The way of the transgressor...

This from The Londonist, under the following headline:

Graffiti: Tox Could Go To Jail

One of London’s most prolific taggers has been convicted of criminal damage. Daniel Halpin of Camden, better known as Tox, has at least a decade of defacement to his name. His tag, which simply states ‘Tox’ followed by the last two digits of the year, can be seen all over the country and particularly on London’s rail networks.

Eye's heart bleeds for him. No, stop laughing! Honestly, it really does. Okay it doesn't.

Two more lovely figures - this time at the ORR

Good news for fans of the body beautiful!

According to page 41 of the ORR's Annual Report, Bill Emery and John Thomas are in receipt of subsidised gym membership.

Eye would have thought that chasing down all those CP4 savings would have been exercise enough?

11 Car Pendolino Whitewash - Shocker

This with a bowler tip to Eastwood Ho!



How typical!

These Hollywood Blockbusters always manage to avoid mentioning the real heroes.

Stand up Marsham Street!

You got there. Eventually.

What a lovely figure - NR in the money markets

This from Reuters...

June 7 (Reuters) -Following are terms and conditions

of an FRN priced on Tuesday.

Borrower Network Rail Infrastructure

Finance PLC

Guarantor Guarantee by a financial indemnity from

UK Government

Issue Amount $500 million

Maturity Date June 14, 2013

Coupon 3-month Libor + 2 bp

Reoffer price Par

Payment Date June 14, 2011

Lead Manager(s) Deutsche Bank & Goldman Sachs

Ratings Aaa (Moody's), AAA (S&P),

AAA (Fitch)

Listing London

ISIN RegS- XS0637327619

144A- US64127WAC73

Security details and RIC, when available

Look at those lovely AAA ratings!

Heritage railway grows up?

This from the RMT...

RMT MEMBERS at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway are to impose an overtime ban and work-to-rule from a minute after midnight on Friday, June 10, in a dispute with the heritage line over allowances for carriage- and wagon-fitters.

Good to see that the NYMR is even able to recreate the 1960's industrial relations scene.

BarbieRail short formed?

Has anyone seen the Customer Services Director?

That is all.

Balfour Beatty loses Comms Director

This from GorkanaPR...

Duncan Murray, director of corporate communications at Balfour Beatty plc, is to leave the global infrastructure company towards the end of June.

No names yet for a successor.

Eye wonders if BB will be approaching Comms professionals from amongst its client companies?

UPDATE: This from The Major...

According to the above: 'BB will be approaching Comms professionals...'

Would that be BB the highly respected infrastructure company or BB the soi disant veteran observer who is, frankly, a bit rubbishy?

I think we should be told.

UPDATE: This from Brennan-Brown, the soi disant veteran observer himself...

Please can you stop calling me the soi disant veteran observer, it's not big and it's certainly not... (sadly, owing to pressures of space, Eye is unable to reproduce in full this latest missive from the soi disant veteran observer. Ed)

NXEA excels at making photographers welcome

This from a clearly very annoyed Mr Tony Miles...

Station staff at Colchester just told me that it is not permitted to wear a switched off camera, with lens cap fitted, on the station!

No wonder NX haven't retained the franchise.

Customer service from the 'Attila the Hun book on How To Win Friends & Influence People'.

UPDATE: An update from Mr Miles...

On the back of the Eye piece above I've just had a call from Virgin Trains who said:

"You are welcome to remove your lens cap & take photos at our stations whenever you like."

That's the way to get shortlisted for a franchise!

Eye wonders if there are other ways to get shortlisted for a franchise? Not being German certainly appears to be one. Readers may know of others...

UPDATE: This from Our International Correspondent...

I didn't know that being nice or nasty to a railway hack was a way to win or lose anything of consequence, let alone a franchise.

Magistrates throw book at cement mixer driver

This from the Elmbridge Guardian...

The driver of a cement mixer that crashed off a bridge on to a passing train has been fined £100 and had five penalty points added to his licence.

Well that will certainly learn him!

DafT misses its own Thameslink deadline

Well there's a surprise!


Fingers out chaps.

The benefits of franchising explained

This from Austin Healey...

Has anyone spotted the sudden rush to slap paint on VT stations?

Here the waiting room at Stafford.


And here, the stairs at Crewe.


Might this be related to franchise renewal, and if so can we expect the next coat to be applied around 2025?

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

Either its down to franchise renewal or both Stafford and Crewe are about to be closed...

World's most ironic headline - Official!

This from the Communist Party!

RAIL: On the wrong track

Eye supposes that this knowledge comes from experience?

Villiers vignettes - Can't count, won't count

Telegrammed by Ithuriel
According to Cruella de Villiers, responding to yet another train spotterish question from Maria the Eagle...

Given in a written answer given on the 24th May:

It is expected that 112 vehicles will be built (for Thameslink) during 2014-15 which will make 10 full train length equivalent diagrams.

That's clever, since Thameslink has 12 car trains and the last time I recited my Tables 10 twelves were 120.

Can it be long before Cruella ends up at the Treasury?

UPDATE: This from @Al_S (via Twitter)...

Might 112 carriages be 8x12-car trains plus 2x8-car?

Not all the TL stock will 12 car.

TIE goes from strength to strength

Good news for fans of Tram schemes!

This from The Scotsman...

The four non-executive directors of TIE are understood to have quit last week following the departure of chief executive Richard Jeffrey.

The four men are Neil Scales, the chief executive of Mersey- Travel, Brian Cox, a former board member at Stagecoach, Scottish Government official Kenneth Hogg and Peter Strachan, who previously worked for Network Rail.

Heavy rail good. Light rail better?

Green Hammond Eggs

This for fans of Dr Seuss...


Okay - there were no eggs.

NR produces Rolling Stock RUS

This from GJ Churchward...

So Network Rail has published a Rolling Stock RUS!

Eye readers can discover the salient points here:

We have published the draft for consultation of the Network Route Utilisation Strategy: Passenger Rolling Stock.

The Network RUS: Passenger Rolling Stock focuses on the opportunities and efficiencies which arise when purchasing new rolling stock. It considers the requirements of passengers in each market sector. It then demonstrates how planning the rolling stock and infrastructure together can enable the network to become more inter-operable to enable rolling stock to go anywhere it is needed to serve its nominated market sector.

Given the cost of purchasing new rolling stock, opportunities, to exploit economies of scale which could be achieved from simplifying the types of vehicles available and smoothing the profile of procurement are particularly important.

The emerging strategy of the RUS draft for consultation recommends:

• The procurement of new rolling stock should consider the requirements of passengers in the market sector it is required to serve as well as the network infrastructure it will run over
• Rolling stock procurement decisions should seek to take advantage of economies of scale and continuity of production
• The infrastructure should be planned to enable rolling stock to be more interoperable (within the market sector it serves)

Stangely no mention of the advisability of the wheels being round though.

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

According to NR the RS-RUS also finds that:

• Owing to the plethora of different vehicle designs 8% (£75m) of average procurement costs is on non-recurring costs associated with the development of bespoke rolling stock

Does this £75m include the £27m sunk to date into the bespoke Incredibly Expensive Procurement (without a single new vehicle to show for it)?

UPDATE: This from Ithuriel...

According to the Executive summary of Network Rail's Rolling Stock RUS:

Information provided by a number of train manufacturers through RIA, suggests that there are considerable economies of scale to be had from reducing the variety of different rolling stock designs. Based on this information, it is estimated that in the region of £75 million or eight per cent of the average procurement cost is spent on non-recurring costs including research and development of bespoke rolling stock

Hang on a moment!

If £75 million represents 8% of the average procurement cost, then the average rolling stock contract must be £837 million - say 500-600 vehicles

But when was the last time a brand new fleet of that size was ordered in the UK?

And isn't the reallity that the piddling little orders that have been placed have been repeats for more 'Desistars'?

What's going on?

UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic...

I quote:

The analysis in the RUS suggests that a 23 metre vehicle could be deployed across a Considerable amount of the network with relatively low costs for infrastructure interventions.

Look out of the window, Chaps.

It's called a Mk3 coach and it's been doing just that for 35 years.

The Fact Compiler offers the following Old Railway Wisdom - If 'three across and one on top' can get there, anything will get there!

DfT rebalances the deck chairs...

Exciting news from the Department!

According to industry sources DafT have rebalanced Ministerial portfolios.

• The Minister of State, Theresa Villiers, will now focus on rail strategy and on our major rail projects. This is in addition to her existing portfolio, which includes aviation, London, Olympics and Europe.
  

• Norman Baker will provide support by leading on the Government’s implementation of current Franchise Agreements including commercial matters, day to day contract management and rail performance issues.

• All other portfolios remain the same.

As pretty a piece of spin as you are likely to see.

Of course the reality is as follows:

• Cruella takes on a demanding new pan-industry role with top down responsibility for vertical integration, horizontal alignment and parallel fragmentation of strategic trolley and buffet Jammy Dodger supplies.

• Meanwhile LibDem Norman Baker has been shunted into a non-job managing TOC franchises, performance and contracts on a day to day basis.

How will poor old Norm' live down this evident demotion?

UPDATE: This from Our International Correspondent...

There is much political liability in this!

Norman is now destined to be the man unable to make the trains run on time or get St Alban's Man a seat.

Meanwhile, Cruella will be making the one way trip to spend more time with her family when London2012’s Transport Plan is exposed to operational reality.

All political careers are destined to end in failure...

UPDATE: This from yet another satisfied Eye reader...

Sir

Am I alone in decrying the corrosive cynicism of your International Correspondent.

The timely decision to negotiate an extension to the Virgin West Coast franchise means that this experienced and much loved operator will continue to run its services through the Olympic period.

With success thus assured, Ms Villiers, bathed in reflected glory, will be ideally placed to become the new Secretary of State.

I remain, sir, yours

R Slicker

Railway Garden Competition - Bodmin Parkway

Hitachiballs - The IEP's 'green' credentials

This from Ithuriel...

Quoted in the Greenwise Weekly e-Newsletter

"One of the things that our trains will do is they will use less energy per feet than existing trains, because they’re lighter," said Hitachi Europe spokeswoman Daniela Karthaus.

"We will also have more capacity on the trains, so more passengers can travel on them, so that is going to be an environmental benefit."

Karthaus said the lighter trains will lessen the amount of material used in repairs as well.

"They will do very little damage to the tracks because they are lighter, which in turn means less replacement of tracks, which makes them hopefully more sustainable," she said.

But, even Captain Deltic's uncharacteristically uncritical review of the Hitachi SET in the latest Modern Railways has to concede that the five car bi-mode - which represents 70% of the proposed fleet - weighs 800kg per seat compared with only 730kg per seat for the IC125 it is supposed to replace.

Or, to put it another way, the super lightweight train extolled by Ms Karthaus weighs the same as a Voyager or Adelante which are generally regarded as heavy and not exactly track friendly, compared with, say, a Class 158.

UPDATE: This from Leo Pink...

Ithuriel is unkind to Meridians.

They may be heavy but, according to Bombardier, based on current variable track access charges a Meridian causes 10% less track damage than an IC125, 25% less than a Pendolino and 35% less than an IC225.

UPDATE: This from the tediously self promoting Captain Deltic...

This low track wear must be attributed in large part to the Meridian's inside frame FLEXX Eco bogie.

An article on the history of this bogie from its conception by British Rail Research to its selection for DB's new ICx train appears in this month's Informed... (Boring, boring, boring - next please. Ed)

Pointless signs - Matlock

This is the scene at Matlock where new track has been laid into Platform 2 for the use of Peak Rail.


Or perhaps not.