation.

UPDATE: This from Reginald Slicker...

Can I be the first to congratulate the Department for standing up to the train builders and the banks over IEP.

If the train builders can't even meet DfT's quite modest targets for lighter weight trains in the IEP specification, by which I mean the 'essential' maximum weight, not the wholly reasonable 'desirable' aspiration, and the banks are unwilling to fund the project then a pause for re-consideration is richly justified.

I must congratulate Lord Adonis on this wise decision which is a rebuff to those critics of DfT's new train procurement activities.

Yours etc.

R. Slicker

UPDATE: This just in from Captain Deltic...

According to this morning's statement from Lord Adonis: "The existing rolling stock dates back to the 1970s and needs to be replaced".

As an Informed Sources Extra in the March Modern Railways points out, life extension of IC125 to 2025 and beyond is the best value for money way forward.

The March Modern Railways goes on sale today priced at a very reasonab... (Eye reserves the right to shorten reader comments due to pressures of space. Ed)

Shortest lived train fleet in history to be announced tomorrow?

Exciting IEP news.

Eye understands that Gordon Brown, Lord Adonis and (by pure co-incidence) the president of Hitachi are all in Durham tomorrow.

Could this herald a purdah-beating, pre-election announcement on IEPs for the East Coast franchise?

Shame the Tory's are likely to cancel the project just weeks after the election.

UPDATE: This nonchalant observation from Captain Deltic...

Might I point out that subscribers to the electronic version of RAIL BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE will already know that tomorrow's Anglo Japanese conclave at Durham will announce that commercial close has been reached on the InterCity Express Programme.

RBI readers will also have read details of the planned initial deployment on the East Coast Main Line, plus a note on the evolving design of the train which seems to have put on weight over the last year.

What a coup to mark the 15th anniversary of the Orange Peril which emerged blinking into the daylight on my Birthday in 1995.

Although a doff of the chapeau to the inimitable Eye for being first with the news of the announcement.

UPDATE: This from Ithuriel....

Commercial close means only that DfT and Agility Trains have agreed what is to be supplied and at how much.

Does the Orange Oxymoron say when financial close is expected?

That's when the real money is likely to change hands... or not!

IEP lobbying explained

This just in from Jumbo...

Overheard on the Derby train: A man telling his travelling companions that he is shortly to meet Captain Deltic and convince him that the bi-mode extravaganza will save the world.

Shome mishtake shurely?

UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic...

How intriguing.

I am indeed going to Ashford Depot tomorrow on a technical visit to find out how the Hitachi Class 395 fleet and the Class 465 re-powering is going and an SET update has been promised over a working lunch.

If Jumbo will provide details of the train I will ask which of those present was on it and actually admitting to talking to me.

They must be coming up to retirement.

UPDATE: Jumbo responds...

I thought that the IEP only had one supporter.

UPDATE: More from Captain Deltic...

Having fallen off his chair laughing the Captain gets his breath back and points out that Jumbo is being very naughty.

So which train from Euston to Rugby was it?

UPDATE: This from our International Correspondent...

What perfect symmetry.

Uncloaking industry secrets by ear-wigging over-talkative and indiscreet rolling stock engineers in the First Class end of anything leaving Derby was an intelligence gathering technique pioneered in the early 80s by one Captain Deltic, in between bouts of car-park watching (a practice now known more colloquially as 'Dogging').

Of course he was just a junior subaltern in those days.

UPDATE: Captain Deltic reminisces...

It was on a train to Derby that a foursome of Department of Transport civil servants were talking about closing the WCML north of Preston.

They didn't seem to notice that I was taking notes.

A minor stir, denials and a witch hunt ensued following publication.

Odd that while DfT is daft, we never referred to DoT as dotty.

It must have been the age of deference. Or perhaps in those dim and distant days the civil service had higher standards of competence.

UPDATE: Further cryptic details from Jumbo...

Definitely a train to Derby, well Sheffield to be strictly correct.

And a clue, it was not the noble Lord but another recently ennobled person, well gonged actually...

Reports of IEP demise much exaggerated?

Telegrammed by The Master
The Cassandra's of the railway are ever keen to predict the demise of the IEP (too bloody right. Ed).

However,if rumours circulating around the industry are to be believed, the project may have legs yet.

For no sooner had nationalised East Coast lost one IEP Project Director to Nexus than they immediately appointed another one!

Apparently it will be no less a figure than John Veitch, whose previous role was introducing another troublesome fleet - Virgin's Pendolini.

A welcome return to the industry for John, who starts at the state owned operator tomorrow.

Meanwhile Eye wonders who is picking up the tab for the post - East Coast or DfT?

Nexus drives another nail into the IEP coffin

Eye hears that DB Regio has managed to coax Richard McClean into becoming Managing Director of its new Nexus operating concession.

Stalwart of the intercity East Coast franchise, in many of its several guises, Richard's latest role was as nationalised East Coast's IEP Project Director.

Perhaps no surprise, therefore, that he has opted for a job with a future.

UPDATE: This from our man at 222 Marylebone Road...

It is arguable that after wasting (oops, investing) £21 million on consultants for IEP, the second most scandalous feature of the new train was the appointment of one of our few remaining experienced project engineers/managers to such a non job.

UPDATE: This from Ibilola...

The Northern Echo ran the following story on Thursday:

A DECISION over whether the North-East will be the location for a train assembly plant – creating hundreds of jobs – has yet to be made, nearly a year after the original announcement.

Is there anyone who still believes that an order for IEP will ever be placed?

IEP future assured - Official

Exciting news from Hitachi!

Obviously despairing of ever signing a UK contract for the Frankenstein Train the inscrutable manufacturer has apparently sold the concept overseas.


Eye wonders if the Haramain High Speed Rail Project is being advised by the genii in our very own DfT?

Pssst - want to buy a Rosco, going cheap

So HSBC is still trying to flog its rolling stock leasing division (Rosco).

This from Project Finance Magazine:

Bidding consortia are forming for the sale of HSBC's UK rolling stock portfolio. The bank, which owns around a quarter of the UK's rolling stock, is said to be putting together a staple financing, where the seller offers a pre-packaged acquisition finance plan to potential buyers.

As HSBC Rail (nee Eversholt) was originally set up to be the electric train Rosco the decision to increase the number of route miles under the wires must add something to its potential value.

Although the greatest risk to HSBC's fleet portfolio was DafTs insane idea to seek early replacement of the highly reliable East Coast IC225 fleet with the Frankenstein Train.

But as the IEP is now hurtling to oblivion, bidders must be queuing up to take a punt.

IEP - Money down the drain

Telegrammed by Ithuriel
According to this written answer from Chris Mole MP on March 24

From 2005 to October 2009, the Department for Transport has spent £21 million on the Intercity Express Programme. This resource has included financial, procurement, programme management, technical, legal, industry, business case and other specialist advice required to ensure the successful delivery of a project of the scale of the Intercity Express Programme. This figure should be considered in the context of the Intercity Express Programme contract value of £7.5 billion.

Now, since the preferred bidder Agility Trains is struggling to raise £500 million in funding to get the project off the ground...

And since this will only buy around 170 vehicles...

And since DfT Rail is still talking about starting on the East Coast Main Line...

And since this would mean replacing the IC225 fleet prematurely and result in a substantially higher train leasing cost...

And since Great Western Electrification is still at an early stage and is unlikely to be completed before 2017...

And since the cautious civil servants at DfT Rail who aren't 'cranks' are discussing with the ROSCOs life extension of IC125 to 2035...

That £21 million is a scandalous waste of money and the project should be cancelled forthwith!

And before putting his name to answers like this Moley should ask for a breakdown of where that spurious £7.5 billion figure comes from.

IEP - 12,000 jobs missing

This from then Secretary of State for Transport, Geoff Hoon, in February this year:

"This announcement demonstrates that this Government is prepared to invest, even in difficult economic times, by improving our national infrastructure. It is good news for the British Economy that over 12,500 jobs will be created and safeguarded; good news for the regions that the Government is supporting significant inward investment; and good news for passengers that we are taking the steps necessary to improve their rail journeys."

Good news indeed.

But what's this?

According to Hitachi yesterday, as reported by Yahoo:

The deal, expected to be inked by March 2010, is worth one trillion yen (11.36 billion dollars) and will create up to 500 jobs, the official said, adding that the location of the assembly plant remained undecided.

So where are the rest coming from?

UPDATE: This from J Alfred Prufrock...

Since the Agility Trains consortium is struggling to raise £500 million of funding for IEP, Hitachi must be wondering whether under 200 vehicles are worth building in Japan, let alone in a new factory in the UK.

No wonder DfT Rail is actively discussing life extension of the FGW IC125 fleet to beyond 2030.

And that's before the austerity measures cut in after the election.

Super Excess would be a better name

This from a Mr Saltaire...

Remember the Eurostar court case which resulted in the railway coughing up damages and costs to a courier company for using their name?

A Google search on Super Express brings up a Polish tabloid newspaper and a customs clearing agent in Dubai, amongst others.

With the cost of each Super Express train rumoured to be nudging £32m, additional legal costs are the last thing the project needs.

Hope over experience

Telegrammed by Ithuriel
And still more from 'Not the 2014 show'...

'Transport planning will be much more effective if bodies such as Passenger Transport Executives and local authorities have clarity over more than five years. Ultimately, it will enable the industry to deliver what its customers want, and to do so more efficiently'.

Which was the aim of the 10 Year Transport Plan , now in its final, sadly unfulfilled, year.

Industries get into trouble when the last person retires who remembers the last great cock-up. And 2000 does seem a very long time ago.

Perhaps the authors of the new cultural revolution should read the manifesto of John Prescott's cultural revolution.

A little bit previous!

Telegrammed by Ithuriel
Yet more from Beyond 2014:

'The largest ever rail enhancement plan will be implemented in CP4',

One of the main features will be:

'introduction of Super Express trains, offering more seats on busy long distance routes'.

Routes plural?

By 2014?

The deal has still to reach financial close. And smart money is already on this being a replay of the Intercity 250 programme which bit the dust in the last recession.

More on the PAC report

This just in from Mutley...

Scrolling through the Letting of Rail Franchises report and paragraph 7 in chapter 1 caught my eye and may help explain a few things:

"The Department has operated with fewer staff than the Strategic Rail Authority, bringing the cost of managing franchises down from £7.3 million in 2004–05 to £5.7 million in 2007–08. Some 30% of staff had departed within two years of the change in responsibility.
The Department expects people to move on every two or three years and many Strategic Rail Authority staff had been in post for some time. The Department’s rail service delivery team does not normally recruit from the wider civil service. It recruits largely from the railway industry itself instead, and has difficulty in attracting and retaining staff because it pays salaries towards the bottom quartile of that industry."

The department expects resource to 'move on' every two to three years and has difficulty attracting and retaining staff because it pays 'bottom quartile' industry salaries.

As a result, 30% of staff have gone and operating costs reduced to £5.7m in 2007-2008.

In other words DafT franchise management costs have come down but the result is that the department is now populated by a revolving door of demotivated staff on burger-flipper wages!

But hang on a minute, is this the same department that spends £15m on consultancy fees to procure the frankenstein train which may or may not actually happen?

UPDATE: This just in from Robert Wright over at the Pink 'Un...

The section on how the DfT's franchising people weren't up to much because the organisation didn't pay enough was fascinating.

Perhaps a sign of how Network Rail may end up if the bonus-hackers get their way in future years...

UPDATE: This just in from J Alfred Prufrock...

So let's get this right.

If Coucher doesn't have the prospect of doubling his basic half a million plus a year he will either

A) Be demotivated and only go through the motions for his £250 per hour,

or

B) Say 'blow this for a game for soldiers and go and do something better paid and/or providing greater job satisfaction.

Must be hell being trapped in a job because you need the money.

I blame the ORR.

It's the system that's wrong.

They didn't need whips to get the rowers going flat out in the Greek triremes at the battle of Salamis.

But ORR assumes that the only way to get railwaymen to do a proper job is to make them dependent on bonuses for a half decent standard of living.

Follow that cab!

Telegrammed by Our Independent Expert
Does the cab trade know something we don't?

Taxi drivers plying Preston railway station have reproduced images of the new IEP train on their business cards.

Railway hands with long memories will recall there's a great tradition of train-making in the city - with the prototype Deltic being built in English Electric's Strand Road works.

Perhaps this explains the Hitachi poster on show at Railtex earlier this month...

"Proudly made in Britain!"

Is this perhaps stretching the Trades Description Act a little too far?