DafT shafts Railfreight with longer lorries

This from Rubber Duck...

Ah, breaker one nine this here’s Mike 'Bandit' Penning, Minister for Roads, on a 10-17.

Have all my trucker good buddies got their ears on?

Standby by for a 10-33!

We've got those longer rigs I been promising you. Sure wish we'd had these Widowmakers when I was driving a truck!

Those pesky rail freight folks have been tellin’ me it’s gonna be a knockin’ a two thirds of their business outta the front door.

But I ain't got no ears for railroad folk, I leave that to wooly bear Cruella de Villiers - that's some neat handle.

So you better haul your sorry arse outa my way, I'm going to put the hammer down and set the pedal to me metal!

Mercy snakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy… 1800 trucks in all, all a rollin' across the UK.

What's that you say? My good buddy Pushbike King has changed his handle to Squashed Cyclist?

Oh! Can someone call a meat wagon...

Transport Select Committee for sale?

Oh dear!

Has the Transport Select Committee started offering product placement to generate a couple of extra bob?

The emailed press release below has been overbranded with the logo of motor insurance company Young Marmalade .


No doubt the ROSCOs are planning a similar survey with the TSC to show what great value TOCs consider train leases to be?

German cracks a joke - shocker!

Who says our Teutonic friends don't have a sense of humour?

This from DB's October Press & Trade Newsletter...

British Military train 1945-1990 Tribute on 12 May 2012

21 years ago the curtain came down on one of the most difficult and yet smoothly and consistently delivered trains in the history of European railways.

The British Military Train was born in the wreckage of defeated and broken Germany, and spent its life on the front line of the Cold War. It was operated in a unique and highly politicised partnership between British Army railway operators and the two state railways of the divided Germany. There had been nothing like it before, and it is unthinkable that we will ever see the like of it again. It ran without fuss, with a very British understatement of the political minefield surrounding it.

On 12 May 2012 we acknowledge and celebrate the calm professionalism of railway people, civilian and military, British and German, who did the job, day in day out, without triggering a Third World War.

Amen to that!

Further details about the tribute to the British Military Train can be obtained by emailing: militarytrain2012@gmail.com

Eurostar NoL - a gift that keeps on giving

This from today's Independent...

The Department for Transport spent "between £300,000 and £400,000 last year" on mothballed facilities for the aborted Regional Eurostar project that would have provided a direct link between provincial cities and the Continent.

An industry 'cost' that evidently slipped below McNulty's radar.

Perhaps just as well that his Value for Money study didn't delve too deeply into our very own Department for Transfer.

IEP - The saga drags on

This from Howard Wade...

A good question from the Railway Lord.

Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat)
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many fewer bi-mode trains would be required to be built if the services between Paddington and Newbury and Paddington and Oxford were covered by electrical multiple unit trains and all services to the West of England via Newbury, beyond Oxford and those via Cheltenham continued to be life extended High Speed trains.

Earl Attlee (Whip, House of Lords; Conservative)
It is currently envisaged that rolling stock will be deployed as follows:

• a mixture of electric Intercity Express Programme (IEP) and electric multiple unit trains for services between Paddington and Newbury and Paddington and Oxford;
• new IEP bi-mode trains for services beyond Oxford, and those running via Cheltenham;
• and life-extended vehicles from the current high speed train fleet for services to the West of England, via Newbury.

But as for the answer, My Lord Attlee seems to be a chip off the old block.

As Douglas Jay once remarked of his father: 'His capacity for saying nothing was absolutely pre-eminent'.

Secret of Albino's 'winning' GA bid explained!

Much chitter-chatter in the industry over who might have won the Greater Anglia franchise.

Despite the announcement not being due for another two weeks The Grauniad felt confident enough on Tuesday to predict:

Continental Europe's grip on the UK rail industry is likely to extend to the Greater Anglia rail franchise after the Dutch national rail operator emerged as the frontrunner for one of the routes connecting to the 2012 Olympics.

Good news indeed for Abellio!

However, Eye has been struggling to understand how the DfT, normally so careful about water-tight franchise bid processes, had allowed market sensitive information to apparently seep out from Marsham Street.

Happily, Eye can exclusively reveal that this was not the case!

As became clear today via the BBC...

Dutch National Railways is introducing emergency plastic bags for passengers to urinate in as part of its first-aid provision on some commuter trains.

Spokesman Jeroen von Geusau told the BBC "When you have to wait three or four hours on a train, then it is quite logical you have some people aboard who need to go to a restroom," he said.

Given recent performance on the Anglia Route only a sadist would think of awarding the franchise to another bidder.

Pointless signs - Doncaster

For younger readers BRUTE stood for British Rail Universal Trolley Equipment which were used to move parcels or mail around stations, when such things were carried by rail.

UPDATE: This from Gordon...

And just visible in the top left-hand corner is the pulley for the draw bridge that was lowered to span the gap between the parcels office and the platform!

Shadow Cabinet Reshuffle - Transport

***Twitter suggesting Maria the Eagle to remain at Transport***

More to follow, although if it is true probably not...

Railtrack - Happy 10th Unbirthday

Telegrammed by Our Man at 222 Marylebone Road...
How ironic that the 10th anniversary of one ill thought-out act of Government aggression should overshadow another.

Ten years ago today the government pressured Railtrack into assisted suicide.

Lest we forget, here are some of the players as Whitehall farce turned to Jacobean revenge tragedy:

Stephen Byers, John Robinson, Shriti Vadera, Steve Marshall, Sir Alastair Morton, Dan Corry, Andrew Adonis, David Rowlands, Sir Richard Mottram and not forgetting the cameo appearance in the final scene Tom Winsor.

What a stellar cast! And how mundane today's railway seems without them.

UPDATE: This from Banker76...

Absolutely spot on!

Today’s railway is mundane by comparison. No Southall. No Ladbroke Grove. No Hatfield. No bu88ering up the WCML modernisation (and Leeds station rebuilding).

How tame it all is...

UPDATE: This from Theydon Bois...

Here in Edinburgh we continue to bu88er up an otherwise perfectly good tram scheme to an extent rarely seen before in project management (excluding the the building of the Scottish Parliament, obviously).

Okay - it's not really Railtrack or the railway's fault, but still pretty impressive.

Oh, yes, and while I'm at it, I was very disappointed at the closure of the 'Who should chair NR?' vote.

I only got 'round to voting three times when it suddenly ended, leaving me with no social life at all.

Shoveller moves back to his routes

So. Multimillionaire Sir Brian Souter has decided to shuffle his pack.

The former Perth clippy has chosen a former Guildford guard to run one of the UK's highest profile franchises during HMQ's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.

Noted.

Tim Shoveller, currently MD of sister franchise EMT, will take up the reins at SWT on the 2nd January 2012 - evidently Stagecoach know how to party.

Meanwhile, in an elegant piece of succession planning, David Horne, EMT's Commercial Director, steps up to the MD's role.

The Former Clippy said:

“I am delighted Tim and David will be leading the teams at South West Trains and East Midlands Trains. They are both amongst the very best managers in the UK rail industry and these appointments show the depth of management talent we have right across our businesses.”

Eye cannot resist: Ooh! Mr Horne. Bona!

UPDATE: This from Sinoda...

Reference Eye's quip "Ooh Mr. Horne - Bona"!

Something tells me that despite Julian and Sandy being great big butch 'omies, 'the former Perth clippy' might not have been a fan.

Derbygate - DafT waves the white flag?

Exciting news for fans of Open Government!

Here the details from the August edition of the Department for Transport's Structural Reform Plan Monthly Implementation Update.


But what's this?

Despite the Department for Transfer giving a date for completing commercial arrangements on the IEP fleet, not a word on achieving the same for Thameslink!

As items 2.3 (II) and 2.3 (IV) appear to have been redacted perhaps the date for commercially closing the export of thousands of British jobs is now officially an Euro-state secret?

Either that or Paper-knife has finally acknowledged that there is no point giving a date for something that guarantees electoral suicide.

Stand by your beds! NR appoints CO to CR

The new improved Network Rail appears to be enthusiastically embracing the railway traditions of the past!

A past that stretches back to the earliest days of the railway when military men, used to commanding complex real-time organisations, were considered perfect for senior posts on an equally complex railway.

Within living memory Bill Slim, fresh from his triumphs in Burma was a founder member of the Railway Executive in 1948 and General Sir Brian Roberston GBE, KCMG, KCVO, DSO, MC was appointed Chairman of the British Transport commission in 1953.

More recently of course the Railway Forum, which represented the then newly privatised industry, was led from the front by Major General Adrian Lyons CBE during the challenges of Great Heck and Hatfield.

Therefore, Eye notes with approval that NR's newly appointed Programme Director for Crossrail is one Jorge Mendonca, late Commanding Officer of The Queen's Lancashire Regiment, who was awarded both the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and is a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

With Crossrail being overseen by the excitable Mayor of London it is good to see that Network Rail will treat the project with a firm military hand.

Meanwhile Eye respectfully suggests that the correct mindset for the new task could be the unofficial motto of the Royal Tank Regiment, in which that greatest of all BR Chairman Sir Robert Reid served:

'From mud, through blood to the green fields beyond!'

UPDATE: This from Ivor the Engine, Banker76 and others...

Might we remind Eye... (No.Ed)

UPDATE: This from The Major, in curmudgeonly mode...

At risk of sounding pedantic Col Jorge commanded the 1st Battalion of the QLR rather than the whole regiment.

And when it comes to mottoes, I respectively suggest that a better one for NR is:

'Per Ardua Ad £sd'...

Another UK success story sold overseas

Air traffic controllers in the East Midlands are on a state of high alert following reports that a large number of wheel barrows are circling Derby.

Apparently the wheel barrows, which observers say are plated in gold, are converging on the Pride Park area of the city, near to the offices of Interfleet Technology.

Interfleet was created in 1994 following the management buy-out of BR's former InterCity Fleet Engineering.

This from Canadian Company SNC-Lavalin...

SNC-Lavalin (TSX: SNC) is pleased to announce that it has acquired Interfleet Technology, an international rail technology consultancy group headquartered in Derby, United Kingdom.

Interfleet specializes in rolling stock, railway systems, and strategic railway management and is well-known for its detailed understanding of both national rail systems and international best-practice.

A source close to Interfleet said "Whoopee!"

ORR nobbled!

What price Independent Economic Regulation on today's railway.

The supposed guardian of the level playing field is the Office of Rail Regulation whose website proudly proclaims:

The Office of Rail Regulation is the independent safety and economic regulator for Britain's railways

Alas, is that 'independence' now in question?

On the 25th May this year the ORR published Periodic Review 13 - First Consultation

On page 38 there is a table (5.1: Provisional high-level PR13 timetable) listing the activities that need to be completed so that PR13 determination can be implemented on the 1st April 2014, the start of CP5.


Item 3 in a long, long list is:

By 31 July 2011 - We publish a review of the role of open access operators in on rail competition

Nope.

No you didn't.

A great big fat #Fail !

And nor, apparently, has ORR met the revised publication date, of 'by the end of September'.

Eye wonders what could be causing such extended delays?

Congestion in Marsham Street?

UPDATE: And lo, like an Autumn mist, the congestion disappeared as the light shone upon it!

ORR Consultation on 'The potential for greater on-rail competition' can be found here

Derbygate - the movie

At last some good news from Derby!

The local Labour party won an award at conference this week for being the best campaigning party in the country.

This was in recognition of its continuing campaign to save the UK's last rolling stock manufacturer and in recognition of the parliamentary petition, organised by Derby North MP Chris Williamson, which secured well over 50,000 signatures.




No doubt Petrol-head will be on-hand next week to open an envelope revealing a similar accolade from the Tories?

UPDATE: This from Rose Hill...

Remember earlier this year when DfT were concerned that the UK's studious compliance with EU rules was putting British companies at a disadvantage?

Well it seems like the fears were unfounded.

The UK is, after all, just as non compliant as the rest.

Witness yesterday's statement below, bringing us into line with 24 other member states:

"The European Commission has launched infringement proceedings against France and the United Kingdom over their failure to implement legislation to open the market for rail services in the Channel Fixed Link. Compliance with EU legislation will contribute to more competition, which will lead to better services and prices for passengers and freight traffic."

What a relief.

Kettles on ECML turned off Monday to Friday

This from @rlyherald...

Network Rail has confirmed steam operations are banned from ECML on Mondays to Fridays, after recent issues. Full details next issue

Railway Herald website here...

Roberts puts the boot into Mr Bean

More adenoidal whining from the Labour Party's very own Mr Bean.

Ed Millipede has been huffing and puffing about above inflation fares increases. Eye wonders if the recent op on his hooter has also destroyed some memory cells?

This from Michael Roberts of ATOC:

“Ed Miliband is at best suffering from amnesia or at worst displaying rank hypocrisy.

"Train companies are subject to rules laid down by the Department for Transport, rules that were created and rigorously implemented by successive Labour Transport Secretaries.

"It was also his party in government that switched from annual below to annual above-inflation fares rises in 2004 to reduce taxpayer subsidies to the railways."

Are you listening Mr Bean?


'Nuff said!

UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic...

How refreshing to see that Mr Roberts is continuing to put 'imself abaht a bit, as we used to say down the East End.

He assured me yesterday that ATOC has told DfT that IEP is 'an expensive solution to yesterday's problems'.

Will we soon see serried ranks of TOC MDs marching shoulder to shoulder down Marsham Street and declaiming as one:

'Down with the so called Intercity Express Programme' and 'We'll execute the plan of the great McNulty!' (That's enough Pravda pastiche. Ed)

UPDATE: This from a Mr Phil Mitchell...

You 'avin' a larf?

You oughta 'ave written 'darn the East End

Any more of this lazy stereotypin' and me an' me bruv will be comin' rarnd to give you a good slappin'.

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

Would the other half of the slappin' Mitchell brothers be Dr Mike? (No!!! Ed)

UPDATE: This from Howard Wade...

Or Andy of Crossrail fame? (No, again!! Ed)

UPDATE: This from NR Insider...

Surely you're not referring to our Chris, although I am sure many of us at King's Place would encourage him. (Once again no! Time to stop this, it is getting silly! Ed)

UPDATE: This from Messrs Saxby & Palmer...

Surely not Ian the well known signalling engineer? (Right. That's it. Warned you, this thread is now closed. Ed)

Cable theft - Mad Men rise to the Challenge

Full marks to the genii at Bowtie, Bow-tie and Glasses who thought this one up!


Spotted by @BCCletts adjacent to the railway at Warrington Bank Quay.

Still, suppose it beats promoting coughing-nails to nippers.

Industry unveils IIP...

Exciting news from Everybody!

Everybody today unveiled the Initial Industry Plan.

Everybody said:

"Railways... booming... bright future... considerable growth... genuine partnership."

Everybody congratulated Everybody and concluded by saying that excessive costs were the fault of Everybody else, obviously.

UPDATE: This from Banker76...

Not quite.

Crowbar Bob reckons it’s all the fault of the privateers and their obscene profits which have ‘drained billions’ from the industry.

Problem is, he might well be right.

The Fact Compiler wonders if Banker76 hasn't noticed some of the above inflation pay rises the RMT has recently won for its members. Good of Crow Bar to confirm that it really is the fault of Everybody else.

Politicians & promises - Check against delivery!

This from Mwmbwls...

Maria the Eagle's speech is prefixed by the warning "Check against delivery".

In view of Labour's past performance and the discrepancy between aspirations to buy carriages, orders to buy carriages and deliveries of any carriages to relieve overcrowding - it seems like sound advice.

Note also no reference as to whether the enpowerment of local IPTA's could and should include the vertical integration of the rail infrastructure.

Perhaps Liverpool MP Maria has had her speech vetted by Councillor Mark Dowd, the man behind the recent volte face on Merseyside?