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-   -   Train Spotters Corner (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/showthread.php?t=33686831)

Chris 10-04-2019 18:48
Re: Train Spotters Corner
 
They’ve nobody but themselves to blame. They didn’t want to bid for what was on offer and submitted bids for what they wanted to provide instead. It’s highly risky to deliberately make a pitch that doesn’t meet the client’s stated requirements - you’re effectively telling your potential customer that they’re wrong.

denphone 28-05-2019 17:43
Re: Train Spotters Corner
 
Well its seems the Pacers will have another life after all.:)

https://www.railmagazine.com/news/ne...urposed-pacers

denphone 12-11-2019 09:43
Re: Train Spotters Corner
 
HS2 may have to re-tender major contracts

https://www.theconstructionindex.co....ajor-contracts

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/s...dget-hnpdwdbpm

Quote:
Ministers knew more than three years ago that HS2 could go £1 billion over budget and did not tell MPs before they approved it, secret papers show.

Mr K 12-11-2019 11:51
Re: Train Spotters Corner
 
I thought I spotted a train on time the other day, turned out it was a delayed earlier one...

Northern Rail really is on the brink of collapse, if they aren't delayed they are cancelled because of no driver/guard/train. Strong rumours its about to be renationalised like the East Coast, but don't what that will solve in the short term. No doubt it will be delayed because of the election. Damage has been done over many years.

Chris 12-11-2019 12:00
Re: Train Spotters Corner
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr K (Post 36016915)
I thought I spotted a train on time the other day, turned out it was a delayed earlier one...

Northern Rail really is on the brink of collapse, if they aren't delayed they are cancelled because of no driver/guard/train. Strong rumours its about to be renationalised like the East Coast, but don't what that will solve in the short term. No doubt it will be delayed because of the election. Damage has been done over many years.
The problem with renationalisation in the current model is that it is only designed to ensure the trains keep running when a franchise fails. Services are run in a way that maintains the existing service but there’s no long term plan for investment or service development.

Northern would be saved from collapse in the sense that the trains would continue to operate (subject to driver and stock availability, and the absence of the wrong sort of leaves or snow), but it would not solve the network’s structural problems. The routes between major cities are often too slow, unelectrified and served by outdated stock. The solution to all of that is an absolute shedload of cash.

Mr K 12-11-2019 12:30
Re: Train Spotters Corner
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris (Post 36016916)
The problem with renationalisation in the current model is that it is only designed to ensure the trains keep running when a franchise fails. Services are run in a way that maintains the existing service but there’s no long term plan for investment or service development.

Northern would be saved from collapse in the sense that the trains would continue to operate (subject to driver and stock availability, and the absence of the wrong sort of leaves or snow), but it would not solve the network’s structural problems. The routes between major cities are often too slow, unelectrified and served by outdated stock. The solution to all of that is an absolute shedload of cash.
We keep paying them substantial fare increases every year, the reasons they give is to provide improve the service. It obviously isn't going into improvements:- same 1980s diesel sheds on wheels. Suspect it all gone to the SE. Privatisation has been an utter failure on the railways.

denphone 02-01-2020 11:00
Re: Train Spotters Corner
 
Northern rail to be stripped of franchise, says Grant Shapps.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...s-grant-shapps

Quote:
Grant Shapps told the BBC he had started the process that could result in removing the firm’s routes, calling its service “completely unacceptable”.

heero_yuy 20-01-2020 14:23
Re: Train Spotters Corner
 
Quote:
Quote from The Sun: Controverial high-speed rail network HS2 is facing fresh problems as predicted costs sky-rocket.

New forecasts for the rail project said it could cost £18bn more than it was expected to last year.

A leaked report into the spiralling costs and delayed timeline to build HS2, forecast the project could cost as much as £106bn, according to the Financial Times

The original forecast for the project was £34bn.
Last year, it was projected to cost around £88bn.
A complete waste of money now and who's to say that the costs won't keep escalating?

The money should be spent on more modest infrastructure projects that would be of immediate benefit to the North like trans-Pennine improvements.

heero_yuy 23-01-2020 11:02
Re: Train Spotters Corner
 
Quote:
Quote from Financial Times: Hundreds of employees at HS2, the state-funded body responsible for delivering the contentious high-speed railway line, have been told their jobs may be cut as uncertainty grows over the fate of the project.

Companies working with HS2 have also been told to slow down work, according to two contractors involved.

The moves came as the Treasury’s Infrastructure Projects Authority examined how to lower the cost of the high-speed railway line, which has more than doubled since its inception a decade ago to a projected £106bn.

The potential jobs cuts are part of a wider restructuring as HS2 moves towards either starting construction — or some or all of the project being scrapped.

Several hundred employees have been given 90 days notice and told to reapply for their jobs or similar roles within the organisation. Although 9,000 people are working on the project, HS2 employs just 2,250 permanent staff, with consultants and contractors making up the remainder.

HS2 insisted the jobs notices were “entirely unrelated to, and predates, the Oakervee Review”. It added the notices were “standard practice for infrastructure delivery bodies as they move from the planning stage to delivery”.
Standard practice eh?

Chris 23-01-2020 11:21
Re: Train Spotters Corner
 
Actually it is.

One of the reasons they use large numbers of freelance consultants and contractors is that it gives them flexibility to hire and fire according to the highly variable timescale of a project like this.

Hugh 23-01-2020 11:31
Re: Train Spotters Corner
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris (Post 36023456)
Actually it is.

One of the reasons they use large numbers of freelance consultants and contractors is that it gives them flexibility to hire and fire according to the highly variable timescale of a project like this.
Also for the different resource requirements at each stage of the project (not so many planners and designers required at the implementation stage).

heero_yuy 16-03-2020 10:54
Re: Train Spotters Corner
 
Quote:
Quote from The Sun: Thousands of “ghost trains” are standing idle in railway sidings despite years of chronic overcrowding, a probe found.

Carriages with a combined length exceeding 20 miles are rotting away — yet passengers paying top dollar often cannot get a seat.

Researchers found that the unused trains, being held in at least six depots, contain more than 110,000 seats.

Many are sent to scrap to avoid storage costs.

Investigators say the electric-only trains have been rendered useless by the failure to electrify lines across the country.

Fewer than 40 per cent of lines in Britain are electrified — among the lowest level in Europe.

In 2017, three long-planned electrification projects were scrapped, including the Midland Main Line.

Campaigners say the idle trains represent billions of pounds of wasted cash — funded by the public twice over, through taxes and ever-rising rail fares.
What a waste.

denphone 16-03-2020 11:01
Re: Train Spotters Corner
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by heero_yuy (Post 36027554)
What a waste.
Indeed what a waste and on a more current note given the shockwaves that are affecting all transport carriers there is a fair chance that many will either go bust or require state help in my view.

denphone 23-03-2020 08:43
Re: Train Spotters Corner
 
Rail franchise agreements suspended to avoid company collapses.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavir...apses-11962186

Quote:
Department for Transport said it will suspend normal rail franchise agreements and take over all the risks and revenues for operating trains for at least 6 months.

jfman 23-03-2020 09:11
Re: Train Spotters Corner
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by denphone (Post 36028464)
Rail franchise agreements suspended to avoid company collapses.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavir...apses-11962186
We've done it Den, nationalised railways! :D


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