This from Transport Briefing...
Transport secretary Andrew Adonis will set out detailed plans for railway electrification within the next few weeks, the Prime Minister said today.
The country is broke. Where's the money coming from?
Guess the story...
Unbelievable.
UPDATE: And now it gets surreal!
Network Rail and the Royal Northern College of Music are to offer the world premier of 'The End of the Line' (A Brief Encounter), a free one-off music and theatre installation at Manchester Piccadilly station this weekend.
The Fact Compiler suggests that they finish off with a spirited rendition of this particular ditty, and dedicate it to NR Board members.
What a shameless bunch.
Oh dear. All is not well at Bernard Street
This from ATOC...
The ATOC Board has announced that it has accepted the resignation of its Chairman, Mike Alexander.
Mike, who joined the Association in March 2008 has led the re-structuring of ATOC over the last year and has helped Michael Roberts, the Chief Executive, become established in his role.
Will the last one out the door please turn off the lights
UPDATE: Industry sources advise that Alexander's departure was both "sudden and unexpected".
Of course had ATOC not announced it would anyone have noticed?
UPDATE: This from 'Marsham Street Insider'...
This shouldn't have been a surprise.
Those with long memories will recall the displeasure of Lord Adonis at Alexander's less than enthusiastic response to his electrification proposals.
And only last week the noble Lord told the Transport Times conference that he'd tried working with ATOC when rail minister and "found that was absolutely useless", because one ended up dragged down to the "lowest common denominator".
First blood to Lord Adonis.
UPDATE: TOC sources suggesting Alexander was subject to a vote of no confidence by the ATOC Board.
Eye sought clarification from ATOC but no one was available for comment.
UPDATE: This from The Master...
One also shouldn't forget the look on Adonis' face when Alexander stood up to flannel the Minister and defend the All Line Rail Rover price increase at the recent National Rail Conference. He effectively passed the buck back to minions.
The late great Gwyneth Dunwoody would have been envious of the basilisk stare Adonis bestowed on the hapless Alexander.
This from National Express Group PLC...
Statement regarding press speculation
National Express Group PLC ('National Express' or 'the Group') notes recent press speculation regarding a potential offer for the Group.
The Board of National Express confirms that on 19 June 2009 it received a highly preliminary approach regarding a potential share for share merger on unspecified terms from FirstGroup plc.
At the present time, the Board is focused on implementing a number of initiatives to strengthen the Group and does not consider it appropriate to enter into discussions with FirstGroup plc.
The Group's pre-close trading statement for the first half year will be issued on Wednesday 1 July 2009.
This from The Press, York...
"Andrew Scott is to retire as director of the National Railway Museum (NRM) later this year."
As well as encouraging new generations to the Railway Museum, Andrew also worked with today's industry, showing the railway how to celebrate its past and feel confident about the future.
He took a huge punt on the 2004 Railfest, when the industry finally showed it could work together, and also provided a venue for the legendary NRM Annual Dinner - the social event of the railway year!
So Andrew will be a hard act to follow.
Hopefully the DCMS will select a candidate of similar stature to become the new Guardian of the Railway's Collective Consciousness.
Indeed.
As My Lord Adonis now talks of 'we' and 'us' perhaps he may wish to get involved with the selection process.
As a good educationalist he will no doubt know that without proper regard to the past there is always the danger of repeating the same mistakes...
According to Ed Balls there will be no future spending cuts before the next General Election!
Of course attendees at last week's Fourth Friday/Modern Railway's Innovation Awards already knew this.
Lord Adonis spoke at the event and took questions at the end.
Asked whether the HLOS was still affordable he replied with a confident one word answer:
"Very!".
As the crescendo of applause died down it became apparent that in some areas of the room the response had been more muted.
Could it have been the presence of a former Rail Regulator that made an entire table of TOC MDs sit on their hands?
Or first hand knowledge of railway finances and the current 'downturn' in passenger revenue?
Telegrammed by the Globetrotter...
At Thursday night's DafT press soiree Adonis confirmed that he is indeed looking to follow up the Pilgrimage of Grice with further explorations of Britain’s transport system.
As the Noble Lord hasn't yet joined the 82% of the Upper House that qualifies for free bus travel it seems unlikely that he will attempt the Lands End to John o’Groats record yet.
However, he is planning to mark the contract for the last stage of the M25 widening by driving all the way round – or perhaps being driven?
Asked how long he expected the trip to take, Adonis said he thought it could be done "in a couple of hours".
So clearly he isn’t planning to sample the joys of either Heathrow or Dartford in the rush hour.
UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic...
Perhaps The Noble Lord is planning to ride pillion behind Richard Hammond of BBC's Top Gear on a Vincent Black Shadow motor-cycle.
***FT reporting that Eurotunnel is “looking carefully” at bidding for the UK’s only dedicated high-speed rail line.***
Push-bike Peer was the 'good news' piece in yesterday's Evening Standard.
So it seems churlish not to offer the following...
Wolmar, of course, has been banging on about station cycle facilities since before God was a boy.
Perhaps Adonis should take him on as an advisor?
UPDATE: This from the Globetrotter...
Thursday night was DafT’s ‘meet the minister’ drinks reception for the media – everyone was there, from Railway Gazette and Local Transport Today via Bloomberg to Sky News and the Sun!
About 20 mins in, Adonis comes striding into the room, which was gradually filling up with assorted hacks and dozens of DfT press officers, minders, etc.
After quickly shaking hands with all the guests, he makes a bee-line for friend Xian and takes him into the corner for an animated half-hour discussion on cycling policy.
Eye's tongue in cheek suggestions that Wolmar might be appointed as an advisor may not be so far fetched...
One piece of good news from beleaguered National Express East Coast.
Sources suggest that the instruction has gone out "Fill all vacancies".
Old franchise hands will recognise this as the TOC equivalent of 'Man the lifeboats'.
Can a cost plus contract be far behind?
NR's Internet Rapid Rebuttal Unit has been very quiet recently.
The reason why is now clear.
PJ and co have obviously been busy in another place.
This from Edinburgh North MP, Mark Lazarowicz, during today's Transport Questions...
"In bidding for the franchise, National Express knowingly took a commercial risk and should not be able to just 'walk away' now, but if the franchise is handed back, the East Coast line should be run by Network Rail not put out to tender again."
The Fact Compiler's flabber is truly gasted at the very thought!
UPDATE: This from the Velopodist...
I think Mr Lazarowicz will find there are a number of problems with having Network Rail running InterCity East Coast, among them the competition implications and the fact they wouldn't know how to do it.
But probably the biggest is this: Network Rail's licence prohibits it from running any trains, so much so that it has to employ someone else to drive the measurement trains.
So a juicy long-distance franchise looks out of the question.
Telegrammed by the Archer
From Virgin’s presentation at yesterday’s Railway Strategies Supply Chain conference:
"Current performance is dominated by infrastructure failures, with 75% of recent performance caused by Network Rail and 15% by Virgin."
Unfortunately, as Virgin had the afternoon 'graveyard' slot Network Rail's contingent had already left the building, after of course they had used their morning slot to explain how investment is meeting NR's current business needs.
Funnily enough they failed to mention the business needs of their customers...
You can't beat a good railwayman.
This from the Department for Transport with a bowler tip to I work for First Great Western...
"The Secretary of State for Transport, Andrew Adonis, has appointed Andrew Haines as the Chief Executive of the Civil Aviation Authority."
So now aviation depends on the railways!
Mike Brown (nee LUL) running Heathrow, Steve Peat (nee Tube Lines) at BAA's other aerodromes and now Andrew at the CAA.
You flyboys have no idea what's about to hit you...
Drip, drip, drip - the sound of confidence draining away.
This from Nigel Hawkins over at AdamSmith.org...
Efficiency levels within Network Rail remain unimpressive and its governance regime resembles that of the 1960s water boards.
Restoring confidence in NRs dire corporate governance will be the first job of Rick Haythornthwaite, when he becomes Chairman in July.
Insiders expect board meetings to be stormy!
Telegrammed by our man at 222 Marylebone Road
Now that Lord Adonis is responsible for all transport, and not just railways, can we expect him to embark on a seven day coach tour of the British Isles?
No double Richard Bowker would sell him a pass to the National Express Coach network?
Or is the charabanc just too declasse?
It's hot Carruthers, too damned hot.
Try to keep the men cool and away from Virgin PR events - you know how it unsettles them
Too late sir! I'm afraid Corporal Sim's gone over the top with the Bren...
"Formula 1 is a silly activity... there is no need whatever for any part of the railway industry to join their games."
Good show Carruthers, a mention in despatches for that man.
Good to see that the grown-up railway media can also upset its readers.
The latest issue of Modern Railways contains a letter from a Taku Tamaki accusing the mag of jumping onto the 'protectionist bandwagon'.
So incencsed was he that he also cancelled his subscription.
At least Dr Tamaki practices what he preaches and lives in the UK.
Rather than, by way of example, somewhere like... Japan.
Which is of course one of the most protectionist domestic railway markets in the world.
Tomorrow is International Level Crossing Awareness Day.
No, nor did Eye.
Network Rail has started sending out press releases to remind people of the death toll from level crossing abuse:
European Country/Total number of persons killed by level-crossing accidents in 2008
Hungary 118
Germany 52
Czech Republic 43
Romania 42
Poland 40
France 38
Latvia 27
Austria 25
The Netherlands 18
Spain 17
Portugal 17
Slovakia 17
Great Britain 15
But still the national infrastructure operator and RSSB cannot be bothered to create a dedicated website promoting safe use of level crossings.
One that could command pan industry support, involving NR, RSSB, TOCs, Heritage Railways, DafT, the BTP, the Highways Agency, schools, community groups, etc...
Something along the lines of Operation Lifesaver in Canada and the US.
Is it stubbornness or a 'not invented here' syndrome that stops them doing this?
Fingers out chaps and get on with it.
***Diamond Geezer on the myths of Cooling the Tube, with a bowler tip to Boriswatch***
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