Could Hatfield/Stainforth have been avoided?

The Fact Compiler's latest column in Passenger Transport published on the 1st March...

The next edition of Passenger Transport will be published on the 15th of March.

Celebration of InterCity & Freightliner on Monday!

This from the Campaign for Better Transport...

The CBT is hosting our first Back on Track: Beeching 50 Years On event at the Science Museum in London on Monday 11th March 2013 (sponsored by Network Rail and Abellio).

Join us for an evening with Michael Palin; former Transport Secretary Lord Adonis; our Vice President Lord Faulkner; David Higgins, Chief Executive of Network Rail; and Freightliner’s Director of Strategy, Lindsay Durham. 

The event, at the Museum's IMAX cinema, will include a panel discussion reflecting upon the national impacts of the Beeching Report and progress since 1963. 

Our speakers will also discuss the role of the railways now and in the future of transport in the UK.

Details from: ruth.chapple@bettertransport.org.uk 

There may be a £5 charge for attendance.

See you there. 

Scrap Metal Dealers Act nets first victim!

Oh dear.

The Soi Disant 'Veteran Observer' has apparently been allowed near the railway.

Alas, judging from this picture he has broke it!

Pay attention Brennan-Brown!

Take that lump of p-way out your pocket! The new Scrap Metal Dealers Act renders it almost worthless.

UPDATE: This from the late Sir Norman Hartwell...

Nice flares. 

UPDATE: This from the Soi Disant Veteran Observer himself...

I really am getting jolly tired of this.

I have asked politely, several times, for you to stop referring to me by the childish term 'soi disant' etc...
 
It is neither big, nor clever!

Rather than replying in person to my emails you think it witty to publish them in truncated... (Sadly, owing to pressure of space, we are unable to publish the rest of this email from the Soi Disant Veteran Observer. Ed)

Update: This from an Railway Hack...

I also attending today's visit to Hatfield/Stainforth.

Eye readers may find these images more illuminating...

 

For what it is worth, it scared the living $h!t out of me. 

Pointless signs - Liverpool Street (LUL)

This from the Ward Room...

Really? 

Stanstead, near Long Melford in Suffolk? 

Surely not!

New Steam operator enters market

Exciting news for fans of kettles!

Devon and Cornwall Railway have operated their first steam train on the national network and completely failed to get the railway on fire!



Eye understands that despite desperate last minute interventions from others, the move went smoothly and the railway remained intact.

And a jolly good thing too, what ho?

Silver Stump Watch - the new King's Cross

This from GTRFN Inc...

Stretching as far as the Eye can see...

Presumably, some of these are removable, for maintenance-vehicle access?

Scribble in haste, repent at leisure

Here's a blast from the past!

This leader column appeared in the Grauniad way back in 2006...

"British trains may be slow and expensive, but there was welcome news this week that at least one part of the country's rail industry is pulling far ahead of its European rivals - even if it is, in every sense of the word, a very small part.

"Hornby, the model maker whose OO gauge miniature trains have rattled through countless spare bedrooms and attics over the years, this week announced a seventh year of profits...

"But Hornby's main glory is still its trains, even if regular travellers on the less-than-reliable real thing may sometimes scratch their heads in wonder at the fact that anyone would want to recreate the drab, maddening world of South West Trains and Virgin Cross-Country once they are safely home."

Quite so!

But who on earth could have had such negative views of the 'drab and maddening world' of the privatised railway?

We can only hope that they never end up in an important policy role, advising a Transport Secretary for instance...

UPDATE: This from Mini-Me...

In its latest move towards complete authenticity, Hornby plc made a Network Rail-style loss of £500k in 2012.

In fairness, it blames poor sales of its Olympic themed merchandise rather than its trains. But, it has had huge problems getting its models manufactured in China (its main competitor, Bachmann, now owns the factory it was using) and has suffered numerous issues with steep price increases and long delays (sound familiar?).

Perhaps the 'very small part' referred to by your poacher-turned-gamekeeper was more accurate than he originally envisaged? 

The Case of the Missing Question

This from our man at 221b Baker Street...

Mornin' Holmes, have you seen the Public Accounts Committee report on the Intercity West Coast franchise debacle? It makes most interesting reading.

Indeed I have, Watson, and it is a tribute to the forensic abilities of the Committee's Chairwoman Margaret Hodge, second only in my estimation of the fairer sex to Eirene Adler. And you will have noticed in the transcript of the evidence session with the DfT Permanent Secretary and his Director General the significance of the question as to why the Department's Contract Awards Committee thought it necessary to impose a Subordinated Loan Facility on Virgin, where the calculations indicated that none was required, whilst at the same time reducing the sizeable SLF for First Group? 

But Holmes, I didn't see that question in the transcript.

That, Watson, is the significance! 

Number Crunching - The price of safety

This, surprisingly, from the late Frankie Howerd..

Woe, woe and thrice woe!

According to the latest edition of RAIL which, for non-subscribers, hits newsstands tomorrow...

 No!! Twitter ye not!!! (Indeed. Ed)

Pointless sign - Kettering

This from The Ninja...

Not sure if this is pointless, pointed or poignant!

Pointless signs - Peterborough

UPDATE: This from the Bois from Basil...

Lots of locally-based Polish agricultural labourers - and other Poles - use Peterborough station.

Is it 'pointless' to make sure they know it is illegal to trespass on the track?

Presumably the 'brytyjska policje transportowa' put this up to deal with a specific local problem. 

Doubtless death-by-railway is a grand final solution to the 'immigration problem' in some folk's unsavoury minds.  But it's messy and disruptive, don't you know!

UPDATE: This from London Dwelling Urbanite...

The railways are baffling enough for English speakers... 

Surely everyone else needs all the help they can get!

UPDATE: This from Alrey there Yet?...

I'm not sure why you considered a sign in Polish at Peterborough station to be pointless. There's a large Polish population in Peterborough, most of which have arrived recently although there's been Polish people in Peterborough since the end of WWII.

Now a piece on how ridiculous it is that there's no line Westwards south of Peterborough would be interesting!

UPDATE: This from Jamie Joyce...

Why is this pointless? 

Useful notice for Polish community to stay off the tracks!

UPDATE: This from Admiral Sikorski...

Dear gówno compiler... (sadly owing to pressure of space Eye is unable to reproduce the rest of this valuable contribution from Admiral Sikorski. Ed)

Launch event for Women in Rail

Regular readers of Eye and Passenger Transport magazine may recall the Fact Compiler lamenting the paucity of ladies in senior railway management roles.

So Eye was heartened to see that a new organisation, Women in Rail, will hold its launch event on the 10th of April.

According to the blurb...

The theme of the event is "Women in Rail: shaping the future of rail". Presentations will focus on the business case for supporting and encouraging women in the rail sector and developing strategies for engaging young people to consider a career in rail.

Speakers will include, amongst others, Sir David Rowlands (former Permanent Secretary to the Department for Transport), Heidi Mottram OBE (CEO at Northumbrian Water), Heather Jackson (Chief Executive and Founder of An Inspirational Journey), The Hon Anna Walker (Chair at the Office of Rail Regulation) and Dyan Crowther (Route Managing Director, Network Rail).

And quite right too.

Although Eye wonders why WiR has given Angel chairman Sir David Rowlands top billing when the impressive DG Rail might have been more appropriate? (Perhaps because Angel is sponsoring it? Ed)

After all, Clare Moriarty is board champion for gender at DfT and is responsible for supporting the development of women leaders across the Civil Service.

ABC circulation figures - An editor writes...

Dear Fact Compiler...

Following on your round-up of ABC figures a week or two back, a quick note to let you know that Rail Technology Magazine also put on readers, all through individual subscription requests rather than just bunging a load of copies out to irrelevant offices or depots or similar dodgy practices (shurely: '...rather than through meticulous database management and highly targetted mailings? Ed).

It’s now 9,118, up from 8,800 a year ago. We joined ABC in 2001.
 

We appreciate the implied tip of the bowler hat for allowing our figures to be audited!

As you say, it’s not a common enough practice among industry titles, especially the rail B2B sector, where we sit.

Adam Hewitt, Editor

Silver Stump Watch - Reading doomed

This from Concerned of Caversham...

Seems that NR are planning to deploy an impressive array of 'nad-busters' at Reading:

Lucky old Reading!

A case of poor regulation?

This from the ORR...

From: Data Portal 
Sent: 26 February 2013 11:19
To: Data Portal
Subject: Average age of Rolling Stock by TOC report - correction

All,

Due to an error in the report design, the data for the ‘All’ category in the Average age of Rolling Stock by TOC had been displayed against the wrong quarters between 2009-10 Q2 and 2012-13 Q2.  This has now been rectified and the report currently displays data  for the appropriate financial quarters. 

The most likely cause for this error was due to changes in the way the data was loaded.  Now that the report has been amended this error should not occur again. In addition, we will amend our existing validation procedures to ensure further checks against raw data are undertaken. 

Apologies for any inconvenience that this may have caused you. 

What is it with spreadsheets and Government departments? 

UPDATE: This from The Sleeper... 

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

UPDATE: This, it would appear, from Morris the Man...

Non solum fumo speculisque, sed etiam tintinnabulis fistulisque fit.

DfT - Uniformly dreadful

So. The Public Accounts Committee has published its report into the cancellation of the InterCity West Coast franchise competition.

The accompanying press release is littered with phrases like "complete lack of common sense", "fundamental errors" "littered with basic errors", "failed to learn from previous disasters", "failed to heed advice from its lawyers", "failed to respond appropriately to early warning signs", "did not have proper oversight of the project" and comments that "the project showed a lack of leadership".

The release continues: "There was no single person responsible from beginning to end and, therefore, no one who had to live with the consequences of bad policy decisions...".

"We are astonished that the Permanent Secretary did not oversee the project because he was told he could not see all the information which might have enabled him to challenge the processes, although it was one of the most important tasks for which the department is responsible."

"Given that the Department got it so wrong over this competition, we must feel concern over how properly it will handle future projects, including HS2 and Thameslink. The Department needs to get its house in order and put basic principles and practices at the heart of what it does, with an appropriately qualified and senior person in charge of the project throughout and an accessible leadership team ready and willing to hear and act on warning signs."

Quite so.

Of course it is all too easy to snipe from the sidelines.

Therefore, Eye is determined to make a constructive contribution to helping DfT "get its house in order".

On page 42 of the PAC report is this telling gem:

£230,000 on uniforms that will never be worn!!!

Eye insists that all officials at the Department (as well as Villiers, Hammond and Greening) are required to wear these totems of profligacy when in Whitehall and on or about the railway.

Perhaps that might engender a greater sense of team spirit and visible accountability?

UPDATE: This from Alias Schmidt & Jones...

Hey, are there any picture of these uniforms? 

And are they now for sale somewhere?

 If so, where can I get one? 

If not why not?

Eye understands that they are in secure storage and ready to be used as required. Apparently there are sufficient for any large-ish size TOC!

 

Silver Stump Watch - Kettering, in mufti

Pointless signs - Greater Anglia 7-Up

UPDATE: This from the Lost Gardens of Hackney...

I recall this from my former days on said patch but it gets even worse:

The yellow caution sticker depicted contains the classic typo 'The train may be longer than the platfrom'...!!!!!   

Proof reading?  No chance!

Silver Stump Watch - On the move at Euston!

This via @BCCletts...

The menace advances?

Pope Kipling the First anyone?

In the latest issue of Passenger Transport, published on the 15th February the Fact Compiler gets all ecclesial...

The next edition of Passenger Transport will be published on the 1st of March.