Pointless signs - Stranraer

These from a Mr Howcroft...


And here the station's sole, lonely, platform trolley...


Alas, not from Stranraer it's not.

Passenger Focus - Qui custodiet ipsos custodes?

This from the Metro...

Anthony Smith’s salary as chief executive of Passenger Focus has risen from £95,000 in 2008 to £122,000 last year.

Despite claiming to be independent, the bulk of Passenger Focus’s £6.4million budget last year came from Ms Greening’s department...

Mr Smith denied being influenced by the Department for Transport.

‘At no time during our sponsorship by DfT have they ever tried to control what we do or say,’ he told Metro.

So that's all right then.

In other news the DfT denied micro-managing the railways.

UPDATE: This from a Mr Fieldmouse...

I remember a time when Passenger Focus’ predecessor was sponsored by the Department of Trade and Industry to avoid precisely this apparent conflict of interest.

BoJo flounders on driverless Tube

Compare and contrast.

This from the Daily Telegraph on the 28th February 2012:

Boris Johnson pledges to introduce driverless tube trains within two years

This from the BBC today:

Boris Johnson promises driverless Tube trains within 10 years

Better stick to the wiff-waff BoJo!

Doug Oakervee to chair HS2

This from the Department for Transport...

Douglas Oakervee appointed as new chair of HS2 Ltd

Douglas Oakervee has been appointed as the new chair of HS2 Ltd, the independent company set up by the Government to deliver a high speed rail network between London and the North of England. He will commence working with the HS2 Ltd team in April.

Mr Oakervee has had a long and distinguished career, with significant experience of working on major infrastructure projects. Between 2005 and 2009 he was Executive Chairman of Crossrail Ltd during the project's Hybrid Bill phase. He has also been a Project Director at Chek Lap Kok International Airport in Hong Kong, with responsibility for planning, design procurement and construction.
As Chair of HS2 Ltd, Mr Oakervee's primary responsibilities will be:

• Formulating the Board's strategy;

• Ensuring that the Board, in reaching decisions across its full remit including the route design and environmental assessment, takes proper account of guidance provided by the Department for Transport or the Secretary of State;

• Encouraging high standards of regularity and propriety; and,

• Promoting HS2 to the general public.

The appointment is for a period of 3-5 years, however re-appointment is possible, if mutually agreed, to a maximum of ten years. The salary range for this post is £120,000 - £140,000, with the new Chair expected to spend at least two days per week in HS2 Ltd's offices in central London.

Transport Secretary Justine Greening said: "HS2 is a railway which will transform the economic shape of the UK, so finding the right person for this role is vital. I am delighted that Doug has agreed to take on this important position, bringing with him decades of experience of working on major infrastructure projects. The next few years include a number of key challenges and milestones for this project and Doug's input will be invaluable as we move forward. I would also like to thank the current Chair, Brian Briscoe, for his invaluable work in leading HS2 Ltd this far."

Doug Oakervee said: "I am excited about my appointment and passionate about the development of UK’s high-speed rail network and HS2 is a great step forward. I believe that HS2 offers a unique chance to address the capacity issues facing the British transport network and to promote growth in our major cities. I will use my experience of the Hybrid Bill process at Crossrail to ensure that HS2 Ltd is best able to efficiently navigate this stage of the project."

ENDS

Pointless signs - New Cross

This from Pedantic of Purley...

This sign is approximately 60 yards (less than a train length) from the buffer stop at the London Overground bay platform at New Cross.


You cannot see it if the train is leaving the platform because the train itself obscures the sign and on its inward journey the train is traveling at walking pace due to TPWS slow speed control when entering terminus platforms.

If it is logical to put this sign up then presumably logically this ought to apply to all terminus platforms and these signs should decorate the London termini stations?

Needless to say there is no such notice by the track at platform B which is a through line and does have trains passing either way at a much higher speed.

DBS celebrates HMQ's Diamond Jubilee

A nice touch from DB Schenker at Manchester Victoria this morning.

The railfreight and logistics company invited Her Majesty the Queen to name a locomotive Diamond Jubilee.

The loco will be used to haul the Royal Train to Jubilee events throughout the year.

Sadly no pic of Her Maj doing the deed, so instead here is the loco in all its glory with the Royal Train Team.


Good effort.

Circle line Stations of the Cross

This from the Catholic Herald...

Commuters forced to ponder the inscrutable workings of London Underground’s Circle Line were this week offered a new diversion. An anonymous artist has designed a pamphlet depicting the 14 Stations of the Cross and has arranged them so they sit alongside stations of the Tube line.


The artist created the beautiful paper-cut illustrations having "found idle train trips an amazingly fruitful time for prayer & contemplation".

The non-profit project, dedicated to JM, can be viewed on-line at the Stations of the King’s Cross website.

Good effort.

The 'Golden Hour' after the solids hit the fan

This from Arthur Leathley in Marketing Week...

A crisis affects the whole business, he says, not just those people directly dealing with it. Leathley says that staff were asking what the crash meant for the business or if it would affect their jobs if the company lost income. He explains: “It’s very easy to thank the 50-odd people on site helping out, but there were people from revenues and finance who came in to help out the communications team.”

A good piece that every railway PR should read, just in case they ever have to face that God-Forbid-Moment.

Pointless signs - Wemyss Bay

This from Electra - and the 7 x 77's...

I was amused to see yesterday's Pointless Sign which came all the way from Upside Downland.

However, Eye readers will be pleased to see that our own railway can still give the Dominions a run for their money!


I have yet to snap the equally superfluous STOP boards planted in the 4-foot at Platforms 9-11 about 2 yards away from the rather obvious buffer ends and red lights.

UPDATE: This from @raretrack, via Twitter...

Wemyss sign NOT pointless - you can see how the wires angle away from the track just after the sign!

Big dewirement risk!

UPDATE: This from Chionanthus VIrginicus...

Is the "No Sand" sign to tell passengers when the tide is in?

Freightliner owner files for bankruptcy protection

This from Bloomburg...

Arcapita, formerly known as First Islamic Investment Bank, filed for Chapter 11 March 19 along with five affiliates, listing assets of $3.06 billion and liabilities of $2.55 billion. Arcapita Investment Holdings Ltd., already in U.S. bankruptcy, has also filed a bankruptcy in the Cayman Islands in aid of the Chapter 11 proceeding.

Arcapita acquired Freightliner in 2008.

Freightliner's website was unavailable for comment, or indeed anything...

UPDATE: Happy Friday! Freightliner now back on-line...

Chancellor's Budget statement - Rail

This from the Chancellor's Budget statement today...

I confirm today that Network Rail will extend the Northern Hub, adding to the electrification of the transpennine rail route, by upgrading the Hope Valley line between Manchester and Sheffield – and improving the Manchester to Preston and Blackpool, and Manchester to Bradford lines.

NR's Northern Hub twitter account, @NetworkRailNH, said:

#NorthernHub has been given £130m in today's Budget for three parts of the project - improving journey times and increasing capacity

And confirmed that the Hope Valley line will be:

Upgraded - extra track and platform at Dore, loop at Dore/Grindleford, capacity at Chinley, also line speeds.

Despite the Chancellor's ambiguous words no mention of electrification.

And, alas, no announcement of wires for the Midland Main Line either.

UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic...

So, @NetworkRailNH, said: #NorthernHub has been given £130m in today's Budget for three parts of the project - improving journey times and increasing capacity

Good grief, if Network Rail doesn't understand how the privatised railway works we really are in trouble.

The Government doesn't 'give' money for NR investment. It authorises NR to borrow the money to pay for the upgrade the value of which is then added to the Regulatory Asset Base where it then earns a return which is added to NR's agreed income determined by the Regulator much of which comes from the Direct Grant paid to NR by DfT.

In other words the Budget committed to paying the interest on the borrowing to fund the extra Northern Hub work on the 'never-never'.

(Shakes head in disbelief and goes back to writing about the last days of Railtrack where there was similar naivete).

UPDATE: This from NR's Internet Rapid(ish) Rebuttal Unit...

Of course we understand how RAB funding of projects works at Network Rail.

What we wanted to do yesterday is amplify the great news about the Northern Hub via Twitter.

Here's a challenge for you (and indeed other Railway Eye readers):

Using 140 characters or fewer, explain RAB funded-projects and permitted rate of return funded by network grant as agreed by the regulator.

Le TGV est arrivé

This from Sue La Manche

The first TGV to visit St Pancras carried not passengers but parcels, as a demonstration of the potential for high speed freight on high speed rail.


Next stop, Birmingham in errr... 2026?!?

So much for just in time delivery.

UPDATE: This from a Mr Rabid Burns...

I note with some surprise that the usual tests for electromagnetic interference, turning cows inside out, boiling brains and scaring pigeons have not taken place.

In fact, bold as brass, it flew through Kent in broad daylight.

Does this mean that we will now be inundated with TGV's, Thalys and the like, just so that the DfT can prove how the virtual IEP is a better train? (Shurely shome mishtake! Ed).

I think we should be told.

UPDATE: This from Dreadnought...

The reason that the usual tests for "electromagnetic interference, turning cows inside out, boiling brains and scaring pigeons" did not take place is that the unit was hauled up HS1 at a "steady" pace (somewhat lower than line speed) by 2 of Eurotunnel's diesels.

A nifty bit of shunting at SPI in the small hours saw the diesels retreat, leaving the TGV on its own in the platform.

Pointless signs - Abroad

This from Globetrotter...

A gem from the bay platform at Queensland Rail's Bundaberg station.


Other forms of motive power may presumably enter the carpark at their discretion?

Network Rail eats, shoots and leaves - Official

Eye is indebted to Mr Rand for this photo and also salutes Network Rail!

This sign points unequivocally to the entrance of a station that was built on the site of a cross, which was erected to the memory of King George IV.


So no more of your 'Kings Cross' nonsense if you please!

Tories claim Northern transport budget too big!

This telling tale from the Newcastle Journal...

But speaking to The Journal, the Transport Secretary said the North was getting a fairer deal on cash for transport schemes - so much so that South East MPs had complained.

"I think it probably shows we are really starting to get that balance of investment. What's most important to me is to understand local priorities," she said.

Meanwhile Met-Cam and his NSE MPs still can't understand why they fail to capture seats in Northern metropoleis.

Pointless signs - Redhill

This from @cnsqpr...


Southeastern last ran there in '08 and FGW Link haven't existed since '06.

Alan Francis Pegler OBE - RIP

This via the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway website...

Alan Francis Pegler OBE

It is with great sadness that we report that Alan Francis Pegler passed away on Sunday 18th March 2012 after a short illness. He was 91.

As well as being the President of both the Ffestiniog Railway Society and the Ffestiniog Railway Company, Alan was also responsible for preserving Flying Scotsman after she was withdrawn from service by British Railways.

Alan Francis Pegler OBE: 16th April 1920 - 18th March 2012

Rest in Peace.

Railway Garden Competition - Basingstoke

This from the Mad Hatter...

The picture below came with a press release from South West Trains announcing the new look Basingstoke station.


Surely an early winner of this year's Railway Garden Competition?

UPDATE: This from The Man By The Photocopier...

As Eye readers will see from this wider angle picture of the wizard new front end at Basingstoke, the SWT snapper must have crouched very awkwardly behind the hedge -- and one does wonder why.


After some years of press pics taken at silly angles, is the new craze going to be vegetation in every shot?

Can't wait.

Banbury 'La-de-da' Mess room sign

This from @drew2611...

Was amused by FCC Drivers' mess sign however I think ours at Banbury gives a touch of class:


Eye bets they don't use whistles at Banbury either...

Eye Enterprises presents The Olympic Scotsman!

YOU could own a part of 2012!

Eye Enterprises is offering a unique opportunity to acquire a 1.76th representation of national icon Flying Scotsman carrying the Olympic Torch!

THIS is your opportunity to relive the role played by Flying Scotsman in Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee, the Olympics, the Para-Olympics and Railfest!


PRICED at just £2.6m and lovingly reconstructed from the finest military-hubris, etc... etc... etc... (details here from Railway Herald and Railway Magazine).

Eye would just like to point out that the A3s were introduced into traffic in 1927.

Her Majesty was born in 1926.

Eye wonders which is more reliable and provides best value for money?

God save the Queen!

That is all.