Pointless signs - Blackfriars

Baroness Thatcher RIP

Farewell Iron Lady from the iron road!

Over the last fifty years the Tory Party has had little to shout about where the railways are concerned - think Marples and Major!

However, under Blessed Margaret Hilda's premiership the following were delivered:

• Electrification of the East Coast Main Line (with new InterCity 225 train sets)

• Brand new DMUs for the Regional Railways business

• And the Chunnel - as a rail link

And of course we also had support for Sir Robert Reid's business led railway and Sectorisation (before the idiot Major's 'botched privatisation'). 

As @swirlythingy pointed out on twitter, this says as much about the quality of the business cases put forward by BR managers as it does about Mrs T.

But even so, not bad for someone allegedly implacably opposed to the railway.

The Fact Compiler doffs his bowler to Margaret Hilda Thatcher. RIP.

East Coast not broken, why fix?

The Fact Compiler's latest column in Passenger Transport published on the 29th March...

The next edition of Passenger Transport will be published on the 12th of April.

Pointless signs - Reading

This from John Brinicombe Lee...

 

Although this sign is technically correct the access maybe a little tricky.

Leveson, Regulation, Exemplary Damages & the Railway Press

One for Messrs Jackson, Briginshaw, Abbott, Preston, Harris (both), Pigott, Jack, Abell, Dunn, Jones, Milne, etc... to mull over.

With a bowler tip to the latest issue of Private Eye for highlighting this part of the debate on Awards of exemplary damages in relation to the Royal Charter regulating the press:

Richard Bacon (South Norfolk, Conservative)
One could easily envisage a railway enthusiasts’ magazine which had a range of authors whose material was subject to editorial control but which many people would nevertheless consider to be a hobby magazine. It would fall outside the regime because it was aimed solely at enthusiasts. What would happen, however, if such a magazine were to get hold of some information, perhaps confidential information, about High Speed 2? Would it then be caught by the regime? Does my right hon. Friend not see the path that she is going down?

Maria Miller (Basingstoke, Conservative)
We have clearly set out the direction that we are going in, and it is there in the information for my hon. Friend to read. Ultimately, the court will decide whether any particular issues fall near the line. If a publication is concerned about whether it would be caught by the new regime, it can of course seek legal advice, but we have done a great deal to make this clear to individual publications.

Hmmm...

Eye suggests doing like the Speccie and just saying NO! 

Thameslink fleet - latest deadline passed

Good news for fans of Whitehall rolling stock procurement!

This from yesterday's Derby Telegraph...

In an interview with the Derby Telegraph in January, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said he expected the £1.4 billion deal to be signed off with winning bidder Siemens "by the end of March".

But moving into April, the deal for 1,200 carriages still remains unsigned.

Just fancy that!

Pointless signs - York bins

This from Northern Spirit...

Nope. No bins here!

RDG seeks Associate Members... please?

This from Graham Smith, Director General of the Rail Delivery Group...

“The Rail Delivery Group is pleased to invite companies and organisations that are able to contribute to the work and objectives of the Group to become Associate Members. By becoming Associate Members of the RDG, companies and organisations can make a material contribution to the achievement of the RDG’s objectives, which will, in turn, benefit passengers, freight customers and taxpayers”

Very good and quite right too!

Application forms for RDG Associate Membership can be found here.

But why is the RDG, now a company limited by guarantee, still issuing press releases through Network Rail...

Ou est la TOPS

Dontcha just love the Frenchies!

This from Lloyds Loading List...

French rail freight operator Fret SNCF is offering staff a reward if they can find around 150 (apparently empty) rail wagons that have gone missing over the past decade.

Railwaymen are to be offered the sum of €82.10 for each wagon located.

A spokesperson for parent company SNCF Geodis told Lloyd’s Loading List.com the search for the wagons was part of an initiative to remedy a discrepancy between where the company’s IT systems showed wagons to be and their actual location.

Fourth Railway Package?

First pen and paper may be a better starting point!

Rocking Norman deeply confused - Official

Wise words from Norman Baker in today's Metro...

The railways would have been better off in state hands than under the regime introduced in the 1990s, Norman Baker said.

But Mr Baker stressed nationalising railways now would be expensive and unnecessary.

Quite so Minister, quite so.

And talking of 'expensive and unnecessary' what will the privatisation of state owned East Coast cost?

Are we perhaps having a 'cake and eat it' moment Norm?

A good civil servant, sex, trains and the Railway Gazette

Dear Occupants of Great Minster House.

This from Wales Online...

A civil servant in Whitehall was almost jailed in the 1970s for saving Aberystwyth’s train service and many others targeted for a wave of Beeching-style closures, it has been revealed.

That's the way to do it!

An incredible tale and unbelievably one that isn't dated the 1st April - read it!!

Good effort!!!

Pointless signs - Northern 158

This from Weiss Beer...

So, when Easter Sunday's 20.11 XC Leeds to Birmingham was caped on arrival due to lack of staff, and the 20.30 NR Leeds to Sheffield is then extended to Birmingham, just what do you put on the destination board?

Nice.

Silver Stump Watch - Liverpool Lime Street

This from the Depot Master...

And these are after a rise of 30+ steps.

Silver Stump Watch - Glasgow Central

This from National Carp Parkes...

Attached are two photos for Silver Stump Watch. At neither location could a vehicle ram into the station. 

 In fact at one, a car would have to negotiate two flights of stairs!

Pointless signs - EMT Meridian

This from the Inglis Patient...

Spotted this above the luggage rack of an EMT Meridian.

Baggage Class?

Heritage Railways: A step too far!

Really!

How dare East Midlands Trains!!

How very, very dare they!!!

This from the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway...

Iris the Railcar receives East Midlands Trains livery
To celebrate the inclusion of the Wirksworth Branch in East Midlands Trains’ May timetable, the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway has re-liveried its most historic DMU in the East Midlands Trains livery. 

BR Research's Iris in this!

Disgraceful!

And on the first day of the new financial year as well!

ORR narrative overlooks the positive...

This from Orrville...

Good news from the Office of Rail Regulation!

The department within ORR tasked with man marking Passenger Focus, and justifying its own existence, has issued the following press release...

Rail passengers' complaints data shows focus on train punctuality

New statistics published today on the regulator's data portal show that passengers' complaints continue to focus on train punctuality.

Updated rail complaints data highlights that, between 1 October 2012 and 31 December 2012, rail passengers' complaints concentrated on train punctuality (42%), followed by complaints about the quality of facilities on-board the train (14%), and fares (14%).

Data also shows that the overall number of complaints has been steadily decreasing over the past decade – dropping from a high of 128 complaints per 100,000 journeys recorded at the end of 2002-03, to latest levels which stand at 33 complaints per 100,000 journeys in the last 12 months.

Quite so.

But equally this would also have been a factually correct headline:

‘Rail Passengers’ data shows 74% reduction in Passenger Complaints in a decade’

Heaven forfend that ORR should suggest that things are actually improving!

Reports of DOR's demise exaggerated?

This from Our Man at 222 Marylebone Road...

DfT has once again warned the thinly capitalised equity profiteers not to mess with Clare 'The Franchise' Moriarty or DOR will again step in to run the railway.

But surely DOR hasn't the resources to run 10 franchises over the next couple of years? 

Don't be too sure. That sounds well within the modest ambitions of DOR chief Michael Holden.

And to judge by the guest list at the First Class Partnerships thrash at the Carriage Sidings at Kings Cross the other evening, DfT's Consultancy of First Resort would have no problems rustling up any number of deeply experienced TOC management teams. 

You have been warned!

New Franchising Policy - McLoughlin speaks!

Some comforting words on the future of the industry from the SoS in no less a place than Conservative Home!

"The passage of time has proved Dr Beeching was wrong about British railways. Far from being on the way out, the industry has never been stronger, with passenger numbers at record levels."
 
Very good, tick!

But what's this?

Further down the encomium are the following weasel words justifying flogging off East Coast:

"But the service was last upgraded in the 1980s and needs revitalising now. And with new trains, which will be built in the North East, on order it is right that we invite bidders to put forward proposals for investing in and improving services."

Oh dear.

Let us cast our minds back to the heady days of May 2011 and Project Eureka.

These wise words from a certain Karen Boswell:

A new timetable is being developed by the rail industry which will improve services on the East Coast Main Line. It represents the biggest change on the East Coast Main Line for 20 years.

The new timetable will deliver 25 extra East Coast services, more than 9,000 extra seats each weekday, etc...

Are McLoughlin's words perhaps the greatest investment in puffery since the Victorian era?

UPDATE: This from Alecto...

Clearly Mr McLoughlin is either being misled or is badly advised, quite possibly both.

The 'new trains' are mainly replacements for Intercity 125 and even that part of the IEP deal is yet to reach financial close.

The future of the mid-life IC225 fleet, delivered at the end of the 1980s, is still being considered with a range of options available. One of the options is IEP, but the cost of this solution is considerable compared to some of the alternatives.
 
Or is the Minister pre-empting that decision, even though his department is claiming that the choice of future rolling stock for the franchise will be down to the incoming franchisee as part of their proposals for "investing in and improving services"

It seems difficult to escape the conclusion that Whitehall still thinks it knows best.

New Franchising Policy - Just fancy that!

This joyous news via the Daily Telegraph...

Four of Britain’s major train operators have dropped a lawsuit against the Government to recover up to £40m of costs lost when the bidding competition for the Great Western rail franchise was scrapped earlier this year. 

Good news indeed!

Eye understands that a clearly emotional spokesman for Natarrivirstoach Group sobbed his thanks to tax and farepayers for their deep pockets (shurely... deep understanding? Ed).

Clutching what looked like a treble he continued "I luuurve thish indushtry, itsh great. But we couldn't, hic, have done it without our matesh in Marsham Schtreet."

"Don't worry boysh and girlsh theresh lotsh of non-execsh to go around" he concluded, as he relaxed horizontally at the back of his chauffeur driven motor.

The Treasury is said to be delighted.