DfT to throw £20m at Southern network

[Sunset route]

But sometimes it is cleared in advance (the signal on the up slow after new Cross gate. ).... why is it sometimes cleared and sometimes not...

Probably the signallers mouse is hovering over the icons for other signals at London Bridge or elsewhere and you can only set one route at a time, every signal from New Cross Gate / South Bermondsey to London Bridge has to be set individually for every train again and again and again. The signallers spend all day chasing their tails on that workstation.

 

[physics34]

Probably the signallers mouse is hovering over the icons for other signals at London Bridge or elsewhere and you can only set one route at a time, every signal from New Cross Gate / South Bermondsey to London Bridge has to be set individually for every train again and again and again. The signallers spend all day chasing their tails on that workstation.

Thats what it seems. So workload is an issue....

 

[LBSCR Times]

What are "signal supervisors", are a new grade, SSMs or is it a code word for more train running controllers?

Either way they won't make much difference as none of them have their sticky mitts on any of the signalling panels. or workstations.

Train Running Controllers is my understanding.
I think Three Bridges ASC gets at least one soon......

And they will speak direct to drivers about service alterations that the TOC wants....

 

[Agent_c]

So the government swoops in to pick up a failing private operator again. Yay privatisation.

 

[Sunset route]

So the government swoops in to pick up a failing private operator again. Yay privatisation.

Except for


Key additional benefits of the £20 million include:

£2 million to be spent on more rapid response teams to fix faults more quickly, located close to known hotspots Network Rail

£2.5 million to be spent on accelerated train maintenance TOC

£0.8 million investment in extra signal supervisors to keep trains moving across the network Network Rail

£0.9 million investment in a series of measures to minimise the impact of bridge strikes Network Rail

 

[Jona26]

Except for


Key additional benefits of the £20 million include:

£2 million to be spent on more rapid response teams to fix faults more quickly, located close to known hotspots Network Rail

£2.5 million to be spent on accelerated train maintenance TOC

£0.8 million investment in extra signal supervisors to keep trains moving across the network Network Rail

£0.9 million investment in a series of measures to minimise the impact of bridge strikes Network Rail

Those "key" benefits add up to barely over 25% of the total. No mention of the rather large remaining 75%. Surely not all Chris Gibb's consultancy fee?

Is this as close as DfT can come to admitting defeat and not actually appointing DOR?

 

[Sunset route]

Those "key" benefits add up to barely over 25% of the total. No mention of the rather large remaining 75%. Surely not all Chris Gibb's consultancy fee?

Is this as close as DfT can come to admitting defeat and not actually appointing DOR?

Just saying it not all GTR southern orintated but money for the Southern network which I took and indeed looks like money being spent across the board, both sides of the rail and wheel interface.

 

[Clip]

Those "key" benefits add up to barely over 25% of the total. No mention of the rather large remaining 75%. Surely not all Chris Gibb's consultancy fee?

Is this as close as DfT can come to admitting defeat and not actually appointing DOR?

How many staff do DOR employ?

 

[Jona26]

Just saying it not all GTR southern orintated but money for the Southern network which I took and indeed looks like money being spent across the board, both sides of the rail and wheel interface.

Sorry - wasn't meant as a dig at you. Was meant as general observation of the press release.

 

[swt_passenger]

How many staff do DOR employ?

None, although I expect the question was rhetorical?

 

[southern442]

Also more platform staff at East Croydon and Gatwick among other stations.

Forget just more platform staff, we need more platforms at East Croydon! It may cost a lot, but it's needed.

 

[Marklund]

So the government swoops in to pick up a failing private operator again. Yay privatisation.

+1 :roll:

 

[physics34]

Forget just more platform staff, we need more platforms at East Croydon! It may cost a lot, but it's needed.

2020-21........was meant to be but its all gone quiet

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

So the government swoops in to pick up a failing private operator again. Yay privatisation.

Going back to the days of British Rail, do I take it that no Governmental monies were ever spent on projects that were owned by the state that were needed to correct any matters?

 

[Bald Rick]

2020-21........was meant to be but its all gone quiet

They are coming, early 2020s.

 

[HH]

This is a PR exercise aimed at limiting damage on Southern caused by the DfT policy on DOO (last I looked DfT was not privatised). Hopefully some good will come of it, but these are relatively small amounts of money and it's not clear how long the project lasts; for example, £0.8 million investment in extra signal supervisors could be 1 supervisor for a few years. Plus I'm sure a fair bit of the budget will go to Chris Green and other consultants.

 

[Andrewlong]

Those "key" benefits add up to barely over 25% of the total. No mention of the rather large remaining 75%. Surely not all Chris Gibb's consultancy fee?

Is this as close as DfT can come to admitting defeat and not actually appointing DOR?

There's an idea - appoint DOR to replace Network Rail signallers!

 

[SPADTrap]

Can we blow the whole lot on preventing "signal failures"? I can't understand why the South East seems to be plagued by them. What is it that keeps failing?

Signals

 

[infobleep]

I thought Network Rail and Southern were already integrated?

http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/c...e-the-problems-on-southern-rail-a3334296.html

I have concluded urgent changes are needed. Currently, GTR runs the trains and Network Rail manages the tracks and signals. The tendency is for those involved to blame each other for problems and not to work together. That must change. I want the Southern network to be run by an integrated team of people working together to ensure passengers get decent journeys and problems are solved quickly. So I am establishing a Project Board, headed by a vastly experienced rail executive, to urgently plan how to create this team.

This is not about corporate reorganisation or change of ownership. That would waste time better spent improving the railway. It’s about a joined-up approach to running the trains and the tracks and making things work better. I want this plan in place by the early autumn.

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[DarloRich]

I thought Network Rail and Southern were already integrated?

http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/c...e-the-problems-on-southern-rail-a3334296.html



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no that was SWT - is this another alliance?

 

[gavin]

Go-Ahead Southern's owner have seen profits increase to £99.8m a rise of 27%

Revenues at Southern fell to £61m a fall of 92%

http://news.sky.com/story/rail-boss-turns-down-bonus-after-disruption-10562178

 

[DarloRich]

Go-Ahead Southern's owner have seen profits increase to £99.8m a rise of 27%

Earnings at Southern fell to £61m a fall of 92%

http://news.sky.com/story/rail-boss-turns-down-bonus-after-disruption-10562178

difficult to make profits when your trains aren't running The MK service, for instance, has been stopped for what seems like months and other services have been curtailed.

 

[HH]

Go-Ahead Southern's owner have seen profits increase to £99.8m a rise of 27%

Revenues at Southern fell to £61m a fall of 92%

http://news.sky.com/story/rail-boss-turns-down-bonus-after-disruption-10562178

But of course it's DfT that is on revenue risk at Southern now. What the current problems mean to GTR (and hence Govia) is not publicly known.

 

[Muzer]

Signals

Probably actually track circuits in most cases!

 

[highdyke]

Go-Ahead's op. profit

Bus and rail group Go-Ahead reports a robust financial performance for the year to 2 July with overall results slightly ahead of management expectations.

The group said it achieved its 100m bus target with adjusted operating profit up 8.0% to 100.4m.

Regional bus adjusted operating profits were up 9.4% to 53.3m with passenger growth in the second half of the year.

London bus adjusted operating profits were up 6.3% to 47.1m despite a significant reduction in QICs income.

Rail adjusted operating profit was 57.0m with a margin of 2.3%. Contribution to the DfT in the year of 222.4m.

Statutory operating profit in bus and rail was 91.2m (2015: 80.7m) and 26.2m (2015: 16.1m) respectively.

The proposed full year dividend is increased by 6.5% or 5.85p to 95.85p.

"Our rail division has delivered a robust financial performance, with strong results in Southeastern and London Midland offsetting weakness in GTR.

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5408107

The £20 million input to the government is a joke and quite a bit seems to be going to NR. Purely political.

The media are reporting £100 million profit is being made by the group and that's all that matters in the public's eyes when the government is giving them a cash injection.

Sorry, who on earth thought that was a good idea days before they announce their results? What a tiresome and acrid dispute this is.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

An interesting contribution from Malcolm Rifkind on Radio 4's Today programme this morning (jump to 02:35:50 for the beginning of the article).

Rifkind was Transport Secretary 1990-92 during the run up to rail privatisation and was (and still is) very sceptical about the separation of infrastructure from train operation, to the extent that he was moved from the job after the 1992 election because he couldn't agree with the Treasury's view that separation was in the rail industry's (and passengers') best interests. He is firmly of the opinion that the creation of Railtrack was a mistake, though he concedes that Network Rail is an inprovement.

I was slightly surprised that there was no mention of Scotrail/Network Rail Alliance and whether this has been seen as succesful so far.

 

[carriageline]

Very interested to know what "extra signal supervisors" equals to


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Nothing to do with all the lovely new computerised signals and abolition of traditional (working) signals and signalbox closures perhaps?

Nope, your right. Nothing to do with that


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[Muzer]

Very interested to know what "extra signal supervisors" equals to


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--- old post above --- --- new post below ---




Nope, your right. Nothing to do with that


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Well, to be fair, teething problems are not unheard of with new signalling installations. Usually they'll all be sorted out fairly soon though and the new system will prove more reliable than the old one (in its worn state).

 

[infobleep]

no that was SWT - is this another alliance?

I thought their was already an alliance in addition to the SWT. Perhaps it was just something talk of rather than actually in place.

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[Xenophon PCDGS]

Except for


Key additional benefits of the £20 million include:

£2 million to be spent on more rapid response teams to fix faults more quickly, located close to known hotspots Network Rail

£2.5 million to be spent on accelerated train maintenance TOC

£0.8 million investment in extra signal supervisors to keep trains moving across the network Network Rail

£0.9 million investment in a series of measures to minimise the impact of bridge strikes Network Rail

Are figures not available in any detail that show the actual total breakdown of the full amount of £20 million?