Railway Blues!

  On the 9th October 2000, the British Railtrack chief came out with a string of excuses as to why trains were delayed over the six months to October. Some are so ridiculous as to indicate our railway system is run by utter morons.

Here are the Reasons:

  • It rained hard for three months.
  • There were lots of burst water pipes.
  • An increase in suicides.
  • An increase in Vandalism.
  • An increase in track and station repairs, mostly for safety reasons.
  • There are too many people on trains.

I wonder why no mention was made of a few, albeit minor, crashes that helped cause delays?
Network Rail has now taken over from Railtrack but, I guess, now that autumn is here and winter is not too far away, we're in for the regular chestnuts of 'leaves on the line' and 'Frozen points', and, even better, 'There's snow on the line but it's the wrong kind of snow'.
  The saddest thing about this though is that we put up with the incompetence of these idiots that never achieve targets set them, but can come up with the most ridiculous of excuses as to why. I certainly wouldn't mind being paid well in excess of £50,000 per annum to do just that, then award myself a nice £30,000 bonus to boot!

  I can recall a service that I knew as 'The Permanent Way' where effectively 'ghost' trains ran all night during bad weather to ensure tracks were kept clear. Instead of the Railtrack big-wigs awarding themselves huge bonuses, the monies could be released to re-start, and finance, this service, certainly for the main and heavily used commuter lines. Still, I guess managers greed and home comforts take priority over considerations towards rail customers.

  Should you need to travel by rail in the UK, the best part of Network Rail is here and you'll find timetables and other details about rail travel and Railtrack in particular.

Playing with Figures:
Railtrack's way - 2,794,000 trains ran during the six-month period. "That means the average delay was just 66 seconds."

Businessman's way - Railtrack were responsible for delays totalling 2,964,000 minutes in the six months to October - the equivalent of one train being delayed for five and a half years.

Axiompc's way - Using the businessman's figures, 44 trains did not exist for a month and a half (25 per cent of the period). So much for having a timetable!

 
Further Revelations:
 
Since the above was written, we've had a couple of derailments here in the UK, in one of which there were four fatalities. However, truth will out and the following has emerged from Railtrack and their contractors (the date now is 20th October 2000):
  • Managers falsify records to say tracks have been inspected when they haven't.
  • Line gangs report for work suffering from the effects of alcohol or Class A drugs.
  • Workers shelter in a van instead of inspecting the track on cold or wet days.
  • Men pay the boss £10 ($15) to sign them in for work when they are off.
The above is reported by an employee that has been with the company for six years and makes frightening reading.

Here is part of a report on the section of track where the passengers died in the first of the derailments:

  Initial perusal would suggest that 33% of defects on AME Doncaster and 82% on AME Kings Cross have never been rectified, each of which could lead to a derailment. Regardless of any data correction, this presents a grave picture which you, as Line Manager and Professional Engineer responsible for this contract, must address forthwith. Global track quality recovery must not occur at the expense of essential safety measures.

  I am aware of the motivation of many of the front line team in both these organisations - it is incumbent upon you to ensure that they have the resources and support to deliver. Please therefore provide me with the following by 0900 hours, Wednesday 26 April 2000;...........(a list of assurances/proof of work completed or in hand is the follow-on).

This shows that Railtrack knew of the defects over six months ago and have done a total of NOTHING to rectify the defects, and indicates that someone, somewhere, is doing more than bending the truth.

 

Are the Government Acting? (22 October)
Transport Minister John Prescott plans to bring back British Rail in the wake of the Hatfield train disaster.
He believes the best way to put safety before profit would be to re-nationalise Railtrack.
An aide told the Sunday People: "When you privatise something you can't boss people as you can in the public sector.
"The industry must be more like BR, operating as a cohesive unit rather than warring tribes."
Train operators would remain private but will be told to work more closely together.
Mr Prescott is likely to be opposesd by Cancellor Gordon Brown because it would cost £5billion to buy back Railtrack (can't see that myself as they've defaulted in their duty and no buy-back would be necessary, Axiompc.) "But if they were to decide to sell at a nominal price, this would be a goer" the insider added.
"We have had endless goes at Railtrack about their tracks.
"John Prescott doesn't just want to patch things up, he wants a proper safe system." Yesterday 400 protesters descended on Railtrack's London offices demanding re-nationalisation.

This is a SCOOP by Nigel Nelson of the Sunday People.
(All it means to me is that no-one else has printed it as he could have made it all up. I'll be watching other sources for confirmation. Axiompc/)
As mentioed earlier on the page, Network Rail have taken over from Railtrack so it will be interesting to look out for similarities and/or differences.

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