Renationalisation?

***An old timer speaks***

Freed

*** RMT demanding an apology from transport police after two track workers arrested in connection with the Grayrigg crash and kept under caution for eleven months were finally cleared today.***

Read the RMT release here

Kneel

Christian Wolmar has emailed to thank those Railway Eye readers who sponsored his half marathon on Sunday.

"I ran the half marathon in just over two hours - not bad for an old timer!" he writes.

Here is our man in action.

Judging by the marks on Wolmar's knees he left nothing to chance, beseeching the help of Higher Powers for his Sabbath breaking run.

Finn soup

Blogging MP Derek Wyatt has taken up the cudgels on behalf of his local heritage railway.

Railway Eye readers will recollect that the Sittingbourne Railway is threatened with closure by its Finnish landlords.

See Derek's update on progress here.

Further proof, if it were needed, of how the interweb can help MPs communicate not just with their constituents but also with those interested in particular topics or campaigns.

In space no one can hear you scream

A petition has been added to the No 10 website against the proposed withdrawal of rail services between Walsall and Wolverhampton.

It has been posted by Lee Fletcher, the moderator of the The First Great Western Coffee Shop Forum.

View the No 10 petition here.

The Fact Compiler doesn't hold out much hope that anyone at DafT will listen - but full marks for trying.

Quiet!

Is there a section in Debrett's Guide to Modern Manners that deals with this?

The Modern Dilemma

If it's not policed then it's not worth having. And who should do the policing - the passenger or the train crew?

I am not a number

The Fact Compiler has been asked to help with a survey on ticket machine use.

Normally this sort of request would be placed in the circular filing cabinet, under recycle.

However, just as the delete button was about to be fingered, a press release from Passenger Focus thudded into the inbox:

"South West Trains and Passenger Focus have today released research showing passengers are still queuing at ticket offices despite knowing that ticket machines are available.

Although 78% of people questioned in the survey said they had used ticket vending machines, a variety of reasons were highlighted for those who had not tried them including wanting a more personal service, being unable to get the ticket they required and not being sure how to use the machine."

Sounds like the wrong question was asked.

Therefore, Railway Eye readers may like to answer the right question which can be found at the I work for First Great Western website.

That should save FGW a couple of bob on research - which The Fact Compiler hopes they will put in the new train kitty.

Numbers

National Express East Coast is reporting much improved performance.

"Latest statistics covering four weeks to Sunday, October 12, show that for the first time since rail privatisation in 1996, National Express East Coast’s public performance measure (PPM) – the percentage of trains arriving at their destination within ten minutes of time – reached 91.2 per cent."

Good news!

Especially when we are hearing that a certain owner group is planning to announce swinging headcount reductions across all its franchises.

Railway Garden Competition #15

Off to the beautiful Derbyshire spa town of Buxton.

The Romans called the town “Aquae Arnemetiae” which translates as “The Waters of the Goddess of the Spring”.

And here are those self same waters - beautifully preserved by Network Rail.

Note the small oblations, lovingly gifted to the goddess, surrounding what once must have been the high altar.


Rumour has it that EWS will be refurbishing the station - and not a moment too soon.

Pips squeeking

So First Great Western has been cap in hand to the Department to renegotiate it's £1.1bn franchise

A freedom of information request, reported in today's Bristol Evening Post, reveals that the train operator is looking to reduce it's franchise premiums so it can obtain more rolling stock.

The Fact Compiler would like to know from where?

Mayor's diary

Telegrammed by The Raver
Boris was meeting the deputy mayor of Beijing, this morning, whose name is:

Mr Chen Gang.

We wonder how many people came with him!!

Sins of the father

Several pundits have pointed out that Geoff Hoon's father (and grandfather) worked on the railways.

The Fact Compiler is struggling to see how this is relevant to the job now in hand.

Take the case of bungling, back to basics philanderer and former Tory prime minister, John Major - the man who broke the railway.

Major's father had no political experience and worked in a circus.

Ah - now I begin to see your point!

Short changed

Before you ask - no we do not now own a Rosco.

The £37bn of our hard earned cash that Gordon is throwing at the profligate wankers (sic) will not see one Rosco returned to public ownership.

HSBC isn't supping with the devil, Porterbook is owned by Spanish bank Santander and Angel was flogged off by RBS to a consortia owned by Babcock and Brown earlier this year.

However, the Voyagers are partly owned by demic bank HBOS.

So today we can celebrate the return of a small part of the fleet to the public sector. Probably the bit by the vestibule areas where the constantly leaking loos make it smell of piss.

Road rail interface

Our North American cousins experience a little local difficulty with a road railer.



It would appear that incompetent contractors are not solely a UK phenomena.

Railway Garden Competition #14

Below is a picture of Avonmouth station, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Lovely!

And here the station pictured just last week.

Less lovely!

And below the view looking in the other direction.

A scene of such rampant neglect that any passing trade could only assume the wrecking train would be the next to call.

Pull your finger out Network Rail - this is an absolute disgrace.

Laughing stock

Good news for fans of vomit inducing modern art.

According to today's Indpenedent the "artist" who created the kitsch lovers statue for St Pancras International has also designed a new frieze to wrap around the base of the monstrosity.


As this piece of crap appears designed to offend just about everyone perhaps London & Continental should complete the job by renaming the station Agincourt International.

Rail blog

***Railway Eye welcome Rail editor Nigel Harris to the blogsphere***

See Nigel's postings here

Napiered!

A message from Captain Deltic!

The good Captain has asked the The Fact Compiler to point out that Lord Adonis fails to mention Sir Robert Reid in his Wolmar book review (Railway Eye passim).

"As experts now acknowledge Sir Bob's Chairmanship ushered in the golden age of British Rail (business railway, sectorisation, declining subsidies, etc...)."

Perhaps the Noble Lord's latent Tory prejudices have led him to suppress memories of a once cost effective railway?

Beancounting

Train looking like a pigsty?

Less people wandering round with bin bags picking up rubbish?

A visible reduction in the number of contractors working at the coalface?

Welcome to Recession Rail - getting shot of the easy stuff first!

Panegyric

Telegrammed by our man at 222 Marylebone Road
Last of the Privatisation Jihadis?

Lord Adonis, the grandly titled 'Minster for National Networks', was considered sufficiently qualified by the editor of chattering-classes glossy mag 'Prospect', to review Christian Wolmar's historical opus 'Fire & Steam'.

He produced a glowing review, except on those sections of Wolmar's tome covering recent history.

According to the appointed peer:

"Wolmar's one over-romantic flourish is his panegyric on the last years of British Rail.

"He paints the BR of Richard Marsh and Peter Parker as a golden age, contrasting it favourably with today.

"While he makes some good points in relation to efficiency and the loss of engineering expertise since 1997, he otherwise recalls an entirely different British Rail to the one I knew.

"I remember customer service, restrictive practices and unreliability that were a national pantomime, not to mention the relentless campaign by British Rail itself for major line closures and service withdrawals long after the Beeching axe of the 1960s.

"Wolmar hails BR's marketing of its largely slow and unreliable inter-city services, but what I remember of the "Age of the Train" adverts was the hilarity that greeted their every appearance. It was this reality which made the railways prey to the great Tory ideological experiment of privatisation."

Alas, it looks like the archetypal sclerotic bank manager aboard the 8.15 is now in charge of our destiny.

But, perversely, when he was with Lady Vadera and the as yet, oddly, un-elevated Dan Corry he formed part of the cabal which drove Railtrack into Adminstration.

Indeed he was urging the prime minister to look at all viable options for Railtrack "including a possible return to the public sector".

Oh well, consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.