Railway Garden Competition - Boston

DafT confirms Japan a closed market

Good to see that the Department for Transfer continues to bat for Britain!

This from a written answer given in the House of Lords on the 20th July...

Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat)
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any discussions took place with, and any concessions were offered by, the Government of Japan during negotiations with Hitachi regarding the new intercity trains contract about the ability of British engineering companies to compete in Japan.

Earl Attlee (Whip, House of Lords; Conservative)
On each of the occasions that the Secretary of State has met the Japanese ambassador to the UK and other Japanese government officials, he has emphasised the importance and benefits of allowing British companies to compete on a level playing field for engineering and other contracts within Japan.

Furthermore, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office continues to ensure that this matter is raised in the EU-Japan regulatory reform dialogue.

So the answer is no then!

Let's try an easier question.

Can DafT confirm that the Japanese Ambassador's chair in the Secretary of State's office was at least made in the UK?

UPDATE: This from the Archer...

That's a little harsh.

The EU-Japan regulatory reform dialogue will I'm sure ensure that Germany can one day export rolling stock to Japan as well as the UK.

Siemens boss backs Bombardier - Shocker

This from the BBC...


But what's this?

Suddenly Mr Walton has become Mr Wilson!


Could the Beeb perhaps be thinking of David Wilson, the boss of Siemens?

Still nice of him to attend tomorrow's march. Eye is sure he will receive a very warm Derbyshire welcome...

RMT & TSSA discuss merger

This from the RMT...

The TSSA and RMT unions today agreed to commit to formal talks which could ultimately lead to a merger of the two unions. Initial discussions will focus on closer working between both unions initially through a federation structure with a view to moving towards a merger.

Both unions also agreed that the door will remain open for other smaller specialist unions in transport who may be thinking along similar lines to join the discussions at a future date.

Commenting on the decision, TSSA General Secretary Gerry Doherty said: “Today’s decision will hopefully be the start of a process designed to serve the interests of future generations of transport and travel trade workers. We owe an obligation to our children and our children’s children to leave better organisations that protect workers in the very uncertain future that they currently face”

Speaking on behalf of the RMT, General Secretary Bob Crow said: “This is a historical day for the trade union movement. These talks will bring together two unions each with over a hundred years of specialising in the transport industry in the interests of workers.”

- Ends -

Walder to be MTR CEO

This from Investegate...

MTR Corporation has announced that, with effect from 1 January 2012, Mr. Jay Herbert Walder will be appointed as Chief Executive Officer for an initial term of thirty months.

He will become both a Member of the Executive Directorate and join the Board of Directors with effect from that date. To ensure a smooth transition, Mr. Walder will become CEO Designate at the beginning of November.

The current CEO, Mr. Chow Chung-kong, will retire from his position at the end of the year.

Railway Garden Competition - Lewes

A disgraceful scene that the new Sussex Route MD will hopefully be allowed to banish forever?

Hackgate the Video!

That is all.

Brooker-Carey joins Crossrail

This from PR Week...

Crossrail has hired the former comms director of Tube Lines to shake up its PR team.

Louise Brooker-Carey will join the company behind Europe’s largest civil engineering project in August as head of public affairs.

She will report to newly appointed chief executive Andrew Wolstenholme, who also starts in August and will be responsible for shaping the future of the comms team.

As Head of Public Affairs Brooker-Carey will also need to have a good working relationship with other board members, especially the chairman of Crossrail.

One Terry Morgan who, before joining Crossrail in 2009, was CEO of Tube Lines and her former boss.

Strachan returns to beef up Dept for Transfer

This from the Brisbane Times...

The man in charge of southeast Queensland’s transport network for the past two years has quit to take on an Olympic challenge overseas.

Translink chief executive Peter Strachan will end his role in October after landing a key posting in the United Kingdom government.

As the UK Transport Department’s Director-General responsible for Major Projects, Mr Strachan is set to oversee transport for the 2012 London Olympics.

UPDATE: This from the Shunter...

Mostly harmless.

Lookalike - You won't like me when I'm angry

Bombardier Chairman Colin Walton appears to have tired of playing Mr Nice Guy!

This from today's Daily Mail...

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said at the time that he had no power to overturn the decision.

But Walton said questions in Parliament had shown Hammond did have the power to reconsider the bid and bypass Siemens. He said: ‘It now looks like the Secretary of State has a lot of questions to answer.’

He added: ‘I do find it completely incredible that nothing to do with socio-economics has been taken into account. They have had every option to do that in the invitation to tender.’

Walton was speaking as he was supposed to be on a South African trade trip with the Prime Minister, but was snubbed just 48-hours before the flight took off.

His absence meant he missed the chance to secure key contract there. He said: ‘It would have been a golden opportunity for the Government to demonstrate commitment to British exports. Is it the case that they no longer back British exports? I really hope that’s not the case, but I don’t know.’


Unsurprisingly, Eye prefers it when he's angry!

How the media works. No 94

Do the genii behind Viz read Modern Railways?


Eye thinks we should be told!

Brown backs Bombardier

This from M'Duck...

Thought Eye readers might be interested to see this which has been circulated around Litchurch Lane:


Good to see London backing Derby.

UPDATE: This from Howard Wade...

Will Mike Brown's overt support for Derby extend to putting in a good word with his TfL chums working on the Crossrail fleet procurement?

Bobby flags a warning

This from Messrs Saxby and Farmer...

With so much attention devoted to the job losses at Derby caused by the importation of railway rolling stock, it behoves us to point out that employment is at risk at our former partner Messrs Westinghouse at Chippenham, which we now understand is known as Invensys.

This is because of the decision by the Metropolitan Railway to resignal its sub-surface lines in London with a signalling system from Bombardier.

Given the eximious performance of Messrs Westinghouse in resignalling the Victoria line, and how gratifying to see the late Queen so honoured, it seems perverse to import yet another novel signalling system, untried in the UK.

As Mr Douglas Hames, the Honourable Member for Chippehnam has remarked, 'When we have such exceptional engineering talent in our country that wins contracts abroad, some of us may wonder why we are not more successful at winning contracts at home'.

We remain sir, your obedient servants...

Derbygate - The rally.

This from M'Duck...

Please could you alert Eye readers to a rally in support of UK manufacturing jobs that is taking place on Saturday?


Be there or be square!

UPDATE: This from the BBC...

More than 50,000 people have signed a petition urging the government to reverse a decision to give a £1.4bn contract to a German train maker.

Good effort.

Virgin overthrows NR - shocker

It took Virgin Trains just 8 minutes to respond from a tweet by Tom Harris MP criticising their coffee.


That makes NR's famed Internet Rapid Rebuttal Unit seem slow in comparison !

The Stripping of the Altars

This, from a decidedly stroppy, Captain Deltic...

According to Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, at the launch of the GWML modernisation programme on 14 July:

‘This is another fantastic step on the journey of renaissance which the railway is taking.

'Nobody would have believed 20 years ago that we would be building new railway lines, refurbishing our rail infrastructure, electrifying hundreds of miles of additional track, seeing passenger numbers double and passenger satisfaction improving dramatically.

'This is literally a new age of the train in Britain and a very exciting one too’.

Er, 20 years ago, that's 1991.

So presumably our expectations would have been more-of-the-same based on the previous decade:

• With 900 route miles electrified by 1991 we would have been expecting more routes under the wires in future.

• With passenger miles up by a quarter to the highest levels since 1949 we would have been expecting more growth.

• With Network SouthEast starting total route modernisation we would have expected more refurbishment.

• In 1991 new trains were rolling out of York, Derby and Washwood Heath. Whither those centres of excellence now? (Or should that be 'wither'.)

• The Crossrail Bill had just been submitted so we were expecting new lines and overcrowding in the South East to be addressed.

What we didn't expect was a dire recession, as a consequence of economic mismanagement.

What we didn't expect was a botched privatisation which multiplied the railway's subsidy fivefold.

What we didn't expect was a stop start rolling stock procurement that saw a period of 1064 days without a new train order and the current hiatus at 838 days and counting...

What we didn't expect was the Civil Service specifying a replacement for the HST

And we most certainly didn't expect McNulty to have to remind a once integrated industry to work together for the good of the passenger.

I'm inured to politicians claiming daft self-serving things, but we can't let them airbrush out the past in their attempt to turn a pig's ear into a brushed polyester purse.

So renaissance? Well, yes, so long as we don't forget that it followed some very dark, dark ages.

TSC to look into UK Rolling Stock Procurement

This from the Transport Select Committee...

13 July 2011
For Immediate Release: SCA 76/2010–12

UK ROLLING STOCK PROCUREMENT – ORAL EVIDENCE SESSION

Wednesday 7 September 2011

Committee Room 15, House of Commons

Following the recent choice of Siemens Plc as the Government’s preferred bidder for the supply of the new Thameslink trains, the Transport Committee will be taking oral evidence on Wednesday 7 September at 9.35am from ministers and other key stakeholders to discuss matters related to UK rolling stock procurement.

The Committee will question witnesses about the recent Thameslink announcement and broader issues related to the way that rolling stock is procured in the UK.

These timings are approximate and the session may start slightly earlier or later than advertised. The room the session takes place in may also change. Please check our website for up to date details of this session.

- ENDS -

Pointless signs - Bolton

This from a Mr Oi!

£4M has been spent on refurbishing Bolton Station.


Although it seems the budget didn’t quite stretch to removing the residual detritus of a long-dead business!

Lookalike - Nice... but dim?

This from the recently published CRESC Research Report: How not to build trains...

But what has happened now, with the train crash at Bombardier?

The public debate about the Siemens Thameslink contract reveals that like Hugh Grant, the Coalition ministers and civil servants who make industrial policy uneasily sense that something is wrong.

But the problem is not simply that the micro-economic answers aren’t answers, though this, of course, is true.

More profoundly, the problem is the long reign of micro-economic question framing in the Whitehall centres of policy making, in the broadsheet media, and in the economics departments of the ancient universities.

These distinct spheres are of course densely interconnected, not least through elite careers. Many of the best and brightest undergraduates may now choose the City, but the BIS and Treasury middle ranks are still heavily populated with Oxbridge recruits and those trying to pass as such.

Indeed.

Villiers Vignettes - UK Supply Chain can go hang

This from Ithuriel...

Theresa Villiers did her best to talk up the prospects for the UK rolling stock market in a Westminster Hall debate debate on 12 July,

The fact that the coalition Government have secured funding for such a major programme of capacity enhancement will result in major opportunities, not just for Bombardier but for other train component and supply chain manufacturing businesses in this country.

Following its nomination, for example, as the preferred bidder for the intercity express programme contract, Hitachi has announced that it is locating its train manufacturing services for Europe at Newton Aycliffe in County Durham. That will provide significant opportunities for UK component manufacturing.

As has been said, if the Siemens Thameslink bid proceeds to conclusion, it will involve the creation of 2,000 jobs in the UK. It has indicated that it intends to use elements of the UK supply chain to supply its bid.

Message to the supply chain - don't worry about Bombardier, we're sure you can find something to sell to Japan and Germany.

Cruella really doesn't do 'industrial strategy', does she?

UPDATE: This from Howard Wade...

Replying to the debate on the Thameslink contract on July 12, Theresa Villiers said:

My hon. Friend the Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mr Timpson) was concerned about the amount spent on consultancy. The bulk of that happened under the previous Government, but I agree that we need a more efficient approach to spending on consultancy in relation to procurement in the future. Since the general election the consultancy spend has been considerably reduced.

With Derby the home to the worlds leading railway consultancy the news for the City gets worse.

UPDATE: This from Dick Burton, Special Agent...

It's time that someone pointed out that a fair few of the 2,000 jobs that those nice people at Siemens are creating will be at Three Bridges and Hornsey and would also have been created by the gallant losers from Bombardier.