This from Pedal Steel...
How to spot that First Capital Connect Great Northern is running an emergency timetable.
Platform staff have no idea when the next train is arriving.
All trains are listed as cancelled - until they arrive.
Telegrammed by Our Man at 222 Marylebone Road
Clearly the esteemed Transport Correspondent of the Financial Times has failed to pass on the Transport Style Sheet to his News Desk colleagues before going on Christmas leave.
The paper's report today on the extension to the c2c franchise fails to refer once to the franchise as 'lucrative'.
Does this solecism hint at slipping standards at the Pink 'un?
This from Invicta...
Alistair Dormer, managing director of Hitachi Rail Europe, in today's Northern Echo, said that the manufacturer had nearly five decades’ experience in building high-speed trains in Japan, where some areas regularly saw severe weather during the winter.
He said: “The Hitachi Class 395, which runs between London St Pancras and the Kent coast, has performed exceptionally well in all weather conditions, on all routes, while other trains have been unable to operate. We have not let passengers down and have continued to deliver a reliable service.”
Hmm. Even though only 22 of of the 29 class 395s are diagrammed for weekday service, Ashford Depot has struggled to get a full allocation out, sometimes with at least one cancellation in the morning due to lack of available stock.
And between the peaks 10 of the Class 395s sit around at various locations having a breather...
So getting 40% of your fleet to work all day can't be all that demanding.
Meanwhile, how have the "other trains" managed? Those that according to Mr Dormer "have been unable to operate".
Well, on 22 December SouthEastern's hard working engineers put out 99 out of 112 Class 375 units - that's 88% availability compared with the usual 91%. The shortfall was largely down to units stuck in the snow...
That compares with 76% for the Class 395 fleet on a good day.
This from several Liberal Democrat MPs...
We wonder if Eye readers have noticed the following remarkable similarity?
No. No. And just no!
This from Sir Humphrey Beeching...
I suspect many of your readers will have delighted in this morning's media performance by ATOC on the Today programme (2.10 in).
Certainly it is the talk of my former colleagues in Marsham Street.
In the new spirit of constructive dialogue between the Department and the train operators I have been asked to discreetly convey the views of senior officials as to how ATOC might have improved its on-air performance.
With ATOC's core message in mind perhaps it would have been best for all concerned if their own Corporate Affairs Director had not 'got through'.
UPDATE: This from SN Barnes...
With their obvious attention to detail in delivery of rail information it took until the early hours of Thursday morning for ATOC's National Rail site to wake up to the fact that they should be including London Midland services on their Journey Planning database ... whilst London Midland had spent previous 24 hours having to tell punters that NRES had yet to correct their system.
Is this what is meant by 24 hour (and 7 day?) railway - the time it takes to convey information to the passengers?
UPDATE: This from a Mr Loughton...
The Humphrey Beeching story is nonsense - the ATOC guy was given the standard Humphrys beating.
So what?
The DfT today are far more interested in Norman Baker's indiscretions, telling the Telegraph that Villiers gets LibDem policy while Hammond is oddly immune.
UPDATE: The Fact Compiler observes...
Does anyone really care whether 'Villiers gets LibDem policy' if the Sectretary of State remains immune?
If either DafT and/or the LibDems think this is important then they seriously need to retune their political antennae.
UPDATE: This from Sir Humphrey Beeching...
The Fact Compiler is quite wrong.
The views of the Minister of State for Transport are extremely important to my erstwhile colleagues in the Department.
Why at least once a month she has a one-to-one, lasting almost twenty minutes, with the Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary's Permanent Secretary.
UPDATE: This from Leo Pink...
I fear Mr Loughton may be talking nonsense.
Humphrys could have been pinned back with a few well chosen statistics backing up Robin Gisby's interview of yesterday.
For example, how many trains ran compared with the normal service, how many hundreds of thousands of commuters were got to and from work, etc.
If ATOC could not put someone up with the knowledge and media training to survive the inquisitors of the Today programme then it should have declined the invitation rather than make things worse.
It was hiding behind the sofa embarrassing and an insult to the efforts of railwaymen and women who have battled to keep the railway running.
Eye salutes London Midland for this encouragingly festive message seen at Tamworth station today.
No doubt an equal source of delight to CrossCountry and Virgin West Coast who also serve the station.
Doomed I tell you, we are all doomed!
Good news from the Minister of Transport!
According to Theresa in a debate on the 'Severe Weather' yesterday...
Throughout the crisis, officials in the Department were in constant contact with Network Rail and the train operators-before, during and after the severe weather episode.
Crisis?!?
Shome mishtake shurely?
This from the Honourable Member for Sedgefield yesterday...
The Hitachi trains are bimodal, which means that they can switch from diesel to electric and vice versa when the need arises. Southeastern operates such Hitachi high speed trains, which have an excellent record in the current bad weather. That is a ringing endorsement of the technology and work force.
No Phil. SouthEastern does not.
The Javelins are not bi-modes, they are dual voltage.
And as their current reliability is little better that the Golden Spanner winning BR built EMU's its perhaps not that much to shout about!
Evidently a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
UPDATE: This from Ithuriel...
Not only is Phil Wilson MP technologically challenged, he seems to have a very selective memory when it comes to investment in the North East.
On 21 December he also told the House of Commons:
"Hitachi's investment would be the biggest investment in the north-east of England since Nissan back in the 1980s".
Clearly the small matter of Siemens' £1 billion silicon chip factory on Tyneside skipped his mind.
Here's a reminder, Phil, it was opened by HM the Queen in 1997 and closed two years later, with the loss of 1100 jobs, when the price of the DRAM chips it was set up to make dropped from $50 each to under $5.
Korean competition was blamed.
This from the Evening Standard...
Where is Dick Murray when you need him?
This from Dr Beard...
Seen this from East Coast?
EAST COAST SERVICES RETURN TO NORMAL - WEDNESDAY 22 DECEMBER
If this is Rail Barbie's idea of 'normal' (ie hourly not half hourly to Leeds and Newcastle and the fringe services chopped) then roll on the German invasion.
Or is she doing it deliberately to make the next private sector franchisee look good however badly they perform?
Telegrammed by Ithuriel
This from the Newcastle Journal...
BUILDING a fleet of new Intercity trains in the North East will save the country more than £100m rather than buying them from abroad, a new report argued yesterday.
Analysis by the Northern TUC shows that taxpayers would save substantial sums if ministers finally give the go-ahead for a train assembly plant in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.
The report comes as Transport Secretary Phillip Hammond prepares to announce in the New Year whether the proposals, put forward by Hitachi, will get the go-ahead.
There are also fears among some campaigners that ministers may decide to buy trains from overseas, despite that option not creating a single British job.
The research by the Northern TUC shows that more than £106m a year would be generated through the creation of 800 direct jobs at the County Durham plant along with 7,500 supply chain jobs.
And for every £27,000 salaried job created, the taxpayer gains by £13,000 as a result of reduced benefit payments and the increased taxes paid by people in work.
The Northern TUC is now urging the Government to take into account the full benefits of creating new manufacturing jobs in the North East when making its final decision about the Intercity Express Programme (IEP).
Where to start in demolishing this farrago of nonsense.
Well, first, the trains would be 'bought from abroad' and simply assembled in the UK.
So the 800 direct jobs is out by at least a factor of four.
And, if the factory was to have a future beyond IEP Hitachi would have to win Crossrail, so the creation of flat pack assembly jobs in the North East might have to be offset against the loss of skilled engineering and train building jobs at Derby.
And if the alternative to IEP is a conventional EMU the suppliers would be, in alphabetical order Alstom - up to 30% UK content including traction equipment, Bombardier - trains built at Derby
or Siemens.
Odd, while this sort of lobbying is going on that the European train builders keep schtumm.
Perhaps they see the UK market as Hitachi's tar baby?
Or perhaps they are more concerned about the Chinese and Korean threats to their heartland markets?
Phrases you never thought you would hear...
"That's quite technical from Nigel Harris" James Naughtie on the Today Programme, err, today!
Lord Reith must be spinning in his grave if a Today presenter found Nigel's explanation 'quite technical'.
Where was the world's greatest living transport commentator when we needed him?
And would James Naughtie's head have exploded if Radio 4 had coaxed Captain Deltic out of bed before 07.00?
Come back Raymond Baxter, we say.
UPDATE: This from Sir William Pollitt...
I suppose the word 'wheelbarrow' would sound technical to the presenter who uttered the C word on Today only last week.
Good news from the High Court!
London Midland is delighted that a strike by members of the ASLEF Union has been halted in the High Court.
The decision was made in the High Court today (Tuesday) after London Midland challenged the way in which ASLEF held its ballot. ASLEF had wanted to strike on Thursday (December 23) after balloting members who voted in favour of industrial action.
Of course, given the current appalling weather in the Birmingham area don't be too surprised if the brothers can't ahem... make it in to work tomorrow!
Much chagrin amongst Eye readers over the non-appearance of subscription copies of RAIL
The Fact Compiler has had words with RAIL editor Nigel Harris and asked why copies are now over a week late dropping through subscriber letter-boxes.
Nigel offers the following...
I’m in the same boat – my copy hasn’t arrived either!
The editorial team did their stuff and it went to press on time, it was printed on time and posted – by first class post, as usual – on time, on Friday December 10.
However, once the magazine is posted there’s nothing we can do other than have conversations with the Royal Mail – and those conversations have certainly taken place. You can be sure about that.
I apologise to all disappointed subscribers about the delay – because believe me, the last thing my team wants is for our work to be delayed, but we really do have have no control once it’s posted.
The Royal Mail says it will clear the backlog – caused by the weather – as soon as possible.
Perhaps time for some vertical integration in the publishing world?
Eye looks forward to Bauer buying the Royal Mail.
UPDATE: The Fact Compiler's copy arrived today, courtesy of Mr Postie. A fiver in the Christmas box me thinks.
Much media excitement yesterday over disruption to the East Coast Main Line
This from the BBC...
Thousands of rail passengers are being urged to reschedule their journeys after a power failure caused havoc on the East Coast mainline...
Passengers heading north from Kings Cross were advised to use alternative services from St Pancras, heading to Yorkshire, or on the West Coast mainline from Euston to Glasgow.
But what's this?
The same story was illustrated with this picture of Kings Cross:
It would appear that not all operators gave up the ghost quite as easily as nationalised East Coast...
Has David Quarmby woken up with somebody else's wallet?
This from his review on winter resilience published today...
With the experience of the third successive winter affecting the operation of these services, I believe the time has come to seriously investigate the costs and benefits of the replacement of the entire third rail top contact system with an alternative method of bringing traction power to the trains. Possible solutions include converting to side contact or underneath contact (like DLR and many metro systems in continental Europe), which still using DC traction would not involve replacement of trains or power supply. Or conversion to 25kV overhead lines, which would have wider ramifications for power distribution and for trains. No solution will be cheap, given the network mileage of the existing system.
Not cheap?
That has to be the understatement of the year and what about the disruption to passengers during the changeover?
Not forgetting the cost of modifying rolling stock.
No matter.
On the plus side this proposal should have Driver Potter frothing about the gills!
UPDATE: This from the Velopodist...
Of course, David Quarmby suggests converting the southern third rail system to underside or side contact in the same report where he notes that the Berlin S-Bahn was severely affected in the bout of bad weather on which he's reporting.
He doesn't mention how the Berlin S-Bahn is electrified. It uses a 750V DC third rail - with underside contact.
UPDATE: This from Dr Dionysius Lardne...
Surely replacing the third rail with on-board hydrogen fuel cells would cost less than replacing the third rail with OHLE south of the Thames.
According to the DfT's 2007 Rail Technical Strategy fuel cell power will make electrification obsolete by 2022 anyway.
And the electrical output from the fuel cells could power the existing traction equipment.
UPDATE: This, surprisingly, from the Rev Robert Stirling...
Awa' wi yon fancy gases.
My heat engine is the obvious solution.
Dinna forget, the automobile manufacturers in oor Amercian colonies built Stirling powered vehicles.
Noo's the time,th noo.
UPDATE: This, remarkably, from Mr Herbet Akroyd Stuart.
Happen tha could use my compression ignition engine, the most efficient prime mover, tha knows.
Imagine Waterloo in the rush hour echoing to a thousand exhausts.
Gradely. (Deltic! Is that you hiding beneath a very poor comedy Yorkshire accent? Ed)
UPDATE: This from a Mr Saltaire...
Quarmby seems to suggest that the top contact third rail system, as adopted by the Southern Railway, is a significant weak spot when exposed to the inclement winter weather.
Yet, what’s this? During the same period that South Eastern & Southern were providing PPM that languished in the 40 odd percentage points, Merseyrail managed to deliver 91%, operating 750 V dc third rail trains with top contact conductor rails.
The main difference of course is that the majority (though by no means all) of the Merseyrail network is underground.
So, since Mr Quarmby appears to have such deep pockets, perhaps he should suggest that the south of the river network should be encapsulated in tunnels, to mitigate the issue!
UPDATE: This from a Mr Hind...
Surely the 3rd Rail will last a 1000 Years ?
UPDATE: This from The Voyager...
A slightly cheaper option which would involve modification of the fleet and encapsulating the third rail is the system used on the line through Chamonis which uses a third rail similar to ours but the traction is picked up by a blade instead of a shoe.
The Third Rail is almost encased in wood except for a slot in the side to allow the blade to sit on top of the rail.
UPDATE: This from a Mr Cherry...
The only parts of Merseyrail that are underground are those under Liverpool City centre, under the Mersey itself, and under central Birkenhead.
Over 90% of it is above ground !!!
UPDATE: This SN Barnes...
As a keen member of Friends of Potter I feel I must speak out
Are your readers living in a belief that NOTHING happened North of the Thames in the recent winter wonderland session.
A fair share of wee and not so wee incidents seem to have affected the 25KV knitting, indeed unlike the Juice Rail system, and its 'winter season', knitting gets snagged at any time of the year in any weather.
The recent spell has delivered a pretty spectacular pull-down, which knocked out the East Coast for much of the day, and ice build-up at least when the Third Rail goes bang trains can keep running, and nothing falls off the insulators.
Friends of Potter can be spotted around the network, rather like a masonic band concealing our shoe paddles under our coats...
UPDATE: This from Driver Potter (for it is he)...
To answer Mr Quarmby in one sentence:
"Don't spend money on overhauling a system that doesn't need fiddling with; give us the resources we need to keep lines open - it will be a damn site cheaper."
Perhaps a new run of rolling stock is called for? No computers, no fiddly namby-pamby shoegear...? We could give them simple designations like 4VEP, 4CIG, 4EPB, HA or HB....?
To get Captain Deltic onside, motors and switchgear will be stamped "English Electric.
This from @GrimNorth via Twitter...
Please could Prof Unwin help with this? 
Professor Unwin offers: Door shut. Oh yes.
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