FCC reminds passengers that manners do matter

A rare plaudit for First Capital Connect!

This from the Beeb... 

First Capital Connect issues passenger etiquette guide

 

A rail firm has issued a cartoon guide to "train etiquette", asking passengers not to assume fellow travellers share their food and music tastes.

First Capital Connect (FCC) said its campaign encourages people to be more careful on the railway and more considerate of one other.

Its adverts include slogans such as "don't assume they share your taste for kebabs and dubstep".

Advertising experts claim humour is a good way to "cut through" to people.

Good effort!

But one, small, tiny, almost infinitesimal, but none the less significant, niggle...

Sigh... what precisely is wrong with the correct term 'railway etiquette'?

Burns lighter!

Simon Burns, transport minister stepping down to run for Dep Speaker, No.10 source tells me
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) October 4, 2013

Developing...

UPDATE: This from Patrick McLoughlin, via the DfT website...

I’d like to thank Simon for his hard work, support and leadership during his time at the department. He has been instrumental in driving forward progress on HS2. 

He has also worked tirelessly to put the department’s rail franchise programme on track, ensuring it delivers value for money for the tax-payer and supports the ongoing multi-billion pound investment in our railways.

Who knew!

FGW gets extension but DfT omits the important numbers

Good news for First Great Western!

This from the Department for Transport:

Franchising deal to boost services on Great Western Main Line (GWML)
Rail passengers will benefit from improved services, including greater WiFi coverage, on the Great Western network as a result of a new franchise agreement announced today.

Under the agreement the Government has reached with First Greater Western Ltd (FGW), the company will continue running the franchise to operate trains between London Paddington, the Cotswolds, south Wales and the south west.

The new 23 month franchise is a further sign that the Government’s programme is on-track. It will also enable the continued delivery of vital work to upgrade the line in future, including electrification to help deliver faster, more reliable journeys.  

Blah, blah, blah...

But of the actual cash to be paid (whether from First to DfT, or more likely from DfT to First) not a word. 

Obviously nothing embarrassing there then!

Good to see DfT's commitment to transparency.

World's Greatest Living Transport Correspondent bests Beardie

The results of this year's Ipsos MORI Survey of Transport Journalists have just been released.

73 hacks were polled, and amongst a wealth of data on just how rubbish they perceive transport policy to be, is the following gem:

So amongst the Street of Shame's brightest and best our very own Wolmar is seen as more impressive than both Beardie and Baker!

Poor old LibDems, last again.

Now if Wolmayor can just prevent Adonis from standing, this sort of polling might yet secure him Labour's mayoral nomination!

Silver Stump Watch - King's Cross Square

This from White Throat...

I knew it was too good to last!

The beautiful new King's Cross Square is the latest railway space to be blighted by expensive and apparently pointless Silver Stumps!

Note how they are even placed slap bang in the middle of what is clearly meant to be a designated walk way!

Their relentless march continues - even in the narrowest of passageways workers busy away squeezing in a double dose.

Perfectly positioned to damage the vulnerable appendages of the visually impaired and those with 20:20 vision alike!

DfT officials study their briefs... or something

In between designing exciting new trains and micro-managing franchises officials at the DfT certainly like to keep their fingers on the pulse...

Or so it would appear.

According to HuffPo:

Pornographic sites including Playboy, "Perfect Asians" and "Big Boobs Tight Blouse" were attempted to be accessed by staff at the Department for Transport almost every day last month, official figures obtained by The Huffington Post UK reveal.

Following a Freedom of Information request, the DfT disclosed that since the start of September, pornography websites received 47 hits via the department's network.

The DfT's announcement this week on high speed mobile broadband now makes perfect sense...

UPDATE: This from a Fillipe Muttman... 

As anyone who regularly uses the internet knows, there is usually an innocent explanation for these web site visits.  

Web searches frequently throw up inappropriate sites which were far from what the searcher intended.

'Perfect Asians' obviously came up as part of a recent internal DfT desk study of the reliability of Korean rolling stock. 

Where as 'Playboy' is a clear case of an entirely innocent search to discover the editor of Railway Eye. 

And the other site looks like the response to a query concerned with the design of body shells for maximum seating capacity within the constraints of the UK loading gauge, where a staff member was seeking information on 'Big tubes tight clearances'.

An unfortunate error but one that was made with the very best of intentions doggy style.

That Eurostar 'private sector' bid for ICEC in full

Of mere passing interest, no doubt. 

A quick glance at wikipedia, here and here, reveals the following...  

Eurostar International Limited (EIL) is the parent company of the Eurostar service operating between London, Paris and Brussels. Eurostar was previously operated by three separate companies in Belgium, France and the United Kingdom, but this structure was replaced by EIL as a new single management company on 1 September 2010. EIL is owned by London and Continental Railways (40%), SNCB (5%) and SNCF (55%).#

London and Continental Railways (LCR) is a company that was involved in the construction of High Speed 1 (HS1) in the United Kingdom. Originally established in 1994 as a private consortium to build HS1 under a contract agreed with the UK Government, it subsequently ran into financial difficulties and has been owned by the Department for Transport since 2009 

So Eurostar, 40% owned by HMG is allowed to bid for franchises, but DOR (100% owned by HMG) isn’t.

Of course DfT is perfectly happy for overseas state owned railways to run as many of Britain's trains as they want, whether passenger or freight.

Eurostar's ICEC bid partner, Keolis, is 56.7% owned by French railway SNCF.

None the less, Eye wonders at what percentage point does UK state involvement in running a competitively tendered franchise suddenly become unpalatable? 

Answer from the Treasury and DfT came there none...

UPDATE: Eye issues unreserved apology to Keolis!

According to a press release on the Keolis website from April 2012...

"SNCF increases its shareholding in Keolis to accelerate the next phase of the company’s development
 
"At the closing of this transaction, SNCF will hold a 70% stake of Keolis alongside a long term investment partner."

Eye wishes to apologise for misleading readers into thinking that the Keolis/Eurostar bid for ICEC might, in anyway, have been considered to be 'private sector'.
 

DfT makes commitment to legacy technology?

Good news for historians of t'interweb!

According to the Department for Transport...

The rail industry is to roll out high speed mobile broadband on the busiest parts of Britain’s rail network, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin announced yesterday.

Under the plans, 70% of the travelling public will benefit from the new technology by 2019, with passengers expected to begin noticing improvements to their journey during 2015. 

Hmm... 2019 is six years away.

So perhaps the equivalent of saying in 2007 that all trains will be fitted with cable or DSL access...

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

"Under the plans, 70% of the travelling public will benefit from the new technology by 2019"

Or 2021, obviously, if it is being delivered by Arriva Cross Country.

Haket signals departure to Keolis

This from Ruud Haket, currently MD of Greater Anglia...
 
I’d like to tell you that I have accepted the offer of a new role as Chief Operating Officer of Keolis’ UK business, so I’ll be leaving Greater Anglia in the near future. We’re still working out my leaving date and the Abellio team will now start the recruitment of a new Managing Director, so I’ll let you have more details about both of those things as soon as I have them.

Interesting...

 

HS2 to offer cash back for each mile built - Shocker

This from The Hoots-mon...

According to the BBC on HS2:

"Can a railway be worth £121m per mile?"

Mere bagatelle!

Consider the triumph that is the Edinburgh tram system. £1billion for 8 miles = £125m per mile.

So. Time for a new unit of HS2 cost: for each 'Edinburgh Mile' you get £4m change.

Bargain!

New Thameslink franchise learns lessons from ICWC fiasco

This from Leo Pink...

According to the Thamelink, Southern and Great Northern invitation to tender:

Publicity
The outcome of a rail franchise competition is of national significance within the United Kingdom and is likely to attract public and media attention. Bidders shall not and shall ensure that their Representatives, Affiliates and their Affiliates’ Representatives shall not (i) issue any press notice, press release or statement in relation to the franchise letting process or their Bid without the prior written consent of the Secretary of State; or (ii) use media or communication channels in a way that might reflect adversely and unfairly on the industry, its participants or the integrity or outcome of the competition.

Quite so.

On no account should the integrity of the DfT be questioned, no matter what the outcome of the competition.

Good to see lessons from the West Coast fiasco have been well and truly learned in Marsham Street!

Cinders - you shall not go to the ball

This from The 10 Cities...

Eye favourite Beardie Branson hosted two weekends of parties this month - to thank Virgin Trains' employees for hitting record satisfaction scores of 92%!

To enable onboard staff to share in the celebrations, without impacting on customers, a number of office managers volunteered to help aboard trains.

Alas!

The RMT responded by balloting for industrial action over managers doing members' jobs!

Railways - dontcha love 'em?

Eurostar to bring 'shabby-chic' to ECML?

Good news for fans of the crumbled edge of quality!

According to the Yorkshire Post...

CHANNEL Tunnel high-speed train company Eurostar is bidding to operate a key rail route which runs between London and Scotland via Yorkshire.

Eurostar is launching a joint bid with French company Keolis to run the East Coast line.

No doubt Eurostar's high quality rolling stock (sic) will convince the DfT that the company should also be entrusted with the UK's premier InterCity route?

UPDATE: This from Entraineur Rugby...

I must take issue with your shabby-chic vision of a Eurostar-run East Coast service.

They are quite clear in the Yorkshire Post article that they are only looking for a minority stake.

Surely they won't be in charge of the trains?

Probably just the website.

Ah...

DfT issues ITTs for LTS and Thameslink 3000

This from the DfT... 

The first invitation to tenders have been published by DfT since launch of a new rail franchising schedule.

The government has today (26 September 2013) published 2 invitations to tender (ITT) for the Essex Thameside and Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) rail franchise competitions. 

These are the first to be issued to bidders since the Department for Transport launched its new rail franchising schedule in March.

They have been shaped by the recommendations made by the independent Brown review into rail franchising. 

ITTs ask bidders to set out detailed proposals of what they will deliver should they win the franchise competition.

Rail Minister Simon Burns said:

"Rail franchising has been a force for good on our railways and the department has been working hard to roll out its new franchising schedule. 

"These are the first invitations to tender to be issued since the independent Brown review into rail franchising, which endorsed the government’s approach to the railways.

"We are now looking for innovative bids that provide value for money for taxpayers and put passengers right back at the heart of our railways." 

It is anticipated the successful bids will be announced in May next year. The Essex Thameside contract will begin in September 2014 and run for 15 years.

The Thameslink and Great Northern elements of the TSGN franchise will start in September 2014 with the Southern element being phased in by July 2015. The franchise will run for 7 years. 

ENDS

Pointless signs - York

This from @VernonBaseley...

They're below you!

Railway Garden Competition - Welwyn Garden City

A word on matrix management

As a service to the industry Eye thought it timely to revisit the Laidlaw Inquiry findings into the ICWC debacle:

Deficiencies in organisational structure and resourcing

7.15 The Inquiry team has considered the organisational changes at the DfT in early 2011 and the impact of multiple changes in leadership and the significant reduction in resources at the DfT over the relevant period. I consider that these organisational changes and resourcing constraints contributed to the flaws in the ICWC franchise process and adversely impacted the DfT’s effectiveness in identifying and/or resolving those flaws. Specifically, I would draw out the following material points in this regard:

7.15.1 until late 2010 the DfT’s activities in relation to refranchising were organised under a single Director-General (“DG”) (refer to Appendix G for details). From late 2010, a client provider relationship, effectively a partial matrix structure, was put in place, with full implementation of the organisational redesign completed in May 2011. This resulted in rail franchising responsibilities within the DfT being split across three DGs (as illustrated in Appendix G). As a result, there was no single accountable lead within the DfT for rail refranchising as a whole; 

Matrix management structures? Treat with caution!

Adonis in Brighton - Shocker

Eye was lamenting the silence from Andrew Adonis earlier this week, when Ed Balls put the boot into HS2.

Where was Lord Adonis, our very own High Speed Evangelist?

Now the truth can be told!

Pictured on Brighton seafront...

Please form an orderly queue...

Higgins to HS2 - Reactions

So farewell to both Doug and Clinton Leeks.

Today's announcement is perhaps a tacit admission that HS2 was losing both the PR battle and political consensus.

Happily, David Higgins appointment appears to be playing well...

Sir David Higgins to become new chair of HS2. A huge boost to HS2. Brilliant infra manager - Olympics, Network Rail, etc
— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) September 25, 2013

David Higgins will give HS2 the experienced leadership this vital project needs. Labour will bring Network Rail and HS2 together in 2015.
— Labour Transport (@labourtransport) September 25, 2013

Great news that former CEO of the Olympics Delivery Authority and @NetworkRail David Higgins is to become new chairman of HS2
— Danny Alexander (@dannyalexander) September 25, 2013

Huge statement of intent by #HS2 appointing Sir David Higgins
— Tom Edwards (@BBCTomEdwards) September 25, 2013

Congratulations to David Higgins on his appointment to HS2, a vital project for rail freight growth.
— Rail Freight Group (@RailFreightUK) September 25, 2013

Good to see David Higgins join HS2 After Doug O's great work to get it rolling, he's the man to get the project built http://t.co/crbb0ZRcZ5
— Antony Oliver NCE (@antonyolivernce) September 25, 2013

Even Mr Grumble knows it's the right answer...

No surprise that David Higgins is joining #HS2 but it is the politics, not the engineering or finance, that will determine its future
— Christian Wolmar (@christianwolmar) September 25, 2013

And this from the East Midlands mafia, better known as the Derby and Derbyshire Rail Forum...

"David Higgins has achieved great things at Network Rail, he has transformed the organisation into one that listens to its customers and the communities it serves. His experience as CEO of the Olympic Delivery Authority means he also has first-hand experience in delivering complicated, high value and politically sensitive projects both on time and to budget.

"We look forward to David taking the reins at HS2 and are confident that he will create a transparent and engaged organisation that will deliver the new North-South railway that this country so desperately needs."
 
Very good. Carry on.

Higgins to HS2 - the fight back begins!

This from HS2 and Network Rail...

NEW CHAIR OF HS2 ANNOUNCED

Doug Oakervee has announced today that he will be standing down as Chairman of HS2 Ltd at the end of the year.

His successor has been announced as current Network Rail Chief Executive Sir David Higgins, who will join HS2 Ltd on 1st January 2014 on a part time basis before taking up the post full time from March.

Doug Oakervee a distinguished civil engineer and former Chairman of Crossrail Ltd took up the post of HS2 Ltd Chairman in April 2012. He has overseen the development of the detailed proposals for the new High Speed 2 line and laid a firm foundation for the delivery of the largest rail project seen in the UK in more than 100 years.

Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin said:

“The fantastic work that Doug Oakervee has delivered as Chairman of HS2 Ltd is testament to the experience and expertise that he brought to this role.

“His energy and professionalism have ensured that the detailed proposals for Phase 1 of the country’s first high speed line north of London will be introduced to Parliament on schedule later this year.

“The appointment of Sir David Higgins to replace Doug Oakervee ensures that we will continue to have leaders at the heart of HS2 who have a track record of delivery. His experience at both Network Rail and as Chief Executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority – where he oversaw construction of the magnificent Olympic Park, a legacy which will be enjoyed by generations - will be essential to ensure we deliver HS2 on time and on budget.”

Mr Oakervee will remain in post to oversee the introduction of the Government’s Hybrid Bill before the end of this year. The Bill will secure Parliamentary approval for Phase 1 of the 350 mile route between London and Birmingham, allowing work to start in 2017 and freeing-up essential capacity for passengers and freight across the rail network.

HS2 Ltd Chairman Doug Oakervee said:

“I believe HS2 is vital to the growth of the UK economy and will deliver the capacity our rail network sorely needs. Sir David is the right man to continue the delivery of this project. I am delighted at his appointment and am confident that alongside Alison Munro our Chief Executive he will continue to drive the scheme forward.

“I am proud of all that I have achieved, particularly that we will be bringing the Hybrid Bill to Parliament by the end of the year, after which I will be standing down. I am pleased to have been able to play a key role in delivering this project which will serve the country for many generations to come.”
 
Chief Executive of Network Rail Sir David Higgins said:
 
“I am delighted to be taking up this role. Working at Network Rail I know the challenge we have ahead with capacity on the railways – they are real and we need to take action now.  I also know the significant benefits that improved journey times between our northern cities will bring not just to the north, but the UK economy as a whole.

“HS2 is the right solution.  It is vital for both passengers and the economy and will put the UK in a different league in terms of infrastructure. My first priority will be to rigorously scrutinise costs to ensure they remain under control.
 “HS2 presents a strategic opportunity for this country and I am determined to make sure we take it by delivering a railway that will allow business and communities to prosper in the long term.”

Chief Executive of HS2 Ltd Alison Munro said:

"Doug Oakervee has been an inspirational Chairman who brought industry knowledge and a proven track record of delivering large, complex rail projects to his tenure at HS2 Ltd.

"In David Higgins HS2 Ltd has secured a proven leader with drive, passion and experience.

"Our new Chairman will bring with him a fantastic track record of delivery thanks to the success of the London Olympic Games.  My team and I look forward to working with him as we move into the next chapter of delivering this vital project."

ENDS

About time and quite right too!