News of the latest campaign on Facebook.
Carlisle station was recently 'done up' for a Homebase advert with wallpaper, hanging lights and a stripey footbridge.
Now a Facebook campaign has been started to Keep Carlisle train station like this!
As at 16:00 on Friday it had 5,310 members!
Perhaps not quite what Messrs Hall and Green, Stationers to Lord DafT Vader, had in mind?
Telegrammed by the Major
Scribblers and industry commentators may be sad to hear that Network Rail's Midland Press Office will cease to exist from Monday 22nd February.
According to NR:
The York press office will cover the North East, East Midlands and Lincolnshire.
The Manchester press office will cover the North West, West Midlands and Staffordshire.
The soon to be defunct NR Midland Press Office is of course the vestigial tail of the erstwhile BR London Midland Region Public Affairs empire, which was also based in Birmingham, and included amongst its luminaries such legends as the great Phallex Murray and The Vice Marshall himself (deep doff of the bowler. Ed).
No matter - tempus fugit.
But what is confusing Brum hacks is the timing of the closure decision.
Which has been announced just as NR prepares to spend vast sums of taxpayers' money in putting a brand new roof on New Street station.
Surely not evidence of NR's lack of joined up thinking?
UPDATE: This from NR's Chief Spinmeister, Kevin Groves, for it is he...
It is indeed sad to see the Midlands office close.
It is particularly sad to lose a popular and effective member of the media team but CP4 efficiencies have to be made in all departments and resources reallocated as best we can.
We’re all joined up too as the £650m rebuild of Birmingham New Street will have its own dedicated communications professional looking after all its needs, including media.
This from Tweetminster, via Twitter...
Cabinet Members on Twitter: 14.
Shadow Cabinet Members on Twitter: 4.
There are 15 Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet Members on Twitter.
Just thought you'd like to know.
So the Tories have killed the consensus on High Speed 2.
Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers has declined to "give a political blank cheque to Labour" by refusing an advance view of the Noble Lord's HS2 White Paper.
Villiers also made clear that the Tories reserved the right to look at alternative routes.
Whilst this will raise a collective groan from the railway industry it makes sound political sense.
With sources suggesting Adonis' plan for HS2 will show the proposed route with a margin of error of as little as 25 yards there would have been howls of anguish from Tory constituencies in the Chilterns; None of which would actually gain any benefit from the new line whilst suffering all the pain of planning blight and construction works.
The other political benefit is that it hangs the Noble Lord out to dry. Non consensus allows the plans for HS2 to be kicked into the long grass for at least another Parliament, which with the current parlous state of the country's finances makes fiscal as well as political sense.
That said the Tories will need to come up with something else chunky if they are not to enter the election 'transport lite'.
UPDATE: This from Lobby Fodder...
I wonder if the decision by the Tories to pour cold water on Lord Adonis HS2 White Paper is in anyway connected with this story in today's FT?
The transport secretary has told London’s mayor that it is “not acceptable” for the capital to seek extra money to fund improvements on three underground lines, in a sharply worded reply to the mayor’s request.
Just asking that's all.
UPDATE: This, surprisingly enough, from Niccolo Machiavelli...
Labour would seem to have the Tories in a fianchetto if they publish the route of HS2 between London and the West Midlands before the election.
If the Tories support the route they alienate their own voters in home counties constituencies where Labour cannot prevail whilst merely sharing the credit in West Midlands constituencies where Labour is likely to win.
If the Tories criticise the route they can be portrayed as home counties toffs prepared to put their golf clubs ahead of the transport needs of the West Midlands
But with Adrian Shooter allegedly advising Theresa Villiers, the vision of Evergreen 5 could provide an effective counter.
And the Tories also have IEP up their sleeve (shome mishtake, shurely? Ed).
As I say in my book 'The Prince' (available as a Penguin Classic for only £2.99 from Amazon):
"The wise ruler does not overlook the cunning of ex British Rail engineers risen to high office".
UPDATE: This from Sun Tzu...
Can I support Signor Niccolo's comments on IEP being a Tory asset?
As I say in my book 'The art of war' (available from Amazon in paperback price £3.00):
"A highly expensive chariot fails to terrorise fleet footed infantry fighting in a swamp'.
That's enough dead psuedo management philosophy gurus. Ed
UPDATE: This just in from Will' Shakespeare...
I'faith, i know not what these men from foreign parts know about a railway of Puck like speed cutting through this realm of kings.
But as I say in my play Hamlet "for tis the sport to have the gricer Lord hoist by his own petard".
And the same goes for dead bards. Ed
UPDATE: This from Alfred Lord Tennyson...
Might I perchance inject a note of practicality into this discussion and ask what the Whig view is on noise issuing forth from this new rail way?
It was indeed I who conjured the phrase "The ringing grooves of change" and at the promised speed of 400 of those radical kilometres in the hour the ringing would indeed be loud.
UPDATE This from Mr Walt Whitman...
Might I...(Absolutely not. Literary Ed)
No more dead poets, bards and management gurus - please! Ed.
This from Scotch Corner...
Here is the Welsh Deputy First Minister talking about mistrust in politics.....
Little wonder that there is mistrust when he has spent public money on an expensive loco hauled train from his home town to Cardiff, which has a fabulous first class dining offer on board, but alas is only used by half a dozen people or so each day.
And the subsidy is over a £1m!
Even if ten people used it each way everyday, that's £200 subsidy a journey!!
Not so much mistrust as seeing pork barrel politics for what it is!
This from the late Nye Bevan...
According to Wales Online...
THOUSANDS of rugby fans could find themselves stranded in Cardiff after Wales’ Friday-night clash with France, after one rail boss warned there will be no extra trains.
Now, a fair cop guv at first sight but as always there is more...
The stadium didn't tell people about the travel plan issues because they were worried about ticket sales, and there is no money in the pot for more trains so the best you can do is make them four coach sets on the Valleys.
But note how nobody takes the blame and the railway is put to the sword because the stadium has to play to the broadcasters (TV) tune and doesn't have the guts to be public about it.
And good to see the civil servants (sic) of WAG showing excellent form in line with their DaFT counterparts!
You quoted Fiennes earlier in the week, and indeed it is no way to run a railway, especially when your supposed friends leave you to face the music alone.
Evidently not!
Still, there is always tomorrow....
UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...
Don't be too hard on yourself.
Judging by today's announcement on the public finances anything costing more than 2/6 has moved miles to the right.
UPDATE: This from Al Fresco...
Yeah, I agree, don’t do a downer.
After all, you haven’t posted about the 3-Musketeers all together on BBC’s Newsnight on Wednesday.
Did you miss it?
Adonis, 2-Jags & Tarzan – all together on HS1 talking up the prospects of cross- party consensus on HS2 – amongst other buffoonery.
Watch it here – starts at 13:50
This from the British Journal of Photography...
Police forces are planning to use Section 44 stop-and-search powers across all underground and railway stations in the UK during the 2012 Olympics.
The powers, which have been found to be illegal by an European Court, are increasingly being used against photographers.
You have been warned.
Meanwhile if you see your friendly Bobby overstepping the mark - record it on your camera-phone.
They can't arrest all of us... can they?
This from Conservative Home...
Rail passengers in standard class are "a totally different type of people" moans Tory backbencher.
The Fact Compiler wouldn't know.
UPDATE: This from Lobby Fodder...
Will Sir Nicholas be working as a consultant for ATOC after the General Election?
This from Trailer Second...
When they finally do-up the front of Derby station will they use the same radical space saving parking arrangements used in the staff car park?
Eye congratulates EMT on this novel proposal for generating additional unregulated income.
This from Class 9 Swinger...
This was the message greeting delegates at an Essex Thameside re-franchising briefing at Southend yesterday.
At least the hotelier is honest.
UPDATE: This from Leo Pink...
It's a pity the hotel can't spell the name of its meeting room correctly, on the logical assumption that it honours the Greatest Rail Regulator of All Time...
From a Mr Reginald Slicker...
Dear Sir,
I am sure I speak for the majority of rail enthusiasts when I say that I am disgusted by Railway Eye's relentlessly negative attitude to the InterCity Express Programme.
This train has been specified by some of the most experienced railway brains in our Rolls Royce civil service, some of whom I have had the pleasure to meet at Railway Study Association and other presentations, and it ill behoves you to make ill informed criticisms of what I am sure will be an excellent product.
We have all seen the technical superiority of Japanese cars built in Britain and I am sure that the Super Express Train will achieve the same levels of engineering excellence as motor vehicles produced by Toyota and Honda.
Yours etc
R. Slicker
Exciting IEP news.
Eye understands that Gordon Brown, Lord Adonis and (by pure co-incidence) the president of Hitachi are all in Durham tomorrow.
Could this herald a purdah-beating, pre-election announcement on IEPs for the East Coast franchise?
Shame the Tory's are likely to cancel the project just weeks after the election.
UPDATE: This nonchalant observation from Captain Deltic...
Might I point out that subscribers to the electronic version of RAIL BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE will already know that tomorrow's Anglo Japanese conclave at Durham will announce that commercial close has been reached on the InterCity Express Programme.
RBI readers will also have read details of the planned initial deployment on the East Coast Main Line, plus a note on the evolving design of the train which seems to have put on weight over the last year.
What a coup to mark the 15th anniversary of the Orange Peril which emerged blinking into the daylight on my Birthday in 1995.
Although a doff of the chapeau to the inimitable Eye for being first with the news of the announcement.
UPDATE: This from Ithuriel....
Commercial close means only that DfT and Agility Trains have agreed what is to be supplied and at how much.
Does the Orange Oxymoron say when financial close is expected?
That's when the real money is likely to change hands... or not!
This from Marcus Cato...
I am delighted to see that my no-nonsense approach to town planning on the North African coast has been taken up by Network Rail in its Northern Hub proposals.
I quote from the press release:
'The Northern Hub proposes significant investment in rail over the next 10 years to build on work which is already underway. By removing historic bottlenecks – such as at Manchester - it would allow faster linespeeds, reducing journey times'.
As far as I can see the only obstacle to Network Rail applying a policy of 'Manchester delenda est' is that Human Rights Legislation now prohibits selling the inhabitants of cities into slavery.
Normal service may be resumed on Ash Wednesday (DV)...
Come on you Down'ards!
Good to see that the Daily Telegraph remains as insightful as ever.
Beneath the enticing subhead:
The Conservative Party has called for an inquiry into Lord Adonis' handling of the crisis on the East Coast rail franchise that prompted the Transport Secretary to seize control of the London to Scotland services.
There is precisely... errrrr... nothing.
Sweet Fanny Adams.
De nada.
Zilch.
Zip.
Good to see the fabulous Digital Hub functioning at maximum efficiency.
UPDATE: Eye is pleased to see that we even have readers in the Buckingham Palace Road Lubiyanka.
The story has been restored in all it's glory - here.
UPDATE: This from Lobby Fodder...
Still missing if you use Internet Deplorer.
Via Twitter...
On FCC problems - can people please email details of complaints/experiences to rail@dft.gsi.gov.uk - thanks.
Extra-ordinary - is there no limit to the Department's nano-management?!
Presumably DafT has set up an entire shadow organisation to deal with customer complaints about delays on FuCC?
Back to the Wolmar Question: 'What are TOCs for?'
UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...
DfT want to know about people's 'experiences' of FCC?
Not exactly empirical is it?
UPDATE: This, via Twitter, from cbuchanancubed...
Why doesnt DfT just look at all the blogs/comments etc on the internet - but no you have to send them all in again.
UPDATE: This from Jumbo...
With First Group winning the Business of the Year award at the recent Eversholt Rail Business Awards and FCC being presented with an award for their communications skills, it seems hard to credit that the number of complaints against FCC warrants the DfT's attention.
Do the DfT know something that we don't?
Surely the people who made such prestigious awards to First were not taking the pxss?
This just in from Nigel Harris...
Thanks for telling the world about the 'top three' UK railway magazines, but could you maybe add a new post pointing out that RAIL is of course fortnightly while the other two are, of course, monthly or four weekly.
They publish half as often. Or we publish twice as often. Take your pick.
So, whilst realising that I run the risk of some excoriatingly sarcastic comeback from Eye, I’d just like to point out that whilst the other two titles reach about 35k buyers a month, RAIL finds 40K people thus prepared to support us each month, to whom we are exceedingly grateful.
It would be nice if you could also thank Eye regulars who buy RAIL for their support. It is very much appreciated by all in the Peterborough bunker.
In monthly sales, therefore, we lead the pack by quite some margin... well over 5,000 copy sales!
Our last reader research also showed a 'pass on' rate of five (meaning five readers read each copy) giving us a readership of 100k per issue....or 200k per month.
So, we’ll be aiming to persuade a few of those to buy their own copy in future! (Can you plug this as well?)
All of which puts a rather different complexion on the numbers.
Of course I am more than happy to stand you a lunch for pointing out these things...
Eye is obviously going up in the world. Cheapskate Wolmar only offered drinkies if Eye promoted his efforts!
UPDATE: This from Driver Potter...
I'll see Mr Harris's lunch for Free Advertising and raise him by a pudding - an individual Rolo Mousse and two spoons.
I'm not made of money, you know...
UPDATE: This from Billy Connections -
Nigel's team is well-versed in the "we sell the most, so we must be the best" mantra.
Well you can use statistics to prove anything.
The Sun is the best seller in the newspaper world but RAIL doesn't even offer a decent page three! (shurely ...but you wouldn't read the Sun for in-depth coverage. Ed)
The fact that each issue has a pass on rate of five means that either nobody wants to be seen with it on their desk or it is only read by skinflints too mean to buy their own copy!
As one senior railway MD once said about people who try to avoid paying their fares "The fact that they don't feel obliged to pay us for what we do shows the value they place on the service we provide."
Meanwhile can I put in a plug for a serious rail title... (No. Ed)
UPDATE: This from Bushy...
Whilst RAIL may sell 40,000 copies a month, are those copies going to 40,000 different people or the same 20,000 buying twice?
At least you can say that Railway Magazine is bought by 34,700 different people.
Of course Nigel's piece makes no mention of the fact that two years ago RAIL was selling 23,000 copies per issue.
So using Nigel's logic; RAIL has lost 6,000 readers a month in the last two years.
UPDATE: This, up to a point, from Lord Copper...
If, as Nigel points out Rail is read by 40,000 people a month, that must mean that 20,000 buy each issue, decide they don't like it, only for a fresh 20,000 to buy the next issue, and so on.
The good news for the Panjandrum of Peterborough is that with a UK population of around 60 million, this policy will be successful for another 3000 issues or 125 years which should see out the ever youthful editor's career.
And that may be a conservative estimate because the population grew by 400,000 in 2008 - which represents another 20 issues covered.
The only flaw in the statistics is the number of elderly people who die without taking their turn at reading Rail.
Perhaps copies could be provided as part of free health care proposals.
Telegrammed by 1Z51
Much fury in the North West over a charter train operation gone bad.
This from the Zelo Street blog...
One of the observers was from Network Rail (NR), where questions may well be asked about the lack of a test run by Scots Guardsman, to show it was fit for duty, after the first failure. NR will certainly be wanting one before they allow WCRC’s pride and joy out on the main line again.
What Woe!
UPDATE: This just in from Pillbox...
The original failure was not in away related to the more recent incident and a test run would have been worthless, as a static test proved the repair.
That being said, now a test run would be sensible when its fixed.
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