A 'right time' DfT? Eye thinks not.

This from Rose Hill...

I have been delighted to see that Stormin' Norman and DfT are taking such a keen interest in performance.

They, quite rightly, recognise that if you are to make a commitment to your customers and stakeholders, it is vital to stick to your timetables, and deliver on what you promised.

As you can see from the below, all is going swimmingly!


 
92% PPM? A number DafT can only dream of!

Laidlaw - Now we can all count the costs

This from Third Degree Burns...

"The costs of the Laidlaw Inquiry are yet to be finalised as not all of the invoices have been received. The department's best estimate of the final costs of the Laidlaw Inquiry is £3.55 million".

How much!

Did Centrica Chief Executive Sam Laidlaw demand a gold throne from which to conduct his inquiry?

Evidently the energy sector has little to teach the railways about Value for Money.

Laidlaw tells it like it is!

This via the Birmingham Post...

Mr Laidlaw criticised the fact that the bidding was mainly conducted by a relatively junior DfT team, meaning that when transport ministers were briefed by senior civil servants about it, the ministers were "in a sense talking to the wrong people"...

Quite so.

Pretty much the experience of almost everybody who deals with the department.

ECML - It's a wash out!

This from JD Bitterspoon...

Rumour has it that DOR is branching out into a range of new sanitary ware.  

 

With the timetable reliability 'plumbing' new depths, customer service generally 'down the pan', passengers increasingly left with a 'sinking' feeling, East Coast's regular customers hope that they have better luck running this bath than they do a train service.  

Hour-plus delays the third Monday in a row, and no service at all between Peterborough and Kings Cross this morning.  

An absolute shower.

Eye observes:  If DOR entered the bathroom suite market no doubt the ORR would insist the 'plumbing' was provided by Network Rail. Inevitably, therefore, the new venture would fail to 'wash its face'. (that's enough leaky old jokes. Ed)

Odd things happening in the Shire...

Possibly the best Christmas card, ever!

Or possibly not...

Pass the mind bleach.

Uncle Merv's Christmas Quiz...

Time for an exciting new Eye feature - Uncle Merv's Christmas Quiz!

Using your skill and judgement can you explain why there is a shed code attached to this basket?

Answers via email to the Eye, or better still to Barrow Hill Roundhouse, the DfT or indeed anyone else with time on their hands before the 25th!

Pointless signs - Nottingham

Benefits of Nationalisation explained...

This from Ferrero Rocher...

Good to see nationalised East Coast knows what is, and what is not, appropriate reading for its passengers.

I recall that HRH The Prince of Wales once referred to the rulers of another statist regime as "Dreadful old waxworks".

Are they perhaps related?  

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

In my humble opinion this is more a matter of good taste. 

The hackneyed whinnying and whining from Railway Eye is, in my opinion, the childish... (sadly, owing to pressure of space, we are unable to publish the rest of Mr Strong's email. Ed).

UPDATE: This from those nice people at East Coast...

The Railway Eye blog as a whole can be accessed via East Coast’s on-train Wi-Fi, but in common with other websites, content within the blog which involves streaming video and audio can’t be accessed.

 

The reason is that streaming audio and video uses a lot of bandwidth, and can significantly reduce the speed at which others can use the Wi-Fi service on-board the train. 

This is also why audio/video content on sites such as BBC iPlayer, ITV Player et al cannot be accessed using on-train Wi-Fi.

 

Hope this helps to explain. (It does, thank you. Ed)

 

TOC of the Pops!

This from the Cloggies!


Snork!

But good effort.

Kim Wilde delights rail passengers...

Errrr....



Oh dear.

UPDATE: This from Fen Boy...

Kim Wilde must have had a very good evening if she thought that she was singing on the Underground as this was patently an FCC Class 365 speeding its weary load home to Hertfordshire.

The first giveaway was the guy in the distance sitting in the luggage stack opposite the toilet door and then, of course, towards the end with the relief that the torture was over when the train is seen arriving at FCC's Potters Bar station.

Latest exciting RDG news!

And here is the latest on the exciting developments at the Rail Delivery Group:

'Non.'

That is all.
 

Pointless signs - Gospel Oak

This, surprisingly, from Sir Barnes Wallis...

Come on London Overground, you can do better than this.

Desperate times: Man inserts ticket

This from Herr Bend o'Ver...

Is this the most desperate press release of the week?

According to FGW...

Newbury MP Richard Benyon will officially open Newbury Station’s ticket gates this Friday following £850,000 investment to improve the station environment...

The MP will tour the station, accompanied by First Great Western Managing Director Mark Hopwood, before opening the new gateline. 

'Benyon inserts valid ticket' - Hold the Front Page!

UPDATE: This from the Major...

I'm pleased to see that Richard Benyon is to officially open the ticket barriers at Newbury. 

If he could leave them open that would be most useful for all those passengers carrying bags, clutching cups of coffee, pushing prams, nursing arms in slings and everyone else for whom barriers are just that.

Pointless signs - Huddersfield

With apologies to all fans of Marcia...

Sadly, Eye fears that one day something similar may appear at Flinstock.

UPDATE: This from the Ghost of Sir Peter Parker...

The one-up-one-down halt on the Cotswold Line is Finstock, of course, not Flinstock.

Cameron's nearest station is actually here in Charlbury, but as it's a rare Lib Dem redoubt in West Oxfordshire, any statue here would be rapidly tarred and feathered by local militant Bromptoneers. 

But they have given me a memorial garden, for which I'm very grateful. It's even tended by a baronet and former paramour of Princess Margaret.

Possibly the best railway pub... in the world!

The Fact Compiler is in awe!

Go to the Alex', now!

UPDATE: This from Billy Arrows...

Mark Williamson's looking well but has Lord Adonis had a Chimay Blue too many? 

Hard Times - No 94

Good to see the train leasing market acting as a barometer for industry confidence.

So Eye wonders if readers can guess which ROSCO commercial director at yesterday's RfG Christmas Lunch didn't even bother bringing any business cards?

Hard times indeed.

Richard George to Interfleet

This from Interfleet...

International rail consultancy Interfleet Technology has announced the appointment of a new Managing Director, following the retirement of incumbent MD David Rollin after almost 20 years at the helm.

New MD Richard George will take up the position at the end of February 2013, fresh from his recent role as Director of Transport at the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOGOC), where he was responsible for the delivery of the hugely successful transport logistics.

In best Spandau Ballet voice... Gold!

Bakerballs: On punctuality...

This from Julian and Sandy...

Compare this from our Norm in the Daily Mail...

Mr Baker, who is fed up with the train companies’ sleight of hand told the Daily Mail afterwards: ‘It is totally dishonest to say trains are punctual when for short distance and journeys they can arrive within 4 minutes and 59 seconds and for long-distance they can be within 9 minutes and 59 seconds and still count as being officially on time. Taxpayers and passengers deserve better than this.

‘That is why we are putting pressure on the rail industry to publish proper real-time performance  figures.'

Taking his cue from two popular BBC Radio4  comedy series, Mr Baker said: ‘Punctuality should be measured by ‘Just a Minute’, not ‘I’m sorry I haven’t a Clue.’

With this from his own department:

"PPM is and will remain the government’s and industry’s key measure of rail punctuality and reliability"
 
So who is the dishonest one, eh Norm?

Pointless signs - Warwick Parkway

Pointless signs - King's Cross/St Pancras