Trainchat - The failure of privatisation in the British Railway

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Trainchat - The failure of privatisation in the British Railway

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

Bozza posted:

Yeah, 319s are a bit of an oddity, they run Bedford to Brighton too, which is the line that my Dad drives. Farringdon used to be the place they switched over from AC/DC but I think that is going to change with Thameslink, the wires being extended down to City Thameslink I believe. It's an odd bit of track, the newer 377s are replacing the 319s as we speak so they're a little nicer.

Don't forget FCC still use 313s as well, dating from 1976. That'll explain the shoddiness somewhat, yep.

# ¿ May 7, 2012 18:39

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 06:46

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad posted:

Also if you want hilariously old rolling stock the Isle of Wight still uses old London Underground trains built in the 1930s, as part of the modern service privatisation was supposed to provide.

e: I get that because it's an anomaly it's nice to be like "hey a heritage-ish railway" but come on guys, you're not paid to do that.

Actually it's because the Ryde tunnel limits the useable loading gauge massively, old LU stock are the only things that actually fit.

# ¿ May 7, 2012 19:41

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad posted:

Ah, didn't know that. Still, it's not like LU don't build new trains all the drat time, they could be using something that's a bit less than 75 odd years old.

I think they're looking into getting hold of some 67 stock that came out of LU service recently, I think it's the first time anything's been available until now.

# ¿ May 7, 2012 20:47

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

notaspy posted:

I would love to take a bullet train from London to Beijing via India. How long would that take using modern trains? A week? Shame it'll never happen.

You could do London to Beijing via Moscow in around 10 days or so, if you'd like. Not eyewateringly expensive either, especially when compared to UK prices.

# ¿ May 24, 2012 20:01

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

Install Gentoo posted:

On this blog, the author describes her trip around the world, which includes traveling from Shanghai to Croatia by train, as well as Rome to London by train after an interval of travel by watercraft.

http://www.verysmallarray.com/?p=145

That's the first post covering that (the Shanghai to Beijing leg specifically), you can follow the next post things or go to their travel tag for the rest: http://www.verysmallarray.com/?cat=14

I like the entry on London-Southampton which highlights that the ticket costs more than a first class ticket from Shanghai to Beijing :v:

# ¿ May 25, 2012 16:11

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

Bozza posted:

I spent 3 hours in the pissing rain once trying to reroute signalling circuits through spare cable cores because it is complicated poo poo and if you do it wrong you get Clapham Junction.

Sup rewiring Really Dangerous poo poo using semi-adequate existing infrastructure buddy!

Turns out upgrading 50 year old process control systems is a right pain in the arse, who knew? My day job frequently involves pissing around with scruffy as hell prints from microfilm trying to work out if core 5 is 'pump start' or 'pump stop'. Annoyingly bad things would happen if that one went awry...

# ¿ May 25, 2012 20:43

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

V. Illych L. posted:

What do you do, Vando?

I can't strictly say :colbert:

Process control systems, safety interlocks, environment monitoring, that sort of thing.

# ¿ May 25, 2012 21:02

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

Orange Devil posted:

^^

You should've left that post at the first sentence, combined with the avatar.

Historically I find this just makes people ask more questions :argh:

# ¿ May 25, 2012 21:29

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

Baronjutter posted:

Still anxiously waiting for this level-crossing effort post

Bozz

You'll be losing your title as D&Ds foremost train effortposter at this rate y'know.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2012 12:37

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

Bozza posted:

It's halfway done! I was gonna finish it yesterday but I went to the pub instead,

Ladies and gentlemen, your inefficient public sector!

# ¿ Jun 27, 2012 13:03

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

Orange Devil posted:

I thought he was privatised? Clearly then he had more productive and efficient things to do in the pub, like create jobs.

Network Rail is as close as it is possible to be to public ownership while appearing to operate in the private sector.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2012 14:32

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

Midland Main Line electrification: a good thing, yes, but is it a foolish pipe dream or something that might actually happen (on budget)?

# ¿ Jul 17, 2012 00:10

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

Richard Branson uses a lot of words to essentially say 'gently caress this, this process is bent as gently caress':

quote:

Following the DFT's decision to award the West Coast Mainline franchise to FirstGroup, Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, said:

�The Government decision to award the West Coast Main Line Franchise to FirstGroup is extremely disappointing for Virgin, and for our staff that have worked so hard to transform this railway over the last 15 years. We submitted a strong and deliverable bid based on improving customers� experience, increased investment and sustained innovation. To have bid more would have involved dramatic cuts to customer quality and considerable fare rises which we were unwilling to entertain.

�We also did not want to risk letting everybody down with almost certain bankruptcy at some time during the franchise as happened to GNER and National Express who overbid on the East Coast mainline. Sadly the Government has chosen to take that risk with First Group and we only hope they will continue to drive dramatic improvements on this line for years to come without letting everybody down.

�We won the franchise in 1997 with an agenda to change radically the way people viewed and used the train. At the time the track was run-down, staff demoralised, the service riddled with delays and reliant on heavy subsidies. We set hugely challenging targets to dramatically speed up journey times with modern tilting trains, increase the frequency of the service, improve the on-board experience; as well as double passenger numbers and return the line to profit.

�We were told it was "Mission Impossible" and our plans were laughed at by critics. However 15 years later, despite continued problems with the track, we have achieved our targets. Passenger numbers have more than doubled to over 30 million, the fastest growth in the UK and world leading. We have the highest customer satisfaction of any long distance franchise operator and dominate the air/rail market between London and Manchester. It has been a remarkable achievement by an outstanding team who have successfully delivered on our promises.

�I am immensely proud of our staff for turning the West Coast line from a heavily loss-making operation into one that will return the taxpayer billions in the years to come. Last year we paid a net premium of �160 million to the taxpayer and have created a franchise worth more than �6 billion which is hugely valuable to the country.

�These achievements have counted for little � as this is the fourth time that we have been out-bid in a rail tender. On the past three occasions, the winning operator has come nowhere close to delivering their promised plans and revenue, and has let the public and country down dramatically. In the case of the East Coast Main line, both winners � GNER and National Express - over promised in order to win the franchise and spectacularly ran into financial difficulties in trying to deliver their plans. The East Coast is still in Government ownership and its service is outdated and underinvested, costing passengers and the country dearly as a result.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. When will the Department for Transport learn?

Interestingly before Virgin took over the West Coast there were more passengers using the East Coast than the West Coast. Now there are 12 million fewer.

�Under our stewardship, the West Coast Mainline has been transformed from a public liability into a valuable asset for the UK, worth many billions of pounds. The service is a British success story and one to put up against rail companies around the world. It is a great shame that such a strong track record has been discounted in the evaluation process for one of the UK�s most important infrastructure assets. The country's passengers, taxpayers and the West Coast employees deserve better.

�Based on the current flawed system, it is extremely unlikely that we would bid again for a franchise. The process is too costly and uncertain, with our latest bid costing �14 million. We have made realistic offers for the East Coast twice before which were rejected by the Department for Transport for completely unrealistic ones and therefore will have to think hard before embarking on another bid.
�Our amazing staff have been the driving force behind the West Coast Main Line�s transformation and I am sure that for the last months of the contract they will all continue to run the high quality service that has helped win us many awards and attract millions more customers to rail.�

# ¿ Aug 15, 2012 09:08

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

Any of you lot (particularly Bozza I guess) have thoughts on the Improving Connectivity document? Allegedly the work of a bunch of signallers in their own time, so may feature such rarities as 'sensible solutions to longstanding problems' and whatnot.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2015 15:14

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

I'm sure someone would have tried that before now if it was a good idea.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2015 16:26

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 06:46

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

PkerUNO posted:

That looks identical to the (ugh) get me there (ugh) readers on Manchester Metrolink, so I assume they're the latest ITSO card reader design?

It is, they're for the Stagecoach brand travelcard. Which only works on buses at the moment I think? So yeah, a triumph.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2015 18:05

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Trainchat - The failure of privatisation in the British Railway