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Author Topic: Travel disruption over Christmas 2014  (Read 13998 times)
phile
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« Reply #15 on: January 03, 2015, 18:34:08 »

All this fragmentation results in Consultants and Lawyers having to be paid extortionate amounts during the process of linking all the dysfunctional parts together.
We have to have an ORR» (Office of Rail and Road, formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) and an army of Civil Servants, not railwaymen (DaFT» (Department for Transport - critical sounding abbreviation I discourage - about)) to supposedly determine what should and should not happen. Then there are the staff working on Delay Attribution which is only passing costs round and round within the industry.   Just wondering if a FOI (Freedom of Information) would ever get an accurate result of all these costs.
But with a Government whose ideology is privatisation they don't want to know about it.
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Electric train
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« Reply #16 on: January 03, 2015, 18:40:37 »

All this fragmentation results in Consultants and Lawyers having to be paid extortionate amounts during the process of linking all the dysfunctional parts together.
We have to have an ORR» (Office of Rail and Road, formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) and an army of Civil Servants, not railwaymen (DaFT» (Department for Transport - critical sounding abbreviation I discourage - about)) to supposedly determine what should and should not happen. Then there are the staff working on Delay Attribution which is only passing costs round and round within the industry.   Just wondering if a FOI (Freedom of Information) would ever get an accurate result of all these costs.
But with a Government whose ideology is privatisation they don't want to know about it.

That's only half of it, there will inevitably "punch ups" over contractual issues of was it NR» (Network Rail - home page)'s fault or the contractor that caused the delay even messier when multiple contracts are in place, these discussion will go on for months will involve long hours travel of people up and down the country
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Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unscheduled disassembly, or a RUD, during ascent,”
ellendune
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« Reply #17 on: January 03, 2015, 18:49:01 »

That's only half of it, there will inevitably "punch ups" over contractual issues of was it NR» (Network Rail - home page)'s fault or the contractor that caused the delay even messier when multiple contracts are in place, these discussion will go on for months will involve long hours travel of people up and down the country

Are you suggesting that all major projects should be carried out by NR direct labour rather than contractors?
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phile
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« Reply #18 on: January 03, 2015, 19:24:45 »

Some contracts would have to be.  What is the financial problem is between fragmented units within the industry.
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Electric train
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« Reply #19 on: January 03, 2015, 19:49:28 »

That's only half of it, there will inevitably "punch ups" over contractual issues of was it NR» (Network Rail - home page)'s fault or the contractor that caused the delay even messier when multiple contracts are in place, these discussion will go on for months will involve long hours travel of people up and down the country

Are you suggesting that all major projects should be carried out by NR direct labour rather than contractors?

No not at all.  However if NR are late grating a possession or another contractor on another contract runs late which means a contractor cannot do their work etc ..............

Its the, apparently, efficient modern way to do things contract it out.

The commercial managers are the ones in the sharp suites  Grin
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Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unscheduled disassembly, or a RUD, during ascent,”
ChrisB
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« Reply #20 on: January 04, 2015, 08:13:16 »

Ahhh, the Chiltern aquirement *was* an example of procurement left to the TOCs (Train Operating Company). The DfT» (Department for Transport - about) failed to get invloved until it was too late !

Which would we rather have? :-)

You'll know about electric commuter stock before ypu need to be using it
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ellendune
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« Reply #21 on: January 04, 2015, 08:50:33 »

Ahhh, the Chiltern aquirement *was* an example of procurement left to the TOCs (Train Operating Company). The DfT» (Department for Transport - about) failed to get invloved until it was too late !

Which would we rather have? :-)

You'll know about electric commuter stock before ypu need to be using it
As I understand it DfT would not let FTPE» (First TransPennine Express - website) enter into a contract past their end of franchise date.
It has also been reported in the railway press that Chiltern asked DfT if it was alright for them to take on the offending stock at the end of the FTPE franchise before they signed up and that DfT had said yes.
It would appear therefore that DfT had a chance to say no before it was too late but missed that chance.

It therefore sounds like DfT not knowing what it is doing!
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ChrisB
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« Reply #22 on: January 04, 2015, 09:10:28 »

FTPE» (First TransPennine Express - website) could have entered into that contract, but had to take the risk of not getting/winning any extension to their franchise. A risk to far for them, I understand.

Chiltern did ask but weren't expecting a 'no', quoting DfT» (Department for Transport - about) that they didn't control stock allocations.

However, DfT are going to have to solve the problem at FTPE, either by 'finding' other stock or allowing a reduction in required timetabled services
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ellendune
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« Reply #23 on: January 04, 2015, 13:25:55 »

Is there not a mechanism for DfT» (Department for Transport - about) to declare rolling stock as tied to a franchise? Otherwise its just going to be a free for all free market (which is we are told is clearly a good thing) so DfT should let it happen and its up to the new franchisee to find rolling stock that is instantly available on the hand-over date and factor it into the bid price.  Shouldn't be a problem.  Cheesy
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tomL
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« Reply #24 on: January 04, 2015, 20:34:26 »

Something interesting...A form of 'heads up'...of course people still aren't happy though. FGW (First Great Western) will maybe never win...  Roll Eyes Grin

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Network Rail has informed us planned engineering work between Weston-Super-Mare and Bristol Temple Meads may overrun tomorrow morning.

https://twitter.com/FGW/status/551830507353571329
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TaplowGreen
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« Reply #25 on: January 05, 2015, 07:16:34 »

Something interesting...A form of 'heads up'...of course people still aren't happy though. FGW (First Great Western) will maybe never win...  Roll Eyes Grin

Quote
Network Rail has informed us planned engineering work between Weston-Super-Mare and Bristol Temple Meads may overrun tomorrow morning.

https://twitter.com/FGW/status/551830507353571329


.....fair play to FGW for getting ahead of the game and keeping customers informed - let's hope that it's one lesson that they've learned from recent events - not just the chaos on the 27th.........doesn't look too good on some routes this morning though.
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Worcester_Passenger
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« Reply #26 on: January 05, 2015, 09:28:28 »

Curiously, this wasn't on the FGW (First Great Western) JourneyCheck pages in the early hours of this morning - and so wasn't on the 'current train running' graphic.
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ChrisB
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« Reply #27 on: January 05, 2015, 09:42:58 »

I saw it there - problem at Worle. But cleared early on....
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JayMac
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« Reply #28 on: January 21, 2015, 02:57:45 »

Passenger Focus are canvassing opinion via a survey about the disruption on 27th December 2014 following the over-running engineering works. The survey can be completed here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2687HZ6
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"Good news for regular users of Euston Station in London! One day they will die. Then they won't have to go to Euston Station ever again." - David Mitchell
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