This from the Railway Gazette...
Nexus named Deutsche Bahn subsidiary DB Regio (Tyne and Wear) Ltd as preferred bidder for a contract to operate the Tyne & Wear Metro on December 3.
Willkommen!
Hulleys’ Closure - My Thoughts
5 months ago
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Nexus update - DB uber Nexus...
Chiltern rejects "streamlined fares"
This just in from Hymnody...
As Eye has already noticed, NFM05 content has been uploaded to "The Manual" earlier in the week.
One you may have missed, however, is a fare with a massive 46% increase!
The 1st Anytime Day Single from London Terminals to Banbury (and vv), priced by Chiltern, is increasing from £44.50 to £65.00.
Similarly, the 1st Anytime Day Return is increasing from £89.00 to a whopping £130.00!
At present, the only way to make use of 1st Class is to travel from Paddington via Reading.
But from the December timetable change it will also, of course, be valid on Wrexham and Shropshire services from London Marylebone, which will be making "full calls" at Banbury and Leamington Spa.
Probably best not to tell Lord Adonis, who used Tuesday's Grauniad to praise Open Access "steamlined fares".
UPDATE: This from Central User...
I wonder whether the justification for this is that 1st includes a sit-down cooked meal?
Will DafT's updated Rolling Stock Plan ever appear
This written answer given on the 2nd December by Moley...
David Ruffley (- Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Bury St Edmunds, Conservative)
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what the average age of rolling stock used on the Norwich to London railway line was during (a) 2007, (b) 2008 and (c) to date in 2009.
Chris Mole (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Ipswich, Labour)
The Department for Transport does not hold the information requested in relation to the average age of rolling stock used on the Norwich to London railway line.
The Eye is still struggling to understand how the Department can produce a meaningful Rolling Stock Plan if they don't have access to such basic data.
As regular Eye readers will be aware Ministers have been assuring Parliament that such a thing will be published in the "Autumn".
As it is now winter perhaps Marsham Street has finally admitted it's just not up to the task?
UPDATE:
Just thought I'd pause from welding up a Pacer underframe to point out the DfT Rail doesn't need to know the age of rolling stock because it is assumed that all ex-BR stock will run forever.
UPDATE: This from J Alfred Prufrock...
The Autumn ends with the winter Equinox, which falls on 21 December.
Mr Mole has also said that the Plan is proving to be a major challenge and he hopes to get it out by Christmas, which this year falls on 25th December...
But note that he did not say Autumn of which year.
UPDATE: This from Trailer Second...
Captain Deltic welding a Pacer underframe?
Their underframes will outlast us all.
In fact the MOD want them for the next version of the AFV, expected to be built by a "British led Consortium" of Krupp, Mitsubishi and Fiat...
UPDATE: This via North Pole depot...
Every year my delivery Plan is a challenge, but I usually manage to achieve it on the night.
However this year I have had to find a new piece of "sliding stock" myself.
Despite promises of a re-worked underframe from a "surplus" Oldham Loop unit (thanks for trying Captain D!), I have had to resort to a short term lease arrangement on a flatrol from a Heritage Line in return for some guest appearances before the big night itself... as if I didn't have enough to do.
So tell DafT they'll be very lucky to get any Plan in their stockings from me!
Père Noel
Gare du Pôle Nord
Lord Adonis plays the Fat Controller with SLC2
Good news for all those upset by the proposed SCL2 timetable due to be introduced on the East Coast Main Line in December 2010.
The new timetable was due to be signed off by the ORR in the next couple of weeks.
Alas.
Word reaches the Eye that no less a figure than Lord Adonis is now taking a close personal interest in its provisions.
Indeed, he has shredded the latest version saying it was "not good enough" and told all involved to go back to the drawing board and deliver a timetable with a sub 4hr Edinburgh to London journey time.
Presumably the Office of Rail Regulation will wish to prove its independence by standing firm against such blatant political interference?
UPDATE: This from Ithuriel...
Lord Adonis does indeed want a sub-4hr London-Edinburgh headline journey time.
| Current journey times | |||
| Journey times | Fastest | Slowest | Average |
| | | | |
| Edinburgh-Aberdeen | | | |
| London-Aberdeen | | | |
| Indicative future Super Express journey times | |||
| Journey times | Fastest | Slowest | Average |
| London-Edinburgh | | | |
| Edinburgh-Aberdeen | | | |
| London-Aberdeen | | | |
So the above table, released in a written answer by Moley won't go down well.
ATOC - photography not a security concern - Official
Exciting news from ATOC!
According to Railnews...
A new online guide to National Rail has been launched by the Association of Train Operating Companies to help passengers, especially those with disabilities, to find their way round more than 2500 stations. The innovation, including 14,000 web pages and interactive maps as well as 700,000 photographs, is said to be a world first.
Indeed.
And what a wonderful on-line resource for passengers... or indeed those with less benign intentions.
With this in mind Eye expects an immediate end to stories of TOC jobsworths preventing photography on stations for spurious 'security' reasons!
UPDATE: This from Simon...
While reluctant to knock what is a brilliant idea and an incredibly useful resource, I was rather amused to note that the guide to Southampton Airport Parkway makes no mention of the brand new covered footbridge complete with lifts, forming the only means of access between the platforms for those with mobility problems.
A little embarrassing as these facilities were opened to great fanfare by Minister Chris Mole only today.
This emphasises the point that ATOC will have to keep the new site bang up to date if it is to be more of a help than a hindrance.
UPDATE: This from consultancy the mhdpartnership via Twitter...
That ATOC site is shocking and just proves how archaic our rail industry is!
There is a critique on our blog.
Nexus concession to be announced today
***Winner of the Nexus concession expected to be announced at 17:00 today***
Lookalike - We can rebrand him, we have the technology...
With a bowler tip to the RMT whose cheeky flyers were distributed outside the NR Board meeting yesterday...
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Only the best for NR's well padded directors!
Much excitement amongst the brothers.
The RMT has discovered that Network Rail is holding tomorrow's board meeting at the tres-piss-elegant Langham Hotel.
Obviously the "arrogant" infrastructure owner's brand new King's Place headquarters doesn't have a room large enough to squeeze in all those inflated egos and their wallets.
Meanwhile, back on planet earth, 1500 essential safety maintenance staff are facing redundancy as NR makes swinging cuts to maintenance budgets.
No matter.
NR's well padded board members have standards to maintain (if not infrastructure) as can be seen from the picture below, taken just before their last meeting.
However, mindful of the need to make economies, Eye wonders if NR's Chief Executive might like to pick up the tab for tomorrow's Langham jolly from his own £1,244,000 annual package?
UPDATE: This from Network Rail's Internet Rapid Rebuttal Unit...
This is not just a board meeting but a meeting for which over 100 of our members have been invited. And, no, our office at King's Place cannot accommodate a meeting of that size. Nobody from Network Rail is actually staying overnight at the hotel, we simply are using for a meeting.
We regularly have meetings with our members at locations all over the country and often use hotels. Mr Crow, before he allowed to let his membership lapse, used to be invited to these meetings.
Network Rail is not going to take any lessons from the RMT in hotel booking policy - recent RMT conferences have been held in Douglas, Isle of Man and Dublin.
Perhaps Mr Crow should stick to his comedy act. Viewers of HIGNFY will agree it needs some work.
The politics of thefactcompiler continue to puzzle this reader - one minute minor public school right-wing reactionary and the next a sort of anarcho-Poujadism!!!
UPDATE: This from 5741 Duck...
Is the Fact Compiler into some form of strange deviancy?
At best "swinging cuts" sound delightfully random and temporary.
We must be happy for the people affected that the cuts aren't also swingeing.
UPDATE: This just in from our man at 222 Marylebone Road...
Clearly new Chairman Rick Haythornthwaite is working on a shock and awe approach to his Public Members.
The Langham describes itself as "a veritable icon among London hotels, offering impeccably luxurious surroundings on Regent Street".
The ancien regime policy of schmoozing the public members to death amidst awe-inspiring luxury is now combined with the shock of a rolling information barrage include two meetings a year with Mr Angry.
UPDATE: This from a Mr Saltaire...
So Network Rail claims there was insufficient space at King's Place to host 100 Public Members and attendant NR schmoozers.
Could this be the same King's Place where Steer Davies Gleave recently held its High Speed Rail Summit, attended by over 200 enthusiastic railway industry people and one Secretary of State?
I think we should be told!
UPDATE: This, unbelievably, from former Prime Minister Tony Blair (allegedly Cherie, allegedly...)
Is that my old pardner President Bush sitting one away from the former head of the No 10 Policy Unit?
It was nice of Dubya to keep a seat for me. Shoulder to shoulder 'n' all that.
(Right. Stop this! It's now getting silly. Ed)
November visitors
In November Railway Eye received 30,574 visits from 12,461 unique visitors.
According to Google Analytics you viewed 43,900 splenetic utterances in total.
Thank you.
Monday, 30 November 2009
Arriva Cross County fares are just grand - Official
Wouldn't it be madness if Arriva Cross Country decided to add a bit more to the £1,002 fare story?
Of course it would!
Therefore, these rumoured January increases to XC fares must be wrong:
First class open return from Newquay to Kyle of Lochalsh = £1,068 (up from £1002)
First class open return from Newquay to Wick = £1058.50 (up from £993)
Oh, and for good measure, Newquay to Dingwall goes up to £1,006!
Probably best not to tell Barry Doe!
Adonis freezes price of All Line Rail Rover!
This just in from @swlines via Twitter...
All Line Rover prices unchanged according to latest NFM!
Eye congratulates Lord Adonis for promoting this excellent product and ATOC for ensuring it remains great value.
Eye recommends the special offer on the 14 Day Rover here!
(And first class for 14 days is still less than one return journey between Newquay and Kyle of Lochalsh with Arriva Cross Country. Ed)
Mary Grant says sorry - Official
Are there no end to the talents of First Group's Mary Grant?
On Friday rail boss Mary enchanted the industry, and raised loads for street children, by doing a winning turn (or two) at the annual Railway Children fundraiser.
Eye understands that Mary was so taken by the roar of the crowd that she has decided to release a sung apology to furious FuCC commuters suffering a shortage of trains...
For those unable to view YouTube a hard copy of Mary's apology can be found here.
Europe's High Speed Railways stuck in the past
This from the BBC with a bowler tip to the Commuter...
Railteam, the alliance of European high-speed rail operators, has shelved plans for a Europe-wide common booking system because of increasing costs... The new system would have created a one-stop-shop for tickets for complete high-speed journeys across Europe.
So whilst nearly everybody is now convinced that High Speed Rail is the right method of travelling around Europe it would appear that the flabby state owned operators still can't be arsed to offer their customers single transaction ticketing.
Europe's railways - the transport of tomorrow (if you're living in the 1950s).
UPDATE: This from D1062...
Whilst the European ticketing dream alluded to is mere pie in the sky, there are a couple of institutions well served to guide you through the maze of European ticketing and serve as a one stop shop (albeit one that will give you lots of tickets) this side of the border.
I can recommend Deutsche Bahn UK (have your details ready and email them, they will call you back - ruthlessly efficient), and Ffestiniog Travel. Note for any rail staff, Ffestiniog Travel do not issue European FIP tickets.
UPDATE: This from the Globetrotter...
I am no apologist for Railteam, but as one who actually attended the presentation in Brussels last week (unlike the BBC), can I comment on your recent report.
The cancellation of the Broker ticketing system is really no surprise, given that it was hugely ambitious to try and develop something that could sell tickets from any station in Europe to any other, comparing and combining all the different fare options for each leg. After all, as any Doe can tell you it's bad enough negotiating the UK fares minefield alone! If Railteam are to be faulted, it is perhaps for thinking that it could all be achieved for EUR30m in the first place.
According to ticketing insiders, the biggest problem was combining 'closed' ticketing systems like SNCF and Eurostar, where inter-city trains are reservation-only, with the German camp that favours an 'open' walk-on strategy.
Because of EU competition rules, Railteam cannot set fares itself, but only act as a joint marketing facility. So as a more realistic option, the partners are negotiating bilateral agreements which will, I am told, put in place a basket of international fares between 7,000 principal destinations, to be sold via www.railteam.eu. There may also be zonal add-ons for connecting journeys to and from these hubs.
Because airlines only serve a relatively limited number of O-D pairs, we have come to expect that through tickets can be booked and paid for online with one or two clicks. Given that there are so many more rail destinations, the options are orders of magnitude greater.
Only when airlines start to sell multi-modal through tickets from Little Piddling to Jernbacksnortle via Gatwick and Frankfurt, can we realistically demand that rail operators do the same. (Even assuming that the EU will let them!).
Readers Letters - From a Mr Geo Hudson
Sir
I note with interest that the country of Finland has recently created one
single institution with responsibility for road, rail and water transport.
Were such a strange beast to be embodied in Her Majesty's domains it would no doubt have some mundane title such as "British Transport Commission".
I beg leave to observe that leaving the provision and organisation of the railway system to private enterprise has proved to be a resounding success in our country and we have no need of such foreign practices !
Yours profitably
Geo.Hudson (retired)
Workington - wise words from Wolmar
So Workington is reunited, thanks to a sprightly turn of foot from Network Rail, Northern, DRS and DafT.
Whilst congratulations are due to all involved it is time for some wise words from Wolmar:
Now if all this can be done in a few days, then why can’t new stations, extra bits of track, altered junctions and the like be done far faster and more cheaply?
Indeed.
And now the precedent has been set the usual excuses for inertia will not wash.
So Eye wonders if reconnecting Workington will become a future stick with which to beat the industry or a blue print for actually getting things done?
Friday, 27 November 2009
Bob Crow on HIGNFY tonight - sneak preview
This from the Ian Visits blog...
Bob Crow though was a surprising disappointment.
Indeed!
Ian's full review of the recording can be found here.
Bluebell request for help - update
This just in from Poser 500...
Eye readers may be interested to know that the Bluebell Railway WON the phone vote in the People's Millions Bid.
This means that it will receive funding to restore derelict 4-wheel LC&DR brake second carriage No.51 for use by mobility impaired passengers.
The refurbished vehicle should enter service by Christmas next year.
Many thanks to all those who voted and to Eye for its support.
NXEA offers season ticket incentive
This just in from Sinoda...
I wonder if Eye readers might be interested in news of an interesting promotion to be launched next week by NXEA.
This from an internal briefing:
Annual Season Ticket (AST) Holder Renewal Incentive
The AST Renewal Incentive campaign offers £20 back for every AST due for renewal between Wednesday 23rd December 2009 and Wednesday 6th January 2010, if renewed by Thursday 31st December 2009.
Customers will also receive the 2010 price if this is less than the 2009 price.
The objectives of this campaign are to:
Ensure that 2009 Annual Season Ticket (AST) holders renew in 2009
Draw forward to 2009 those AST due to renew in the first week of 2010
Capture the details of all those who renew and obtain their agreement for future marketing activity
Communication materials to support the launch include leaflets, posters, email, web site and a press release. This campaign launches Monday 7th December 2009.
Of course, providing a small incentive to persuade hundreds of your season ticket holders to renew their annual tickets early might also help the cash flow of a financially ailing parent company that's facing a huge bill from its bankers if it doesn't reduce its debt mountain before the said 31st December date.
And if you thought that perhaps your Rights Issue wouldn't go ahead after all and there was a possibility that the game might be up completely on the final day of the year, it would certainly be rather handy to have already collected all the extra cash that would otherwise have belonged to a possible new incumbent.
What a shockingly cynical view. Surely this is merely an example of the Customer Service for which NatEx is so widely renowned?
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