Keith Vaz - the eternal optimist?

This from a Mr Saltaire

I thought Eye readers might be interested in this 8th February contribution from Keith Vaz to a debate on the Police:

I hope that the Minister will look again at pay and conditions and will try to bring Mr Winsor under a little bit of control. We are dealing not with railways—I know Mr Winsor was the rail regulator—but with real people in real jobs who protect our constituents. They are the people we lionise in times of crisis, and we should reward them properly for the work they do.

Better men have tried Keith, and failed!

UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic...

In fact it took the Railways Act 2005 and the change of ORR from 'Office of the Rail Regulator' to Office of Rail Regulation' to do it.

But was it an improvement?

At least with Tom the Regulatory prose was clear and to the point.

LUL's ERU to get 'Blues & Twos'

According to the Docklands and East London Advertiser...

The ‘rapid response’ teams called out to tackle emergencies on the London Underground are getting ‘blue light’ priority and police drivers to get them through traffic.

A trial is being carried out with British Transport Police to halve response times, with TfL emergency vehicles being fitted with the same flashing blue lights used by police, fire and ambulance services.

About time too!

LUL's Emergency Repsonse Unit really is London's 4th Emergency Service.

Transport Select Committee - NR to attend

This from the Transport Select Committee...

NETWORK RAIL – ORAL EVIDENCE SESSION

Tuesday 13 March 2012

The Transport Committee will be taking oral evidence from Network Rail’s Chief Executive, David Higgins on Tuesday 13 March at 10.05 am, followed by witnesses from the Office of Rail Regulation.

Announcing the session Louise Ellman, Transport Committee Chair, said:

“Network Rail must be accountable to Parliament for the performance of the railway, safety, information for passengers, planning for new projects, and costs. We will pursue these issues and also find out what the rail regulator has done to improve Network Rail’s performance.”

Please check our website nearer the time for the location and full witness details.

Perhaps the TSC might also like to invite Ms Greening to this session, so that she can explain what convinced her to oppose NR's Management Incentive Plan at such a late stage in the process?

UPDATE: This from Sir Humphrey Beeching...

I am sure no one would dream of asking the First Division to provide a sacrificial lamb, so as to spare ministerial blushes.

Why, the very thought is preposterous.

Pointless signs - Didcot Parkway

Eye is unsure if this is a spoof...


...if not perhaps a reader can explain its point?

UPDATE: This from a Mr Peters...

You asked if 'Culham ?' was a spoof.

I expect it was found near the Turbo stop mark on the platform.

If so it is a 'cheap and cheerful' way to remind drivers to check if they should be calling at Culham (the next station towards Oxford), as most trains do not and this can help to reduce the risk of an erroneous 'fail to stop'.

I have seen something similar (but more permanent) at Bache on Merseyrail, reminding drivers to check if they call at Capenhurst as only half of the trains on that route do.

UPDATE: This from Chionanthus Virginicus, evidently in playful mood...

Can we hope for a similar poster (below) to be displayed outside Marsham Street?

Of course having blinkers rather than cabside windows may explain DfT's apparent tunnel vision.

DfT launches Operation Derail

Eye can exclusively reveal why the Department has been so effective this week!

Half of them aren't there.

Under Operation Step Change, 50% of staff have been asked to stay at home, travel at different times or 're-mode' (yes, really) as a practice run for the Olympics.

Apparently so many have risen to the challenge of staying at home, there's no one left to make all those tricky decisions, silence Greenhorn ministers, etc...

Heaven help us in August.

Carry On team does the railway - EXCLUSIVE

Eye is delighted to hear that the Carry On team are about to release a new film - Carry On up the Railway


Plot summary: Sir David Ruff-Digger looks after the British railway network. Protected by Col Richard Right-Pryce and the members of the Third Foot and Mouth regiment (ORR Division), you would think they were safe.

But the treacherous Khazi of Greening has other ideas. Having signed off the Baksheesh necessary to keep the network running she is ambushed in a TV studio and completely rewrites government policy!

Fun and japes ensue as the Khazi of Greening tries to justify her volte-face as hoards of senior managers desert the railway and trains grind to a halt.

Cast:

Sir David Ruff-Digger - Sid James

The Khazi of Greening - Hattie Jacques

Crawford Rani of SpAds - Joan Sims

Col Richard Right-Pryce - Charles Hawtrey

Maria the Eagle - Fenella Fielding

Tom Harris MP - Bernard Bresslaw

George Osborne - Kenneth Williams

The Passenger - Terry Scott

"This one will run and run, unlike the trains." Conservative Party Central Office

Rated PG (contains scenes of mild violence and institutional incompetence).

Passenger information... delayed

This from the Office of Rail Regulation...

Securing better passenger information

Train operators have asked for more time to prepare for new obligations aimed at ensuring passengers receive appropriate, accurate and timely information, the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) confirmed today.

Oh the irony!

IEP - a long, slow, lingering death

This from First Great Western's Fastline...

InterCity Express Programme (IEP) update

On 23 September 2011 I updated you on progress about the InterCity Express Programme (IEP) and undertook to keep you informed of further developments.

Agility Trains recently let us know that Planning Permission has now been granted for their three IEP traincare depots on the Great Western network – North Pole, London; Stoke Gifford, Bristol; and Swansea.

I can also confirm, contrary to recent media reports stating a contract has been agreed, that negotiations continue between the Department for Transport and Agility Trains to finalise the IEP contract details. I understand this will now be agreed by May 2012 at the earliest.

It is anticipated that the first IEP train will enter service in early 2017, with the full IEP timetable implementation not until May 2018, more than six years from now.

We await further developments and will continue to keep you informed as we learn more about this important Department for Transport project.

A triumph of public sector procurement.

Captain Deltic's bonus bashing quiz

Captain Deltic asks "Who said this and when?"...

But Network Rail's remuneration committee still allowed substantial bonuses this year despite a formal letter warning that performance had been mixed. All the regulator could do was to say that he was "surprised and disappointed".

Under a Conservative Government, if the regulator is disappointed, the senior management will feel it. We will give the regulator the power to inflict real financial pain on Network Rail via the confiscation of reduction of bonuses in cases of serious under-performance.

At present, Network Rail's senior management is theoretically accountable to "members" who are supposed to function like the shareholders of a public limited company. In reality they do no such thing. The senior management can get away with scooping the bonus pool because an amorphous grouping of 100 members, the appointment of which can be vetoed by the very management team they are supposed to scrutinise, simply aren't strong enough to stop them.

So a further measure a Conservative Government would adopt to give Network Rail much stronger incentives to respond to their customers is reform of the company's governance.

We will streamline and shrink the membership to turn it into a supervisory board. We will ensure that members will be appointed independently of Network Rail's management.

And we will make sure we have people on it who will provide a strong voice for passengers and for train and freight operators, in setting the overall direction of the company and holding its management to account.

And, in addition, we will inject more contestability into areas of Network Rail's remit. At present, the company has an almost complete monopoly over publicly funded rail improvements.

Clue: It's not just promises that get broken.

UPDATE: This from The Archer...

I’m feeling pedantic so I’ll point out that no promises were broken as we don’t have a Conservative Government.

As I'm sure members of the 1922 Committee will be only too pleased to confirm...

Guido Fawkes FIRO - Shocker!

Is uber-blogger Paul Staines a member of the Institution of Railway Operators?

In a post on his order-order blog about the the move of Labour's HQ, Guido uses the following map which rather gives the game away.


Eye thinks we should be told!

Network Rail Bonus Statement

This from Network Rail...

NETWORK RAIL ADJOURNS MEMBERS' MEETING

The board of Network Rail has decided to recommend to its members that this Friday's meeting be adjourned. The board will take the opportunity to reflect further on how to incentivise performance in the company against the backdrop of the current context. It will continue to consult the Secretary of State on wider issues of governance in advance of the government's command paper. Chairman, Rick Haythornthwaite, said: "Friday's meeting was not to approve a specific annual bonus payment for Executive Directors, but rather to amend a previously approved long term incentive scheme to ensure additional external scrutiny of performance. "The issue of annual performance payments would only arise if Network Rail surpassed stretching performance thresholds and would only be decided in May after the end of the financial year. Chief executive, David Higgins, said: "Even if this situation does arise this year, I and my directors decided last week that we would forego any entitlement and instead allocate the money to the safety improvement fund for level crossings. I can confirm that remains our intention." The Secretary of State was informed of the decision to recommend adjournment this morning.

What a bloody mess. This will not help attract good people to the railways.

Grand Central appoints new MD

This from the Northern Echo...

At that time York based Grand Central, employing 125, said it would continue with the same management team, but now Arriva has announced its managing director Tom Clift is to leave.

Mr Clift, who has been in his role since the firm's launch, said: "I have enormous pride in the small, committed and professional team that has worked so hard to make Grand Central the success it is today.

Richard McClean will become managing director of the open access operator, in addition to his current role as managing director of Arriva's Tyne and Wear Metro operation.

Heil Bahn!

Clog Rail tells staff 'prepare for passenger anger'

A big Eye welcome to Greater Anglia, the former NXEA franchise now operated by Abellio.

So how goes the new franchise on its second day?

Putting aside the the non-availability of its website for most of yesterday and the revelation that 30 services have already been cancelled this morning, all is well (shurely shome mishtake. Ed).

The new franchise's captive commuter customers will of course also be delighted by Clog Rail's cost saving measure that saw 9 Class 317/7 units returned to ROSCO Angel before the franchise even started.

Passengers on routes from Liverpool Street to Ipswich, Witham, Colchester Town, Harwich International and Norwich are already benefiting from trains formed by 2 x 321 units rather than the usual 3 x 317/7 units.

No matter. How else will they get to work?

At least Clog Rail has improved communications with its people. Station staff have received an email instructing them to "prepare for customer anger" as short formed 8 car trains trundle into stations rather than the usual 12.

Meanwhile, the Captain of Netball continues her crusade against Network Rail bonuses, curiously omitting to berate her own officials for deliberately consigning hard pressed East Anglian passengers to overcrowded journeys.

But then populist grandstanding is so much easier than meeting passenger needs.

UPDATE: This from Fen Boy...

Knowing Eye's love for bustitution I'm surprised you didn't pick up on this other DfT inspired East Anglian transport triumph.

The Go Whippet website yesterday afternoon had a message informing would-be travellers that services over the Busway were "suspended for the rest of the day".

One can only assume that there were "operational difficulties" as a result of the 4-6 inches of snow that had fallen in the area overninght Sat/Sun.

Thank you DfT for dumping a hugely costly guided busway on us that falls over at the hint of snow.

Wibble from Greening on NR bonuses

This from Torquemada..

Is it not time to put the Transport Secretary to the Question?

Justine Greening claims in a Tory Party press release that:

“Labour designed a system where Ministers have no powers to block Network Rail executive pay and which in 2008 saw bonuses of over half a million given out to the Chief Executive even when there were serious failures".

But DfT is a Member of Network Rail under the not-for profit corporate structure and as a result has the power to vote at the AGM.

Not only that, it has the right to appoint a Special Member to the Network Rail Remuneration Committee.

So Justine has the powers, but for some reason her officials have failed to pass on this vital piece of intelligence.

So as a Member of Network Rail our Justine could actually put her money where her mouth is and oppose the resolution on executive bonuses at the Annual Meeting.

Pish, you may say, what is one vote among a hundred votes?

But we know that DfT has, shall we say, 'influence' with the train operators, who are also Members and we can be sure that they would follow DfT's lead for fear of gainsaying their paymaster - particularly as franchise replacement approaches

And official intervention would strengthen the will of those Public Members opposed to bonus payments and, combined with some judicious 'persuasion', convert the waverers to the path of righteousness..

As the Captain-General of the Deltics hath tweeted, the killer question for Shadow Transport Secretary Maria Eagle is 'Will the Transport Secretary use her vote to oppose any recommendations on bonus payments at the Network Rail AGM'?

But of course the Captain of Netball will do no such thing.

Presumably because, despite all the huffing and puffing, Greening is terrified that if she does the ONS will add NR debt onto the Treasury's books.

UPDATE: This from YourLocalGuardian.co.uk...

The Transport Secretary is to vote against bonuses for top Network Rail executives at the firm's AGM this week, she revealed.

But Justine Greening told the BBC Sunday Politics programme the Government has only a single vote and cannot compel rail bosses not to pay the bonuses. About 80 members can vote on the board and the result will be advisory only...

Ms Greening told the programme: "I'm going to go to the meeting next Friday, I'm going to vote against them."

Just fancy that!

Bletchley derailment and use of Twitter

This morning Network Rail and the WCML TOCs have been showing how twitter can be an effective passenger communications tool during disruption.

A special plaudit to @NetworkRail who sent out the following photo to show the scale of the recovery work required at Bletchley:


A lesson in effective use of social media.

Meanwhile Eye's thoughts are with the driver of the loco who is in hospital with serious, although apparently not life threatening, injuries.

UPDATE: A further image from NR showing damage to track and OHLE...



Eye understands that the Virgin driver has now been released from hospital.

National train shortage over - Official

This from @ECMLfan, in Clog Rail Land...

Exciting news from the new, improved, multi-media Railway Herald!


One in the eye for the cassandra-like Captain Deltic, with his doom laden projections of future rolling stock orders.

Greening to meet the railway she runs?

Eye's man with the soothing bedside manner has been in contact.

Apparently Cruella will be spending more time than expected under doctor's orders, following her recent bicycle contretemps.

Eye of course joins the rest of the railway in wishing Theresa a speedy recovery.

However, every cloud and all that.

With the department one minister down it will fall to the Captain of Netball to sell the government's exciting new franchising policy to a frankly sceptical industry.

No doubt there is growing panic in Marsham Street that Ms Greening might actually start meeting people who run real trains?

John Mann MP says move DfT to Birmingham

Labour MP John Mann has tabled eight Bills proposing that key Whitehall departments are moved out of London to the regions.

He suggests that the Department for Transport is moved to Birmingham.

"By spreading department headquarters around the United Kingdom, the Government can begin levelling a playing field which is currently heavily weighted in favour of London and the South East."

Eye is unconvinced.

Better to move the Department to Yorkshire so as to better focus the minds of Sir Humphreys on starting HS2's construction in the North.

Light the beacons!

This from M'Lord Howard of Effingham...

II'faith, information hath been received that the heir to the Duke of Medina Sidona and his hidalgos are plotting a new Enterprise of England, planning to subjugate Devon men to the Inquisition and the auto da fe by means of our railways .

I have already ordered that Sir Francis Drake's drum be readied as this hour of peril looms.

Men of Devon, do you wish to see trains liveried in the red and gold of our historic enemy in your shire?

Let our battle cry be "Remember 1588!"

Meanwhile, I have summoned Sir Brian Souter and will order him to Spain with all haste with a Commission to bid for public transport contracts that will verily singe the President of Renfe's beard!

Railway has a Miliband moment #blackbusters

Eye is indebted to FCC and Network Rail for suggesting a clever pub quiz question this weekend!

Q. What is the difference between a ball and a bull?

A. Lots of delay minutes.

Lesson: Use the foxtrot-uniform-charlie-kilo-india-november-golf phonetic alphabet!

That is all.