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Re: Railways

Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:50 pm
by Aitch
Opti wrote:
Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:38 pm
Aitch wrote:
Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:17 pm
plodder wrote:
Thu Aug 19, 2021 12:45 pm
Oh god that's so f.cking depressing. How the christing f.ck do we get ourselves out of this mess?
Well, cutting the triple-lock has been suggested as a contribution to that.
But it's only temporary*, apparently.
It's only a small number of their voters that they'll piss off. Most of their pensioner wing have decent private pensions these days.

I rely mainly on my state pension for essential outgoings - any frippery/whim/appliance disaster comes from savings. But then I've never voted Tory.
We live a happy life, but pretty frugal by the standards of many.

* of course it is ... of course.
Fortunately, even though I retired early (or, as I put it, jumped before I was pushed), I have a semi-decent private pension. The state pension pays for the little luxuries and feeding my funeral fund. And my savings account - well my family will need something to fight over when I'm gone. ;)

My pension is capped; doing the same with the state pension would be OK by me, but I don't rely on it, so my opinion is ever so slightly worthless.

Re: Railways

Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 3:21 pm
by El Pollo Diablo
plodder wrote:
Thu Aug 19, 2021 12:45 pm
Oh god that's so f.cking depressing. How the christing f.ck do we get ourselves out of this mess?
Go back in time and convince the country to elect a government with some sort of economic sense?

(I can't comment on how far back in time you'd need to go)

Re: Railways

Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 3:25 pm
by lpm
WTF? How does returning OAPs to poverty help with anything?

I suppose back in the day they only ran a one-bar electric fire and huddled round it under blankets, so good CO2 savings, but come on.

Re: Railways

Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 4:36 pm
by dyqik
Aitch wrote:
Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:17 pm
plodder wrote:
Thu Aug 19, 2021 12:45 pm
Oh god that's so f.cking depressing. How the christing f.ck do we get ourselves out of this mess?
Well, cutting the triple-lock has been suggested as a contribution to that.
Only to the extent that false austerity thinking is endemic in government.

Re: Railways

Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2021 6:58 am
by JQH
Aitch wrote:
Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:17 pm
plodder wrote:
Thu Aug 19, 2021 12:45 pm
Oh god that's so f.cking depressing. How the christing f.ck do we get ourselves out of this mess?
Well, cutting the triple-lock has been suggested as a contribution to that.
I thought the policy was to use covid to wipe the oldies out.

Re: Railways

Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2021 3:35 pm
by Bird on a Fire
Direct action is probably the only recourse left to the majority. Luckily, it's traditionally quite effective with enough buy-in from sensible people.

Extinction Rebellion are starting two weeks of civil disobedience next week, for example.

I know they're not everyone's cup of tea, though, so I hope the soon-to-be moaners are thinking about how to use their workplaces, unions, community organisations etc to compel the government to take the climate emergency seriously.

Re: Railways

Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2021 3:39 pm
by Bird on a Fire
lpm wrote:
Thu Aug 19, 2021 3:25 pm
WTF? How does returning OAPs to poverty help with anything?

I suppose back in the day they only ran a one-bar electric fire and huddled round it under blankets, so good CO2 savings, but come on.
I think the suggestion is that it would get them to stop voting Tory, either because they'd finally cease to be immune from the c.ntery they've inflicted on everyone else for the last 10 years, or because they'd be dead.

Unfortunately (a) Tory voters are impervious to reality and logic, and partly shielded from it by their preferred media outlets, and (b) there isn't an election till mid-2024.

Yes, I know #notallpensioners, and no I don't think forcing the innocent ones into poverty or death is good.

Re: Railways

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2021 2:27 pm
by IvanV
Not all is bad in British railway construction! An entire new railway was constructed in just a few days in Buckinghamshire! It's not a very long new branch, and indeed isn't even a branch as it doesn't connect to anything. But we have seen huge delays and cancellations even in very short new railway lines in the local area, such as the Metropolitan Line Extension, as it later became known before it was cancelled for having reached over £100m per mile for a 55mph 2-track surface railway nearly all on an existing alignment, possibly some kind of a record.

Clearly you will want a picture. I'm happy to oblige.
New Amersham branch line.jpg
New Amersham branch line.jpg (184.69 KiB) Viewed 3454 times
Possibly, like me, you are not too impressed by the quality of the track geometry. But I understand that somewhat outdated rolling stock are to be used, which it is good enough for.

Re: Railways

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2021 2:35 pm
by Aitch
IvanV wrote:
Thu Sep 30, 2021 2:27 pm
Not all is bad in British railway construction! An entire new railway was constructed in just a few days in Buckinghamshire! It's not a very long new branch, and indeed isn't even a branch as it doesn't connect to anything. But we have seen huge delays and cancellations even in very short new railway lines in the local area, such as the Metropolitan Line Extension, as it later became known before it was cancelled for having reached over £100m per mile for a 55mph 2-track surface railway nearly all on an existing alignment, possibly some kind of a record.

Clearly you will want a picture. I'm happy to oblige.
New Amersham branch line.jpg

Possibly, like me, you are not too impressed by the quality of the track geometry. But I understand that somewhat outdated rolling stock are to be used, which it is good enough for.
Are you sure it's not just one of Charlie Dimmock's 'quirky' features, in one of her Garden Rescue designs? ;)

Re: Railways

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2021 2:48 pm
by plodder
In other news, South Eastern have lost their franchise for hiding £20M from the government or something.

Re: Railways

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2021 3:15 pm
by IvanV
plodder wrote:
Thu Sep 30, 2021 2:48 pm
In other news, South Eastern have lost their franchise for hiding £20M from the government or something.
Second time for South-Eastern. Connex were also booted out of that franchise for some financial issues. It's the one thing that makes the DfT press the eject button pretty fast, financial shenanigans. Whereas running a crap service, that's negotiable, and can probably be argued to be considerably someone else's fault.

Re: Railways

Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2021 10:25 am
by El Pollo Diablo
Normally Network Rail, who, people should not forget, contractually are responsible for things like the weather, trespassing, suicide, significant freight train incidents, and bridge strikes.

Re: Railways

Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2021 9:18 pm
by IvanV
El Pollo Diablo wrote:
Fri Oct 01, 2021 10:25 am
Normally Network Rail, who, people should not forget, contractually are responsible for things like the weather, trespassing, suicide, significant freight train incidents, and bridge strikes.
Railways have to run in the environment they are located in - both in terms of weather and the surrounding misbehaving population - so as you well know it makes sense to make NR responsible for these things. Because otherwise no one would have any care whether the railway was built to stand up to (relatively moderate) weather (we have in this country), incompetent lorry drivers (who are probably relatively well-behaved in comparison to other places also), etc. The significant freight incidents one seems a bit extreme, but perhaps that's about ensuring the network operator puts sufficient safeguards in place before allowing tankers of novichok to drive around on the railway.

Once Great British Railways is further responsible for contracting with train operators, they'll presumably also be responsible, in the first instance, for the performance of their contractor.

Re: Railways

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 9:55 am
by TimW
Great news, Grant Shapps has started work on the Midland Main Line electrification
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-l ... e-59729033
between Market Harborough and Kettering (about 12 miles).

The big win (over the scrapped HS2 Eastern leg) is that "Under our plans, people won't have to wait two decades for better services." It's only been one decade so far, so I suppose he's got a chance of meeting that target, for the 4 stations affected.

Re: Railways

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 10:10 am
by El Pollo Diablo
Yep, and meanwhile, Rishi Sunak is busy destroying all other electrification

https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest ... 3-12-2021/

Re: Railways

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 7:55 pm
by Trinucleus
TimW wrote:
Tue Dec 21, 2021 9:55 am
Great news, Grant Shapps has started work on the Midland Main Line electrification
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-l ... e-59729033
between Market Harborough and Kettering (about 12 miles).

The big win (over the scrapped HS2 Eastern leg) is that "Under our plans, people won't have to wait two decades for better services." It's only been one decade so far, so I suppose he's got a chance of meeting that target, for the 4 stations affected.
That's so great. The North West must be furious they've been lumbered with HS2

Re: Railways

Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2021 9:15 am
by TimW
DP!

Re: Railways

Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2021 9:27 am
by TimW
I was just reading the MP for Eastleigh spouting on about how the new Great British Railways HQ, which is now open for bids, should be there and not Southampton. Has he not heard of "levelling up"?

So which Tory-held Red Wall seat will it be in?

My money is on Darlington, with its railway history excuse.

Re: Railways

Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2021 10:01 am
by TimW
Ooh, no, hang on. Apparently the govt are already seting up a "Darlington Economic Campus", I didn't know that. So that's them levelled up, no need to put all your eggs in one basket.

Re: Railways

Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2021 10:14 am
by TimW
Derby then, perhaps. Crewe is already getting HS2 (in two decades).

Re: Railways

Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2021 10:31 am
by El Pollo Diablo
TimW wrote:
Wed Dec 22, 2021 9:15 am
DP!
Not right now thanks, I'm busy.

Re: Railways

Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2021 10:35 am
by El Pollo Diablo
TimW wrote:
Wed Dec 22, 2021 10:14 am
Derby then, perhaps. Crewe is already getting HS2 (in two decades).
I think York is most likely, personally. But Derby or Crewe are the other main options. Possibly Manchester if you're generous.

Worth pointing out that this HQ is not envisaged, at least by Network Rail's executive visionary geniuses*, as being significant. The national centre will stay at Milton Keynes, and the regional teams (who make up the bulk of the staff) will stay in their regional offices, signalling centres or maintenance depots. Really, this is just the transfer of the current HQ, which is a few floors of One Eversholt Street, just outside Euston station.



*the same ones who rolled out a reorganisation that devolved staff from central functions to the regions in the middle of a pandemic, increasing managerial role headcount to the extent of around £130m per year, and then had to go through a voluntary severance scheme to save money on headcount, initially targeted at managerial roles because the "number of staff has increased in recent years".

Re: Railways

Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2021 1:06 pm
by IvanV
El Pollo Diablo wrote:
Wed Dec 22, 2021 10:35 am
Really, this is just the transfer of the current HQ, which is a few floors of One Eversholt Street, just outside Euston station.
And then they'll discover that they need some kind of a London representative office, because that's where the politicians and civil servants are that they need to engage with. And also solve the recruitment issue that its present and potential employees don't all want to go and work in some regional location. And then the London post will gradually grow.

It's not always like that. National Highways (formerly Highways England) doesn't have a London office. It solves the potential recruitment problem by not requiring head office type staff to work out of its head office in Guildford, they can work out of any regional office. In practice they are scattered across the regions, there's a particularly large contingent in Birmingham. It keeps a few rooms in a departmental building in London to be able to hold meetings, etc, in London, and allow people to work when they are in London, or at least it did pre-Covid. But I would guess it will eventually come to thinking that a less isolationist stance will make its life easier. Most other such organisations do.

Re: Railways

Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2021 1:07 pm
by IvanV
dupe.

Re: Railways

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2021 10:56 am
by TimW
El Pollo Diablo wrote:
Wed Dec 22, 2021 10:35 am
I think York is most likely, personally. But Derby or Crewe are the other main options.
Can't argue with that. They're all on the list of seats after all.

ETA Correction! Only two of them.