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The ORR are not at all close to NR but they don’t have their own operational people now so they rely on NR too much. This has been a real bone of contention with applicants because NR (sometimes deliberately) take ages to reply and the ORR are now engaging consultants to help them catch up. The...

At a major station there are usually watering points along the platform edge which you can lift up and then connect to the train. Years ago, they tended to be situated between the platforms (except for 3rd rail stations or platforms) but that isn’t allowed now.

Lumo use Ferme Park because there is space there and they need to fuel and water there. However, Ferme Park feeds BN and there isn’t the time to go through Waterworks Washer, use the CET pad at the north end and return via the Bowes Park reverser and the Harringay flyover to wait to then go back...

The maintenance staff haven’t been TOC employees for some considerable time now (they went Alstom decades ago) so they are not really relevant to the current staffing situation. The TOC will be working to the annual DfT business plan for that TOC which will detail the staff numbers and...

They have but they don’t have control of the track - that is still with NR, despite the Scottish Government funding it. They want to own the track but, so far, Westminster hasn’t wanted to relinquish control.

No, the competition law element effectively went away when all franchised TOCs fell into Government control in 2020. For the purposes of the Competition Act, all those TOCs, NR and the DfT are now in the same competitive “entity”. The lawyering comes about from the various companies doing...

There would be a list of locally approved or known contractors that the CCE could request a quote from. The other possibility is that the CCE would tell the DCE to do the work himself with his own labour force, especially if the job was to be a quick and relatively straight forward one.

No, it’s cultural. We are more used to things going wrong!

It’s the very rigid way they “prior” book in maintenance and repairs. The headroom for dealing with repairs arising that day/night seems to be less than most TOCs would tolerate. Work arisings can have to wait for a future “slot”, more so than I have previously experienced in my days on depots...

It was a political move as we were trying to do trade deals with Eastern Bloc countries.

The first is the obvious one and will yield immediate results. Two units each night and one on repairs is what I would be aiming for. From the experience of the GWR IET introduction, 5 will be very hard because the Scots may repeat their demand to take over NR Scotland entirely and have a...

NR infrastructure is 90% subsidised by Governments, only 10% coming from “real” track access charges, payable by all TOCs/FOCs on the same basis. Previous Government policy has been to allow the ORR to charge only short run marginal costs (with minor mark ups), to encourage modal shift. That...

Hitachi will always set the software for a power curve nearer the minimum power to meet the end to end journey times for the operation rather than the absolute maximum that can be attained by the engine. They do this for engine economy reasons. Engines on all 8xx units have always been governed...

Their franchise ended in 2020. It’s now just a management contract. If any money is to be thrown at it, that’s a DfT decision.

LEV 1 was trialed in East Anglia and the experience scarred a lot of people there! They got themselves out of any subsequent RR discussions about using Pacers there. Equally, NSE wanted their own DMU design and viewed Pacers with disdain.

Nothing wrong with the haulage capacity of a class 31 - but stopping it with a large load was another matter!

Yes, it would be the Regional Board who would make the final internal decision on line closures in that particular Region. Sometimes a minor freight line or facility closure wouldn’t have needed Board approval but may just have been included “for noting” in a periodic report from the Regional...

For the avoidance of doubt, the contract to provide and operate is with GWR, not FG. That contract will continue with GWR after it is transfers to DfTO on 13/12/26.

It isn't a management contract. Heathrow Express is owned and controlled by HAL. Only the train provision and operation is contracted out to GWR by HAL, nothing else. If the track access contract isn't renewed or extended in 2028, it may not transfer to GWR as HAL control their own...

The default was 30 years unless….. so, going back to the pre-Kew days at Porchester Road, you had to ask for specific items (if you knew they existed) to be released and give a good reason for it.