RVAR regulations flouted - Shocker

Telegrammed by Our International Correspondent

No doubt this will have the Disability Taliban frothing at the mouth.

Compliance with DDA has long since ceased to be optional for most operators, but luckily the requirement to paint doors a contrasting colour for the benefit of the visually impaired is not quite universal.

Obligingly the Grauniad has published a picture of a confused older chap failing to find the claret coloured door in his Mum's claret coloured train.

Eye salutes HRH the Prince of Wales for continuing to support the railways.

UPDATE: This from @daddydoink via Twitter...

@TheFactCompiler RVAR: Charles made the suggestion of wheelchair access loos on mk3s to Cyril Bleasdale's boss in 1979!

Maybe let him off?!

SWT - stuff the passenger, bank the lolly

Good to see that SWT is maintaining its unrivaled reputation for dry shafting the passenger.

This nonsense via Yahoo:

A couple have had to pay a £114 fine after getting off a train two stops early.

Emma Clark and Davyd Winter-Bates were travelling to Southampton from London with South West Trains when they decided to get off two stops early at Eastleigh.

When they handed over their tickets at the station, they were told they were each being fined £57 because they had not stayed on the train until their destination.

The fine was twice the standard fare of £28.50.

Eye suggests that SWT should consider diversifying into the catering trade.

Using the same perverse 'revenue protection' logic they could then fine diners for failing to finish their meals.

Get a grip.

UPDATE: This from SharpSharp...

I run a coffee shop.

If I did a half price offer on americano's it would make them cheaper than espresso's. But if someone asked for an americano without the water I'd tell them they could have their usual espresso and that they should stop trying to pull a fast one.

When you buy advanced purchase tickets you don't have the option to change your plans and it is made very clear that they are valid only for the journey on the tickets.

If Emma and David were traveling to Eastleigh they should have purchased a ticket to Eastleigh.

UPDATE: This from Billy Connections...

I'm not sure why you have posted the anti-SWT rant - the couple were in breach of the terms and conditions of a special offer ticket they were sold - good on the SWT gripper for fining them.

Too many people here never consult terms and conditions of any

purchase and then assume that if they've made a mistake that they are still in the right.

Caveat Emptor!

UPDATE: This from Captain Auto...

Further to the furore:

Am I to assume that common sense on the part of ticketing staff is no longer to be encouraged?

Those who have replied are indeed entirely correct in their application of the standing rules and regulations.

I would suggest however that such heavy handed treatment of passengers (fare paying passengers, not ticketless scrotes intend on avoiding paying at all costs) is likely to damage both the reputation of SWT and ensure that the couple involved are unlikely to travel by train again.

I'm with TFC - a wonderful own-goal by the winners of Passenger Operator of the Year 2005*.

* What a difference a franchise change makes; they said they'd pay £1.2 billion in 2007. I suppose that £114 fine is at least going to cheer up the Treasury in some small way.

UPDATE: This from D0260...

I notice that SWT charged a couple £114 for getting off the train two stops early.

The question I would like to ask is:

Just how much would SWT have charged if the couple had failed to make the journey at all?

Railway Garden Competition - Chad' Sidings

This from The Sleeper...

How civilised of NR to provide this pleasing vista for the delight of weary traincrew.

Pointless signs - LM goes the extra mile

This just in from BB...

Eye salutes the serious dedication shown by staff at Birmingham Snow Hill!

London Midland - committed to 'Elf & Safety

This with a bowler tip to @Swlines, via twitter...

To celebrate successfully completing his A Levels @Swlines is undertaking a Pilgrimage of Grice with a 14 day All Line Rover.

You can follow his travels via Twitter or on his blog.

How to maximise driver hours - Explained

Exciting news from the road fleet world!

Eye has been sent these splendid images showing how Babcock's Network Division applied corporate branding to a road vehicle

And what a smart image it presents!

But what's this?

No doubt the amount of time it takes drivers to enter and exit vehicles is much reduced?

Publication praises Chairman - Shocker

Telegrammed by our International Correspondent

Railnews has kicked off its new on line supplement entitled Railnews Focus.

It contains a glowing account of the celebrations that Sir William McAlpine held to mark the 50 years he has lived in his agreeable stately pile at Fawley Hill, which also includes a one mile standard gauge railway.

Sir Bill is, of course, the Chairman of Railnews Limited. So good to see that the editorial team is already very clearly focused on meeting the needs of key stakeholders!

No matter.

The real meat is in the editorial, which does a manful and very moving job of analysing the Potter’s Bar Inquest proceedings – certainly good enough to cause consternation in the dead tree industry rags.

Focus is penned by Sim Harris, an ex-BBC man who keeps his ear very close to the ground.

Setting aside the curious launch timing – bang in the middle of the quietest week of the silly season when no-one of any consequence was at their desks, the new ePublication is a bid by Railnews for a new editorial beat.

Ever since it was conceived as the heir and successor to the old regional BR staff magazines it has stuck solidly to its blue collar audience. Now they are going after decision makers, a market targeted not wholly successfully by the erstwhile Rail Manager On Line.

But with only a small amount of lavish corporate advertising to go round in these straightened times, and great uncertainty about who our real decision makers actually are, it will be interesting to see if digital can trounce dead tree or if there will be tears before bedtime.

Meanwhile, Eye welcomes another member to the on-line Commentariat.

Pointless signs - Wakefield Kirkgate

Pointless signs - Safe Removals

This with a bowler tip to Turbostar...

Safe Removals?

Indeed not.

Exciting new design for the IEP?

Telegrammed by Ithuriel
According to everyone's favourite railway fortnightly this is the new name for the IEP

ボイジャー

Hitachi have made a five car EMU eliminated the power car and increased the number of underfloor 'donkey engines' to give enough power to match IC125 performance away from the wires.

That sounds like a diesel engine under the middle three cars with the electrical gubbins under the driving cars.

A design that appears to have much in common with the 子午線.

Great minds thinking alike or the Japanese perfecting yet another European design?

Pointless signs - Normal in Norfolk

The Fact Compiler is on his hols...

So posting will be, at best, intermittent.



No doubt a source of relief to many.

Railway Magazine changes ownership?

Eye understands that Mortons Media Group may be adding Railway Magazine to its growing portfolio of titles.

Regular Eye readers will recall that the Lincolnshire based specialist magazine publisher also snapped up Rail Express earlier this year.

The 2009 ABC audited figures showed Railway Magazine with a healthy circulation of 34,715 copies.

Health and safety spared the Age of Austerity

Hot on the heels of the Coucher Memorial Fencing which has been sprouting up around the network comes the latest in safety gold plating.

Welcome to the world of Stanchion Spikes!


Eyes correspondent Captain Biggles writes...

Has there been a sudden spate of stanchion climbers?

After all, the ac electrification seems to have managed without this 'protective' nonsense for 50 years.

Note that the stanchion in the background has not been treated...

Anyone any idea how much these new Elf'n'Safety features cost?

Trolley Travels - Telford

ATOC plans secret station opening - Shocker

Is ATOC secretly planning to open a new station?


Or does this page reflect its view of passengers?

Eye thinks we should be told?

UPDATE: This from Our Man in the Dark...

Since it's a Z code station it must be one of ours.

Are ATOC planning some kind of Underground takeover?

We should be told!

Railway Garden Competition - Wolverhampton

This from D0260...


Notice that this particular Railway Garden is safely under the watching eye of a CCTV camera.

Trolley Travels - Exciting new feature

Time for an exciting new feature focusing on the travels of platform trolleys!

This from Alex (13 years)...

Presumably this Yorkist trolley had hitched a lift on a passing Arriva Voyager (if it could have found any space!).


Anyhow, it looks happy enough with Wakefield Prison in the background.

Railway Garden Competition - Bethnal Green

Railway Garden Competition - Hackney Downs