This from Trailer Second...
When they finally do-up the front of Derby station will they use the same radical space saving parking arrangements used in the staff car park?
Eye congratulates EMT on this novel proposal for generating additional unregulated income.
This from Class 9 Swinger...
This was the message greeting delegates at an Essex Thameside re-franchising briefing at Southend yesterday.
At least the hotelier is honest.
UPDATE: This from Leo Pink...
It's a pity the hotel can't spell the name of its meeting room correctly, on the logical assumption that it honours the Greatest Rail Regulator of All Time...
From a Mr Reginald Slicker...
Dear Sir,
I am sure I speak for the majority of rail enthusiasts when I say that I am disgusted by Railway Eye's relentlessly negative attitude to the InterCity Express Programme.
This train has been specified by some of the most experienced railway brains in our Rolls Royce civil service, some of whom I have had the pleasure to meet at Railway Study Association and other presentations, and it ill behoves you to make ill informed criticisms of what I am sure will be an excellent product.
We have all seen the technical superiority of Japanese cars built in Britain and I am sure that the Super Express Train will achieve the same levels of engineering excellence as motor vehicles produced by Toyota and Honda.
Yours etc
R. Slicker
Exciting IEP news.
Eye understands that Gordon Brown, Lord Adonis and (by pure co-incidence) the president of Hitachi are all in Durham tomorrow.
Could this herald a purdah-beating, pre-election announcement on IEPs for the East Coast franchise?
Shame the Tory's are likely to cancel the project just weeks after the election.
UPDATE: This nonchalant observation from Captain Deltic...
Might I point out that subscribers to the electronic version of RAIL BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE will already know that tomorrow's Anglo Japanese conclave at Durham will announce that commercial close has been reached on the InterCity Express Programme.
RBI readers will also have read details of the planned initial deployment on the East Coast Main Line, plus a note on the evolving design of the train which seems to have put on weight over the last year.
What a coup to mark the 15th anniversary of the Orange Peril which emerged blinking into the daylight on my Birthday in 1995.
Although a doff of the chapeau to the inimitable Eye for being first with the news of the announcement.
UPDATE: This from Ithuriel....
Commercial close means only that DfT and Agility Trains have agreed what is to be supplied and at how much.
Does the Orange Oxymoron say when financial close is expected?
That's when the real money is likely to change hands... or not!
This from Marcus Cato...
I am delighted to see that my no-nonsense approach to town planning on the North African coast has been taken up by Network Rail in its Northern Hub proposals.
I quote from the press release:
'The Northern Hub proposes significant investment in rail over the next 10 years to build on work which is already underway. By removing historic bottlenecks – such as at Manchester - it would allow faster linespeeds, reducing journey times'.
As far as I can see the only obstacle to Network Rail applying a policy of 'Manchester delenda est' is that Human Rights Legislation now prohibits selling the inhabitants of cities into slavery.
Normal service may be resumed on Ash Wednesday (DV)...
Come on you Down'ards!
Good to see that the Daily Telegraph remains as insightful as ever.
Beneath the enticing subhead:
The Conservative Party has called for an inquiry into Lord Adonis' handling of the crisis on the East Coast rail franchise that prompted the Transport Secretary to seize control of the London to Scotland services.
There is precisely... errrrr... nothing.
Sweet Fanny Adams.
De nada.
Zilch.
Zip.
Good to see the fabulous Digital Hub functioning at maximum efficiency.
UPDATE: Eye is pleased to see that we even have readers in the Buckingham Palace Road Lubiyanka.
The story has been restored in all it's glory - here.
UPDATE: This from Lobby Fodder...
Still missing if you use Internet Deplorer.
Via Twitter...
On FCC problems - can people please email details of complaints/experiences to rail@dft.gsi.gov.uk - thanks.
Extra-ordinary - is there no limit to the Department's nano-management?!
Presumably DafT has set up an entire shadow organisation to deal with customer complaints about delays on FuCC?
Back to the Wolmar Question: 'What are TOCs for?'
UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...
DfT want to know about people's 'experiences' of FCC?
Not exactly empirical is it?
UPDATE: This, via Twitter, from cbuchanancubed...
Why doesnt DfT just look at all the blogs/comments etc on the internet - but no you have to send them all in again.
UPDATE: This from Jumbo...
With First Group winning the Business of the Year award at the recent Eversholt Rail Business Awards and FCC being presented with an award for their communications skills, it seems hard to credit that the number of complaints against FCC warrants the DfT's attention.
Do the DfT know something that we don't?
Surely the people who made such prestigious awards to First were not taking the pxss?
This just in from Nigel Harris...
Thanks for telling the world about the 'top three' UK railway magazines, but could you maybe add a new post pointing out that RAIL is of course fortnightly while the other two are, of course, monthly or four weekly.
They publish half as often. Or we publish twice as often. Take your pick.
So, whilst realising that I run the risk of some excoriatingly sarcastic comeback from Eye, I’d just like to point out that whilst the other two titles reach about 35k buyers a month, RAIL finds 40K people thus prepared to support us each month, to whom we are exceedingly grateful.
It would be nice if you could also thank Eye regulars who buy RAIL for their support. It is very much appreciated by all in the Peterborough bunker.
In monthly sales, therefore, we lead the pack by quite some margin... well over 5,000 copy sales!
Our last reader research also showed a 'pass on' rate of five (meaning five readers read each copy) giving us a readership of 100k per issue....or 200k per month.
So, we’ll be aiming to persuade a few of those to buy their own copy in future! (Can you plug this as well?)
All of which puts a rather different complexion on the numbers.
Of course I am more than happy to stand you a lunch for pointing out these things...
Eye is obviously going up in the world. Cheapskate Wolmar only offered drinkies if Eye promoted his efforts!
UPDATE: This from Driver Potter...
I'll see Mr Harris's lunch for Free Advertising and raise him by a pudding - an individual Rolo Mousse and two spoons.
I'm not made of money, you know...
UPDATE: This from Billy Connections -
Nigel's team is well-versed in the "we sell the most, so we must be the best" mantra.
Well you can use statistics to prove anything.
The Sun is the best seller in the newspaper world but RAIL doesn't even offer a decent page three! (shurely ...but you wouldn't read the Sun for in-depth coverage. Ed)
The fact that each issue has a pass on rate of five means that either nobody wants to be seen with it on their desk or it is only read by skinflints too mean to buy their own copy!
As one senior railway MD once said about people who try to avoid paying their fares "The fact that they don't feel obliged to pay us for what we do shows the value they place on the service we provide."
Meanwhile can I put in a plug for a serious rail title... (No. Ed)
UPDATE: This from Bushy...
Whilst RAIL may sell 40,000 copies a month, are those copies going to 40,000 different people or the same 20,000 buying twice?
At least you can say that Railway Magazine is bought by 34,700 different people.
Of course Nigel's piece makes no mention of the fact that two years ago RAIL was selling 23,000 copies per issue.
So using Nigel's logic; RAIL has lost 6,000 readers a month in the last two years.
UPDATE: This, up to a point, from Lord Copper...
If, as Nigel points out Rail is read by 40,000 people a month, that must mean that 20,000 buy each issue, decide they don't like it, only for a fresh 20,000 to buy the next issue, and so on.
The good news for the Panjandrum of Peterborough is that with a UK population of around 60 million, this policy will be successful for another 3000 issues or 125 years which should see out the ever youthful editor's career.
And that may be a conservative estimate because the population grew by 400,000 in 2008 - which represents another 20 issues covered.
The only flaw in the statistics is the number of elderly people who die without taking their turn at reading Rail.
Perhaps copies could be provided as part of free health care proposals.
Telegrammed by 1Z51
Much fury in the North West over a charter train operation gone bad.
This from the Zelo Street blog...
One of the observers was from Network Rail (NR), where questions may well be asked about the lack of a test run by Scots Guardsman, to show it was fit for duty, after the first failure. NR will certainly be wanting one before they allow WCRC’s pride and joy out on the main line again.
What Woe!
UPDATE: This just in from Pillbox...
The original failure was not in away related to the more recent incident and a test run would have been worthless, as a static test proved the repair.
That being said, now a test run would be sensible when its fixed.
Telegrammed by our International Correspondent
The list of interviewees grilled by Messrs Garnett and Gressier is an impressive Who’s Who of senior cross-channel suits.
Director of This, Head of That, CEO of The Other, not to mention a couple of household name woodentops.
The Independent Review had some very good access to some very literate people; all of whom, no doubt, had an interesting chat with their corporate legal teams before facing the panel.
What might leave some of the Grumpy Old Railway Operating Managers (who have experience of chairing such incident enquiries), a tad discombobulated is the apparent lack of interface with any front line operating staff.
Which left the resulting report denuded of first-hand evidence from anyone who was actually on duty that night (whether from the two operators at either end of the Chunnel, or from the tunnel operator itself).
A conversation with the Eurotunnel chief controller, who had a succession of failures unfold under him, about the spirit and actualitee of how he, Eurostar and SNCF actually worked together, is reduced to a recommendation about upgrading the existing telephone link to a video facility and some training courses.
As a consequence the rest of the non-engineering parts of the review end up being concerned with the provision and distribution of emergency pastries (shurely croissant? Ed).
For instance it fails to mention that the relationship between the tunnel operator, the infrastructure controllers either side, and the passenger train operator, is just pants. As evidenced by Eurotunnel’s unprecedented 'Not Us Guv' press release on the 19th December.
Further proof, were it needed, that the current operational framewok is an artificial construct – a set of flaky interfaces imposed by bankers with their main eye on collecting every penny from a projected 16 million Eurostar passengers, made even worse by the intrusions of HM Customs.
It is the most over-complicated interface between any two railways in Europe, and perhaps the world.
And things won't get any better until it is simplified.
Judging by this report we won't hold our breath waiting...
Much excitement in the land of crappy corporate branding!
Babcock has a recruitment ad in today's Sunday Telegraph which appears to lay claim to the expression "Trusted to deliver".
Eye is sure that this will come as news to: Prontaprint, Logica, and no less an organisation than the Government Mail which is part of the Department for Transport (prop Lord Adonis).
Meanwhile...
Trusted to deliver, trusted to deliver, trusted to deliver, trusted to deliver, trusted to deliver, trusted to deliver, trusted to deliver, trusted to deliver, trusted to deliver, trusted to deliver, trusted to deliver, trusted to deliver, trusted to deliver, trusted to deliver, trusted to deliver, trusted to deliver, and finally, trusted to deliver.
Eye, trusted to deliver!
Most railway trade titles don't submit themselves to the indignity of an ABC circulation audit.
So a bowler tip to those that do.
Here the recently published 2009 circulation figures for the top three (with 2008 figures in brackets):
Railway Magazine 34,715 (35,100)
Steam Railway 32,842 (32,124)
RAIL magazine 20,546 (21,019)
Reports of the Dead Tree Media's demise remain somewhat exaggerated.
Telegrammed by Globetrotter
Hot news from across the Channel (if you can get there, qv Eurostar)!
SNCF has finally recognised what its customers think about the standard of its freight services.
Its Transport & Logistics business SNCF Geodis has announced that it is consolidating its international operations under a single brand – Craptrain (shurely shome mistake – Ed).
The new Captrain brand is intended to bring together the former Veolia Cargo operations in Benelux, Germany and Italy with previously-acquired ITL Benelux and SNCF’s own subsidiaries in those markets, plus Freight Europe UK and VFLI Romania.
Within the single brand, there will still be five regional businesses:
Extra-ordinary news from last night's Eversholt (nee HSBC) Rail Business Awards.
There were incredulous gasps when it was announced that Worst Group had won Business of the Year!
As Mary Grant glided onto the stage one hard-nosed operator was heard to spit:
"If First had put as much time into managing their demic franchises as they have obviously spent on making awards submissions they might actually have deserved it."
But the biggest laugh of the evening was reserved for the presentation of an award to FuCC for its communications skills!
No doubt furious Thameslink passengers, shivering on platforms and desperately trying to find out whether the train they're waiting for will actually run, are reassured to know that FuCC has an award winning Internal Comms team.
Talk about adding insult to injury!
Until these industry bunfights actually reflect the experience of the railway's paying customers they are in danger of doing more PR harm than good.
Meanwhile Eversholt must be wishing they'd stuck with their old branding.
This from the Wicked Weaver...
Thought Eye readers might enjoy this from my local paper the Belper News, which appeared in this week's issue:
Is it possible to flash with fake 'private parts'?
Unfortunately you have to stand in the yellow hatched area in order to read the signs!
This video response from Richard Brown to today's Independent Review:
Eurostar's response to the Independent Review can be found here.
UPDATE: This, via Twitter, from cbuchanancubed...
The full independent review on Eurostar snow failure can be found here.
This from the Derby Insider...
Simon McCloud, Site General Manager and Manufacturing Director is also leaving the company, close on the heels of the President and Engineering Director.
Apparently he is abandoning the transport sector for pastures new in the petrochemical industry.
The workforce are becoming very nervous about the situation and a lot of CVs are being sent out to recruiters.
Customers waiting for delivery of new trains should be even more nervous...
Good to see Eurostar is committed to openness and transparency.
Click on the button to download the report on the pre Christmas debacle and you are presented with the following:
Apparently communications was one of Eurostar's failings.
No shit Sherlock.
UPDATE: This mediated via The Gruaniad...
"Eurostar must improve the way it communicates with passengers and put in place new systems and practices to achieve that."
Indeed. Perhaps starting with its website...
UPDATE: This just in from the Eurostar Press Office...
Just saw your blog post on the Independent Report response.
We'll be going live with that in the next 30 minutes or so - we're just waiting until the end of the press conference.
I'll send you the details as soon as the site's up.
Hope that's OK.
It is and thank you for responding.
UPDATE: This further update from a Eurostar Press Spokesman...
Just to follow up on my earlier email here are a few more details on the Review and our response, which Eye posted on in December.
You commented on the need for better communications with passengers.
We are extremely sorry for what happened and take the situation very seriously. We’ve already taken action to address many of the Review’s recommendations, and we are committed to implementing all of its recommendations as quickly as possible. Above all we are focused on:
o Improving passenger care in disruption
o Improving communications, and
o Strengthening the resilience of our trains
We’re investing £30 million in improving the resilience of our trains, passenger care and communications.
We are also appointing a Director to implement the recommendations from the Review, as well as working closely with Eurotunnel, to ensure that this never happens again.
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