EC Pendolino - There is more joy in heaven...

A perfect run last night from Edinburgh Waverley to King's Cross!


Operated by Virgin Trains...

Controlled by East Coast...

Burying IEP!

UPDATE: This from, a somewhat twitchy, East Coast...

To be clear, East Coast’s fleet of High Speed Trains (HSTs) are already earmarked for replacement by new trains procured via IEP from 2018.

The Pendolino test runs have no consequence for the IEP programme – they are not relevant to IEP.

UPDATE: This from Mr Tony...

According to Railway Herald an East Coast spokesman also said:

That the company was "now concluding the desktop study to test our findings in practice, in line with the wider strategic aims of the industry going forward.

Doomed?

UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic...

Clearly a very carefully worded statement from the Industry's fifth column at York.

Note the reference to IEP replacing HST, while Pendolino is a potential replacement for electric IEP.

So it is strictly true that The Pendolino test runs have no consequence for the IEP programme – they are not relevant to IEP - but only in an East Coast context. Great Western is a different matter

All that was missing from the trial run were bodyside stickers saying 'You can have this proven train for £20,000 per vehicle per month less than IEP'!

NR public or private - PAC weighs in

This from today's Public Accounts Committee report into Reducing costs in the Department for Transport...

It is unacceptable that Network Rail is not directly accountable to Parliament and not subject to National Audit Office scrutiny.

Network Rail spends billions of pounds of public money each year, , its debt of over £25 billion is underwritten by the taxpayer and international accounting conventions show that it should be considered as part of the public sector.

Yet the Department continues to hide behind the Office for National Statistics classification of Network Rail as a private company which keeps Network Rail's debt off the public balance sheet and its spending from direct NAO scrutiny. We also note that an additional £950 million borrowing through Network Rail formed part of the Government's plans in the Autumn Statement, further undermining the Department's argument that it is an "essentially private sector" company.

As we have previously recommended the Department should provide the Comptroller and Auditor General with full access to Network Rail so that Parliament can scrutinise Network Rail's value for money.

No doubt last month's decision by the Captain of Netball to over-rule NR's Management Incentive Plan will allow the ONS to resolve this particular anomaly...

UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic...

Given that DfT can't or won't provide me with a simple spread sheet of current franchise/premium profiles in existing franchise agreements I think the PAC is barking up the wrong tree.

A quick call to ORR should provide more financial data than the geekiest of NAO wonks can handle.

Rutman named as new PS at DfT

So a big Eye welcome to Philip Rutnam, who has been appointed the new Permanent Secretary at the DfT.

Rutman is currently Director General Business and Skills at BIS and will take up his new post in Marsham Street on 11th April 2012.

According to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills website:

Philip Rutnam was appointed Director General, Business and Skills in December 2010. Prior to this he had been Director General, Business, since March 2009.

Philip was previously at Ofcom where he was a Partner and then Board Member. He helped to establish Ofcom as an organisation and then to lead its work on competition, economic regulation and use of the radio spectrum.

A former senior Treasury official, Philip Rutnam's career also includes working in corporate finance at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, a period as Private Secretary to the Financial Secretary, and responsibility for the Treasury's interest in business and enterprise. He also previously represented the UK at the European Investment Bank.

In light of the Command Paper's terse dismissal of Open Access competition, Eye is unsure what use his Ofcom experience will be...

UPDATE: This from Sir Humphrey Beeching...

I'm pleased to see that Lucy Chadwick has also been named the new Director-General of Major Projects and London.

Bobby Devereux and I both had her marked out for great things, and of course she covered the role just a year ago.

With everyone at the Department playing musical chairs, I look forward to hearing where my old friend Peter Strachan ends up.

UPDATE: This from Minster Benn...

Has Sir Humphrey been at the dishwater again?

Ms Chadwick is not taking on Mr Strachan's job.

She will be taking up the post of DG International, Strategy and Environmental.

If that isn't an Oxymoron.

Great & the good meet to focus on costs

Exciting news reaches Eye of a brand new professional association designed to bring together the great and the good of the railway!

The 'exclusive new forum for Rail's Senior Leaders to meet and network' will hold its inaugural meeting tonight.

The event will focus on 'The future of the Rail Delivery Group', followed by drinks and canapés.

And quite right too!

What better way could there be for industry executives to share and discuss the challenges set by McNulty.

But what's this?

Whilst attendance at the inaugural event is free, subsequent corporate membership of the Association of Railway Senior Executives (is this right? Ed) will 'typically cost £1,000'!

Nervous Finance Directors need not panic.


Eye understands that the association’s President has already offered his famous broom cupboard as a future VfM venue.

RMT announce date of the Revolution!

To the barricades Comrades!

This stonking piece of polemic from the RMT...

RAIL UNION RMT announced today it is holding a Budget “Day of Action” over Government plans to axe thousands of jobs, close ticket offices, jack up fares and give the train operating companies “gold plated” franchises as it implements the McNulty Rail Review recommendations.

The announcement comes on the day that the train operators, through their front organisation ATOC, admitted that they are planning to use an increase in rail demand as an excuse for jacking up fares and pumping up their fat profits.

RMT will be joined by sister rail unions and commuters in action at train stations across thec ountry on 21st March and will be specifically targeting South West Trains where a deep, commercial alliance as a forerunner for a private takeover of infra-structure kicks in on 1st April.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: “Today we have again seen the true face of greed of the private train operators as they rub their hands at the prospect of using the surge in rail demand as an excuse to ramp up fairs and to screw the travelling public for every penny of profit that they can extract from the network.

“On budget day, RMT and our supporters will be stepping up the fight for a railway free from profiteering and exploitation and in support of the principle of transport run under public ownership as a public service.

“If the train operators get their way they will seize control of infra-structure and drag us back to the lethal days of Railtrack that led us to Hatfield and Potters Bar. They will also throw the guards off the trains, close ticket offices and de-staff stations turning the whole railway system into a criminal’s paradise where yobbos, vandals and muggers have a free run.”

Easy tiger!

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

Oooh goody!

I see that Crow Bar says that TOCs plan to "to ramp up fairs".

Will there be carousels and dodgems and stuff?

Pointless signs - Broxbourne

Pointless signs - Egham

East Coast goes MAD for Railway Children

This from John Gelson over at East Coast...

I thought Eye readers might be interested in East Coast's support for the Railway Children's MAD Day - passenger reaction has been fantastic!

Here customer Alistair McKenzie buys a cake at the café-bar counter for the Railway Children charity from (left to right) Customer Service Assistant Jason Armstrong; Head of Catering Mark Tarry; and East Coast Chairman Michael Holden.


Michael said: “We’re delighted at the wonderful support for today’s Railway Children fundraising from our customers and our staff. It’s also been a great opportunity to work alongside some of our fantastic people, and see at first hand their work to help passengers as they travel.

“Together, we’ve raised funds for a very important cause and had a lot of fun at the same time. My thanks go to everyone who has helped with this memorable and enjoyable day.”

Good effort!

Charitably minded readers can donate to the Railway Children here.

UPDATE: This from East Coast...

Train company East Coast is thanking thousands of passengers who helped raise £10,000 in just one day to make a difference to children living on the streets.

Command Paper - Measuring progress

This from Captain Deltic...

Celebrating 19 years of government meddling

John Major in 1993 - "British Rail is deeply inefficient"

Command Paper in 2012 - "The rail industry... remains unacceptably inefficient."

Progress indeed!

Command Paper 'great leap forward'

This from Our Man at 222 Marylebone Road...

Readers of Soviet Weekly's reports of party conferences in the 1950s will recognise the style of this extract from the Command Paper:

While promoting and protecting the achievements of recent years, we will now focus the industry on collaboration to achieve world-beating excellence in efficiency and in serving its customers – the taxpayer, passenger and the freight industry. Only by making sure everyone in the industry has clear objectives and aligned incentives will we be able to secure our objectives. Partnership working and driving behavioural change in the industry will be at the centre of our strategy for securing the savings we want.

Applause, prolonged and stormy applause, all stand, Cries of 'All power to the Coalition and Secretary Greening'.

Deltic rails at Deadwood's history rewrite

The mad Vulcan is at it again.

This near illiterate anti-rail rant from Redwood's blog:

Listening today to criticisms of the governemnt’s aim to get the UK railway system to a similar level of efficiency as contiental systems by reducing some 30% of cost, I was struck by people telling me our system is dearer becausee it is privatised. I seem to remember passanger numbers and freight volumes rising strongly, and subsidies falling, when it was fully privatised. Then costs and subsidies rose swiftly again ocne the main part of the railway, the track and signals were renationalised. The old nationalised monopoloy had a poor record with falling use, safety problems and high levels of subsidy.

Happily the Welsh national anthem mangling car-loon has been neatly fisked by Captain Deltic in the blog's comment section:

You claim, presumably from Conservative mythology that “the old nationalised monopoloy had a poor record with falling use, safety problems and high levels of subsidy”.

Fact. Between 1983 amd 1989/90 subsidy fell, at 1989/90 prices from £1,329 m to £587m.

Fact: Over the same period Government subsidy as a share of total passenger revenue fell from45% to 25%. Today it’s around 50%

Fact. Ridership increased from 18.3 bn passenger miles to 20.9bn (21.3bn in 1988/89.

Fact: Over the same period Freight tonnage was down slightly from 145.1 m tonnes to 143.1m (149.5m in 1988/89)

Fact: By 2000 when Railtrack was forced into adminstration passenger miles were 23.7 billion and freight tonnage lifted down to 95.4 million.

1989/90 is chosen deliberately because it marks the end of the economic cycle. Note that passenger ridership in 2000 had only just topped the 1988/89 peak.

Good effort and happy birthday Captain Deltic!

That is all.

Fares consultation - slapdash is the word!

This from Mrs A P Tis...

May I salute the Department for Transport for living up to its legendary reputation for attention to detail?

A quick perusal of the Fares & Ticketing consultation document, published on the DfT website yesterday afternoon, reveals incomplete sentences and sections at the bottom of several pages.

Naughty naughty!

If you were passenger and hadn't completed certain journeys you could expect a fine.

Can someone at Marsham Street please get a grip!

The future of railway Smart-ticketing - Exclusive

This from a Mr Rabid Burns...

I can exclusively reveal the details of the new DfT smart-ticketing systems that the Command Paper referenced.

This is the fruit of years of hard work by highly paid consultants and already has its own brand name - "IET" (or Intercity Express Ticketing).

Similar in size to Oyster cards the new IET smart-tickets will be rolled out across the network in coming months.

For ease of use the IET will be supplied with a handy pocket sized printer. Plug the printer into the ticket and it will seamlessly produce a small wood pulp based object, on which there will be impressions of words and numbers. These will suggest where the journey starts and ends, together with a use by date.

Passengers can also easily extend the range of their IET by purchasing a BiMode Plus module (a small car battery) that will power the new smart-ticket across areas of the network lacking electric power.

Phase 2 of the roll out is likely to see the printer and BiMode Plus complimented by a personal ticket gate - similar in size to an airport body scanner - for use at stations without gatelines.

All the above lightweight kit (140lbs) will be imported from Asia, assembled by Sid and Doris Bonkers in their Neasden shed and badged British Made.

I think you will agree that this innovative IET concept will be welcomed by passengers and place Britain once again at the forefront of railway ticketing!

UPDATE: This from ticketing expert @SWLines...

You'll need one for each owning group, as none of it will be interoperable.

Command Paper celebrates the markets!

This from Captain Deltic...

I note from section 4.67 of the Command Paper that:

Our preference would be that, building on the Competition Commission decisions and this work, operators and ROSCOs drive better value through a market-based approach.

So the ROSCOs are being encouraged to adopt market led pricing.

As in letting rolling stock fleets, which are in short supply, to the TOC offering the highest lease rental? (Probably not what DfT had in mind! Ed)

Railway Garden Competition - Tottenham Hale

Perhaps Clog Rail, with their home-grown expertise in water management, can do a little better than the previous franchisee?

NR turns to Ford... again for new Chairman

This from Stockmarketwire.com...

Professor Richard Parry-Jones is to be the next chairman of Network Rail.

It is his intention to appoint a non executive public interest director to its Board and implement a series of changes to its membership structure designed to better hold the Board to account.

Another former Ford man at the helm, following in the steps of Ian McAllister (hopefully his after dinner anecdotes won't be as dull! Ed)

ITSO in disarray as CEO departs

Good to see that the government's plans for smartcards are going well.

According to Modern Railways...

Michael Leach has left the smartcard organisation ITSO, where he was Chief Executive Officer.

And last night Captain Deltic tweeted...

ITSO CEO has resigned today and left with immediate effect.

Perfect timing!

What with today's Command Paper expected to focus on the benefits of ITSO and smart ticketing.

Manuel Cortes fires up the Quattro

Oh dear.

This from the leader of the TSSA today:

Manuel Cortes said: "If the local booking office goes, then the station itself will not be far behind it. Justine Greening must reject the siren voices of the train operating companies which want the freedom to close one in four of all booking offices.

"This will amount to a mini Beeching with hundreds of stations in rural areas facing the threat of long term closures altogether.

" An unmanned station is a less safe station, particularly for the elderly and young women travelling alone at night.

Unmanned?

Unmanned!

The politically correct term is 'unstaffed'!!

Shame on you Manuel, the sisterhood will be having your guts for garters!!! (shurely shome mishtake? Ed)

UPDATE: This from a Mr Le Carry...

Manuel?

Shurely Personuel?

Exciting new Eye avian competition launched

Time for an exciting new Eye competition!

Please study these two statements contained in recent press releases from the RMT and Labour tranport team:

The RMT said: "The idea of “deep alliances”, as a forerunner to infra-structure privatisation, is already being piloted on a joint operation on South West Trains and has long been demanded by the train operators as a way of seizing complete control and maximizing profits. In addition to a series of failed “mini-Railtracks” across the country, RMT also expects the Command Paper to confirm a series of other damaging and potentially lethal proposals (cont p94)..."

Maria the Eagle said: "Even though Ministers have run away from fronting up these policy changes, we now know the government's intentions for the railway and they are deeply worrying. In future, as a result of so-called deep alliances, a single regional manager will for the first time be accountable not just to Network Rail, but equally to private train company bosses. The creation of a set of mini-Railtracks will take us back to the days when decisions on infrastructure and maintenance were profit-driven."

Now using your skill and judgement see if you can guess what three word phrase is hidden in the picture below:


Do you know what it is yet?

Pointless signs - CrossCountry Voyager