China in great leap forward!

This from Trailer Second...

It’s not often that China shows the political way ahead, but this one’s a winner.



Not only are we as an industry subject to more ministerial and civil service tinkering than when nationalised, but now we are even more heavily regulated than Chinese railways!

By the by has anyone noticed the remarkable similarity between former minister of Railways, Liu Zhijun, and our very own Philip Rutnam? (No! Ed)

How not to recover a train!

Eye is late to this, so a bowler tip to a Mr Frank Spencer...

Ah, time for plan B.

Chemin de fer Barbie!

LinkedIn is truly a wonderous thing!

A quick perusal today reveals that Elaine Holt is now 'UK Rail Franchise Director at Ratp Dev'.

Nope, Eye neither.

Congratulations none the less.

And Eye looks forward to hearing more about Ratp Dev's plans to enter the UK rail market.

UPDATE: This from Your Father Smelt of Elderberries...

Crossrail!!

You silly English. 

Wasted Waiting Shelters - Derby

This from Derbyshire Lad...

This has been like this for months.

Silver Stump Watch - Liverpool Street

This from Greg and Tonic...

All of these bollards are at the top of sets of steps, the 4 in the first 2 pictures are wedged between the “Hamilton Hall” pub & the stone pillars.

The rest are on the new West-side entrance, including not only up several steps, but some are behind iron railings, which are themselves on top of a brick wall...

No doubt worth every penny spent on them...

Silver Stump Watch - York

This from the Albatross...

What about this little beauty that’s appeared at York – Big Bold and Not Beautiful – one can only assume the Emergency Access is for the toilet in the rear.

Oh and how much has this cost ?

Dear National News Editors...

Bad news for lazy hacks across the land!

Apparently abroad is also completely useless at dealing with snow.

An honourable mention to Her Majesty's Daily Telegraph, therefore, for this.

And with Eurostar services caped, it's official once again...

Continent Cut Off!

Crossrail concession competition launched

Good news for fans of accountable and properly managed rail services!

Oh and also for all those hugely expensive bid teams currently twiddling their thumbs whilst DfT struggles to work out how to restart franchising after the ICWC fiasco, desperately hoping that at least one can be got out the door before the 2015 General Election when Maria Eagle will be the new Secretary of State for Transport and franchising policy is thrown up in the air once again... but I digress.

TfL has announced that it is seeking a train operator to run Crossrail services from May 2015, with potential operators having until the end of April to respond to today's OJEU listing.

 According to the TfL press release:

Crossrail services will be let as a concession by TfL, similar to the concession let by TfL for London Overground, which is now one of the most reliable railways with some of the highest levels of customer satisfaction across the UK. 

And once again for anyone hard of hearing at the Department for Transport...

Crossrail services will be let as a concession by TfL, similar to the concession let by TfL for London Overground, which is now one of the most reliable railways with some of the highest levels of customer satisfaction across the UK.

Did Eye mention that this would be a concession?

Piling drill burst onto Moorgate line

This unbelievable image was tweeted by @FirstCC this afternoon...

According to FCC the driver of the train in the picture, which was not in passenger service, 'did them proud' by managing to stop short of the obstruction on the line. 

Not half!

According to @NetworkRail: 

At 10:09, a train driver reported that water was flowing from the roof of the Moorgate Tunnel - between Old Street and Essex Road stations. Lines were immediately blocked and our response teams were sent to site.

At 11.05 our staff boarded a special empty train from Moorgate to investigate the problem. As the train approached the area at low speed, two large piling drills - which were being used above ground by a building contractor - penetrated the skin of the tunnel.

Repairs to the tunnel are ongoing but the line - which is normally closed at weekends - is expected to reopen in time for services on Monday morning.

FCC also confirmed by Twitter that the piling drills are 'not railway related'. 

It is believed that ground level drilling works at 'a private construction site' resulted in the breach to the tunnel wall.

Hopefully someone at said construction site will soon be helping the BTP with their inquiries...

UPDATE: Oh dear All Foundations, what have you done!

Silver Stump Watch - Fenchurch Street

This with a bowler tip to @AMonkster...



A noble Silver Stump defending the Fenchurch Place stairs.

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!