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It will be. If I was back managing in TOC land, it would be a dismissal offence and I would have no hesitation instantly suspending and then dismissing anyone who did. There is no public right to know every last detail and a Control Log is a contemporaneous view of events, not the definitive...

Speaking from my experience of seeing the effects on different types of rolling stock, I would say that the 158 cab is not as survivable as an HST cab. It really doesn’t absorb the forces well enough and the survival space is limited. A cl.170 or later build is what ASLEF should be going for.

It means they don’t have to pay the Owning Group for bringing the TOC back into public ownership. It is a long held legal position that if the UK Government nationalises anything, the owner has to be compensated. But as this nationalisation will take place at contract end or contract break point...

If I was an ASLEF rep in Scotland, I would not be campaigning for 158’s. If one had hit that tree at that speed, I doubt whether the driver would still be with us. They are not great for impact damage with immovable or heavy objects.

It’s not done on turnover or costs + 2%. It is an (index linked) fixed fee for the duration of the contract, the size of the sum being related to the size of the TOC. On top of this, you can earn a contract performance fee, which is usually 2.5 times the fixed fee if you get 100%, which you...

As well as the contract performance rebates. The income shown in the accounts is the net income from the TOC, not the gross of availability payments.

Yes, but it would be (instantly) career ending if anyone did post them here. It’s a lowish (non identical) five figure sum for each type of 5 and 9 car.

The dividend payment vs profit earned is not unusual in this situation where you have a high level of retained earnings in the equity. You can have reduced profits (in this case because of the write down of Newton Aycliffe as well as a reduced level of disposals) and still reduce a high level of...

GWR will only put out a tender if the DfT want it (and currently they are not interested in any more IC stock for GWR) and I’m not convinced that Hitachi are that bothered about UK orders drying up either. The best way to get more IET units diagrammed back on IC work is to take them off the...

Hitachi are currently not interested in providing intermediate vehicles and are also quoting 2028 for new 80x or similar orders, the vehicles for which are now likely to come from Italy or Japan.

The contract does not allow for GWR to “enforce” availability. If there is a shortfall there is a performance regime which deals with this so there is nothing for any legal team to do. If Hitachi are just following the contractual arrangements, which they are, they are in the clear. The...

Force GWR? No chance - they are not on the hook for any revenue loss so why would they bother to do anything. With the Government paying all their bills and taking all their revenue, they won’t be too fussed, unless the DfT instructs them to do something.

It is always better to run short than not run at all. It doesn’t say that GWR are doing nothing about it. The statement is agnostic on that subject although it does mention a reduction in units. Actually, GWR is currently in dialogue with the DfT about getting more stock but the additional...

Is the correct answer. If your trains are full to/from Newcastle, why stop at York. It’s the same issue with Hull Trains and Peterborough - why do it when you crowd off higher yield punters? If Lumo could get to Glasgow, it would charge more than going to Edinburgh because it would price in the...

Yes it does but the DfT and NR Eastern are really pushing for it to go ahead, despite the state of the ECML Dec 2024 timetable validation being somewhat less robust than you would expect at this stage. Personally speaking, it could well end up with a repeat of either one of the 2018 T/T...

Not really. The reason the OAO run five car sets is that is what their business model worked best with at the time of ordering. Unlike LNER, they cannot afford to run empty carriages around. They have to earn a profit. The problem comes when passenger demand goes up at a greater rate than their...

Done it enough times on BR as well although I used the dash when there was a short consecutive run. Very handy if you are listing consecutive runs of LHCS in a memo. So I would have written them as 47195/256/356/8/65-7/9. Incidentally, up to the late 1970’s at least, depots didn’t determine...

The idea of GWR getting additional DMU stock is to replace both the HST and IET stock from regional services, the former for scrap and the latter going back to their old duties. This will also allow some boosting of local formations elsewhere by the use of any 158 and 16x stock that could also...

The 175 musical chairs competition is coming to an end and GWR are likely to be the ones without a chair. There is really no other “quick” option for sorting out the passenger overcrowding issue and the HST replacement conundrum. The 158’s are not going to be available in time and Northern...

800010 is having a regular exam today. If nothing significant is found, it will be out again tomorrow.