England is new NR Asset Management Director

This from Network Rail...

Network Rail has promoted Jerry England to the role of group asset management director. He was formerly the group director of signalling and power asset management.

As well as working for Network Rail, chartered engineer Mr England has worked for the Highways Agency and Thames Water and will be focusing on developing more customer driven and efficient management of the company’s asset base.

Services provided by the asset management team are provided to customers including Network Rail’s devolved routes, as well as operations and infrastructure projects...

Mr England will take on the role with immediate effect, reporting to Network Rail’s chief executive David Higgins. 

Grandstanding in Committee Room 8?

Good to see the brothers grandstanding ahead of this morning's Transport Select Committee hearing!

This from the RMT...

RAIL UNION RMT will seize the opportunity at an evidence session of the Transport Select Committee today (19th June) to demand that MP’s pull the government back from embarking on the catastrophic course of cuts and profiteering set out in the McNulty rail review which the union says would create the perfect “lethal cocktail” of conditions for another Hatfield or Potters Bar disaster on Britain’s railways.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow will join with other rail unions in presenting oral evidence this morning on RAIL 2020 to the Transport Committee.

No doubt more heat than light will ensue.

Hopefully more illumination will be provided by Messrs McNulty, Smith, O'Toole and Higgins, who will also be in attendance. The session starts at 10:05.

Fans of knock about politics can watch on-line here.

LNW Railway (South) appoints Thin Controller!

This from Network Rail...

Network Rail announces today the secondment of Virgin’s chief operating officer, Chris Gibb, to the company.

Working collaboratively with Network Rail, Virgin Trains has agreed to this secondment for the remainder of this year to work with the Network Rail team on improving the performance of the infrastructure on the southern end of the West Coast Main Line.

Mr Gibb will retain a number of his current duties and responsibilities for Virgin Trains and will continue to undertake these alongside the role in Network Rail and will report to Robin Gisby, Network Rail’s managing director of network operations for the duration of his secondment. He will work very closely with Jo Kaye (the route managing director of the London North Western Route, which encapsulates the West Coast Main Line) and her team, using his 31 years of railway experience to bring unique insight to the task ahead.  

Gosh!

At this rate the entire railway is in danger of singing from the same hymn sheet!

Therefore, in the spirit of the new collaborative West Coast Main Line, Eye gives you...

The real Thin Controller!

One bill for metal theft we can all support

This from ATOC...

ATOC welcomes new metal theft bill

In response to the announcement that Richard Ottaway MP will introduce a new bill to the House of Commons on Wednesday to crack down on the trade in stolen metal, Michael Roberts, Chief Executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies said:

“Cable theft disrupts hundreds of thousands of passengers every year and costs the taxpayer millions, so it is very good news that Richard Ottaway is giving Parliament the opportunity to crack down on the trade in stolen metal. Train companies have been working tirelessly with the rest of the industry to tackle the problem, and this is an important step in helping us to succeed.

“The proposed powers will send a clear signal to criminals and rogue traders that dealing in stolen metal could lead to unlimited fines, removal of operating licences and even long terms in prison. Giving police and local councils the power to search and investigate scrap yards suspected of dealing in stolen metal, and if necessary close them down, will help stop metal theft in its tracks.”

ENDS

Excellent and about time too!

Pointless signs - Manchester Piccadilly (Metrolink)

Pointless sign - Gatwick Airport

This from Globetrotter...

Or misleading, at least. 

Gatwick Airport has 12-car platforms, so some people could be disappointed.

Historic signs - King's Cross coal offices

This from Eye's man on York Road...

After decades buried in undergrowth and shut off from public view, the Great Northern Railway's historic curved coal offices at King's Cross emerged from behind the hoardings this week – clearly viewable from a new public space in front of the redeveloped University of the Arts by the Regent's Canal.

Sharp eyed fans of railwayana will spot a BR Eastern Region enamel reading "Drive Slowly" on the wall.
 

As most of the others round here were knocked off years ago let's hope this solitary survivor doesn't get nicked!

Pointless signs - Reading West

This from Citizen Smith...

'Not to scale'?

With only two stations shown how could it be otherwise?

UPDATE: This from Pedantic of Purley...

Well of course it is not to scale.  It is a diagram.  And diagrams are, er, diagrammatic. It is not a map even though it is wrongly referred to as a map. And the fact that no scale is specified means it is unlikely to be to scale.

To be accurate First Great Western should have added something like “This diagram is not an isometric representation of the portion of the network illustrated” or “Diagram for illustrative purposes only” but a more sensible thing would be to add nothing as it is perfectly obvious.

I can send you a scaled map of the Waterloo and City line if you want to see a scaled map with only two stations. (No thank you. That's quite enough scaled maps. Ed)

Railway Garden Competition - Paignton

Railway Garden Competition - Exeter St David's

Pointless signs - West Brompton

TSC inquires into Rail 2020 - 19th June 2012

This from the Transport Select Committee...

Transport Committee

Select Committee Announcement

Oral evidence – RAIL 2020

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Room tbc

Witnesses:

10.05 am

 ·        Sir Roy McNulty, Chairman, Rail Value for Money Study*

·         Graham Smith MBE, Team Leader, Rail Value for Money Study

10.55 am

 ·        Tim O’Toole CBE, Chairman, Rail Delivery Group

·         Sir David Higgins, Vice-Chairman, Rail Delivery Group

11.50 am

          Mick Whelan, General Secretary, ASLEF

·         Bob Crow, General Secretary, RMT

·         Manuel Cortes, General Secretary, TSSA

·         [witness to be confirmed] UNITE

ENDS

Villiers vignettes - IEP numbers

This from Cruella yesterday...

Maria Eagle (Garston and Halewood, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate her Department has made of the minimum order of intercity express programme carriages which would be needed to justify a UK assembly facility.
   
Theresa Villiers (Minister of State (Rail and Aviation)
The Department for Transport welcomes the decision by Hitachi to build a new factory at Newton Aycliffe in County Durham where the new trains will be assembled. 

The minimum order of IEP carriages which would be needed to justify a UK assembly facility is a matter for Hitachi, and not the Department, to decide.
 

Quite so minister, quite so.

But then why did DfT tell Sir Andrew Foster's review that a build of 685 vehicles justified a possible UK manufacturing facility?

Peace on the Line? That's the way to do it!

Eye's Independent Correspondent writes...

I attended the Mid-Hants 'War on the Line' event at the weekend, to research my new book 'Action Stations! How Britain's railways won the war'. 

Happily, neither Goering or Goebbels were in attendance! (Perhaps the organisers have been reading Railway Eye? Ed)

Though fans of the period could have their hair done on Alresford station in 1940s wartime style, with lacquer and rollers for £15.  

Put that light out!

Mann for all seasons

Good news for fans of gamekeepers turning poacher!

ATOC's affable PR, Nick Mann, is soon to leave the train operators' lobby group...

To re-appear at the consumer watchdog, and regular spanker of train operators, Which?.

Hopefully, when Nick announced his move, the Bernard Street defibrillators were fully charged?

FT makes Wright move to US

The slow retreat of Robert Wright from covering UK rail stories appears almost complete.

Last October, the cycling FT hack changed jobs from transport correspondent to shipping and logistics, leaving only rail freight subject to his scrutiny.

Then, earlier this year, Rail Professional magazine axed his long-running "The Wright Track" column in which he held forth on the politics of the iron road.

Now, Eye understands, he is packing his bags to head for New York, where, as the FT's new US industry correspondent, he will mostly cover the automotive industry!

A small consolation remains for UK transport enthusiasts. Eye is led to believe that the Invisible Visible Man, the blog about the philosophy of cycling written by someone who seems a lot like Wright, is going to continue - albeit with moans about New York drivers, rather than those in London.

Happily, all is not completely lost.

Wright's departure for far flung climes should finally see the deeply tedious soi disant 'veteran observer', Brennan-Brown, expunged from future editions of the Pink 'Un!

Proof positive that every cloud has a silver lining.

UPDATE: This from the aforementioned Brennan-Brown...

I have written to you more than once to complain about your use of the term 'soi disant veteran observer'.

It is deeply childish and I must now insist that you stop... (sadly, owing to pressures of space, Eye is unable to reproduce in full this latest encomium from the soi disant veteran observer. Ed)

Blackfriars subliminal message - Shocker

This from Network Rail...

A unique piece of railway heritage has been unveiled to passengers at Blackfriars.

Fifty four stones from the original Victorian station, each engraved with destinations served by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR), have been preserved in a newly opened area of the Blackfriars concourse. The stones list destinations as diverse as Bickley, Marseille, Gravesend and Venice, as the LCDR advertised Blackfriars’ links to towns and cities of the south east, and the business capitals of Europe via cross-channel steamers.

The restored destination stones are displayed in Blackfriars' new northern concourse, where First Capital Connect and Southeastern customers are benefitting from a new ticket hall with direct links to the London Underground station next door. Toilets in the new concourse building also opened over the weekend. Escalators to platform level and new shops within the station will open for use over the coming months.

Looking at some of the destinations on the stones, Eye wonders if their positioning next to the toilets is perhaps deliberate?

Police Five reduced to two fingered salute?

Further mutterings from the Boys in Blue over Eye favourite Tom Winsor.

Observers of the political scene will have noted that Tom, the last of the Ozymandean Rail Regulators, has been put forward by Theresa May as the new Chief Inspector of Constabulary for England and Wales.

As @captain_deltic dryly tweeted this morning:

I wonder whether the Home Office has asked DfT for a reference :))

Eye suggests Stephen 'Cab for Hire' Byers might be quicker off the rank...

Virgin fires shot across NR bows...

Phew, what a scorcher!

Virgin Trains demands Network Rail reverses unacceptable train performance on West Coast route

Today's train performance figures published by Network Rail (NR) show that the infrastructure performance of the West Coast Main Line continues to be unacceptable and this is having a major impact on Virgin Trains' customers and those of other operators, who have seen punctuality fall well below expected levels.

Virgin Trains will work to help Network Rail achieve better performance, and are meeting with Senior NR Executives to discuss this.

Whilst the Office of Rail Regulation’s (ORR) action last week to focus NR's attention on long-distance routes is welcome, it does not deal adequately with the immediate issues.

We are concerned with the lack of focus on immediate improvement, as we and our customers must see short-term progress, especially as the Olympics and Paralympics will be a showcase for the industry.

The problem has been highlighted recently as improved weather at the end of May ruined performance through heat-related delays with performance on some days being at around
60 per cent punctuality.

We have repeatedly told the ORR and NR that we must have a reliable infrastructure if we are to continue the remarkable growth of recent years, when we have seen the number of customers double to 30 million a year. Anything short of this will affect the potential of the West Coast Mainline to continue its success.

Gosh!

Quite a caveat emptor for others bidding for the InterCity West Coast franchise!

So what has triggered this swingeing attack on Network Rail and the Rail Regulator?  

Well, Virgin's PPM was 89.6% in Period 2 2011-12 and had fallen to 82.9% in the equivalent period this year.

NR tried to rationalise the performance slump in this footnote to the PPM figures:

1. Virgin Trains' performance has been affected by a number of infrastructure problems over the past month including overhead line issues at Bushey and in Cumbria, some track problems south of Rugby, a number of temporary speed restrictions as well as cable theft and a fatality adding to the overall reduction in performance

Eye understands that Beardie Rail's finest have already determined that JPIPs now stand for Jolly Poor Infrastructure Provider.

Tamar Bridge - 'Please mind the crap'

This from Construction Enquirer...

Workers repairing Brunel’s twin span bridge in Plymouth have called on train passengers to resist the call of nature as they pass over the historic structure.

One passenger told the Enquirer: “The guard made a special announcement on the train’s tannoy as we came up to the Tamar River valley... I suppose it’s a polite way of saying please mind the crap.”

It's the 21st Century and still we continue to pour raw effluent onto the tracks!