Change and decay in all around I see...

With a bowler tip to @respros...

Dear God - it is much, much, much worse than we all thought!

Uber-railway modeller Hornby, normally purveyors of agreeable Kettles and the like, has revealed a disturbing ability to reflect today's zeitgeist, in plastic.

Behold!

Eye gives you R9646 - the 'Derelict Farmhouse':


Doomed, I tell you. We are all doomed!

UPDATE: This from The Archer...

I don' think so, surely it's the Regional Eurostar depot in Manchester?

UPDATE: This from the Pictographer Royal...

Will Hornby turn their attention to the modern High Street next and produce models of a row of charity shops and boarded up pubs?

Justine Greening new Transport Secretary

Eye welcomes Justine Greening, our new Transport Secretary.

And waves farewell to Philip Hammond who moves to Defence after 18 months at Marsham Street.

This biog of the new SofS from Politics.co.uk:

Biography:

Justine Greening was re-elected MP for Putney in May 2010 with a majority of 10,053 votes.

She was elected as the Member of Parliament for Putney in May 2005. In December 2005, she was appointed as a Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party, with responsibility for youth.

In July 2007, Justine was appointed as a Shadow Minister for the Treasury. In January 2009, Justine was appointed Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government by David Cameron. She was appointed economic secretary in the Treasury after the formation of the coalition.

More here...

Let battle commence!

Hammond goes to Defence?

***Twitter suggesting Hammond to Defence if Liam Fox resigns***

More to follow...

Fox resigned...

Sky suggesting Hammond has Defence...

Hammond to Defence.

New SofS for Transport Justine Greening!

Biog:

Justine's Experience:

Justine was elected as the Member of Parliament for Putney in May 2005. She has been a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee; in 2007 Justine became a Shadow Treasury Minister, and in 2009 moved to the Communities and Local Government Team and became Shadow Minister for London.

Since the Election in May 2010, Justine has held the position of Economic Secretary to the Treasury within the Coalition Government.

More to follow...

Pointless signs - Charing Cross

This from The Perky Copulator...

"General information - Welcome to London".


Sheer genius.

But at least the ownership of the station is nice and clear.

Lookalike - The Beano?

Whelan elected to lead ASLEF

This via ASLEF...

Mick Whelan has been elected as the new General Secretary of ASLEF.

Mick, the organiser for District 6, won a very close election, receiving 3,683 votes, with National Organiser Simon Weller getting 3,458.

Mick succeeds Keith Norman, who has been in post since May 2004.

Villiers vignettes - Sorry the hardest word?

Something to warm the heart of Captain Deltic!

This from Cruella...

Theresa Villiers (Minister of State (Rail and Aviation); Chipping Barnet, Conservative)
I regret to inform the House that there was an inaccuracy in the answer I gave to parliamentary question 58263 on 20 June 2011, Hansard, column 20W, about rolling stock.

The variable track access charges that were contained in the table were incorrect.

The corrected table is reproduced below.

£
	Maintenance	Fuel	Variable Track Access Charge
Bi-mode
When under diesel power	2.74	1.72	0.63
When under electric power	1.78	1.34	((1)) -
Electric	1.78	1.32	0.57
((1) )Indicates brace.

No shit Sherlock.
.
Isn't it time that someone in the Department actually fessed up to dissimulation?

TSC gets to the nub of the problem?

This from the Transport Select Committee...

Oral evidence – work of the department for transport

The Transport Committee will be taking oral evidence from the Secretary of State for Transport and the Permanent Secretary on the work of the Department for Transport.

Wednesday 19 October 2011

Room 8, House of Commons, 3.30 pm
Witnesses:

Department for Transport

• Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP, Secretary of State for Transport

• Lin Homer, Permanent Secretary

Eye wonders if the TSC will find an answer to the question so many in the industry ask:

"Exactly what value does the DfT add?"

DafT shafts Railfreight with longer lorries

This from Rubber Duck...

Ah, breaker one nine this here’s Mike 'Bandit' Penning, Minister for Roads, on a 10-17.

Have all my trucker good buddies got their ears on?

Standby by for a 10-33!

We've got those longer rigs I been promising you. Sure wish we'd had these Widowmakers when I was driving a truck!

Those pesky rail freight folks have been tellin’ me it’s gonna be a knockin’ a two thirds of their business outta the front door.

But I ain't got no ears for railroad folk, I leave that to wooly bear Cruella de Villiers - that's some neat handle.

So you better haul your sorry arse outa my way, I'm going to put the hammer down and set the pedal to me metal!

Mercy snakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy… 1800 trucks in all, all a rollin' across the UK.

What's that you say? My good buddy Pushbike King has changed his handle to Squashed Cyclist?

Oh! Can someone call a meat wagon...

Transport Select Committee for sale?

Oh dear!

Has the Transport Select Committee started offering product placement to generate a couple of extra bob?

The emailed press release below has been overbranded with the logo of motor insurance company Young Marmalade .


No doubt the ROSCOs are planning a similar survey with the TSC to show what great value TOCs consider train leases to be?

German cracks a joke - shocker!

Who says our Teutonic friends don't have a sense of humour?

This from DB's October Press & Trade Newsletter...

British Military train 1945-1990 Tribute on 12 May 2012

21 years ago the curtain came down on one of the most difficult and yet smoothly and consistently delivered trains in the history of European railways.

The British Military Train was born in the wreckage of defeated and broken Germany, and spent its life on the front line of the Cold War. It was operated in a unique and highly politicised partnership between British Army railway operators and the two state railways of the divided Germany. There had been nothing like it before, and it is unthinkable that we will ever see the like of it again. It ran without fuss, with a very British understatement of the political minefield surrounding it.

On 12 May 2012 we acknowledge and celebrate the calm professionalism of railway people, civilian and military, British and German, who did the job, day in day out, without triggering a Third World War.

Amen to that!

Further details about the tribute to the British Military Train can be obtained by emailing: militarytrain2012@gmail.com

Eurostar NoL - a gift that keeps on giving

This from today's Independent...

The Department for Transport spent "between £300,000 and £400,000 last year" on mothballed facilities for the aborted Regional Eurostar project that would have provided a direct link between provincial cities and the Continent.

An industry 'cost' that evidently slipped below McNulty's radar.

Perhaps just as well that his Value for Money study didn't delve too deeply into our very own Department for Transfer.

IEP - The saga drags on

This from Howard Wade...

A good question from the Railway Lord.

Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat)
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many fewer bi-mode trains would be required to be built if the services between Paddington and Newbury and Paddington and Oxford were covered by electrical multiple unit trains and all services to the West of England via Newbury, beyond Oxford and those via Cheltenham continued to be life extended High Speed trains.

Earl Attlee (Whip, House of Lords; Conservative)
It is currently envisaged that rolling stock will be deployed as follows:

• a mixture of electric Intercity Express Programme (IEP) and electric multiple unit trains for services between Paddington and Newbury and Paddington and Oxford;
• new IEP bi-mode trains for services beyond Oxford, and those running via Cheltenham;
• and life-extended vehicles from the current high speed train fleet for services to the West of England, via Newbury.

But as for the answer, My Lord Attlee seems to be a chip off the old block.

As Douglas Jay once remarked of his father: 'His capacity for saying nothing was absolutely pre-eminent'.

Secret of Albino's 'winning' GA bid explained!

Much chitter-chatter in the industry over who might have won the Greater Anglia franchise.

Despite the announcement not being due for another two weeks The Grauniad felt confident enough on Tuesday to predict:

Continental Europe's grip on the UK rail industry is likely to extend to the Greater Anglia rail franchise after the Dutch national rail operator emerged as the frontrunner for one of the routes connecting to the 2012 Olympics.

Good news indeed for Abellio!

However, Eye has been struggling to understand how the DfT, normally so careful about water-tight franchise bid processes, had allowed market sensitive information to apparently seep out from Marsham Street.

Happily, Eye can exclusively reveal that this was not the case!

As became clear today via the BBC...

Dutch National Railways is introducing emergency plastic bags for passengers to urinate in as part of its first-aid provision on some commuter trains.

Spokesman Jeroen von Geusau told the BBC "When you have to wait three or four hours on a train, then it is quite logical you have some people aboard who need to go to a restroom," he said.

Given recent performance on the Anglia Route only a sadist would think of awarding the franchise to another bidder.

Pointless signs - Doncaster

For younger readers BRUTE stood for British Rail Universal Trolley Equipment which were used to move parcels or mail around stations, when such things were carried by rail.

UPDATE: This from Gordon...

And just visible in the top left-hand corner is the pulley for the draw bridge that was lowered to span the gap between the parcels office and the platform!

Shadow Cabinet Reshuffle - Transport

***Twitter suggesting Maria the Eagle to remain at Transport***

More to follow, although if it is true probably not...

Railtrack - Happy 10th Unbirthday

Telegrammed by Our Man at 222 Marylebone Road...
How ironic that the 10th anniversary of one ill thought-out act of Government aggression should overshadow another.

Ten years ago today the government pressured Railtrack into assisted suicide.

Lest we forget, here are some of the players as Whitehall farce turned to Jacobean revenge tragedy:

Stephen Byers, John Robinson, Shriti Vadera, Steve Marshall, Sir Alastair Morton, Dan Corry, Andrew Adonis, David Rowlands, Sir Richard Mottram and not forgetting the cameo appearance in the final scene Tom Winsor.

What a stellar cast! And how mundane today's railway seems without them.

UPDATE: This from Banker76...

Absolutely spot on!

Today’s railway is mundane by comparison. No Southall. No Ladbroke Grove. No Hatfield. No bu88ering up the WCML modernisation (and Leeds station rebuilding).

How tame it all is...

UPDATE: This from Theydon Bois...

Here in Edinburgh we continue to bu88er up an otherwise perfectly good tram scheme to an extent rarely seen before in project management (excluding the the building of the Scottish Parliament, obviously).

Okay - it's not really Railtrack or the railway's fault, but still pretty impressive.

Oh, yes, and while I'm at it, I was very disappointed at the closure of the 'Who should chair NR?' vote.

I only got 'round to voting three times when it suddenly ended, leaving me with no social life at all.

Shoveller moves back to his routes

So. Multimillionaire Sir Brian Souter has decided to shuffle his pack.

The former Perth clippy has chosen a former Guildford guard to run one of the UK's highest profile franchises during HMQ's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.

Noted.

Tim Shoveller, currently MD of sister franchise EMT, will take up the reins at SWT on the 2nd January 2012 - evidently Stagecoach know how to party.

Meanwhile, in an elegant piece of succession planning, David Horne, EMT's Commercial Director, steps up to the MD's role.

The Former Clippy said:

“I am delighted Tim and David will be leading the teams at South West Trains and East Midlands Trains. They are both amongst the very best managers in the UK rail industry and these appointments show the depth of management talent we have right across our businesses.”

Eye cannot resist: Ooh! Mr Horne. Bona!

UPDATE: This from Sinoda...

Reference Eye's quip "Ooh Mr. Horne - Bona"!

Something tells me that despite Julian and Sandy being great big butch 'omies, 'the former Perth clippy' might not have been a fan.

Derbygate - DafT waves the white flag?

Exciting news for fans of Open Government!

Here the details from the August edition of the Department for Transport's Structural Reform Plan Monthly Implementation Update.


But what's this?

Despite the Department for Transfer giving a date for completing commercial arrangements on the IEP fleet, not a word on achieving the same for Thameslink!

As items 2.3 (II) and 2.3 (IV) appear to have been redacted perhaps the date for commercially closing the export of thousands of British jobs is now officially an Euro-state secret?

Either that or Paper-knife has finally acknowledged that there is no point giving a date for something that guarantees electoral suicide.

Stand by your beds! NR appoints CO to CR

The new improved Network Rail appears to be enthusiastically embracing the railway traditions of the past!

A past that stretches back to the earliest days of the railway when military men, used to commanding complex real-time organisations, were considered perfect for senior posts on an equally complex railway.

Within living memory Bill Slim, fresh from his triumphs in Burma was a founder member of the Railway Executive in 1948 and General Sir Brian Roberston GBE, KCMG, KCVO, DSO, MC was appointed Chairman of the British Transport commission in 1953.

More recently of course the Railway Forum, which represented the then newly privatised industry, was led from the front by Major General Adrian Lyons CBE during the challenges of Great Heck and Hatfield.

Therefore, Eye notes with approval that NR's newly appointed Programme Director for Crossrail is one Jorge Mendonca, late Commanding Officer of The Queen's Lancashire Regiment, who was awarded both the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and is a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

With Crossrail being overseen by the excitable Mayor of London it is good to see that Network Rail will treat the project with a firm military hand.

Meanwhile Eye respectfully suggests that the correct mindset for the new task could be the unofficial motto of the Royal Tank Regiment, in which that greatest of all BR Chairman Sir Robert Reid served:

'From mud, through blood to the green fields beyond!'

UPDATE: This from Ivor the Engine, Banker76 and others...

Might we remind Eye... (No.Ed)

UPDATE: This from The Major, in curmudgeonly mode...

At risk of sounding pedantic Col Jorge commanded the 1st Battalion of the QLR rather than the whole regiment.

And when it comes to mottoes, I respectively suggest that a better one for NR is:

'Per Ardua Ad £sd'...