Some thoughts on public servants in rail / transport roles.

[whole diary]

[grahame]

I'm going to ... share ... some thoughts that have come my way in the past nine years, triggered by exchanges such as these.

... the specification was dreamed up by civil servants with no idea how to run a railway and apparently with ...

Slightly unfair on the civil servants involved. There will be many at DafT with sound technical and engineering knowledge ...

Whilst there are, indeed, occasions when public servants frustrate (my examples already available on this forum, but not in this post!), the majority of the time they're very knowledgable indeed about what they're doing, but taking a wide view, applying policy and rules which they may at times not agree with.  The excellent ones will help and advise why the policy / rules are as they are, and will look at the positive objectives of (for example) our group in Wiltshire and suggest ways forward towards meeting those objectives which fit their rules and objectives too.  And some of them will go over and above what you might expect to do so.

Civil servants have to be accountable for all the actions they take, and to be seen to be applying the policy of their political masters and creating a level playing field (with 'level' as defined by those political masters) at all times.

I'm trying - very hard - to avoid specifics here, as we have no right to expect anything more than "doing my job to the letter" from any of these people.   But a little "going beyond" is quite common, and there are a handful who go way beyond who deserve huge thanks.   The comments, by the way, apply not only to central government but also to local government, to train operators and to the infrastructure company.

By all means, let's point out stupidities or things which we consider stupid.  And let's take forward systemic failures and see if things can be done that are better.    Where there's a significant failure in how things are applied, yes that needs to be dealt with too.  Yet let's remember that we can achieve so much by working together as well, even if we agree to differ at times.

Finishing this post with a "Thank you" to all the public servants who help provide a positive, cost effective rail service that's fit for the purpose of getting people around in a safe, sustainable, happy and well priced way.

[TonyK]

Very kind, grahame, for you to afford me this accolade, though I am not involved in transport matters...

Last year, according to the statistical formulae in force, and they were not easy to achieve, I saved Her Majesty's Government, and therefore HM's citizens including me, about ^20 for each ^1 paid to me as the meagre pittance the powers that be expect we Civil Serpents to get along by these days, as well as enforcing certain rules of law, educating many people, and removing the defence of "Didn't know" from nearly 1000. The objectives I was set were mutually exclusive in part and encouraged creative accountancy, but I settled one account alone, out of over 150,  worth double my salary.

If I told you what I did, I would have to either kill you or stop your great-grandmother's maternity allowance, or declare it your round, "just in" case.

I am sure my colleagues in whatever it is these days (DafT?) are of a similar ilk.

[trainer]

I saved Her Majesty's Government, and therefore HM's citizens including me...

You may consider yourself a serpent FT,N (I certainly couldn't possibly comment ) but HM has no citizens.  We are all subjects. And should HM be a subscriber to this forum, may I just say how grateful I am to be one.  I she doesn't, then I think it's an anachronism.

[Red Squirrel]

Oscar Wilde once claimed that he could discuss any subject at any time, prepared or not.

When someone asked him to discuss 'The Queen', he simply replied: 'The Queen is not a subject'.

[didcotdean]

David Frost also used that line ...

However, there are few people left now who are British subjects rather than citizens.

[ellendune]

I'm going to ... share ... some thoughts that have come my way in the past nine years, triggered by exchanges such as these.

... the specification was dreamed up by civil servants with no idea how to run a railway and apparently with ...

Slightly unfair on the civil servants involved. There will be many at DafT with sound technical and engineering knowledge ...

Whilst there are, indeed, occasions when public servants frustrate (my examples already available on this forum, but not in this post!), the majority of the time they're very knowledgable indeed about what they're doing, but taking a wide view, applying policy and rules which they may at times not agree with.  The excellent ones will help and advise why the policy / rules are as they are, and will look at the positive objectives of (for example) our group in Wiltshire and suggest ways forward towards meeting those objectives which fit their rules and objectives too.  And some of them will go over and above what you might expect to do so.

Civil servants have to be accountable for all the actions they take, and to be seen to be applying the policy of their political masters and creating a level playing field (with 'level' as defined by those political masters) at all times.

I'm trying - very hard - to avoid specifics here, as we have no right to expect anything more than "doing my job to the letter" from any of these people.   But a little "going beyond" is quite common, and there are a handful who go way beyond who deserve huge thanks.   The comments, by the way, apply not only to central government but also to local government, to train operators and to the infrastructure company.

By all means, let's point out stupidities or things which we consider stupid.  And let's take forward systemic failures and see if things can be done that are better.    Where there's a significant failure in how things are applied, yes that needs to be dealt with too.  Yet let's remember that we can achieve so much by working together as well, even if we agree to differ at times.

Finishing this post with a "Thank you" to all the public servants who help provide a positive, cost effective rail service that's fit for the purpose of getting people around in a safe, sustainable, happy and well priced way.

May I defend my original remark.  I do not blame the individuals, but a system that rotates those in policy roles so frequently to different departments that they never acquire in depth knowledge of any subject.  This is not their fault it is the system they work in. They they go the extra mile to try and do excellent work given this extreme handicap is to their credit, but perhaps they could do even better without the handicap.