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Semprini posted:If you don't get 'Full Communism Now Line' and 'Bob Crow Memorial Line' through then you have failed. The latter would not be a hard sell, and would be a nice tribute.
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Jul 8, 2014 20:19
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biglads posted:I'd quite like to see the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles junction The History of All Hitherto Existing Society is Waiting for a Post on Level Crossings
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Jul 9, 2014 00:39
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Bozza posted:The loving goods loops are an absolute nightmare for this. York. Consultancy rather than NR but by a bizarre quirk, we're the remainder of the LNE Civil Engineering Design Group which got sold off with privatisation. A few of the senior guys still have the BR perks like free rail travel and the pensions. Oh the pensions...
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Jul 9, 2014 17:38
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Endjinneer posted:York. Consultancy rather than NR but by a bizarre quirk, we're the remainder of the LNE Civil Engineering Design Group which got sold off with privatisation. A few of the senior guys still have the BR perks like free rail travel and the pensions. Oh the pensions... Been thinking about maybe going for a Senior Project Engineer job in York next year's maybe. Any good? Wouldn't be surprised if NRs creeping design nationalisation doesn't come knocking at your door. I was formerly in the Western Signalling Design Group who got TUPE'd in from Lloyd's Register a few years before I joined. Just before I left to work for the route, we'd done most of GRIP3 for Liverpool Lime St, with signalling, track and OLE all done in house. NR reopened the final salary pension a few years ago thanks to pressure from Big Bob and the RMT. Serious money, for which he earned my eternal praise.
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Jul 9, 2014 17:58
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Does anyone know the final planned proposal for Crossrail 2 I saw one a few years back but just wanted to see what the latest one was?
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Jul 10, 2014 22:01
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brakanjan posted:Does anyone know the final planned proposal for Crossrail 2 I saw one a few years back but just wanted to see what the latest one was? http://1267lm2nzpvy44li8s48uorode.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/1.-Crossrail-Regional-Routeg-FINAL.pdf Interesting fact about the alignments that stop at Chelsea and Hackney, they both cost £1bn each. Meaning if neither are included (which seems likely), what was the Chelse-Hackney line will stop at neither Chelsea or Hackney.
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Jul 11, 2014 01:07
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brakanjan posted:Does anyone know the final planned proposal for Crossrail 2 I saw one a few years back but just wanted to see what the latest one was? There's nothing final yet, TfL's running a second consultation about the proposed routes. https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/crossrail/june-2014/consult_view
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Jul 11, 2014 01:25
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onoflalks posted:There's nothing final yet, TfL's running a second consultation about the proposed routes. Ta, the proposed regional schemes. Will that be all stations if approved?
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Jul 11, 2014 07:53
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Bozza posted:Been thinking about maybe going for a Senior Project Engineer job in York next year's maybe. Any good? York's nice. Just very nice, you know? Provincial. It's crawling with railway firms and handy for the great outdoors, so I'm here and happy for the foreseeable future. The SPE guys I've worked for all seem to get jobs that aren't what they've specialised in - you get SPE (Sigs) guys managing earthworks schemes and SPE (PWay) guys managing bridge replacements. I don't know if that's cause you seldom know which discipline is going to be the biggie when a project starts, or because they've gone into delivery instead of design, or because someone got pregnant, or something else. Whatever, if you enjoy signalling design and want to stick with it I'd make drat sure that's what you're going to get, not some track drainage scheme involving 18 months of discussions about newts. Creeping design nationalisation though? I thought you'd just spun off a load of NR design capacity into a separate company, so it could compete with the private sector?
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Jul 13, 2014 22:47
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If anyone's interested there's a program about (presumably) Crossrail starting on bbc2 now
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Jul 16, 2014 21:00
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Failed state run railway East Coast is still going to be turned over to the efficient Free Market who have recovered from the shock at having their railway seized by the socialist Labour government. The railway has utterly failed as can be seen by it not requiring as much subsidy as the Free Market competition, and it has consequently generated £1bn for the taxpayer. It must be stopped and only the efficiency of The Private Sector can achieve this! http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/04/east-coast-mainline-fury-reprivatisation-plan Grauniad posted:East coast mainline pays taxpayers £1bn sparking fresh reprivatisation fury aww yeah the free market 
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Aug 4, 2014 17:51
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Typical scorched earth Tory behaviour.
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Aug 4, 2014 19:09
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A lot of those profits are from supposedly putting off major rolling stock overhauls (to pre-empt Tory shite). This is a pittance compared to what could be saved through renationalisation + reorganisation though.
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Aug 4, 2014 23:27
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Out of interest how does one get into signal design and similar fields? Looking at career change, I don't think I can handle a potential 40 more years of being a conductor and the tens of thousands of 4am starts and trips to Morecambe that would entail. If the grade even exists at that point.
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Aug 4, 2014 23:42
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Lofty132 posted:Out of interest how does one get into signal design and similar fields? Looking at career change, I don't think I can handle a potential 40 more years of being a conductor and the tens of thousands of 4am starts and trips to Morecambe that would entail. If the grade even exists at that point. Can only speak for signalling design but in terms of qualification and experience (in my old office anyway): Band 7 / Apprentice or Trainee Designer - A-levels or BTEC level education, usually with a maths or physics background. After this, not being a Total loving Idiot and getting past the interview which can be tricky. This is week release to college and pays you gently caress all. Band 6 / Assistant Designer - Either, off the street with a railway background (broadly ~FEng from Sheffield Hallam with specialism in signalling usually) or internal transfer in NR from other technical or semi-technical roles (we've had posession planners, technical clerks, safe system of works planners, lower grade maintenance technicians). Pay here is £18-25k a year. Band 5 / Designer - Straight in off the engineering graduate scheme (like me!), higher level signalling technicians, via promotion, from other technical roles dropping down a grade (project engineers like to do this one). Usually already trained and relatively experienced. Pay £25-35(ish)k per year. Band 4 / Principles Designer - Broadly promotion or transfer in from other technical role only. My old manager took a demotion down to Band 4 when he joined having previously been a Band 3 Project Manger, but he had a technical signalling background. Pay £35k+ (top end guys can be pushing £50k I should think but you'll need the better part of 10 years experience to be anywhere near their level of expertise). This was where I was at when I left, and it took my 5ish years to get here, which is pretty quick by most measures, one guy had been trying for promotion for the better part of 10... Band 3 / Lead Designers - Promotion only, £45k+ a year easy These are all salaried roles so you're not getting overtime etc on top of this, but signalling design is a pretty relaxed job to tell the truth so work-life balance is pretty good. Most of the maintenance guys I know took a huge pay cut to move into Band 5 roles from losing their OT, but now see their wives and kids so are much happier guys. So, either need to come in from the ground, or get yourself into the NR in another role (semi-technical like a planner, or with an ops focus would be my best best, given your background as a guard), then transfer in. Unless you fancy loving it all off and going back to uni, in which case, railway engineering degrees at Sheffield Hallam are pretty well respected, or an MSc from Birmingham. Bozza fucked around with this message at 10:04 on Aug 5, 2014 |
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Aug 5, 2014 10:01
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Lofty132 posted:Out of interest how does one get into signal design and similar fields? Looking at career change, I don't think I can handle a potential 40 more years of being a conductor and the tens of thousands of 4am starts and trips to Morecambe that would entail. If the grade even exists at that point. Did you not apply for the driver vacancies for TPE at Barrow?
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Aug 5, 2014 11:51
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How many workers had old BR connections?
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Aug 5, 2014 12:06
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Antinumeric posted:How many workers had old BR connections? Me for one (Dad was a Plant and Mechanical sparky for BR in the 70s-80s, now he's a driver). Not everyone, but having family who are railway does usually get you bonus points in the interview. Not exactly meritocratic but I think of it as the working class old boys network.
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Aug 5, 2014 18:49
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Hezzy posted:Did you not apply for the driver vacancies for TPE at Barrow? No. At 6'9" I am too tall to drive the traction Northern are using up here (153, 156 and 142) because I physically struggle to get my foot on the plate. This isn't an issue with a 185 as far as I'm aware however: it is extremely unlikely 185s will be running on the Furness line come 2016, there was only one job going and it went to the internal man, the man who was in fact a TPE guard and the son of the driver who retired to create the vacancy (no hard feelings though I'm glad he got it). The other concern about the job and concern for him now is that just after they started training him the new franchise proposals came through with TPE saying they weren't bothered about Barrow, Blackpool or Windermere. In the highly likely event that everyone is merged back into one company at Barrow now, if that franchise is won by Northern then his job could be at risk given they want to reduce the distance of trips etc. Don't really need 40+ drivers at Barrow if all the Airport's and Blackpool's are getting turned around at Lancaster instead. As much as I am unhappy as a guard right now I am well insulated in terms of seniority, so at least I don't have to worry about that particular issue. Thanks for the response Bozza. A crossing keeper was telling me about NR doing a big recruitment drive on the Cumbrian Coast due to the line going 24 hour and the extension on the boxes. Whilst I'm only 28 so 14 years isn't going to see me to retirement I suppose it could be a foot in the door. I think the main issue I have with work at the moment is that I just don't feel mentally challenged or stimulated. I'm living for my days off but would rather view work as something other than a means to an end.
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Aug 6, 2014 07:48
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSfa90avBzI A film about the rebuilding of Grosvenor Bridge in the 1960s, which was done without closing rail traffic into Victoria or obstructing the river  Fluro jacket count: 0
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Aug 7, 2014 10:56
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Crossrail chat looks like the Network Rail proposal from 2011 to extend to hertfedshire is being resurected. Some westbound trains would've always terminated at Paddington instead of continuing to Heathrow / Maidenhead / Reading. Proposal is to send these up a new bit of track at Old Oak Common to join the slow lines on WCML through Harrow and Wealdstone / Tring / Hemel Hempstead / Berkhampstead / Watford Junction. Also this gives an interchange with HS2 there. Relieve a lot of pressure on poor overcrowded Euston. Noone like's having to change there to continue into the rest of London. Will look awkward on the tube map though
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Aug 7, 2014 12:33
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Cerv posted:Crossrail chat I'm pretty sure the out-of-London sections of Crossrail and Thameslink won't be on the actual maps. Nice idea though. I thought the Greenford stoppers would've been the other obvious choice.
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Aug 7, 2014 13:21
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Wouldn't look any more awkward than the mess it is now tbh. None of those places are really much further out than what is currently on the Met anyway.
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Aug 7, 2014 13:23
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In London they're going to put Stratford in zone 2 (it's currently zone 3). I'm wondering how that will work on the map (particularly the simplified straight line they show in carriages) since West Ham etc are in zone 3.
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Aug 7, 2014 13:31
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actually it's going to be zone 2 & 3 like Pudding Mill Lane already is next door that entire corner needs respaced anyway with the new overground routes being added
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Aug 7, 2014 13:48
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Went to RMT demo outside the DfT yesterday, was interesting:  Surprised they actually let us in to deliver the 10,000 postcards protesting the Rail North franchising consultation.
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Aug 19, 2014 08:35
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Found out in a meeting yesterday that the new IEP / SuperExpress operating in diesel mode will be significantly worse performing than a HST or a class 180 lol This is what happens if you separate rolling stock provision from infrastructure works.
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Aug 19, 2014 11:32
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 another great success for the DfT's Incredibly Expensive Procurement project then! Trebles all round 
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Aug 19, 2014 12:42
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Network Rail posted:At a general meeting today, 97.3% of Network Rail's 41 Members (the company's equivalent of shareholders) voted to change the company's articles of association. http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/News-Releases/Network-Rail-Members-vote-for-change-213c.aspx So it seems the government has been forced to accept that it owns the railway network.
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Aug 30, 2014 12:14
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Endjinneer posted:http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/News-Releases/Network-Rail-Members-vote-for-change-213c.aspx Unfortunate, I think - BR struggled the most when the politicians tried to meddle, and much as I'm convinced that private companies are damaging for today's network, it's rarely made better by the regular (and hugely inconsistent) political interventions that are so common these days.
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Aug 30, 2014 12:23
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Jonnty posted:Unfortunate, I think - BR struggled the most when the politicians tried to meddle, and much as I'm convinced that private companies are damaging for today's network, it's rarely made better by the regular (and hugely inconsistent) political interventions that are so common these days. I don't think it was meddling so much as simple starving them of funds, something they don't really need any control to do.
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Aug 30, 2014 16:49
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goddamnedtwisto posted:I don't think it was meddling so much as simple starving them of funds, something they don't really need any control to do. Well quite - just give them the money to give the job done then leave them alone. NR has been revelling in having its own powers to borrow without the approval of the Government - this is going to change.
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Aug 30, 2014 17:38
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They'll get to borrow at a cheaper rate if interest though.
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Aug 31, 2014 10:12
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Cerv posted:They'll get to borrow at a cheaper rate if interest though. Are you sure? Their debt was always guaranteed by the Government anyway, so it would seem strange if that was the case.
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Aug 31, 2014 13:09
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I see the pledge to rid the network of Pacer units is being forgotten. They are now on about refurbishing the units instead so a whole new generation can enjoy the bus trains of yesteryear.
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Aug 31, 2014 14:08
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Lofty132 posted:I see the pledge to rid the network of Pacer units is being forgotten. They are now on about refurbishing the units instead so a whole new generation can enjoy the bus trains of yesteryear. dear god no
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Sep 1, 2014 00:51
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Lofty132 posted:I see the pledge to rid the network of Pacer units is being forgotten. They are now on about refurbishing the units instead so a whole new generation can enjoy the bus trains of yesteryear. I thought the whole point of getting rid of them was because they can't accommodate disabled people like recent legislation requires? Also is anybody able to dissect whether sectorisation of BR was a good thing? I have read conflicting things.
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Sep 1, 2014 10:06
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Metrication posted:Also is anybody able to dissect whether sectorisation of BR was a good thing? I have read conflicting things. It broke up the iron fists of the region system quite well, more joined up national and regional operating with InterCity brand etc working well, as did Network Southeast. In terms of engineering, it didn't make much difference, but for operations it was big shift in the right direction (in my opinion). Return to large pseudo-TOCs representing long distance, regional and commuter traffic would be a step in the right direction in my opinion.
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Sep 1, 2014 10:32
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Metrication posted:I thought the whole point of getting rid of them was because they can't accommodate disabled people like recent legislation requires? They have until 2020 to comply apparently, the refurb would focus on making them compliant whilst costing significantly less than actual investment in new traction. We currently have a job where we spend 4 hours straight on one, it's as fun as it sounds.
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Sep 1, 2014 13:47
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Metrication posted:I thought the whole point of getting rid of them was because they can't accommodate disabled people like recent legislation requires? Yep. Here's a brochure from one of the owing ROSCOs on how they'd deal with it. I like the "informal sofa seating area" which will no doubt become the "informal crushed-in commuters' arse in your face" area on the peaks. http://www.porterbrook.co.uk/downloads/brochures/14x%20Brochure.pdf
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Sep 1, 2014 21:43
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