The Railways

[General Dryness]

14 hours ago, Sixtimes Dog said:

Morecambe is a bit like East Berlin, but with more people trying to escape.

Its the bleakest place on earth. The Gobi desert is hard as fuck, but it shits its pants if you mention Morecambe.

[Creator Supreme]

6 hours ago, mattyq said:

Looks like Whiston

Good shout.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

I see HS2 is to be delayed....and the potential costs have spiralled. Money finding its way to certain people no doubt, even though not a lot has happened beyond the planning. 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49563549?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk&link_location=live-reporting-story

 

The first phase of the HS2 high-speed railway between London and Birmingham will be delayed by up to five years, Transport Minister Grant Shapps says.

That section of the line was due to open at the end of 2026, but it could now be between 2028 and 2031 before the first trains run on the route.

HS2's total cost has also risen from £62bn to between £81bn and £88bn, but Mr Shapps said he was keeping an "open mind" about the project's future.

The second phase has also been delayed.

The route - from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds - was due to open in 2032-33, but that has been pushed back to 2035-2040.

Mr Shapps' statement was based on a report from the chairman of HS2, Allan Cook, which concluded that the new railway could not be delivered within the current budget.

"I want the House to have the full picture. There is no future in obscuring the true costs of a large infrastructure project - as well as the potential benefits," said Mr Shapps.

Mr Cook said the delay had occurred because the original plans did not account for the effect of building through densely-populated areas with difficult geographical features.

His report comes ahead of a government decision on whether HS2 will go ahead at all.

Last month, the government said it planned to review the costs and benefits of the rail project, with a "go or no-go" decision by the end of the year.

[lifetime fan]

The government are getting off fucking lightly over this because of Brexit. 

 

I’d be amazed if ministers hadn’t deliberately lied to and misled parliament over this. 

 

They've known for ages it was over budget and delayed. 

[Creator Supreme]

1 hour ago, Istvan Kosma said:

right with the 1st one.... Broadgreen.

Lucky guess mate!

[Creator Supreme]

1 hour ago, lifetime fan said:

The government are getting off fucking lightly over this because of Brexit. 

 

I’d be amazed if ministers hadn’t deliberately lied to and misled parliament over this. 

 

They've known for ages it was over budget and delayed. 

Just cancel the fucking thing and have done!

[Dougie Do'ins]

2 hours ago, Creator Supreme said:

Just cancel the fucking thing and have done!

Yep. The amounts of money being touted are fucking scandalous, and all for the sake of shaving 20 minutes of the journey time to London.

 

I doubt there's been a major project that's come in on budget since fuck knows when. Look at the way the costs Millennium Dome and the new Wembley spiraled. Those costs will seem like chicken feed compared to the way this will go. 

 

If this goes a head, it'll cost three times the initial amounts quoted.

 

Scrap the fucking thing before anymore money is wasted.    

[Evelyn Tentions]

10 hours ago, Pistonbroke said:

Mr Cook said the delay had occurred because the original plans did not account for the effect of building through densely-populated areas with difficult geographical features.

I would have thought that was what a plan was for. Obviously done on a serviette by one of the (party donor) mates for a mere few million over an expenses paid lunch at the Fat Duck.

[Dougie Do'ins]

On 14/08/2019 at 17:22, Dougie Do'ins said:

We best still be getting the much promised direct service to Scotland/Glasgow.

 

On 14/08/2019 at 18:20, Fugitive said:

It’s been put back until December. They are running 3 trains a day. Just a shame it’s shitty TP express.

I emailed TPE a couple of weeks ago asking when they thought the new route would be operational. Their reply left me feeling less than optimistic.

 

 

Dear Dougie,

 

Thank you for your email with regards to our services between Liverpool Lime Street and Glasgow Central.

 

We do not currently have any information regarding the operation of a direct service along this route. Any information in relation to this will be published on our website as soon as it becomes available so I would advise to keep checking on there for the most up to date information.

 

Thanks again for contacting TransPennine Express.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Isabelle
Customer Relations Advisor

 

Meanwhile, in other railways news.

 

Northern rail could be nationalised

 

The government is considering whether the management of the North of England's largest rail commuter service should be taken into public hands.

 

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Northern's poor performance, with trains regularly arriving late or not at all, "cannot continue".

 

Mr Shapps said he had issued a "request for proposals" from the firm and the Operator of Last Resort (OLR).

This could lead to services being brought into direct government control.

 

Giving evidence to the Commons' Transport Select Committee, Mr Shapps said: "As a fellow long-suffering commuter, I entirely believe we cannot carry on just thinking it is OK for trains not to arrive, or Sunday services not to be in place. That has to change."

 

The Department for Transport confirmed it was developing contingency plans for the replacement of the current franchise "with either a new short-term management contract with Northern or the Operator of Last Resort (OLR)".

"In the context of significant challenges facing the operator, such as delays to infrastructure upgrades and historic underinvestment in the northern rail network, issuing a request for proposal enables the department to examine whether the contract is properly aligned with current operating challenges in the North," it said.

 

"It also allows us to determine whether the franchise owner or an OLR would be best placed to tackle these issues and deliver for passengers."

 

David Brown, managing director at Northern, said the firm had faced several challenges in the past couple of years, outside the direct control of Northern.

 

The most significant of these is the continuing late delivery of major infrastructure upgrades, including the North West electrification, which is more than two years late.

 

Mr Brown added: "Arriva and Northern remain fully committed to delivering the transformation of the North's railways and improving customers' experience. We are delivering the biggest transformation of local rail for a generation."

 

 

 

This is another black mark for Britain's rail system.

 

A second franchise, potentially brought under government control is not what Conservative ministers wanted.

Labour will press its argument that the system is so broken that the same should happen to all train companies.

But Northern (a large commuter network) is a much more complex franchise than the East Coast Mainline (intercity services) which the government took control of last year and rebranded LNER.

 

For that reason the government is probably keen to stop short of the "full public control" option and take-on a more supervisory role, with Arriva (Northern's parent company) still in charge of the day-to-day.

 

But several leading politicians argue Northern has failed and therefore should be removed wholesale from managing the franchise.

 

Northern argues the system is at fault because delayed infrastructure upgrades (managed by publicly-owned Network Rail) have not allowed it to run the services passengers demand.

 

There is no silver bullet to fixing the railways but the government-commissioned rail review will, in a matter of weeks, attempt to come up with answers.

 

Northern, which is one of the biggest franchises in the country, has been in trouble for years. Industry sources have confirmed to the BBC that the train company, which is owned by Arriva, has been losing money for some time.

Passenger numbers on Northern dropped after the botched introduction of new timetables in the summer of last year.

 

Mr Shapps said: "If you are northern, and you are a Northern passenger, you're as frustrated as I was in 2018. With Northern it has failed to recover."

 

On Friday, Transport for the North said it believed the franchise should be taken into public hands, via what is known as an Operator of Last Resort (OLR). The OLR is, on behalf of the government, currently in charge of London North East Railway, the East Coast Mainline intercity franchise.

 

However, the OLR is not the only option for the government.

 

It could also opt for what is known as a "management contract", which would mean that Arriva would still operate rail services, but the Department for Transport would adopt a much more hands-on role for the operation of the franchise.

 

The OLR has been monitoring Northern for some time and any change to the operation of the franchise would take months to implement.

 

A review of the railways in the UK is already under way. The Williams Review, led by former British Airways boss Keith Williams, is due to publish its findings in coming weeks. It is expected that the rail franchise system will be completely overhauled, a point mentioned in the Queen's Speech earlier this week.

 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50067806

[Creator Supreme]

That direct route to Glasgow delay is laughable, the little maps above the train doors on the TPE trains show that service as starting from December 2018, and now there's no start date in the near future it seems! They're fucking useless!

[Dougie Do'ins]

So that's the end of Virgin on the west coast main line.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50704187

[Jairzinho]

So run by the state now then. Italy's.

[Dr Nowt]

At least the service will improve then.

[Harry Squatter]

£2.20 from Dusseldorf Hauptbanhof to the airport. £17.80 from Manchester Airport to Liverpool Lime Street. Took fucking ages and rammed from Piccadilly. 

[Creator Supreme]

2 hours ago, Doctor Troy said:

£2.20 from Dusseldorf Hauptbanhof to the airport. £17.80 from Manchester Airport to Liverpool Lime Street. Took fucking ages and rammed from Piccadilly. 

It's like that every single fucking day, especially good fun when they only put two carriages on!

[Strontium]

Owen Jones was raging last week about the poor service on LNER, which is already wholly nationalised. It was one of the greatest self-owns in history.

[Bjornebye]

2 minutes ago, Strontium Dog™ said:

Owen Jones was raging last week about the poor service on LNER, which is already wholly nationalised. It was one of the greatest self-owns in history.

If Jo Swinson lay on her back we could get a straight rail journey from Bolton to Bangladesh. 

[Creator Supreme]

Nationalised for the 3rd fucking time to drag out of the shit yet again after a private franchisee has screwed up! They'll get it sorted in a year or two so your mates can sell it off again to the lowest bidder Stronts!

 

And the whole process will start again!

[Harry Squatter]

1 hour ago, Creator Supreme said:

It's like that every single fucking day, especially good fun when they only put two carriages on!

Yep. Going home the other night and two trains were cancelled. Next one rocks up with two carriages and everyone is trying to get on. Even dickheads with bikes.

[Bjornebye]

5 minutes ago, Doctor Troy said:

Yep. Going home the other night and two trains were cancelled. Next one rocks up with two carriages and everyone is trying to get on. Even dickheads with bikes.

One of my best moments was throwing a cunt off a train with his bike at woking or guilford (can't remember which station). He wouldn't let a woman sit down because his bike was next to him and he had got on first. Loads of people standing. Friday early evening and this cunt thought he was still talking to his p.a. It takes a lot for me to go from "I wish / should do that" to "right fuck you". 

 

 

Nah it doesn't. Im a cunt. 

[rb14]

I spend an awful lot of time on trains. Way too much of it is indeed awful. 

 

Southern is absolutely appalling. But there are many many contenders for worst franchise. Amongst the least bad were Virgin. 

 

The wholesale sell-off of our rail network, infrastructure and stock is an object lesson in fucking up a fuckup. And before anyone starts, the nationalised railways days were undoubtedly dire, but as an underfunded political f**tball, it was always playing with both hands and feet tied together. 

 

That fucking cunt Thatcher. The fucking cunt. 

 

 

[Creator Supreme]

I've said the same, BR were shite, woefully bad but the level of underfunding was chronic. At least then the profits weren't going in to the pockets of cunts like Branson and those two gobshites who started Stagecoach, but sadly none of it was going back in to the railways!

[Creator Supreme]

13 minutes ago, Istvan Kuntstain said:

Or just cancel it due to a lack of drivers or some shit

Had 3 cancelled, 1 delayed and 1 left early going home on Friday. 2 hours 45 mins door to door for an hour and a half journey! All 3 cancelled trains were due to a shortage of train drivers! That's their goto excuse these days!

[Creator Supreme]

35 minutes ago, Istvan Kuntstain said:

I've noticed that this is the new excuse too, at least one cancelled a day for me usually a Manchester train or Preston. I'm late today and just heard them announce a cancelled train, utter shit show these cunts.

I'm on my way to work now, late because of the school run, can't wait to see what surprises they have for me today!

[Dougie Do'ins]

That's great but where the fuck is my direct service to Glasgee ?

 

Avanti to run trains from Liverpool to London every half hour

 

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/avanti-run-trains-liverpool-london-17385215#ICID=Android_EchoNewsApp_AppShare