INFORMED SOURCES e-Preview October 2006
Welcome to another e-preview and thanks for all the feedback. Any day
now the 800th subscriber will register. I try to keep e-Preview
simple, but any ideas for improvements to the format will get serious
consideration, and the same goes for Alycidon Rail.
This time of year can be disorienting for writers like me on monthly
publication. Modern Railways publishes on the fourth Friday of the month
preceding the date on the cover. So no sooner have the summer holidays
ended than I sit down and start writing the October column and by
mid-September I have opened the file for the November column.
This year, too, the summer quiet period never happened, with important
documents rolling out of ORR and Network Rail keeping me busy – not to
mention the GNER court case. Now, in mid-September it finally has
calmed down, but the preferred bidder for the South Western franchise
could be announced on Tuesday this week,
Ten decisions where industry struggles
DfT goes OTT over RVAR
ROSCOs dig in for a war of attrition
Capt Deltic’s rolling stock round up
Usually in Informed Sources I take a topic and analyse it into
submission, but over the past months I’ve been increasingly aware of things
that weren’t happening. When I wrote these down I came up with the 10
relatively simple issues listed below
1 Move Class 319s for Thameslink
2 Abandon the Cambrian Lines ERTMS pilot scheme
3 Put national rail season tickets on Oyster cards
4 Replace Pacers
5 Start the Felixstowe-Nuneaton gauge and capacity enhancement
6 Sort out Anglo-Scottish coal route policy
7 The mismatch between journey length and capacity on Thameslink 2000
8 Ticketless train travel
9 The threatened Channel Tunnel freight closure
10 Preserve the Class 92 fleet
In each case I state the issues, suggest the obvious, well to me at
least, solution and give reasons why it might not happen. It’s a mixed
bag, but I expect readers will come up with more examples.
More RVAR madness
One of this column’s specialist subjects is the Disability
Discrimination Act (DDA) and the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations (RVAR).
We now have a new DDA and several chums in the TOCs and ROSCOs got onto
me when DfT published the consultation paper on the draft regulations
amending the RVAR 1998 in the light of the DDA 2005.
They particularly pointed me at the annexes on penalties and
enforcement. I have posted the consultation document in Professional Stuff on
Alycidon Rail (www.alycidon.com) because it far exceeds any previous
stupidities I have come across. Indeed, with the closing date for comment
16 October 2006 I will try to make a formal response: e-Preview
subscribers may be similarly moved.
I won’t spoil the fun of reading the column, best done sitting down
with a soothing glass of your preferred relaxant, but when I tell you
that if, as an example, SWT staff persistently failed to set up the on
board Passenger Information System correctly it could cost their employer
between £20million and £40million, you will get the flavour. Currently
the maximum fine for non compliance with RVAR is £2,500 and no one has
ever been prosecuted.
Sheer lunacy, and, hopefully, one of the transport correspondents in
the readership will see that it gets national coverage.
ROSCO investigation
ORR’s three month ‘market study’ of the Rolling Stock Companies’ lease
rentals is now underway. The ROSCOs reckon that the information DfT
Rail supplied to ORR to back their complaint is pretty underwhelming.
Rentals quoted are ‘way out’ and, according to informed sources someone
even got the fleets wrong in an analysis of rentals when franchises
changed hands. On the other hand the ROSCOs have caused upsets with some
of their behaviour’
I reveal an illuminating case history concerning nine Class 150 diesel
multiple units, leased to Central Trains, which Porterbrook offered to
Northern and Arriva Trains Wales when the Central lease expired.
Unfortunately, Central hadn’t said that they didn’t want the trains,
Porterbrook didn’t offer then first refusal and the franchise was then extended
by 18 months as part of the franchise remapping.
Add in devolution politics and there’s some more light relief as
politicians try to get someone else to do their dirty stop to avoid an
unpopular decision.
Class 458 redeemed
Finally there’s some traction and rolling stock news. Transport for
London have selected the Bombardier Electrostar for their London Rail
concession. The new trains will replace Class 313s on what is now
Silverlink Metro and provide the new fleet for the East London Line extension.
The analysis includes the options to lengthen trains and expand fleets.
One of the bids for the TfL order was based on refurbished Class 458s.
The last time these unhappy trains were mention in Informed Sources
they were about to be grounded because the Passenger Information System
(PIS) lettering was too small.
Subscribers south of the Thames may have seen 458s back in service.
This is legal because Porterbrook and Interfleet technology came up with
a simple modification, giving 40mm high lettering at an affordable
price.
But why is SWT running Class 458s? I assumed it was because of
continuing poor availability from the TOC’s Siemens Class 450 Desiros. But
the day when I made a random check, SWT was running six Class 458s
despite having four Class 450s spare.
Intrigued, I probed further and in this moth’s Informed Sources I go
out on the high wire without a safety net. The day after you read this
DfT Rail is expected to announce the preferred bidder for the new South
Western franchise.
I reckon that the Class 458s, which SWT chums have slagged of
relentlessly for years now, are the secret weapon which Stagecoach has given
Stagecoach the edge in its bid to retain the SWT franchise, now called
South Western. It is all to do with a cascade which sees the Class 442s
coming off lease and the Class 458 fleet being retained.
I have gone into print with this theory so when the preferred bidder is
announced on Tuesday, it will be either a smug smirk or massive amounts
of egg on the face. Either way I may have started a new craze for
‘Fantasy Cascades’ and will be inviting readers to join in. If I am right,
you can even work out a way to free up Class 319s on Southern thanks to
the Class 458s.
Winsor replies.
In last month’s column about the GNER crisis, I categorised people in
the railway industry as Cavaliers or Roundheads, with former Rail
Regulator Tom Winsor as the top roundhead. Tom thought I went over the top
with some of my more colourful language and the Editor has given him
3,000 words to reply.
It is a super article with Tom at his witty and robust best. If you
enjoy Informed Sources you will certainly enjoy Tom Winsor taking me down
a peg or three and defending his views. No one escapes unscathed.
Essential reading.
Roger’s ramblings
Not a lot to report this month. Attempts to arrange a meeting with
Jeremy Long, Hong Kong Mass Rapid Transit’s man in Europe seemed fated to
be overtaken by events. I particularly want to talk about the
possibilities for Octopus Smart Card, Hong Kong’s equivalent of Oyster.
Talking of smart cards, Informed Sources reckon that Stagecoach were,
justifiably, conservative in their bid for South Western. There’s an
Informed Sources file building up on the technicalities of adapting the
ITSO smart card concept to national rail, which may feature next month.
Similarly, the Conservatives have given MagLev the kiss of life. DfT
Rail is still considering its potential and here too the file for the
November column is building up.
But it hasn’t all been desk research. Siemens held a useful press
briefing. They hope the Class 360 Desiros are in the running for another
Golden Spanner award for reliability.
And I also had one of those days out which keeps the enthusiasm for
writing about railways burning. This was an inspection trip on c2c from
Fenchurch Street to the buffer stops at Shoeburyness. Plenty of
material from a welcome fun day, including news that a Class 321 is going the
Velim test track in the Czech Republic for certification for
regenerative braking. Network Rail has already made the necessary modifications
to the infrastructure.
Finally a reminder that the Fourth Friday Club holds its first meeting
of the 2006-07 Session on Monday 25 September to avoid a clash with the
Innotrans exhibition. John Thompson, Head of Operations at
southeastern, will be talking about the lessons we can learn from Japanese
railways. Details on the FFC website at http://www.4thfriday.co.uk/
Roger
