Rail and Air Quality crawls up the agenda

This written answer from the Rail Minister…

Andy McDonald(Middlesbrough) Asked on: 12 September 2017
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the announcement of 26 July 2017 on the end of sales of all new conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2040, what his policy is on the use of diesel trains after that date.

Paul Maynard Answered on: 09 October 2017
We are encouraging the railway industry to improve air quality by proposing solutions that reduce emissions from trains and also to develop innovative solutions around future fuel technologies such as hydrogen and battery power. In the nearer term, there are currently a number of new bi-mode trains being delivered or on order. The rail industry expects rolling stock to typically have an expected life in the range of 30 to 35 years. There is no policy at present on the use of diesel trains post 2040.

The key words appear to be 'no policy at present'. Developing...

World's longest serving TOC MD speaks!

This from Arriva CrossCountry…

"An innovative partnership has been launched in the North East to coincide with the start of ‘Rail Week’, where the rail industry and educational establishments come together to promote careers in the rail sector.

"Embracing the regions proud legacy of rail engineering and operational history, Britain’s largest train operator, CrossCountry, and the Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership (Cont p94…)

"CrossCountry’s Managing Director, Andy Cooper, said: “This partnership is a great opportunity for us all to work together to help the Academy’s students gain some real-life railway experience, which will add true value to their knowledge of the rail sector. The North East was the birthplace (Also cont page 94…)

Longevity is evidently the father of loquaciousness!

None the less. Good effort!

Wales joins Scotland in rejecting DOO

Eye hears, lots of Welsh voices in Marsham Street today.

No matter.

Meanwhile this from Andy McDonald, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport:

Excellent news from Wales! Keeping guards means passengers will be safe & have the assurance and service they need. https://t.co/LwnNeHwEh3

— Andy McDonald MP (@AndyMcDonaldMP) September 29, 2017

That sound? That is the sound of the DfT and every TOC management team in England sobbing.

Railway Garden Competition - Norwich

This from a Mr Ed Starr…

Perhaps a special award could be made to Network Rail for their rather splendid water garden feature in platforms 2/3 at Norwich station?

What an unbelievable disgrace!

Railway Pride - Beeston

This from a Mr Ed Starr…

My entry to your exciting competition comes from Beeston in Nottinghamshire.

Which apparently also has a Sealink terminal!

Grayling to face Transport Committee on 16th October

This from the Transport Select Committee…

Planned electrification on railway lines scrapped

In the first public evidence session for the Committee, MPs will unpick the thinking behind policy changes by the Department for Transport, including the scrapping of planned electrification on railway lines in Wales, the Midlands and the North of England.

Chair of the Committee, Lilian Greenwood MP, commented:

"The new Transport Committee wants to get to grips with the rationale for Department for Transport decisions. We want to understand the Department's thinking – get into the nuts and bolts of why they have made recent changes to policy. 

"For example, the Government announced it would scrap electrification of several high profile routes including projects between Kettering and Sheffield, Cardiff Central and Swansea and Oxenholme and Windermere. Transpennine electrification is also likely to be 'discontinuous'. Members of the Committee will want to know how the Department reached that decision, and why.

"The Secretary of State should expect to be asked how the public is served by current transport policy, whether the passenger is a disabled person seeking wheelchair spaces on buses, a regular user of the railways, or seeking updates on investment in transport in their region. 

"The Transport Committee intends to scrutinise Department for Transport decisions which impact lives across the UK, every day."

Eye notes that Lilian Greenwood is the MP for the Midland Main Line, whoops, sorry… Nottingham South.

Captain Deltic calls Andy McDonald to order!

This from report on a Labour Party conference fringe meeting...

While Labour didn’t want to “recreate British Rail”, Mr McDonald asked the audience not to decry the old days too much, arguing BR did an excellent job despite declining passenger numbers and low investment in its latter years.

Captain Deltic snorts, "the man's a crypto privatiser parroting the well-worn line of a declining industry!

"Ridership in 1983 stood at 18.3 billion passenger miles, Ridership in 1988/89 was 21.3 billion passenger miles. The ridership graph clearly declining rapidly upwards.

"As for low investment. East Coast main line electrification, new freight locos and wagons, 4500 new passenger vehicles ordered in the 10 years before privatisation etc etc.

"However, on reflection this resurgence did happen under Margaret Thatcher so I can see a certain sensitivity."

Details of Alstom Siemens merger

Headlines from today's Alstom/Siemens merger announce.

• Signed Memorandum of Understanding grants exclusivity to combine mobility businesses in a merger of equals
• Listing in France and group headquarters in Paris area; led by Alstom CEO with 50 percent shares of the new entity owned by Siemens
• Business headquarter for Mobility Solutions in Germany and for Rolling Stock in France
• Comprehensive offering and global presence will offer best value to customers all over the world
• Combined company’s revenue €15.3 billion, adjusted EBIT of €1.2 billion
• Annual synergies of €470 million expected latest four years after closing

Details here.

All eyes now on Bombardier…

UPDATE: Reuters has a good video primer on today's announcement here

What does the Siemens/Alstom merger mean

Exclusive insight from Eye's man at today's press conference!

Ties abolished.

(You're fired! Ed)

Railway Pride - Pewsey

This from Pewsey Snapper…

Might I enter Pewsey into Eye's exciting new contest?

All the criteria are met including:

Faded sign

New pole

As an added bonus there are some ancient yellow stars stencilled on the sign.

Can anyone remember what they commemorate?

UPDATE: This, unbelievably, from the late World of Sports star Dicky Davies…

Perhaps these stars are the relics of a long lost people from Wiltshire and the Salisbury Plain.

Ones that transported boxes (reliably!) unbelievably long distances using what are now ancient technologies.

I think they were called diesel-electrics!

UPDATE: This from Strawbrick…

It might help jog a few more memories if you referred to the as being red, rather than yellow, as in "Red Star" (Picky, picky! Ed)

For your London centric readers, I believe that similar emblems may still be seen on at high level at Euston station.

Benefits of bi-modes over electrification illustrated

This from Reginald Trumpet…

The likely first public diagrams for GWR's new IEP trains have appeared on the RAIL website:

I wonder if the 09:54 ECS trip to Stoke Gifford is get more fuel to see it through the rest of the day?

Railway Pride - Manningtree

This from a Mr T…

The column itself still bears the First Great Eastern scars and has been painted at least twice since, the latest colour palette being Greater Anglia's lovely grey.

Sadly, it appears they didn't have the appropriate ladder, scaffold tower or sponge to enable them to reach 3 feet higher...

Grayling's gift to the North revealed!

This from Eye's man in Manchester…

"People of the North, I have a gift for you. The world's largest piece… of nothing!"

People of the North - your government takes you for fools!

Where to begin?

Clearly the Secretary of State for Transport takes the good burghers of the North for fools!

This tosh from the DfT…

Network Rail will receive up to £5 million to develop proposals for embedding digital technology between Manchester and York…

£5m? Five million quid! That's a rounding error in DfT's weekly budget

Does Marsham Street really believe that such largess for an important and complex study will have the flat cap wearing whippet owners dancing in the streets?

And then..

Developing proposals for digital-control on the TransPennine route is to be paid for from a £450 million digital railway fund announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn Statement last year.

So it's not even new money. It's another re-announce.

And it still doesn't properly confirm what is happening with the wires!

Of course to add insult to injury the release then bangs on about how much money has already been invested in the Capital's rail network.

On the London Underground 3 lines already have in-cab signalling, which has meant trains can safely run closer together.

Also in the capital, the Thameslink programme will use digital technologies so 24 trains per hour can run through the centre of the city from December 2018 on just 2 tracks with 2 platforms. Crossrail trains will also run with in-cab signalling.

'Tin eared' doesn't even begin to describe it.

Team May had better pull a better rabbit out of the hat at conference in Manchester next week, otherwise they can kiss goodbye to any hope of a Tory recovery in the North.

The wires that came in from the cold.

This from George Smiley...

Russia's influence in Western politics continues to spread.

Expect Transport Secretary Grayling to employ a version of the long-standing Soviet military deception technique of maskirovka when he ventures north to Manchester tomorrow to defend his deferment of the Trans-Pennine electrification.

Instead of repeating claims for the discredited 'innovative' use of bi-mode trains, Grayling will seek to wrong foot his critics by declaring that Manchester-Leeds will become a digital railway, in one stroke overcoming all known problems.

And creating a few more, starting with who will pay for the resignalling and the cab fitment. And Grayling's strategic adviser in the DfT, recognisable by the snow on his boots and known as Commissar Aleksandrovitch, seems to have overlooked the report by David Waboso's Early Contractor Involvement team debunking the 40% capacity gain claims made by the former Digital Railway regime.

As our Russian friends might say: "Net sigary, tovarishch!"

Railway Garden Competition - Knighton

This, belatedly, via twitter…

@TheFactCompiler #railwaygarden and when is a wall not good enough #manmarking at Knighton, wales pic.twitter.com/bSa2nUN8VS

— Pete 🍻 (@noddingdonkeys) September 2, 2017

Nice framing, with the added bonus of a pointless palisade.

Lost Beckett masterpiece discovered in Marsham Street

From a recently discovered Samuel Beckett notebook...

Becket identifies the players only as Rosco - a once wealthy business type in a suit; and Cloggie - a foreign gentleman, possibly Dutch?

Rosco: “Let's go."
Cloggie: "We can't."
Rosco: "Why not?"
Cloggie: "We're waiting for Wilko.”

Curtain falls slowly as they look hopefully into the wings...

Cryptic CrossCountry

This from Antony Furlong…

Has Cross-country re-introduced the mystery tour, or is this Voyager trying to draw a steam loco?

GWR - Back to the future - literally!

This from a Mr Antony Furlong...

I was delighted to receive this email from the GWR marketing team.

Evidently those IEPs are even faster than Mr Kipling and the DfT would have us believe!

Railway Pride - Belper

This from Rerailer...

I wonder if I might propose an Exciting New Eye Feature - Railway Pride?

Railway Pride draws on Noel Coward's beautiful encomium to our indomitable Capital City:

Railway Pride has been handed down to us.
Railway Pride is a flower that's free.
Railway Pride means our own dear town to us,
And our pride it for ever will be.

Alas, not so much Railway Pride in the town of Belper.

Where to start!

National Rail sign, the symbol that binds us all together, our mark of quality!

You get the gist.

More please...