Pointless signs - Bristol Temple Meads

This from a Mr Montgomery Burns...

Nanny State is alive and kicking in the West Country!

Pointless signs - Upper Holloway

This from a Mr Tony Miles...

Eye readers may note the lack of 3rd rail or overhead equipment as they peruse this sign at the western end of Upper Holloway station on the Gospel Oak - Barking line.

 I guess a 378 would certainly stop… would it ever start again?

Railway Garden Competition - Chester

The 'drought' appears in danger of ruining this year's Railway Garden Competition.

However, at Chester this tasteful arrangement has managed to keep its head above the flood.

More please...

Railway overmanning exposed - Shocker!

This seen at Immingham on Friday...

So how many people does it take to polish a nameplate?

NR & SWT Deep Alliance launched today

This from Stagecoach and Network Rail...

PASSENGERS  TO  BENEFIT  AS  SOUTH  WEST  TRAINS  AND NETWORK RAIL FORM NEW ALLIANCE · Single senior management team now responsible for trains and track · Focus on reduced delays, better customer service, more efficient working · “Deep alliance” is first for the UK rail industry

Train  company  South  West Trains and infrastructure operator Network Rail today  (30  April 2012) announced the launch of a new alliance with the aim of delivering better rail services in the south and south-west of England.

A  single  senior  joint  management  team  now has responsibility for both trains  and  track on the route operating out of London Waterloo in a first for the UK rail industry...

The  senior  management  team has more than 200 years’ experience in the UK rail   industry   covering  train  service  delivery,  rail  infrastructure management and train fleet manufacturing and includes:

• Managing Director – Tim Shoveller 
• Infrastructure Director – Jim Morgan
• Operations Director – Mark Steward
• Fleet Director - Christian Roth
• Safety & Assurance Director – Brian Cook
• Human Resources Director – Kelly Barlow
• Commercial Director – Sam McCarthy
• Customer Service Director – Jake Kelly
• Finance Director – Andy West

A governance board, with equal representation from both organisations, will oversee  the  operation  of the alliance and take major business decisions.

Arrangements  are  in place to ensure the interests of other passenger rail companies  and freight operators are protected. Both companies retain their own  identities and staff.  There are no changes to terms and conditions of employment or collective bargaining agreements with recognised trade unions

And about time too.

Welcome to a new world for the South Western Railway! 

The challenge of transparency

Some disturbing figures have emerged from the British Transport Police.

Released following an FOI request they reveal worryingly high incidents of 'Passengers Under Train' and 'Passengers Hit by Train' recorded in the period between 1st January 2012 and 2nd April 2012.

In this three month period 147 PUT and PHT incidents were recorded across both the London Underground and National Rail networks.

It goes without saying that each of these numbers represents a human tragedy, not just for the person directly involved, their friends and family but also for the drivers and other rail staff caught up both in the event and its aftermath.

And there are of course no easy answers to this problem. Network Rail and TOCs are to be congratulated for working closely with the Samaritans to try and make a difference, where possible, to these figures.

Shocking as these numbers are, without comparative figures for other years, it is difficult to know whether this reflects an upward, downward or static trend.

Certainly the emergence of social media means that these desperately sad events resonate far beyond the line or route where they take place. Users of twitter for instance become aware of events in real time that are taking place many miles away, where as in previous, less connected times, they might have remained blissfully unaware.

This produces a challenge for the industry and for all those in the industry on twitter.

Do we need to be careful about drawing attention to certain events or causes of delay (and I am aware of the irony of that statement) less we create a climate of fear or God forbid encourage repetition. After all broadcast media has to exercise extreme caution when handling suicides in drama as the risk of the Copycat Effect is increasingly understood (except it would appear by Jeremy Clarkson).

Or do we now live in a world of almost total transparency where the challenge is to collectively devise new means of communicating the consequences for all concerned of these devastating events?

Again there are no easy answers but perhaps these questions need asking?

UPDATE: This from Network Rail...

The Samaritans' guidelines to the media on the reporting of suicides can be found here.

UPDATE: This from Chionanthus VIrginicus...

RSSB report for 2010/11 here

Fatalities summarised as:

• 27 trespass
• 4 at crossings
• 208 suicides

Note - Not in the same format and only covers National Rail.

Pointless signs - Yesterday's up AngloScots sleeper

Depot pride returns to railway?

 More of this please.

Historic signs - The Ghost of Clarity Past

A reader writes to say...

Dear Fact Compiler

As a devoted reader of your... (Get on with it! Ed).

Perhaps Eye should have an 'Historic Signs' section to compliment Pointless signs.

Obviously the pictures must originate from the railway of today, but the 'useful' information they contain must spring from our past.

Perhaps I could start with this York offering.

And here the useful, but dated, information.

Eye is won over. Make it so!

UPDATE: This from an Eye reader in Upside Down Land...

Not only dated but wrong!

Surely the LNER became part of British Railways in 1948 and only much later part of British Rail. 

Nice sign though and amazing that passengers couldn’t work out that it was dated info without a helpful sign. 

Why rail travel beats the rest!

This from the Railway Public Relations Office...

Reasons to be cheerful! 

Spring evening rainbow above field of newborn lambs. 

Through Pendolino carrage window, near Tring tonight.

It's better by train!

HS2 un-news from DfT - Offical

This from the Department for Transport...

Alison Munro re-appointed as Chief Executive of HS2 Ltd

Alison Munro has been re-appointed as the Chief Executive of HS2 Ltd, the independent company set up by the Government to deliver a high speed rail network between London and the North of England.

ENDS

Pointless signs - York cone shrine

This from @TonyVeitch...

One of my favourite signs. 

 I revisit this little shrine to signdom every so often.

Exciting new logo for Class 70 fleet

Pointless signs - High Wycombe

This from CU...

A rather fetching retro look to High Wycombe last night, attracting many admiring looks from commuters.

Sadly 40 years too late.

Villiers vignettes - another apology

This from Cruella, given in the House yesterday...

Theresa Villiers (Minister of State (Rail and Aviation), Transport; Chipping Barnet, Conservative)

I regret to inform the House that there was an inaccuracy in the answer I gave to parliamentary question 98207 on 5 March, Hansard, column 411W and subsequent comments made by the Secretary of State for Transport in debates held on 8 March, Hansard, column 1035 and 23 March, Hansard, column 1049 about how many miles of railway track were electrified between May 1997 and May 2010.

The correct answer is approximately nine route miles were electrified between May 1997 and May 2010, not 39 route miles as previously stated. This total does not include newly constructed railways.

How lucky we are to have a quality department of state like the DfT.

UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic...

How long, oh Lord, how long?

How many more times does Theresa Villiers have to apologise to the house  for errors in data provided by her officials before the light dawns that perhaps said officials are not exactly on top of the job?  

UPDATE: This from the Lancastrian...

Further to the debate on electrified mileage...

 

Readers in possession of the relevant Quail maps or sectional appendices might care to add up the route mileage of Kidsgrove-Crewe (electrified in 2003) and Pelaw-Sunderland (electrified in 2002).

Pointless signs - Tisbury

This from @steinsky...

Single (short) platform - all trains stop same place, same platform.

RMT threatens BoJo with legal action

This from the RMT...

"RMT can confirm that we have today commenced a High Court action for defamation on Boris Johnson over his Not Ken Again poster campaign which falsely portrays our General Secretary Bob Crow as being part of a culture of political immorality and as having caused serious harm to the interests of people in London.

"RMT will be making no further comment and will be giving no interviews on this matter as it proceeds through the legal process." 

Ends

TfL unveils congestion and chaos map

So.

TfL have produced a website showing likely congestion hotspots during the Olympics.

Meanwhile a Mr Ouch writes...

These posters have appeared near my home in Bolton – 200 miles from London!

It looks like Londoners and visitors alike will need a healthy dose of the Blitz spirit during the days of chaos to come.

Perhaps better to ask: "Is your journey really necessary?".

UPDATE: Oh great joy!

There is a Get Ahead of the Games Twitter account: @GAOTG

Today it tweeted out these asinine missives:

"Brand new update: Our impact line tool shows impact on each tube line (busiest section, most affected, busiest dates) ow.ly/arj7X"

Impact line tool? WTF!

And this...

"New Feature: We now have a National Rail visualiser that shows you predicted busy periods during the Games ow.ly/arjj1"

National Rail visualiser? FFS!

Chaps, stop making up smartarse marketing terms for perfectly serviceable and well understood English words like 'congestion', 'delay' and 'map'.

That, or get a real job!

Pointless signs - Cross Country Reservations

This from the Cynic...

Several years after they were installed, the little LCD reservation screens on the Arriva XC HSTs are now finally working. 

Or rather, they are now all now displaying something. 

 The same helpful message in every case...

UPDATE: This from CU...

Not quite so pointless - these are seats that may be reserved by 'Ten Minute Reservation'.

Sit in one and someone could reserve it while you are warming the cushion for them!

Swiss show TOCs how to balance books

This from The Local, Switzerland's news in English...

A vast array of weird and wonderful items from the Swiss rail network's lost-and-found department is now on sale, including butt plugs, dildos and worn underwear.

That's quite enough Swiss lost property! Ed