"The awarding procedure has been discontinued."

***Is this an omen?***

Leading from the front?

So London Midland has apologised for their dreadful recent performance.

Read Steve Banaghan's frank admission here.

As Go-Ahead is obviously imbued with a new spirit of honesty and openness perhaps we will soon see Keith Ludeman apologise for threatening to withdraw services if DafT didn't renegotiate their franchises?

Then again perhaps not.

Year Zero... and some

Telegrammed by our man at 222 Marylebone Road
DafT, which of course has nothing to do with new trains allocation, is expected to announce on Thursday that the start of the Thameslink Project has been delayed.

Key Output Zero was due to come into effect on 22 March with 23 new Class 377 Bombardier Electrostar EMUs, a new footbridge at Farringdon and a new walkway at Blackfriars from the platform to the other side of the Thames.

FCC Managing Director Elaine Holt told the Railway Study Association on 7 January, that none of these things existed as she spoke.

This is a stroke of luck for DafT which is hoping to buy its new DMUs from sundry Spaniards, Chinese and Koreans.

It allows 'Buff' Hoon to weep crocodile tears as he explains to Derby MP Margaret Beckett that he would love to buy British but that her constituents simply can't deliver!

No doubt DafT's own creation, Network Rail, will emerge untarnished from the wreckage!

UPDATE: This blatant plug from Captain Deltic...

Of course Andy Mitchell is speaking at the Fourth Friday Club this week!

Cheeky!

It's a fare cop!

When faced with difficult questions the Department for Transport prefers others to do their dirty work.

Latest to come to DafT's rescue is ATOC.

This written answer emerged from Marsham Street on Monday 19th January...

Bob Spink (Castle Point, UKIP) Hansard source
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent increase in rail fares has been announced by each train operating company.

Paul Clark (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Gillingham, Labour) The Association of Train Operating Companies issued a press release citing the average fares rises for January 2009. This was published in November 2008 and is available from their website.

Indeed it is - here.

And yes it does include a list of TOCs and their January fares increases.

But what's this?

The list is incomplete!

Where are the entries for the three open access operators?

Could ATOC's deliberate omission of Hull Trains, Grand Central and Shropshire & Wrexham have anything to do with their embarrasing decision not to increase fares?

UPDATE: Tom over at Blairwatch writes...

It's simple, you're confusing 'Train Operating Companies' with 'Companies that Operate Trains'. Do try to keep up, old chap.

Let us hope that the Honourable Member for Castle Point isn't as easily confused!

Lengthy inquiry

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch was formed to help improve railway safety.

It is tasked with investigating accidents and incidents on the railways, without apportioning blame, and publishing the results so that lessons can be learnt and safety improved.

On the 22nd of January 2008 a young man lost his life on the foot crossing at West Lodge, Haltwhistle.

Today, almost exactly a year after this tragic event, RAIB finally published its report.

Why has it taken so long?

UPDATE: J M Gold writes...

A serious point, and there may be a serious answer.

RAIB are frequently advertising for accident investigators.

The pay looks more than reasonable, but they seem to have to offer lengthy training, which suggests that experienced railway people aren't coming forward.

No less worrying is the content of the report.

Network Rail's procedures call for regular review of level crossing safety. The two most recent reviews identified clear shortcomings at this crossing, but no appropriate action was taken.

I think this is a real problem with modern management methods, which respond to problems by creating procedures. This generates a constant stream of reports which are passed into the "system".

Much time is spent filling in paper (or perhaps nowadays a computer database) to provide a record that the procedure has been followed, but all too often nothing is actually DONE.

Whitewash

***More froth from SWT!***

Zimbabwe election

Good news for fans of corporate governance.

This from the national infrastructure owner....

Network Rail today announced its new designate chairman, Rick Haythornthwaite.

His appointment will be made by the Board following a meeting with Network Rail’s Members with the matter being put before the company's AGM in July as a normal election resolution.

Rubber stamps and trebles all round !

Repentant sinner?

The Sunday Times has further details on the company DafT has set up to progress HS2.

The business section names top civil servants Bob Linnard and Timothy Wellburn as directors.

But what's this?

No mention of who the Chairman is!

With DafT having read Eye's take on that particular appointment it's perhaps no surprise that they may now wish to play it down!

30/- short

Good to see The Observer has been paying attention!

Dan Milmo reports today that potless National Express East Coast is planning to charge for reservations

A story broken by the Eye way back on the 6th January.

However, the Observer still appears to have only two fifths of the details correct!

Going for a song

Telegrammed by our Independent Expert
Mysteriouser and mysteriouser.

Could the case of the missing Victorian ironwork from Primrose Hill station be one for Inspector Knacker?

The heritage lobby are furious about Network Rail's razing of the historic North London Line station in December, a day after campaigners handed out leaflets urging the case for its reopening.

The vandalism was compounded as a photo was published of the ornate Victorian spandrels piled ignominiously on the demolition site.

Now the local paper, the Camden New Journal is reporting that they might "end up in Gloucestershire".

How? Why? Who at NR made the decision?

It is a re-run of what happened in 1988, when Wolverton residents were shocked to find their famous station, also on the former LNWR, with its historic refreshment rooms, was smashed to a pile of rubble overnight by BR.

The Wolverton spandrels found their way to BR's junkyard, "Collectors Corner" where they were bought for a few quid and saved for posterity by a north London collector who recognised them for their significance.

So where are the Primrose Hill spandrels now?

Locals have asked Network Rail to prove they're not in a skip, or haven't been flogged down the pub for a fiver.

Herod opens kindergarten

Dear God!

This from Transit...

The DfT’s former permanent secretary Sir David Rowlands is to chair a new company to take forward plans for a high-speed rail line from London to Scotland.

For pity's sake is there no one else available?

UPDATE: Captain Deltic asks...

'Where is Sir David Serpell when we need him?'

You lucky people!

Telegrammed by the Archer
Heathrow gets a third runway

The roads get another £6bn

The railway gets….

...a new company to help consider the case for HS2 and further work to consider the case for further electrification

Is there no end to the bounteousness of this government?

It's off, it's on, it's off, it's on...

***The Conservatives will cancel the expansion of Heathrow if they win the next General Election, Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers said today.***

Meanwhile, on the real railway...

Telegrammed by our Independent Expert
Transport Secretary Geoff "Doom" today announced grandiose plans for a new "HS2" from Heathrow to Birmingham in his Commons statement giving the OK to Heathrow's third runway – and global warming meltdown.

Back in the real world of travelling to the West Midlands, Beardie's lieutenants are counting their blessings, as trains to and from Euston this week have been merely "late" rather than running as "buses" or not running at all.

But as a precaution, Virgin's canny PR people are givng away Chiltern Railways' Birmingham timetables in prominent displays alongside the Euston booking office.

Always hedge your bets, as Bernie Madoff used to say!

Feint praise

Good news for SWT passengers

Whilst DfT has prevented the TOC closing many ticket offices there may be no one left to staff them.

This just in from SWT...

...a reduction of 480 roles... 200 to leave the company

Nice touch SWT, slip this out whilst the media are busy with the Heathrow announcement!

DafT surrenders!

Good news for the Roscos.

Following the embarrassment of the Competition Commission pointing out that it was DafT's own franchising policy that made rolling stock expensive rather than monopolistic Roscos, the Department appears to have retreated into its Marsham Street bunker.

This defeatist written answer on the 18 Dec last year

Adrian Sanders (Deputy Chief Whips, Torbay, Liberal Democrat) Hansard source
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the economic downturn on rolling stock operating companies; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Clark (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Gillingham, Labour)
This is a business issue for the rolling stock leasing companies and is not for the Department for Transport to determine.

Perhaps if DafT had adopted this approach in the first place it wouldn't have jizzed several million quid of our money up the wall in initiating a pointless Coco investigation.

UPDATE: Captain Deltic snorts...

Several million??

More like £25 million minimum!

Heathrow Terminal 3

The interesting bits from DafT's announcement:

• The creation of a new company - High Speed 2 - to help consider the case for new high speed rail services between London and Scotland and tasked initially with developing a proposal for an entirely new line between London and the West Midlands which could link to Heathrow and Crossrail through a new international interchange station.

• Further work to consider the case for electrifying two of Britain busiest railway lines - Great Western and Midland Mainline - with decisions to be announced later in the year.

More to follow...

Greater Reichs Bahn

Despite earlier denials Deutsche Bahn have now confirmed that they are interested in Eurostsar.

This from Reuters...

'LCR, whose principal stakeholder is Britain's Department for Transport, is open to selling Eurostar UK Ltd. "We are aware of Deutsche Bahn's interests and would be interested in hearing their proposal," said a government spokesman.'

DB it will be remembered is still owned by the German government

Meanwhile the Labour government continues to oppose state ownership of the railways... unless of course the state doing the owning is German, or French, or indeed anyone as long as it isn't British.

Better Housekeeping

As SWT evidently need to save money The Fact Compiler has a suggestion.

Why not fire your media agency?

After all there is not much point in placing an ad on the Hamilton Advertiser website offering £8 SWT tickets to London.


That's probably kept one booking office open an extra hour.

UPDATE: Telegrammed by a geek...

Was that screen shot sent in by someone in Hamilton, or from someone living/working in the SWT area?

A lot of advertising is triggered not by the site but by where the user is located.

Your IP can be used to determine your location, and then appropriate advertising served.

It might not be a phuk-up at all.

Clever chaps these IT johnnies!

Train formation changes

Good house keeping or signs of a deepening recession?

You decide.

This from the BBC...

Brings back happy memories of NSE in the 1980s...