Sadiq says...

Via Twitter...

Just announced £235m investment for UK's 1st modern trolley bus scheme. Fantastic news for Leeds, especially on top of HS2

Pork barrels and trebles all round!

Adonis and Buy-us - the transcript

No doubt readers have seen the extraordinary piece about Stephen Buy-us in yesterday's Sunday Times?

£5,000 per day and boy, did National Express get their money's worth!

According to the Sunday Times 'a source close to Richard Bowker, who was chief executive at the time, said that the Byers version given to the undercover reporter was “pretty accurate”.'

Unbelievably Eye has come across a transcript of the very meeting between Buy-us and Adonis at which the future of NatEx was discussed!

It went something like this...

'Andrew, good to see you again. Look, you know that Richard Bowker's in a bit of a tight fix. You know a bit dicky on the cash flow and he's been a slightly reckless boy.'

'Well, we must help him out, Stephen, he really is too valuable to lose and Natex is a really great company. What do you suggest?'

'Andrew, I am not sure but just give him a bit of a bung. Nothing much, a couple of hundred mill will tide them over nicely.'

'Good as done Stephen me old mate, I'll get the cheque signed tomorrow.'

'Andrew, thanks a million, no pun intended,and by the way can I get Jo Moore to do a press release for you?'

'That's a great idea Stephen.'

You couldn't make it up.

UPDATE: This from Lobby Fodder...

It gets better.

Buy-us now claims that:

"I have never lobbied ministers on behalf of commercial organisations and have always fully disclosed my outside interests."

How does he reconcile this with his previous claim to the Sunday Times and Dispatches hacks that he had struck a secret deal with Lord Adonis last year on behalf of National Express?

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

So Buy-us now claims that he lied about striking a deal with Lord Adonis on behalf of National Express.

Unless of course he is lying when he says he lied - if you get my drift.

Which makes him a liar which ever way you look at it.

Do MPs still have to resign when they are caught lying or doesn't it matter now?

And if Buy-us is lying about lying where does that leave Lord Adonis?

UPDATE: This via Radio 4's World at One...

The DfT has confirmed that Lord Adonis and Stephen Byers did speak about the National Express franchise.

UPDATE: Guido launches an on-line petition...

Asking the Queen to strip Stephen Buy-us of his Privy Council Membership

UPDATE: Lord Adonis on Byers...

Adonis confirmed this afternoon that he had had a brief conversation with Byers.

But, he said, "I had no intention whatsoever of renegotiating on favourable terms with the company; such a move would undermine the franchise system and would not be in the interests of taxpayers."

"I have had no communication with Mr Byers since, I have not the faintest idea why he said what he said to the undercover reporter."

UPDATE: This from Ithuriel...

Adonis confirmed this afternoon that he had had a brief conversation with Byers.

But, he said, "I had no intention whatsoever of renegotiating on favourable terms with the company; such a move would undermine the franchise system and would not be in the interests of taxpayers."

Oh really?

According to DfT notes of a meeting between The Thin Controller and NX on 9 June 2009 obtained under an FoI Request:

"AA noted that for NXEC if RB said it had to come back at the end of the month and the DfT had to step in, a management contract or Section 30 would need to be put in place. The DfT would need to get its skates on to get this in place."

So in June Lord Adonis was clearly receptive to the idea of a management contract.

What changed his position and made him determined that NX would never darken another franchises door again?

Perhaps it wasn't Richard Bowker who wound him up but Byers!

UPDATE: Tom Winsor on Radio 4's PM programme....

"Some have said Stephen Byers has an ambiguous relationship with the truth".

Not a view, Tom made clear, that he shared!

After all the former Rail Regulator has first hand experience of Byers' absolute commitment to the truth, gained when the then Secretary of State for Transport forced Railtrack into Administration.

Gaspaccio anyone?

Rail debate videos on line

Videos of last Wednesday's 'Election 2010 - The Rail Debate' have been uploaded to YouTube.

Here they are, with a bowler tip to a Mr Shipley:



















An excellent evening and a highly informative debate.

Inscrutable automatic operation coming soon?

This from Lobby Fodder...

I thought Eye readers might be interested in this photo taken at Wednesday's Election 2010 Rail Debate.

It is from the CSRE stand that was at the back of the room.


Clearly CSRE plans to avoid IR issues with traincrew by having robots drive their trains.

Passenger Focus on NuTrains

A university researcher archiving the papers of the late Eric Blair has sent Eye the draft manuscript of an unfinished sequel to 1984.

Titled "2010" it paints a picture of a dystopian future so extreme it seems barely credible as this extract shows:

Chapter 1

The clocks were striking 13 when Winston Smith looked up from his celebratory 25cl 'Victory Pint' of Brown's Ale to see his brother Anthony hurrying towards the cafe tables in the dusty square. He was waving a copy of that day's 'Ultra Modern Railways Daily' and put it on the table in front of Winston before sitting.

"Look at that, brother", he said breathlessly, "16 new vehicles for the railways in the Northern and Eastern Districts - great news from the Thin Controller on a day of great news!".

A waiter limped over and put a another paper cup of beer on the table. "Enjoy this free victory pint awarded to all citizens today to mark the achievements of our brave Taliban allies" he said, reading from a scrap of card.

Winston, noting that 'Ultra Modern Railways Daily' had been expanded to a whole four pages of recycled paper, read the headline that had so excited his brother. "I bet they're all Pacers" he said morosely.

Not for the first time Anthony wondered whether all those hours in the Ministry of Roads' Room 101 watching the same IEP powerpoint presentation endlessly repeated had really removed his brother's anti-government tendencies.

"Come on", he said, "you know Pacer production has been suspended to provide more manufacturing capacity for Snatch Landrovers as part of Big Brother's open ended funding of our Comrades in Uniform. I expect they will be Class 172s from the People's Train Factory in Greater West Midlands".

At which point a bespectacled furtive looking man at the next table, with a Box Brownie camera and what looked suspiciously like a battered Platform 5 book in a brown paper cover, leant over. "They're not new trains" he whispered.

Anthony was shocked at this disrespectful challenge to the Thin Controller's munificence. "Where are they coming from then?" he snapped back.

The furtive man looked around and said "Northern District is getting 16 class 150 vehicles and passing on eight of its Class 156 vehicles to Eastern District".

Now it was Anthony's turn to look around furtively, worried that this subversive conversation might have been overheard. Worse, it was thought crime of the most heinous kind to even handle, let alone own, a Platform 5 with its photos of shiny once-new trains. But when he looked back both Winston and their neighbour had disappeared leaving their Victory Pints unfinished. Then he heard the siren as one of the black Toyotas of the Thought Police rolled cautiously into the square and came to a halt by running into a tree.

As they bundled their captive into the back of the Toyota one of the policemen said "The subversive Miles is a lucky sod - but we'll get him and his inconvenient facts sooner or later". His associate smirked "Never mind, we've got this joker and its Room 102 for him".

"Oh no" thought Anthony "not the HLOS 1300 vehicles spreadsheet!". "But I love the Thin Controller" he screamed. But no one was listening.

ATOC announces savage new cuts - Shocker!

Eye understands that ATOC anticipates making significant savings in December.

Apparently both Rentokil (cnuts) and Brand2Life (cnuts) are no longer on the Chrizzie Card List!

However, any savings may be outweighed by the bloody good dinner owed by ATOC's media machine to uber-fisker Ben Goldacre.

National Express unveils magic bus!

This just in from a Leading Railway Periodical...


Eye salutes NXEA for managing to end Berney Arms millennia of isolation from the Queen's highway.

Fact Compiler and Hammond fall out - Shocker

It would appear that The Fact Compiler's contribution to last night's Rail Debate was not universally welcomed.


Grin!

Adonis moves and then paints the deckchairs

This from Railnews...

THE rebranding of East Coast last November cost £634,842, of which taxpayers had to find £339,190, according to official figures.

What a fabulous use of public funds!

Eye salutes The Thin Controller, DafT and Directly Operated Railways for enriching the vinyl makers.

A letter from Iain Coucher

This from Network Rail's Internet Rapid Rebuttal Unit...


Click to enlarge...

SWT now employs Thought Police - Official

This just in from Barry Spotter...

Nice to see that South West Trains are taking the security of their passengers seriously.

Not only are cameras on the "verboten" list but so apparently is writing things down!

This from The News:

Musician Tom Shaw was stunned when he was kicked off a train - for writing a list of songs.

I suppose the gentleman in question must be thanking his stars that his musical taste is middle of the road.

Megadeath's "Symphony of Destruction" would probably have involved imprisonment...

Get a grip Souter!

Adonis secures HS2 funding - Shocker

This from Bushy...

It seems the printed copies of the HS2 report have already run out!

And at £26 a pop Adonis must be over half way towards paying for the new line already!

Eye is in awe of the Noble Lord's fiscal acumen!

Pointless signs - InterCity 225 loo

This just in from 62700...

Another pointless sign for your ongoing series, snapped (very badly) on an East Coast IC225 yesterday.


Not that I make a habit of taking snapshots in toilets, you understand.

HS2 - Recusancy Corner

Telegrammed by Lord Burleigh the Lord Chancellor of England
Whilst the nation rushes to embrace The Thin Controller's vision of a High Speed Jerusalem, it would appear that recusant Old Believers still exist.

Here for instance is a new blog dedicated to renouncing the so called 'High Speed Heresy'.

Eye calls upon the Noble Lord to protect the True Religion and declare Anathema on these false prophets.

Can we also burn a couple at the stake like in the good old days? (This can't be right? Ed)

UPDATE: This from the Major...

The Major wonders if my Lord Burleigh had any particular couple in mind for burning.

Or would any Sid and Doris Bonkers suffice?

Lord Burleigh suggests that there are one or two candidates in the Department who might benefit from an Auto de fe.

UPDATE: This from Ibilola1...

Does Captain Deltic's support for a 4 track electrified 125mph Chiltern Line (Modern Railways, March 2010) make him a recusant Old Believer?

There is such a thing as too much communication...

This from the BBC...

The French railway operator, SNCF, has mistakenly put a dramatic statement on its website saying more than 100 people had died in a train explosion.

It was only when journalists began flooding the railway operator's phone lines that the company realised there had been an enormous error.

Non merde Sherlock!

UPDATE: This from Leo Pink...

Why the fuss?

It happens here too.

Didn't DfT put out a press release last year saying it had appointed the preferred bidder for IEP?

UPDATE: This from a Mr Fenton...

I think you'll find that "no shit" translates as "rien de merde".

Picky picky picky!

Humble apologies, as the Frenchies omitted to say in 1944.

UPDATE: This from a clearly very angry 5741 Duck...

That comment is completely out of order!

What happened at quarter to eight stays at quarter to eight.

Stobart CEO signs up to Twitter

This from @Andrew_Tinkler, CEO of Stobart Group, via Twitter...

Just starting using Twitter. I think it will be useful to let people know what's going on at Stobart Group.

Would that some railway CEOs and MDs did the same!

UPDATE: This from Steady Eddie...

Isn't it a bit 20th Century using his own name?

Why not two girls' names like the lorries?

Sadiq says...

Nothing yet...

...to this story on Guido's blog:

Transport Minister Sadiq Khan is in hot water this afternoon after it has been revealed that he lied to the press and to the Parliamentary authorities.

Ooops!

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

Will just one of these bent MPs do the honourable thing and resign?

Haythornthwaite still struggling to reform NR

Does anyone at Network Rail bother listening to their Chairman?

In November Rick Haythornthwaite admitted that he "heard the word 'arrogant' a lot" when listening to views of NR.

Indeed.

So what are we to make of the following?

NR's recently published Great Western RUS contains a suggestion that the former Cheltenham Spa to Stratford-upon-Avon route might be reopened.

Splendid news!

But what is this?

Alas!

Part of the route has already been reopened and is in regular use!

This from Gloucestshire.co.uk...

Volunteers from Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway (GWR), which operates steam trains on a section of the Honeybourne Line between Cheltenham Racecourse and Toddington, say they were not consulted by Network Rail before the restoration proposals were included in its route utilisation strategy.

Of course NR is not alone in riding rough shod over heritage lines.

ATOC was guilty of the same offence back in June last year.

Surely basic good manners would have avoided NR falling into the same trap?

UPDATE: This from Richard...

I think you need to look who's asking for this reopening.

If you look through the submissions to the consultation, then the "demand" actually comes from one Rt Hon D. Cameron (MP for Witney, which of course encompasses the eastern end of the Cotswold Line). He appears to have written, at the behest of a constituent, a slightly confused letter suggesting that Honeybourne-Stratford should be considered for reopening.

Network Rail may not think this is a remotely plausible scheme, but I presume self-preservation dictates that when the probable next Prime Minister suggests something, you have to at least pay it lip service.

Adonis eyeballs the brothers

Eye has in the past been a little critical of The Thin Controller.

But this is as nothing to the fury that will be directed against the Noble Lord for having the temerity to criticise UNITE and its members for threatening industrial action over Easter.

On Sunday Lord Adonis opined:

"Let's be absolutely clear the stakes are incredibly high in this strike and I absolutely deplore the strike,"

"It's totally unjustified, this strike, on the merits of the issues at stake, and I do call on the union to engage constructively with the company."

See the 'forces of hell' muster here, here and here.

The next big question is will Adonis dare to open a second front against the brothers by laying into the RMT and TSSA, who are also threatening to paralyse Easter travel on the railways?

UPDATE: This from Lobby Fodder...

It looks as if Adonis is getting his retaliation in first.

The plans for a super new 10 platform HS2 station at Euston will see TSSA's HQ demolished!

UPDATE: This from Sir Humphrey Beeching...

As the Clunking Fist backed Lord Adonis on BBC Radio 4's Women's Hour today, it is pretty safe to assume that the 'forces of hell' have not yet been unleashed...

UPDATE: This from Biggles...

TSSA's head office gets reduced to rubble but ASLEF retains its Branch Office (The Exmouth Arms) which miraculously looks set to escape the bulldozers!

Yet further proof that ASLEF stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Aviation news....

This from the Civil Aviation Authority...

CAA STATISTICS show last year’s fall in passenger numbers was biggest since the Second World War

• UK airports handled 17 million (7.3 per cent) fewer passengers in 2009 than in 2008, the largest annual decline for sixty-five years.
• It is the first time numbers have fallen consecutively for two years, reducing passenger numbers to levels not seen since 2004.
• Traffic declined the most in the first quarter of 2009, with the rate of decline easing as the year progressed.

UK airports handled 218 million passengers during the 2009 calendar year according to figures published today by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), a fall of 7.3 percent (17 million) on 2008, the biggest decline in passenger numbers at UK airports since records began.

Yet another nail in the coffin for Heathrow's third runway?