Open Access
Something to say? This is your platform.
Regarding Nigel Harris’s excellent editorial in RAIL 854.
Network Rail’s problems with the timetable started with Operation Violet, and then continued with the reduction of maintenance staff at the start of Control Period 3 - aided and abetted by the move to Milton Keynes for so many staff.
These three actions removed so many competent staff that the railway has never recovered.
Add to this the lack of discipline in planning engineering works (whether maintenance or major projects), and the lack of understanding of timetabling by the vast majority of senior staff in the industry (whether at the DfT, NR or train and freight operators),
Nigel Harris’s editorial The Worst ■ of Times ( RAIL 854) was masterly, and should be compulsory reading for all of the swivel-eyed loons who infest local and national government.
When I worked in the Travel Enquiry Bureau in Tonbridge, and (later) for Connex Customer Services, South Eastern and Southern, we used to have a saying. It went like this: “There are two types of people on the railway - those who run it, and those who think they do.”
The latter of course, are to be found in the House of Commons and the bowels of the DfT! Richard Lancaster, Tunbridge Wells
Having read and reread Nigel ■ Harris’s Comment regarding the Northern and Govia Thameslink Railway timetabling fiasco ( RAIL 854), I feel there is an impression that maybe the situation is not as bad in the North as it is down south.
Well it is! Ask the commuters who use the Lakes Line - taken up a particularly smelly creek without a paddle and left with no service whatsoever. Totally unacceptable.
No mention of them, but enough space to criticise the Mayor of Manchester for trying to make political gain. Maybe he was, but what was he supposed to say? Well done Northern, keep up the good work! I don’t think so.
Andy Burnham doesn’t need me to stick up for him, he’s quite and this has been a problem in the making for many years.
If the timetable is imagined as a giant jigsaw, the more trains that run the bigger the jigsaw and the longer it takes to put together.
NR engineers and project planners have an appalling habit of ignoring the industry rules with regard to possession planning, and expect last-minute possessions. This is usually accompanied by threats of “we’ll close the railway”, or “if we don’t do this, the project won’t be completed on time”.
TOC MDs won’t usually stand up to them, instead giving in and propagating bad practice - and often poor use of possessions and resulting poor performance due capable of doing that himself. If anyone should be held to account it is the man at the top - failing Grayling and his not fit-forpurpose DfT. Conspicuous by his absence, with his best shot to say we’ll have an inquiry.
Well, the time for talking has to end. Actions speak louder than words and action is needed right now. Strip these companies of their franchises and get people in who know what they’re doing.
As for Network Rail? Well, a gong for Mark Carne sums it up. Steven Beesley, Hazel Grove
As a reader of RAIL for many ■ years, I was keen to read your response to the new timetable crisis and its impact on the national rail system
As far as I’m aware the Oxenholme-Windermere line (the Lakes Line) is the only one which has lost its service in totality (two weeks initially) as a result of the introduction by Northern of its emergency timetable.
This line has been suffering from acute problems, not only in the aftermath of the introduction of the new timetable, but also since the route was transferred out of the TransPennine Express franchise into Northern in 2016 .
In the week leading up to the emergency timetable, I was personally aware of two days when the service was cancelled completely. to late changes.
If there is one thing that will improve the performance of the industry, in terms of performance in both timetable and project delivery, it is proper planning with all but emergency possessions being planned properly and not at late notice.
I hope that Transport Secretary Chris Grayling will apologise to the industry’s train planners. They are some of the most overworked people with some of the highest stress levels in the industry, as are roster clerks.
Having had over 20 years of working in possession planning and timetabling, I know how great the stress levels are. Graham Ward, Bewdley
On the day the service did run (May 31), all Northern could rustle up was a two-car ex-BR Class 156, on a line operating during the summer term’ mid-term break. Needless to say, it was rammed - families, hikers, cyclists and their accoutrements. Not really customer friendly, and a real decline in service from TPE’s Class 185s and direct links to Manchester Airport.
Transport for the North is now making it known that Northern is looking to extend the ‘bustitution’ of the service beyond the initial two-week period (four to five weeks is in the offing), in contravention of a commitment to the DfT that this would not occur.
The Lakes Line is probably not as sexy as Crossrail, HS2 and all the rail projects that occur within the orbit of the metropolis, but it is a microcosm of the issues that affect rural lines in England and the UK as a whole. Paul J Berry, Bamber Bridge
The Rail Delivery Group, which ■ represents franchise holders, blames passengers for the rail chaos, saying there was an influx due to the end of the half-term holiday.
Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling blames Network Rail for the delay in electrifying the Preston-Bolton-Manchester Line. Neither of these excuses will wash.
Northern failed to plan ahead. It knew the Bolton line would not be electrified by May. It also knew that it was short of trains and drivers. It whinges about having to train drivers to use new routes, but the routes have been in existence for decades. Training should have started a year ago.
All this trouble is down to the utter ineptitude of operators. Millions of people are being left stranded, and it is costing them and the economy a fortune - besides the personal difficulties such as getting to work.
Bring back the LMS and Southern companies, and just let them run the whole thing as a professional company would, and stop all this politicising and interference. Peter Robotham, Sale
The Thameslink timetable ■ changes and the associated problems of the launch from May 20/21 seem to have been attributed mainly to Network Rail - if one is to believe the coverage afforded in the mass media (with a little help from the Westminster political bunker).
Surely, notwithstanding storage problems, it was incumbent on the train operator to ensure that rolling stock and suitably trained/
recruited staff were all in place for the showpiece kick-off. It had been years in the planning.
What happened was akin to turning up to a cup final with three players absent, a flat ball and no spare! Tony Russell, Tonbridge
It is noticeable how the ■ politicians seek to have influence over railway matters, but then try to distance themselves from blame when things go wrong.
Politicians have tried to micro-manage affairs in public transport, public health and public education for decades. Is it coincidence that the nation has chronic problems on the railways, in the NHS and in the schools, all caused by demoralised staff? Philip Bott, Bradford
May I congratulate Philip Haigh ■ for his brilliant report on the mess that our railways are in at the moment ( RAIL 854).
Adding to his comments on GTR’s timetable, I twice had my trains between Hitchin and Cambridge turn up when not shown on the times given by the Thameslink website (although it was to my benefit, so I can’t really complain!).
But Philip also spoke on what I have had hunches about for a long time. With Virgin Trains East Coast going, and with other train operating companies getting hammered by the Government and passengers, I sense no one will want to run our railways - and so nationalisation could be upon us sooner than we think. Robert Black, Cambridgeshire
It is now clear that the ■ jaw-droppingly disgraceful chaos surrounding the changes in rail timetables involves a multiplicity of factors and organisations, including - but not solely - the franchise operators and Network Rail.
Would not the chaos have been avoided if there had been a single body which was receiving all the relevant information, whether it be the number of fully trained drivers, or delays in electrification?
I even have a name for it: British Rail Nicholas Faith, London