Independent Online 31 July 2006
By Nic Fildes

A swath of job cuts at Great North Eastern Railways looks increasingly likely as the train operator's troubled parent company Sea Containers seeks to cut costs and avoid a liquidation of its business.

Sea Containers is looking to cut costs at GNER after a UK court last week upheld the rail regulator's decision to allow other train companies to operate services on GNER's East Coast mainline routes. The ruling cost the GNER chief executive Christopher Garnett his job. Bob MacKenzie, the president and chief executive of Sea Containers, has taken control of the UK rail operator.

US-listed Sea Containers has breached its banking covenants and is trying to negotiate a settlement with its banks before a £62m payment is due in October. Its options include a debt-for-equity swap or a rescue rights issue as the company tries to avert the prospect of a liquidation of its assets. Mr MacKenzie plans to dispose of non-core assets in order to focus on the company's container operations and GNER.

Yet Mr MacKenzie's attempt to negotiate a settlement with its bond holders, equity holders and banks was dealt a blow over the weekend after Jeff Bronchick of Reed Connor & Birdwell called for the company "to be liquidated and sold". The Californian asset manager Reed Connor is Sea Containers' largest investor with a 13 per cent stake in the business.

A spokeswoman for Sea Containers said Mr MacKenzie is conducting a "very thorough review" of the GNER business. "You can expect changes there and he will look at the cost base. He will not be afraid to make tough decisions," she said.

A GNER spokesman, however, said talk of job cuts was "premature". GNER currently employs around 3,200 people.

The train operator argues that its competitors on the London to Hull and London to Sunderland lines do not have the same financial obligations as franchise owners like GNER. This has severe commercial implications for the company and will significantly impact its revenue and profitability.

The company has warned that the ruling could jeopardise its ability to pay the £1.3bn owed to the Treasury over the life of its 10-year franchise. The train operator plans to update the market in August with more details about the financial impact of the ruling. GNER is also considering an appeal against the decision.

Posted on 12:35 PM | Permalink

BBC NEWS: 2006/07/27

Rail firm GNER has lost its bid to prevent the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) allowing a rival firm to operate on one of its routes.

GNER has claimed the other two firms were receiving "state aid"

GNER, which runs intercity trains on the East Coast Main Line, argued that ORR's decision to allow Grand Central to operate on the route was unlawful.

Grand Central is set to run a London to Sunderland service.

Mr Justice Sullivan announced that he rejected "GNER's discrimination and state aid grounds of challenge".

Franchise payments

GNER had said it paid more to access the track than Grand Central and had sought a declaration that the "charging scheme" was unlawful.

"Today's decision is truly extraordinary"
Bob MacKenzie, chief executive of GNER-owner Sea Containers

The ORR decision at the centre of the court ruling was to grant two train operating companies - Hull Trains Company Ltd and Grand Central - the right to run "open access" passenger services on the East Coast Main Line.

GNER, which has a franchise agreement to run intercity trains on the East Coast Main Line, had also argued that the ORR decision amounted to "an unlawful grant of state aid" in favour of the two other companies.

As franchise rail operator, GNER has to make three payments to gain access to the tracks: a fixed charge, a variable charge, and a franchise premium of £1.3bn over 10 years.

'Preparations continue'

In March, Grand Central won the right to run three direct trains a day between Sunderland and London.

But GNER, which last year beat off three competitors for the East Coast Main Line franchise, had stressed that the case was against the ORR and not against Grand Central.

"We are pleased that our decision has been upheld"
ORR chairman Chris Bolt

Bob MacKenzie, president and chief executive of Sea Containers, the parent company of GNER, said: "Today's decision is truly extraordinary. It has serious commercial consequences for GNER and for the Department for Transport.

"It undermines the profitability of GNER, which already operates to modest margins, and devalues a recently-awarded public contract agreed with government."

But ORR chairman Chris Bolt said: "We are pleased that our decision has been upheld.

"It means that Grand Central can continue with its preparations to run new services between London and Sunderland, and Hull Trains can continue to run its additional service between London and Hull."

See also:

Rail line may suffer after defeat in court - GNER says decision could undermine investment

Yorkshire Post: 28 July 2006
William Green, Political Correspondent

TRAIN operator GNER yesterday admitted it faces "serious" commercial consequences after losing a crucial court battle over competing services on the flagship East Coast Main Line.

The company unsuccessfully urged a judge in London to quash an "unlawful and discriminatory" decision by rail regulators to allow rival firms on the key route, linking Yorkshire with the capital and Scotland.

GNER, which won a Government franchise to run services on the line last year, argued it would have to pay more than "open access" operators Hull Trains and Grand Central – which amounted to an "unlawful grant of state aid".

Under railway rules, a potential operator which identifies a new market for train services not already served by a franchise can apply for open access rights to run those trains.

Mr Justice Sullivan yesterday rejected "GNER's discrimination and state aid grounds of challenge" – sparking warnings about the impact on company finances.

GNER's contract runs for up to a decade, during which time it is due to pay the Government a £1.3bn premium, but its parent company said that could now be at risk with a possible knock-on in terms of investment on the East Coast Main Line.

The court ruling comes days after its long-serving chief executive announced he was stepping down and as its parent company has faced financial problems – raising speculation that the train operator may be sold.

GNER also lost revenue in the wake of the July 7 bombings in London last year and has seen energy costs rocket.

Bob MacKenzie, president and chief executive of Sea Containers, GNER's parent company, said: "Today's decision is truly extraordinary. It has serious commercial consequences for GNER and for the Department for Transport.

"It undermines the profitability of GNER, which already operates to modest margins, and devalues a recently-awarded public contract agreed with Government and the East Coast franchise in perpetuity. It will also make bidders for other franchises elsewhere on the network more risk-averse."

He insisted the company had a strong case and warned passengers on the East Coast rail route might not see as much money reinvested into their railway.

"We will be discussing the serious implications of today's decision with the Department for Transport, as it is likely to jeopardise GNER's ability to pay some of the premium payments agreed with the Government over the course of our franchise."

Sea Containers said once it had considered the consequences of the High Court's decision in full, it intended to issue a statement next month, which will include a financial update on trading matters relating to GNER.

At the centre of the case was the decision by regulators to approve a Sunderland-London service from new operator Grand Central with three daily direct trains each way calling at Thirsk, Northallerton and York.

GNER also challenged the decision to grant existing operator Hull Trains an additional daily return journey between King's Cross and Hull.

Regulators also rejected GNER's bid to expand Leeds-London services while approving the other proposals earlier – although rail chiefs have since found space to run the additional trains.

See also:

Legal ruling 'may force up rail fares'

The Scotsman: 28 Jul 2006
ALASTAIR DALTON TRANSPORT CORRESPONDENT

GNER will be under pressure over its east coast service, with another operator given the green light
Picture: David Mitchell/ PA

TRAIN fares are likely to go up, passengers have been warned, after GNER lost a legal battle against a new competitor on the east coast main line.

Following the legal ruling, the train company admitted it will now come under pressure and is already considering cutting its restaurant car service.

A High Court judge threw out GNER's claim that allowing Grand Central to launch services on part of the line was "unlawful and discriminatory".

GNER claims the rival service will see it lose £109 million over the next nine years, because Grand Central will have the right to some of its fare revenue, while paying only a fraction of its charges to use the line.

Lisa Barnard, a spokeswoman for GNER's parent company, said the court judgment could force up rail fares and threaten services such as GNER's acclaimed, but loss-making, restaurant cars. "It will have a massive impact. There will certainly be pressure to increase fares and the restaurant cars are currently being looked at," she said.

Ms Barnard said Bob MacKenzie, Sea Containers' chief executive, who has become GNER's executive chairman, was examining "all aspects of the business". She said: "I'm sure we will see some changes."

GNER is already paying the Treasury a £1.3 billion premium for its current ten-year franchise, which started last year.

Barry Doe, a rail fares expert, yesterday predicted grim times ahead since GNER was already suffering from paying so much for the franchise.

He said: "Passengers in Scotland are already suffering because of GNER's financial problems and will continue to do so as a result of this decision. GNER used to be known for good service, but already this year it has raised car park prices and cut back its onboard restaurant so much that meals are only served south of Newcastle. The most likely prospect after this ruling is fewer cheap fares."

The judgment upholds a decision by the independent Office of Rail Regulation - but opposed by ministers - to allow Grand Central to run trains between Sunderland and London from December.

GNER said because these trains will call at York, where it also operates, Grand Central will have the right to a share of its fare revenue which it estimated would account for 80 per cent of Grand Central's total income.

GNER is considering an appeal and said the judgment was likely to jeopardise its ability to pay some of the premium for its franchise.

There has also been speculation that Sea Containers may sell off GNER.

Comments

1. freetalkscotland / 9:27am 28 Jul 2006

There was me thinking that privatisation was all about competition.......

2. Ou Tjalie, Edinburgh / 11:29am 28 Jul 2006

Help me out here. All over the world rail is considered the cheap travel option. In the UK it is pretty damn expensive. How is it that flying can be cheaper?

Make the rails cheaper and I'll travel on them nore often.

3. Vikki-Sian, Powys, Cymru / 1:11pm 28 Jul 2006

I, too, was under the impression that competition was supposed to bring prices down.

Isn't it reassuring to see that the Law Lords and solicitors will still be able to afford to travel by train - takes us back in history a bit - rail for the 'elite', the peasants (or under this government "proles") can walk!

See also:

Rival on fast track to poach GNER custom

The Scotsman: Sun 30 Jul 2006
DOUGLAS FRIEDLI

GNER will be plunged into another battle for customers after rival train operator Grand Central revealed it will apply for more licences on its routes.

Grand Central last week secured legal backing to run trains on part of GNER's flagship east coast main line.

A jubilant Ian Yeowart, chief executive of Grand Central, last night promised to apply for more licences on GNER's tracks and raised the prospect of a rail fares war between Edinburgh and London.

Yeowart said Grand Central planned to run four trains a day between London and Bradford, competing with GNER for the first time between London and Doncaster.

He said: "We can look differently at our plans now that we know how to put a successful bid together."

He added he would also look at routes between Scotland and England. One idea is a cheap ticket allowing customers to board a Virgin train in Edinburgh and change to a Grand Central train at York for London.

The upstart operator may run trains from London which split and carry on to separate destinations as a way of connecting smaller towns.

Yeowart said: "If we were to look at Scotland, we might look at somewhere in the west and somewhere in the east and pull them together."

Grand Central's expansion plans are likely to add further woes to GNER, which is consulting its lawyers over whether to go to the Court of Appeal or the European Commission to overturn last week's court decision.

The operator lost its argument that the Office of the Rail Regulator was wrong to allow Grand Central to run trains between London and Sunderland via York.

Christopher Garnett, GNER's chief executive, resigned unexpectedly last week as the company was preparing for the court decision. The company is now headed by Bob MacKenzie, chief executive of GNER's parent company, Sea Containers, which has breached lending agreements and is thought to be close to bankruptcy.

Last week, MacKenzie warned the ruling would have "serious commercial consequences" for GNER, undermining its already marginal profitability and jeopardising its ability to make franchise payments to the government.

GNER, which pledged £1.3bn over 10 years for the East Coast franchise, contends that operators such as Grand Central have an unfair advantage because they do not have to pay as much to the government, so they are able to offer lower fares and poach GNER's customers.

But last week a senior judge ruled that GNER had a number of advantages over open access operators like Grand Central. These include better track access rights, protection against variations in charges, and clauses which reduce their franchise payments if revenues are lower than projected.

MacKenzie said: "The real losers from this judgment are passengers on the East Coast main line and other rail users on the network, who may not see as much money reinvested into their railway."

But Grand Central's Yeowart said: "We fell foul of GNER, whose parent is in its death throes, and they are just lashing out at everyone.

"The biggest eye-opener was how much political interference there has been. This has shown the importance of an independent judiciary and independent regulator to protect the public."

A GNER spokesman played down suggestions that the operator would ramp up rail fares from Scotland in the wake of last week's ruling.

Comments:

1. Andrew, Oxford / 10:02am 30 Jul 2006

Grand Central would do well to consider the option of starting a service further North than Edinburgh.

Any additional services from Perth/Stirling direct to London would be very welcome. (As would additional Pendolino services from Edinburgh to Euston).

2. Andrew, Cumbernauld / 10:43am 30 Jul 2006

I quite agree Andrew (Oxford). A start from furrther north than Edinburgh would be even better!
A re-introduction of the popular "Clansman" service which ran to/from Inverness via Perth, Stirling, Cumbernauld, Coatbridge, Motherwell, Carlisle and the WCML through the midlands (Birmingham/Coventry) to London Euston would be a MORE than welcome return! Admittedly this would be 'Virgin' territory!!

Posted on 10:45 AM | Permalink

The Guardian: July 29, 2006
Patrick Barkham

Town in revolt over plan to tear down train barriers that keep modern world at bay.

Frinton golf club having lunch. The genteel Essex seaside town has banned commerce from the seafront. Photo: Linda Nylind

Battalions of Shopriders and Freeriders zip over the level crossing at Frinton-on-Sea, tearing down leafy avenues to park rakishly by lines of Edwardian beach huts. "We've got hundreds and hundreds of these here," says a railway crossing keeper as he opens the wooden passenger gate to help another mobility scooter across the tracks. "The old people - they aren't going to take any notice of flashing lights."

The lights, like those at most railway crossings, represent modernity, something that sits uneasily with residents of Frinton. For them the enemy was already at the gates. Now it is trying to tear them down. Network Rail wants to replace the old-fashioned wooden barriers that guard the only public road into Frinton with an automated level crossing. The genteel Essex seaside town has seen red. "Paris has its Eiffel tower, London has Tower bridge and in Frinton we have the gates," says Terry Allen, the town's deputy mayor.

For decades the battered barriers, which appear on picture postcards, have kept modernity at bay. Frinton has made its name fighting the unrelenting march of the leisure society and market capitalism. Arcades, amusements and ice cream stalls are banned from its seafront. In 1992 it allowed a teashop to be converted into the town's first fish and chip shop. Eight years later, developers opened Frinton's first pub. Opponents called it the worst damage inflicted on 5,500 Frintonians since they were bombed by the Luftwaffe. Last year, a bookmaker won the right to bring gambling to the resort.

"A few battles have been lost over a period of time. We don't want to lose this one," says Miss Margaret Wilsher of Dickens Curios giftshop. The town will see Network Rail at the barricades - and a meeting on Monday. "This could lead to scenes reminiscent of the poll tax riots," warns Mr Allen.

They used to be known as "the golden gates". Legend has it they were strategically closed to repel "trippers arriving in their terrible cohorts", as a 1919 guidebook put it. Today they are a passport to higher house prices. "Estate agents advertise houses as being inside the gates and put an extra '0' on the price," says one local.

Inside the gates, the elderly rule. "Even if you are doing nothing wrong, as a young person you get classed as riff-raff or an oik," says Elizabeth White, 21. "You don't get pleases and thank-yous from the older generation. As a teenager I would hold the door open for older people and they wouldn't say anything."

Sir Richard Powell Cooper - "you better remember the 'sir' or someone will be complaining about that next," advises Miss Wilsher - is the man responsible for Frinton's singular character. A "multi-talented Victorian" according to a new guide, a farmer, sheep-dip pioneer and, it would seem, curmudgeon, Sir Richard oversaw the town's development as a better class of seaside resort. Noel Coward holidayed here; Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee and Gracie Fields visited; the actor Douglas Fairbanks bought a pile called Hollywood and Sir Richard bequeathed the green to the town on condition it never build a pier or succumb to modern fripperies.

Despite setbacks, Frintonians have remained true to their word. Draconian bylaws remain, forbidding cyclists (but not mobility scooters) from the promenade and banning all commerce from the seafront. One summer, a local entrepreneur cunningly gave away "free" ice-creams with the £1 "hire" of sandcastle flags but was dispatched through those gates in no uncertain terms.

Joan and Len Brooks glisten with suncream on reclining chairs in front of their beach hut. "We are not opposed to change but it has to change for the better," says Mr Brooks. He is worried an automatic barrier will be not as vandal-proof as a manned crossing. "We've got about 30 young people in Frinton Water who don't behave themselves. We really have to keep an eye on them. What happens if they smash the CCTV cameras [proposed by Network Rail]?"

The gates are Frinton's best crime-fighting tool. "Every time there is a break-in at the jewellers or a bank, the police phone the keeper, he closes the gates and the robbers get caught," says John Paine, 39. Darren Nicholson, a retained firefighter, says the keepers stop trains and hold the gates open when they get an emergency call. "If there are automatic gates we won't get out."

Frintonians reckon Network Rail is cost-cutting. "People are going to die, and all to save 20 grand a year in wages. Ask who is making this decision. It will be a consultant on 70 grand a year," says Mr Paine. According to local rail staff, the upgrade - and removal of some eight manned crossings - will save £1m to £1.5m in wages a year, but the lifespan of the upgrade is only 25 years.

"It is anything but cost-cutting," says a Network Rail spokesman. The imposition of automatic gates is part of a £150m signalling upgrade of the Clacton to Colchester line to improve safety.

"This is progress, I suppose. In my case, I'll just get a bigger allotment and buy a few fishing rods," says one of the keepers. "You could say Frinton is snobbish but that's the way they like it. People come here because they know that Frinton doesn't have the penny slot machines and the kiss-me-quick hats ... Hello, what's he done?"

A lorry has crashed into one of the gate's pillars. The keeper rushes out, stops the traffic and helps the driver reverse his truck off the crossing. Then he checks Frinton's gates: the pillar is crooked and the gate won't shut. If it can't close, the signals will not allow the trains through. Within minutes, the keeper has restored order, attaching a padlock to the gates and alerting the control room. It is a powerful advert for the efficiency of a manned crossing.

"The gates are the landmark. They separate Frinton from the rest of the world," says Rachel Baldwin, a resident. "Frinton's reputation is a cliche. People say we're precious and wrapped in cotton wool and go around in Victorian costume but we like to keep Frinton the way it's been for as long as we can remember."

Posted on 10:17 AM | Permalink

The Sunday Times: July 30, 2006
Dominic O'Connell

NETWORK RAIL is to cut its financial apron strings to the government by announcing it plans to borrow money without state backing for the first time.

Industry executives said the move, confirmed this weekend by Network Rail, marked a big change for Britain's railways, signalling a shift away from reliance on the state support provided after the collapse of Railtrack five years ago.

It is also significant for the public finances, reducing the likelihood of Network Rail's £18 billion of borrowings being counted as part of government debt.

Network Rail took over the running of track, signalling and major stations from Railtrack in 2002. It was set up as a company limited by guarantee, without any shareholders, and little chance of borrowing the billions it needed to invest in the network. To fix that funding problem, ministers took the unusual step of providing a written promise that the government would guarantee its loans.

Network Rail has since used the explicit state backing to borrow £18 billion at low rates of interest.

But the guarantee has proved controversial, with critics saying that the government should put Network Rail's debt on its books.

Government-backed borrowing for other transport schemes, such as the new, high-speed rail link to the Channel tunnel, was recently included.

If Network Rail were to count as part of public borrowing, public-sector debt would rise to £496 billion, dangerously close to the limit set by ministers of 40% of gross domestic product.

Ministers have defended the off-balance-sheet treatment of such debt, saying that Network Rail is a private company not directly controlled by government - an argument likely to be strengthened by independent borrowing.

Network Rail is expected to announce this week that all future loans - it is likely to raise another £3 billion over the next few years - will be done without the guarantee.

Executives say that Network Rail's finances have recovered to the extent that it can now undertake its own borrowing. The company is forecast to produce a pre-tax surplus this financial year of about £1.3 billion.

"When we took over Railtrack four years ago we took on a company that had gone bust," a spokesman said. "We have since made dramatic improvements. We have been reviewing our finances and think the time is right to take a step forward."

The announcement is likely to lead to speculation that Network Rail could eventually be floated, recreating Railtrack. But the company is expected to categorically rule out the issue of shares, saying it is commited to retaining its present status.

Network Rail's management, led by chairman Ian McAllister, chief executive John Armitt and deputy chief executive Iain Coucher, is generally regarded as having made a good fist of improving train services.

Punctuality is now running at a six-year high, with 86.4% of trains reported on time.

Meanwhile, GNER, the train company that runs intercity services along the east coast between London and Scotland, is understood to be considering a round of job cuts after losing a crucial court case and parting company with its chief executive, Christopher Garnett. The cuts are expected as part of a cost-cutting programme likely to be instigated by Bob MacKenzie, chief executive of Sea Containers, GNER’s owner.

MacKenzie took over as the executive chairman of GNER last week after the departure of the long-serving Garnett.

Sea Containers declined to comment on reports that it planned to sell GNER, but said it would provide an update on the company’s financial position within the next few weeks.

See also:

Off the leash

WE Britons have an unhealthy fascination with the railways, a mix of pride at having invented them and loathing at how badly we sometimes run them.

Those with anorak tendencies should watch this week for what on the surface will look like an innocuous announcement from Network Rail, but is in reality a big shift in the development of the railways, a decisive move away from government involvement to private-sector control.

Network Rail will say that it is now big enough and ugly enough to borrow money on its own. Since it took over Railtrack, which collapsed into administration five years ago, it has had to rely on a government guarantee to underwrite its borrowings. The guarantee is highly unusual - ministers are not normally in the habit of guaranteeing the debts of private companies - but it was necessary.

After the government pulled the plug on Railtrack, the money markets were understandably highly nervous about lending money to the railways, and Network Rail, an odd third-way creation of a private company without shareholders, was never going to be able to raise the billions needed on its own.

But now the company has a track record (no pun intended), and profits. Punctuality and reliability of train services has improved, and in this financial year Network Rail should make a pre-tax surplus of about £1.3 billion. That should be enough for it to tear up the government guarantee and go out and borrow off its own bat.

It’s an interesting development, and one with far- reaching ramifications. It will take pressure off Gordon Brown, who had been criticised for not including the £18 billion raised to date by Network Rail in government borrowings.

And it raises the prospect of much greater private-sector control of the railways, and even - although the idea will be anathema to many - the prospect of Network Rail one day being turned into a real private company with shareholders. In other words, a Railtrack reborn.

See also:

Network Rail to end government debt guarantee

Reuters: Jul 30, 2006

LONDON - Network Rail, which owns Britain's rail infrastructure, is set to borrow money without a government guarantee for the first time, the Sunday Times reported.

The paper said Network Rail was likely to raise 3 billion pounds over the next few years without a government guarantee.

Network Rail would not comment specifically on the report, but a spokesman said it had been examining options with its adviser, UBS, and was set to make a statement in the next few days.

Network Rail, set up in 2002 to replace the failed Railtrack, is a company limited by guarantee. Unlike an ordinary company, it does not have shareholders and does not pay dividends, though it is run as a commercial operation.

It is trying to turn around the country's rail system, which has a troubled history of accidents, escalating costs and delays.

To that end, it has issued around 18 billion pounds of debt that effectively carries a government guarantee but is not counted as government debt.

On April 4, Network Rail said it planned to spend 2.7 billion pounds in the next three years, including 400 million pounds of new money after beating targets to reduce delays.

Network Rail also said at the time it planned to raise between 3 billion and 5 billion pounds over the next three years through a combination of public and private bonds to refinance existing debt

Posted on 09:40 AM | Permalink

Independent Online: 30 July 2006
By Danny Fortson

The largest investor in Sea Containers, the debt-ridden owner of the GNER train operator, has come out in favour of breaking up the group and selling off its assets.

"This company will be liquidated and sold," said Jeff Bronchick of Reed Conner & Birdwell, a California asset manager. "It serves no other purpose." Reed Connor holds 13 per cent of shares in Sea Containers, which is listed in New York.

Mr Bronchick's comments will heap more pressure on Bob MacKenzie, Sea Containers' chief executive, whose plan is to sell non-core assets and craft a lean holding company for two businesses: shipping containers and rail services. GNER failed last week in a legal attempt to stop competing services operating on its East Coast Mainline routes.

"The question is: how can you liquidate this company in measured steps to pay off obligations with the least dilution of the equity," Mr Bronchick said. "That is the game that is afoot. The next few weeks will be very interesting."

Sea Containers is in breach of bank covenants even after selling its ferry business to pay down debt this month. Mr MacKenzie is hoping to secure a negotiated settlement between equity holders, bondholders and banks by 15 October, when it must make a $115m (£62m) repayment. The company could propose a debt-for-equity swap, a rights offering or another solution. Kevin Starke, an analyst at US broker Weeden & Co, said: "The next chapter will be a fight between the company and the bondholders, and between the bondholders and the equity holders."

Investor patience is already wearing thin. David Tepper of Appaloosa Management, the company's second-largest shareholder with 11 per cent, said he hadn't been contacted by Sea Containers. "Call me when they really decide to start talking to equity holders."

Posted on 08:46 AM | Permalink

The Mirror: 29 July 2006

TWO drunken thugs who savagely beat a pensioner and hurled him on to a railway line just as a train was due were jailed for six years each yesterday.

Alexander Graham, 40, and Raymond Lawrence, 24, had drunk up to eight pints each before the unprovoked platform attack.

They headbutted, punched and kicked Ray Beaty leaving him with broken bones and head injuries.

The former BBC Radio Leeds editor, 71, of Warminster, Wilts, said: "They hurled me on to the track. I knew I had to get away."

Graham and Lawrence, of Warminster, were convicted of GBH at Swindon crown court.

Posted on 05:41 PM | Permalink

RMT Circular No: IR/0164/06

Dear Colleagues,
Please be advised that as a result a late intervention by ACAS in the above dispute, the General Grades Committee has called off the 48 hour strike that was due to commence from 00.01 on Friday 28th July 2006.

Members are therefore instructed to work normally throughout this Friday and Saturday.
I will report further as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Bob Crow
GENERAL SECRETARY

Posted on 05:16 PM | Permalink

Support RMT Guards in the long-running dispute against Virgin Cross Country over Sunday payments. Visit the picket line on Friday 28th and Saturday 29th July, from 12.00 to 15.00 at Bristol Temple Meads Station.

Posted on 12:40 AM | Permalink

RMT: July 26 2006

SIX DAYS of strike action scheduled to hit Central Trains services have been suspended after emergency talks yielded breakthroughs in two separate disputes involving more than 1,000 members of RMT, Britain's biggest rail union.

The RMT executive today agreed to accept a revised offer to more than 570 senior conductors that includes the phased introduction of a 35-hour week and a range of safeguards and guarantees on disciplinary and new technology issues.

It also agreed to accept in principle a separate offer to more than 500 supervisory, station, clerical and retail workers, pending the outcome of a further meeting next week.

"After extensive talks with Central Trains yesterday our negotiating team concluded that sufficient progress had been made in both disputes to allow them to recommend them lifting the threat of strike action," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"The union's executive has therefore suspended the six days of strike action scheduled for the next three weekends.

"Our members are to be congratulated for standing solidly together and for backing their union with the superb ballot results that brought the company back to the talks table," Bob Crow said.
ends

Notes to editors:More than 570 senior conductors were set to strike on July 29 and August 5 and 12 in a dispute over the introduction of a 35-hour week, disciplinary issues, the supervisory regime and new technology. They voted by 196 to 61 to strike.

The more than 500 supervisory, station, clerical and retail grades members were to strike on July 28 and August 4 and 11 in a separate dispute over disciplinary and new-technology issues. They voted by 147 to 47 to strike.

Posted on 11:26 PM | Permalink

Rail And Maritime Transport Union: 26 July 2006

In response to the announcement yesterday that Toll intend to cut the Overlander in September General Secretary Wayne Butson Rail & Maritime Union (RMTU) says now is not the time to be cutting rail services when internationally there is massive investment and rapid growth in rail.

Serious investment is urgently needed in rail to make it a more attractive option for NZer's and international holiday makers Butson said.

The Union says the decision made by both Toll and the NZ Government to end the Overlander line is bizarre given the high oil prices and the international campaigns for more environmentally friendly transport and less road congestion. Many Central North Island communities without airports will suffer as a consequence of this decision and there will be no long distance rail service between our largest cities Auckland and Wellington.

Over the past 20 years RMTU members have experienced many redundancies with the slashing and burning of rail services in NZ and new employer Toll is going down the same line. Union Members who operate the Overlander are covered by the RMTU and Toll Collective Employment Agreement.

Posted on 11:22 PM | Permalink

The Times: July 27, 2006
From Jane Macartney

CHINA has embarked on the biggest railway expansion the world has seen. Passengers say it is not before time.

China already has 46,600 miles (75,000km) of track, more than any other Asian country. But that is far from enough to meet demand for passengers and freight.

The Ministry of Railways has set out ambitious plans to end the bottlenecks. About 6,000 miles of track will be added by 2010 (the equivalent of almost 60 per cent of the existing British network) and the rail network will be extended to a total of 60,000 miles by 2020.

The plans will be greeted enthusiastically by millions of passengers accustomed to travelling vast distances in conditions of near-squalor � if they are lucky to secure a ticket.

Yu Mei wanted to escape the Beijing summer heat for a holiday at Hulun Lake in Inner Mongolia, on the border with Russia. But train tickets to this remote, cool corner of China were booked solid into August and now she is waiting for a seat to become available.

It may be difficult to come by tickets in the summer but train travel during the three main holiday �Golden Weeks� � Chinese new year, the first week of May and the week-long National Day holiday around October 1 � is virtually impossible.

Authorities lay on extra trains and allow as many people on to a train as will fit. This means travelling �standing room only� for dozens of hours with corridors, dining cars and the toilets crammed to capacity. Adult nappies have become a popular commodity among the tens of millions who cannot afford an air ticket. One traveller said: �I make sure I don�t eat or drink for several hours before I get on the train because I know there�s no way to get to the toilet.�

Railway authorities lay on extra trains or divert line use to cope with the peaks in holiday or freight demand. More than 100,000 freight cars a day chug along China�s railways. But there is demand for 280,000, and the railways can meet only 35 per cent of it. Huang Min, director of the development and planning department at the ministry, said: �The speed of the development of the railways is slower than the growth of the economy.�

John Scales, senior transport specialist with the World Bank in Beijing, said: �Historically, this is the only country that has ever attempted such an increase.�

But funding is a headache. China needs two trillion yuan (�143 billion) by 2020 to reach its goal but has enough to fund only half that. And so one of China�s core monopoly industries is turning to the private sector.

A loss-making line in southern Guangdong province is to be auctioned. The Daqin Railway, a west-east coal artery, sold shares last week to double capacity to 400 million tonnes a year by 2010.

Posted on 11:13 PM | Permalink

RMT: July 26 2006

RMT GUARDS working for Virgin Cross Country are to strike for 48 hours from a minute after midnight on Friday, July 28, after rejecting a ?wholly inadequate? offer from the company on the long-running dispute over Sunday pay rates.

The more than 300 guards, who have already held 12 days of strike action in the dispute, rejected the company's latest proposal by 135 votes to 33.

"Despite our best efforts the company has refused to negotiate sensibly and our members have decisively rejected the company's wholly inadequate proposals," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"This is a dispute that could and should have been settled for just £6 per Sunday shift many months ago, but the Virgin board vetoed the deal we negotiated in good faith last spring.

"Since then they have prevaricated and even demanded that the company receive an equal share of productivity savings they want to squeeze from our members by tampering with booking-off times.

"That has made negotiating difficult enough, but they have also produced figures that frankly bear no relation to reality and we have reached the stage where our members' patience has once more run out and further action is the only choice left.

"We have told the company that our members will not book on for shifts that commence between 00:01 on Friday July 28 and 23:59 on Saturday July 29.

"It is time that Virgin dropped their confrontational approach and started negotiating genuinely to find a solution," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 02:59 PM | Permalink

The Guardian newspaper last week sparked a debate on the latest Tory u-turn, David ("call me Dave") Cameron's admission that his party was wrong to break up British Rail by splitting control of the track from the management of the trains. Rather than wanting a return to the united, publicly-owned railway that the RMT and other rail unions argue for, the new Tory policy is to give control of the track and signals to private bus groups such as First Group, Stagecoach and Arriva.

Tories are starting to clear their clutter of inheritance

Conservative proposals to atone for the great 1990s railway disaster will restore credibility, because they are right

The Guardian: July 19, 2006
Simon Jenkins

At last the Conservative party has admitted that its railway privatisation was a mistake. The sinner has repented, albeit 15 years too late. The cost in underperformance, delay, waste and subsidy has been incalculable and unaccountable. In Britain, when you commit a fraud costing thousands you go to prison. When you bring a great industry to its knees, costing billions through incompetence, you get a job in a City bank. That is where those responsible for rail privatisation were ensconced: Lord Lamont (Rothschild), Lord Macgregor (Hill Samuel) and the scheme's architect, the Treasury's Sir Steve Robson (Royal Bank of Scotland). All were warned that the 1993 Rail Act would be a disaster. Rubbish, they said, they knew better. I hope the banks are counting their spoons.

Within seven years the railway was costing the taxpayer three times what it had cost before de-nationalisation (up from £1.3bn to £3.7bn). The historians Terry Gourvish and Christian Wolmar have charted the subsequent shambles as probably the worst case of Whitehall mismanagement of a British industry since 1945 (a competitive contest). In the 1980s fares covered 76% of rail costs, last year 42%. The government has restructured the industry three times, so it is renationalised in all but name, operating a myriad complex Whitehall sub-contracts. Virgin's east coast route, profitable under British Rail, runs on a subsidy of £400m a year, half what the whole of BR cost in 1989. The operators recently demanded yet more subsidy on the grounds that they expected to carry 30% more passengers in 10 years' time. Surely that should mean less subsidy.

When old BR executives gather at reunions the talk is always the same. What sort of railway could they have given Britain with a third bigger market, rising rail fares, access to private capital markets and four times the old level of subsidy? These were not men opposed to privatisation. They merely regarded the 1993 Act as stupid. They knew that creating a separate track company would destroy management discipline, unleash infrastructure costs and proliferate litigation and regulation. Their railway had its shortcomings, but it was the most cost-effective in Europe. Their eyes mist over at the gold-plated service they could have run with the quantities of public money available today.

When the last chairman of British Rail, Sir Rob Reid, handed over to Railtrack and the operating companies in 1994, he told the then minister, Brian Mawhinney, that the minister may as well call himself BR chairman since that is what he would become. Mawhinney was puzzled, yet he was soon orchestrating a Railtrack strike, negotiating subsidy with the Treasury and dictating fares, now the highest in Europe.

When the railway was owned by the state, the state could stay relatively hands-off. When it was privatised, state regulation became neurotic. Leadership was supplanted with regulation, and management with buckpassing and litigation. Meanwhile up in the clouds one minister after another craved to play fat controller. John Prescott loved his macho "rail crisis summits", followed by Gus Macdonald, Stephen Byers and Alistair Darling. All were puppets on a Treasury string. Bureaucracy flowered in consequence. I once calculated there were 40 Whitehall regulators above the level of the BR board under nationalisation. Afterwards, as rail regulators, franchise directors, strategic rail authorities and rail directorates ran out of control, oversight burgeoned to 1,000 officials and as many so-called consultants. Such regulation has since gone berserk. The railway is like a restaurant in which the kitchen is run by a different company from the dining room, while a lawyer controls the swing doors.

By 2004 Darling was out of his depth. He did a John Reid by describing his predecessor's regime as "fragmented and dysfunctional". He renationalised "strategic rail" and then created "an elite of regional rail tsars to cut red tape and ensure trains run on time", supposedly a private-sector function. Darling claimed, to a startled industry, that "track and trains need to be closely aligned", apparently an insight not of engineering but of management. Like the Tories this week, he called for a "virtual reintergration" of train operators and Network Rail, but lacked the guts to progress it (beyond one Waterloo signal box). Network Rail is every bit as potent a lobbyist for centralism as was British Rail. This "not for dividend" corporation with its massive subsidy was a body of the sort that the Treasury swore it would never permit, and refused to let Ken Livingstone set up for the Tube.

The proposal now put forward by the Tory transport spokesman, Chris Grayling, is exactly the one advocated in 1990 by those who thought BR should be broken up into geographical units when privatised. The five regions were not just nostalgic throwbacks. Their lines of route reflected the radial markets that have always dominated British rail travel. They should have been the corporate trunks of a reprivatised railway, owning their assets and operating their own trains. Such distinctive regional companies would have brought commercial leadership and loyalty to their businesses, while being easier for regulators to measure, one against another. They made sense.

The Tories are now rightly reluctant to reverse public ownership of Network Rail's assets of track, signals and stations. These were not privatised under the 1993 Act but subsequently with the setting up of Railtrack. They were crudely renationalised by Byers under Network Rail, in a procedure that led him through the high court. They should stay that way. The proposal now is to split Network Rail's assets under lease between the five big regional franchises so they can manage "wheel and rail" as a coherent whole. For this to work, the operators must have franchises of at least 20 years, possibly 50. The Treasury's preference for five to seven years is commercially illiterate.

The Tories are starting to clear the ground of the clutter of inheritance. Nothing would more restore their credibility than atoning for the great 1990s railway disaster. The rail reform implies neither reprivatisation nor renationalisation, terms with scant meaning in Gordon Brown's para-statal, high-profit, interventionist economy. Many interests, notably freight and civil engineering, who have been milking public money from the railway for a decade, will oppose it, as will the government. So what? It is the right thing to do.

See also:

The Tories' railway disasters

The Guardian: July 20, 2006
Letters

Simon Jenkins (Tories are starting to clear their clutter of inheritance, July 19) often talks a lot of sense when it comes to the railways. But it is disappointing that he appears to have fallen for Conservative plans to further fragment and privatise our railways.

One of the more positive steps the government has taken to reverse the disastrous Tory privatisation was to allow the reintegration of railway maintenance back "in house" under Network Rail, which has reduced costs and improved punctuality.

The Conservative proposals would once again break up our rail infrastructure and hand it over to private train operating companies, which would simply sweat the assets to maximise their already obscene profits.

The most effective way to reintegrate our railways would be for Network Rail to take over the running of the train services as a first step towards a publicly owned and publicly accountable railway which independent reports have also estimated would save the tax- and fare-payer at least £500m a year.

Bob Crow
General secretary, RMT

Simon Jenkins quite rightly points out how the Tory privatisation of our railways effectively destroyed one of the most cost-effective networks in Europe.

However, he fails to mention that the break-up of British Rail was carried out according to the demands of EU directive 91/440/EEC.

Introduced on July 29 1991, this directive established a historically unprecedented liberalisation model, instituting a "vertical split" separating rail infrastructure from operation of rail services.

It stipulates operational autonomy for railway operators, separation of the infrastructure from service operations, open access for international undertakings and the introduction of track access charges. The Railways Regulation 1992, which began the privatisation process, was introduced under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 in order to comply with this directive.

Since that time a whole raft of rail directives have been brought in to impose market mechanisms into an industry which is widely accepted as being a natural monopoly. In December 2005, EU transport ministers ordered member states to prepare the ground for full "liberalisation" of rail networks by 2010. This would effectively remove state involvement from the industry and allow private monopolies to get their hands on the huge subsidies that all railways require.

Brian Denny
Trade Unionists Against the EU Constitution

Simon Jenkins's article on railways echoes the belief that rail privatisation was something to do with running railways. It was not - it was the biggest release of development land since the abolition of monasteries. Privatisations were geared to get at public property for development. The privatised Railtrack actually numbered all its railway bridges, like a child with its toys.

For symbolic proof look at the beautiful Brunel-designed Windsor station, which was built to celebrate the Jubilee of Queen Victoria. It was last called Windsor Royal Station. Now, through the shopping malls and cafes to trains tucked away in a corner it boasts Windsor Royal Shopping.

DJ Nicholson
London

Simon Jenkins says the Tories wish to atone for their great 1990s railway disaster, yet their proposals will just restore the railways to their 1939 structure. No modern railway system can operate as ours does today or as it did in 1939 with regional companies.

Moving freight to rail, increasing the number of passengers carried, bringing safety up to normal European standards, and building new track for additional businesses and for high-speed trains require an all-embracing national rail company. Surely it is plain to all today that road and air transport have a limited lifespan as mass transport, and rail is the only means of transport that can be depended upon in a world where oil is becoming increasingly expensive and will become increasingly scarce.

Alan Mathison
Modena, Italy

See also:

Getting the railways back on track

The Guardian: July 21, 2006
Letters

Judging by Simon Jenkins' comments (July 19) the heat is getting to him. He claims that myself and several other transport ministers "were puppets on a Treasury string" and that Network Rail, which I established, "was a body of the sort that the Treasury swore it would never permit". He cannot have it both ways. My decision to deny Railtrack further funding and to replace it by a not-for-profit company was supported by both the chancellor and the prime minister. I have no doubt that it was the right course of action. Not just on the merits of the decision itself but because it also demonstrated that reform of public services, with the objective of raising standards of service, will require the challenging of vested interests - whether directors and shareholders in the case of Railtrack or protectionist professionals in areas such as education, health and criminal justice.

Stephen Byers MP
Lab, North Tyneside

I agree that those responsible for the botched privatisation of our railways should be held to account. But the net should be widened to include Major, and Blair, Prescott Brown, who failed to take remedial action. My brother-in-law was killed in the Potters Bar train crash and my sister, Nina Bawden, badly injured. No one has yet been held to account for this crash and ministers have refused to set up a public inquiry. A judicial review of ministers' failure to hold an inquiry, which would at least enable the bereaved to see the whites of the eyes of those responsible, is currently taking place. Let us hope that where our politicians have failed, judges will deliver justice.

Robin Mabey
London

The EU directive does not require the splitting of railways between track and trains (Letters, July 20). It only requires separate accounting. Several European railways remain vertically integrated.

John Batts
Banbury, Oxon

See also:

'Re-unite the steel with the wheel'

Your correspondent John Batts (Letters, July 21) is mistaken when he repeats the myth that EU directives liberalising railways merely require separate accounts for infrastructure owners and train operators. They do not. Directive 91/440/EEC "requires member states: to grant the rail companies independence from government and commercial management techniques; and to separate the management of infrastructure from transport management". Far from an accountancy measure, the directive seeks to create a market in track access and rail services and is the essential prerequisite to full privatisation of railways across Europe.

Those European states' railways who are perceived to drag their feet on implementation of 91/440 or its 3 EU companion 'rail liberalisation packages' are fined punitively by the European Commission - French rail operator SNCF's tardiness in allowing open access to private sector freight carriers led to a fine of 1.5 billion Euros this year (800 million Euros from the French State and 700 million Euros from SNCF). Any government that intends to take back railways into public ownership will need to repeal EU liberalisation directives that split the steel from the wheel.

Alex Gordon
Secretary, South Wales & West of England Regional Council RMT

Posted on 04:54 AM | Permalink

The Guardian: July 25, 2006
Mark Milner

The head of GNER, Christopher Garnett, is to step down after a decade in the job and will be replaced by a senior executive of the train operator's parent company, Sea Containers.

Both GNER and Sea Containers said that the decision to stand down at the end of August had come from Mr Garnett. His departure and his replacement by Bob MacKenzie, the president and chief executive officer of Sea Containers comes at a difficult time for both the rail company and its parent.

GNER is expected to hear this week the results of a judicial review through which it sought to challenge the rail regulator's decision to allow another rail company, Grand Central, to run services on the East Coast Main Line - a move which would hit GNER revenues. GNER argues the decision allows its rival access to the network at a lower price than it has to pay.

Along with other rail companies GNER is also facing higher energy costs while the company said passenger numbers are still being affected by last year's London bombing.

Sea Containers meanwhile is losing money, has just sold its Baltic ferry business to raise much needed cash, and is considering a financial restructuring.

In April, press reports suggested that Mr Garnett was set to quit GNER, possibly to take up a senior post with another travel company. At the time he denied then he had any plans to leave GNER.

Yesterday Mr Garnett said: "After ten challenging and rewarding years helping to transform GNER into a company renowned for customer service, now is the right time to step down and hand over to others to lead the next stage of GNER's development."

Mr Mackenzie paid tribute to Mr Garnett's "sterling work building GNER into a first class train operating company." He added: "Looking ahead GNER does face a number of challenges, which in the current financial environment need urgent attention. I will be working with the GNER team to address these."

George Muir, the director general of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said: "Christopher has been an outstanding leader. He brought a wonderful vitality to the railway which everyone, particularly his passengers, appreciated."

Posted on 10:24 PM | Permalink

Circular No. IR0162/06

Dear Colleague,
I am pleased to be able to report that, following a lengthy dispute, the RMT now has been formally recognised by GrantRail Ltd on the same basis as GMB and Community, the two unions previously holding recognition within the company.

Our members within the company should be congratulated for their resolve, which has achieved this positive result, and I would urge our activists to continue to recruit workers from the company to the union in order to strengthen our bargaining power.

Our dispute with the company has been a bitter one, but at this point it will be more productive to look forward rather than backward, to build a productive relationship at the negotiating table in order to achieve much needed improvements to our members' pay and conditions.

Yours sincerely,

Bob Crow
General Secretary

Posted on 10:16 PM | Permalink

RMT: July 24 2006

SIX DAYS of strike action are set to disrupt Central Trains services if last-ditch talks scheduled for tomorrow fail to resolve two separate disputes involving more than 1,000 members of RMT, Britain?s biggest rail union.

More than 570 senior conductors are set to strike on July 29 and August 5 and 12 in a dispute over the introduction of a 35-hour week, disciplinary issues, the supervisory regime and new technology
And more than 500 supervisory, station, clerical and retail grades members are set to strike on July 28 and August 4 and 11 in a separate dispute over disciplinary and new-technology issues.

"In both disputes we are facing what amounts to a breakdown in normal industrial relations, and in both cases our members have voted by a substantial margin to take action," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"We hope that the company will now acknowledge our members' frustration by starting to take their grievances seriously and approaching tomorrow's talks constructively," Bob Crow said.

ends

Note to editors: In the senior conductors' dispute, members voted by 196 to 61 to strike, and in the Supervisory and station grades' dispute members voted by 147 to 47 to strike.

Posted on 10:14 AM | Permalink

RMT: July 24 2006

THE FOUR people killed, the dozens injured and the thousands more traumatised by the Hatfield crash have borne the real human cost of rail privatisation, Britain?s biggest rail union says today as the final report into the 2000 disaster was published.

"The victims of Hatfield were victims of privatisation, which put profit ahead of safety," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"The Hatfield trial descended into a farce which effecively said that safety rules were broken but that no-one was responsible.

"It is shameful that no-one was held to account for a tragedy that could and should have been avoided.

"Insult was added to that injury when the fines imposed on Balfour Beatty were slashed by £2.5 million by the appeal court.

"It is only right that they and the other privateers have since been thrown off rail maintenance, and Network Rail should now complete that job and bring track renewals work back in-house too," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 03:48 PM | Permalink

RMT: July 24 2006

LONDON UNDERGROUND?S biggest union today renewed its call for an end to the ?public-private partnership? that is failing to deliver promised improvements to the capital?s Tube network.

RMT also demanded that Transport for London drop its 'madcap' plan to privatise the extended East London Line when it re-opens in 2009.

The call comes as London Underground's third report on the PPP says the private sector has "unacceptably failed" to deliver on key targets.

"This isn't about companies needing to pull their socks up or try harder, this is about the need to end an expensive scam that has lined the privateers' pockets with £2 million of public money every week," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"The PPP remains a means for doling out guaranteed, risk-free profits to the lucky contractors, and Londoners and Tube workers are suffering as a result.

"Taxpayers' and Tube users' money that should be invested in improvements is being taken out at the rate of £100 million a year, and it has to stop.

"The PPP needs to be brought to a speedy end and the engineering work brought back in-house, but TfL should also drop its madcap plan to put the extended East London Line into the privateers' hands in 2009.

"All our experience and report after report have shown us that privatisation has failed by every measure, and it is unbelievable that TfL should even consider throwing the East London Line to the wolves as well," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 03:46 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 22 July 2006

Police and rail bosses have joined forces to crack down on railway crime.

Network Rail helicopter with police officers - It is hoped the helicopter will catch railway vandals

British Transport Police and Network Rail are using a helicopter for Sunday's Operation Clarinet.

Pc Nicky Ritchie, the first Scottish area air observer, will be in communication with colleagues on the ground.

This will enable him to direct them to areas where vandalism, stone-throwing or trespassing is taking place on railway lines.

In the first of what could become regular operations, the helicopter is being deployed to areas in the west and central belt of Scotland where route crime offences are common - including "hot spots'" in Glasgow and Lanarkshire.

"Misusing the railway can be extremely dangerous" - Supt Ronnie Mellis, British Transport Police

Supt Ronnie Mellis, Scottish area commander of British Transport Police, said: "Intelligence shows that the lighter nights tend to lead to an increase in route crime offences such as vandalism, trespassing and stone-throwing.

"Misusing the railway can be extremely dangerous and British Transport Police will work closely with Network Rail and use innovative resources such as the helicopter to detect those who put themselves and rail passengers in danger."

David Simpson, Network Rail's route director in Scotland added: "Network Rail's helicopter has been successfully used in other parts of the UK to catch people who commit railway crime, and we are hopeful that this British Transport Police operation will have a real impact in Scotland.

"Now that the BTP has a dedicated air observer, we will be delighted to offer the services of our helicopter to combat railway crime, which is a particular problem at this time of year, when schools are on holiday and the weather is warm."

Posted on 03:42 PM | Permalink

Harborough Today: 24 July 2006

A RAIL passengers' group in Harborough has started its fightback against a Department of Transport proposal to cut train services between Harborough and London.

The Harborough Rail Users group has set up a postal address and email account to galvanise support against the DfT's plans, part of a new East Midlands rail franchise.

They also handed out 500 flyers to passengers at Harborough station on Monday to raise awareness of the DfT's move.

While peak-hour services would be unaffected, off-peak services during the day and at weekends would be halved from two every hour to just one.

The new franchise would combine Midland Mainline and the eastern side of Central Trains with the tendering process due to start in October.

The DfT is promising a faster peak service, reaching London between ten and 20 minutes earlier than now.

Andy Whitman, co-chairman of Harborough Rail Users, said: "We are planning our own response to the proposal and should have that completed by August 4.

"But as an appendix to our response we would like to attach people's individual objections to the move.
"Make no mistake ? this is very serious and we have to fight it. We don't want Harborough to become a second-class station."

A spokesman for the DfT said: "The new franchise will start operating in November next year and will put in place up to five per cent more trains than today.

"The consultation proposes extra capacity to meet anticipated growth in passenger demand including a new outer suburban service between Kettering and London."

To support the Harborough Rail Users campaign write to HRU c/o The Caf?Harborough Rail Station, St Mary's Road, Harborough, Leics. LE16 7DT or email: feedback@harboroughtrains.co.uk

Posted on 03:39 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 24 July 2006

A final report into the Hatfield rail crash has found engineering firm Balfour Beatty failed to manage track inspection and maintenance at the site.

Hatfield crash site - Balfour Beatty has been fined £7.5m for its part in the crash

Also Railtrack, which then controlled infrastructure, did not effectively manage Balfour Beatty's work, said the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR).

Earlier this month a record £10m fine for Balfour Beatty's part in the crash was cut to £7.5m.

Four people died and more than 70 were hurt in the derailment in October 2000.

Last year Network Rail - Railtrack's successor - was fined £3.5m for breaching safety rules in relation to the crash.

Underlying causes

In September 2005, five Balfour Beatty and Network Rail bosses were cleared of corporate manslaughter on the direction of a judge.

Monday's report by the ORR - an independent investigation board set up by the Health and Safety Executive with responsibility for rail safety - said the fracture and subsequent fragmentation of rail track near Hatfield caused the crash.

"The rail failure was due to the presence of multiple and pre-existing fatigue cracks in the rail," it said.

"The underlying causes identified by the HSE investigation were that the maintenance contractor at the time, Balfour Beatty Rail Maintenance Ltd (BBRML), failed to manage effectively the inspection and maintenance of the rail at the site of the accident.

"The investigation also found that Railtrack, the infrastructure controller at the time, failed to manage effectively the work of BBRML."

The report called for:

* Network Rail to continue to build its health and safety leadership role

* The industry to accept the importance and significance of risk assessment

* A robust audit regime

* Communication between all parties

* The industry to guard against complacency

Sandra Caldwell, who chaired the independent investigation board, said it had been impressed with the "thorough and professional manner" in which the HSE investigation had been carried out, concluding in the successful prosecution of Railtrack and Balfour Beatty Rail for health and safety offences.

"These prosecutions resulted in the largest fine imposed in the English courts for health and safety offences on the railway and reflected the severity of the case," she said.

"We have changed our approach from a 'find and fix' maintenance regime to one of 'predict and prevent'" - Network Rail

"The rail industry must guard against complacency and continue to seek reasonably practicable improvements to health and safety using effective risk assessment as an essential element of decision-making."

A Network Rail spokeswoman said it accepted the report's findings.

"The Hatfield tragedy was a terrible event for everyone involved, and our thoughts remain with those who died and were injured on that day and their families.

"Maintenance of the railway has fundamentally changed since the Hatfield tragedy in October 2000.

"Since Network Rail took over the nation's railway infrastructure some three-and-a-half years ago, maintenance has been taken in-house rather than being outsourced, and we have changed our approach from a 'find and fix' maintenance regime to one of 'predict and prevent'.

"We have also invested heavily in new maintenance technology and doubled the size of our company to some 30,000 employees. And this progress is reflected in the report."

A Balfour Beatty spokeswoman said the firm would not be commenting.

See also:

Pair criticised in Hatfield report

Guardian Unlimited: July 24, 2006

Engineering company Balfour Beatty failed to effectively manage the inspection and maintenance of the track at the site of the Hatfield rail crash, a final report into the October 2000 incident has said.

Railtrack - the infrastructure controller at the time - failed to effectively manage Balfour Beatty's work, added the report published by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR).

Four people were killed and more than 70 injured when a London to Leeds express train derailed south of Hatfield station in Hertfordshire.

Last October Balfour Beatty was fined a record £10 million and Network Rail - Railtrack's successor - was fined £3.5 million for breaching safety rules in relation to the crash.

In September 2005, five Balfour Beatty and Network Rail bosses were cleared of corporate manslaughter on the direction of a judge.

The report was from an independent investigation board set up by the Health and Safety Executive which has now passed on responsibility for rail safety to the ORR.

The report said: "The immediate cause of the derailment was the fracture and subsequent fragmentation of the rail near to Hatfield. The rail failure was due to the presence of multiple and pre-existing fatigue cracks in the rail.

"The underlying causes identified by the HSE investigation were that the maintenance contractor at the time, Balfour Beatty Rail Maintenance Ltd (BBRML) failed to manage effectively the inspection and maintenance of the rail at the site of the accident.

"The investigation also found that Railtrack, the infrastructure controller at the time, failed to manage effectively the work of BBRML."

Sandra Caldwell, who chaired the independent investigation board, said: "The board was impressed with the thorough and professional manner in which the HSE investigation was carried out into this tragic incident, which has had an impact on so many lives, concluding in the successful prosecution of Railtrack and Balfour Beatty Rail for health and safety offences."

Posted on 03:31 PM | Permalink

HVG: 2006. July 24.

The government is citing financial necessity as a reason to cut subsidies to rail and coach transport subsidies. But people continue to resist.

Janos Kaszai, mayor of Veszto, a small town in Bekes county is used to arguing the case for branch lines. This is the third time he has raised his voice in protest against a plan to shut a 32km stretch of track linking Veszto and Korosnagyharsany. Successive studies have shown that with Romania's approaching accession to the EU, it is time not to shut down the branch line, but to extend it to Korosszeg, a small town on the other side of the border. Though Veszto and its neighbours have twice succeeded in averting the line's closure, in

1994 and 1999, the Transport Ministry has nonetheless concluded that the line has insufficient passengers to be economical. This is not the only line that has suffered this fate: it is planned that Mav, the state railway company, should suspend passenger transport on 28 lines, a total of 942km, on 12 December. This measure should save some HUF6.5bn and leave 201 communities without rail links.

The difference this time is that Veszto is not one of many to suffer this fate, but one of two experiments launched by the government two years ago. The aim is to establish the most effective way of running a railway line with the help of central government, the local authority and the state railway company. The aim was to have two areas in the country where it was possible to work out exactly how many passengers were using a line, and how much it cost to operate. The State Audit Office claims that Mav has no reliable data concerning these questions. Most recently, in 1999, an attempt to close 1000km of track came to nothing because the financial calculations were not based on an accurate assessment of demand.

The problem is that even today there are no reliable data, since the government originally gave authorities until 15 December to run the experiment. The mayor of Veszto asks: "Do we no longer even need data?" But it would seem that the only data the government needs is the knowledge that local authorities banding together can prevent line closures. The government has learned from its experiences with schools, where it was much easier to force local authorities to cooperate by cutting their budgets than by drawing up plans. The government seems to feel that by presenting local authorities with a fait accompli they can force local authorities to act.

Since January, it has been possible to create so-called "regional railway networks" in cases where local authorities are prepared to take on responsibility for sections of track that have little importance for the national network. Comings months will show whether local authorities are prepared to take on a new burden or whether locals will be forced to turn to pricier and less comfortable long-distance bus services. At the beginning of the year, Daniel Antal, president of the Hungarian Rail Authority, said it is possible to run even less-used branch lines economically, and called for local authorities to cooperate on constructing regional networks.

But the government believes that both the local councils and the rail service providers have blocked attempts at reform in recent years. The transport minister made it clear that Mav and the Volan long-distance bus company could no longer compete with each other at the expense of travellers. Janos Koka said there were cases of buses arriving five minutes late at the station to prevent travellers from transferring to a train, forcing them to complete the rest of their journey by bus.

For this reason, the ministry has asserted the right to set both Mav's and the bus companies' timetables and tariff structures. The problem is that this centralisation may well not serve community interests. EU rules forbid the centralisation of regulation, ownership and tariff regulation, yet this is precisely what has happened with Mav and Volan. But the ministry expects to save some HUF50bn a year by forcing the companies to work together.

Posted on 03:26 PM | Permalink

ABC: July 24, 2006

The construction union in New South Wales has launched an appeal to help 107 workers from Perth who are facing fines of up to $28,000 for breaching new workplace laws.

The workers from the Mandurah Rail Link site are being prosecuted because of industrial action they took in February.

The union's Andrew Ferguson says collections have been taken today at a number building sites in New South Wales.

He says the money raised will be used to fund the workers' legal battle.

"We do have one commodity and that is solidarity of workers supporting each other," he said.

"The solidarity is outstanding, with that type of solidarity we are going to support these families, back them up and we are going to expose the unfair practises of the Federal Government to working people of this country."

See also:

Building workers support WA colleagues

The Age: July 24, 2006

Building workers have launched a fighting fund to support the first individual workers prosecuted under new industrial laws.

Members of the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) took a collection during a mass meeting at the University of NSW in Sydney, which coincided with other meetings on building sites across NSW.

The meetings were held to support 107 workers from the Mandurah Rail Link building site in Perth who are facing fines of up to $28,600.

So far, the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) has issued writs against 107 of a possible 430 workers who took strike action in February while working on the troubled $1.5 billion West Australian railway project.

It is the first time fines have been issued against individual workers taking strike action.

The workers walked off the job in protest against the sacking of a union shop steward, and did so despite union advice to remain at work.

CFMEU NSW secretary Andrew Ferguson said the appeal would provide money for the legal battle to defend the workers and their families from prosecution by the ABCC.

"Most Australians applaud demonstrations of mateship, but under the Howard government it puts you at risk of being fined and losing your home," Mr Ferguson said.

"These workers are being dragged through the courts, face massive financial penalties, and even risk jail if they fail to answer questions from the ABCC."

Mandurah Rail Link site safety officer Mal Peters is one of the 107 construction workers who were served writs.

"Who has got $28,000 sitting aside to pay for something like this? We are ordinary, working class people. We live from week to week," Mr Peters told the launch.

"Thankfully we have received overwhelming support from thousands of people who have offered to help us out as we fight for justice.

"We might be the first individual workers prosecuted ... but most people realise that we definitely won't be the last as long as the Liberals are in power."

Posted on 03:23 PM | Permalink

Swindon Advertiser: 24 July 2006

Memories came flooding back for dozens of ex-railway workers at the book launch of Trip, a history of GWR workers' annual jaunt.

Rosa Matheson, who has written a book about the GWR Trip.

Highworth author Rosa Matheson sold 30 signed copies at the launch, which was held at the Steam Museum on Saturday.

She said: "There were lots of memories and lots of friends who hadn't seen each other in years it was a bit like Friends Reunited!"

Mrs Matheson began work on the book while writing a PhD thesis on women in the Great Western Railway.

She said: "I didn't choose to write the book really, it chose me! I started on it in 1998 or 99. I went to interview people and they would launch into these wonderful stories, so I had all this great material.

"I added to it over the years and it grew and grew."

She added: "The trip was a golden time for the workers. We take holidays for granted now, it's so cheap and easy."

For a dedicated copy of the book contact Mrs Matheson on 01793 764979.

Posted on 03:12 PM | Permalink

TUC: 20 July 2006

The TUC has welcomed a major victory for Polish workers in Britain who have been paying double tax on their earnings. A campaign by the TUC South West region has led to a treaty being signed today between the Polish and UK Governments that will make sure Polish workers do not pay both tax in the UK and high level tax on the same earnings when they return to Poland.

Thanks to this treaty, UK tax paid will count against Polish tax.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber is visiting the Polish church in Bristol today where the problem was first raised with the TUC by the Polish support group, Polski Bristol. The South West TUC took up the campaign with Dawn Primarolo, Bristol South MP and Paymaster General, highlighting to the Minister the complicated tax rules and the fact that workers in other countries such as Ireland get better tax treatment. The Government has subsequently reached an agreement that will benefit thousands of Polish workers employed in the UK. Dawn Primorolo has signed the treaty today on behalf of the British Government

Speaking at the Polish church in Bristol, Brendan Barber said: 'Unions, campaigners and community groups in Bristol have worked together to secure an important victory for thousands of Polish workers across the whole country and end this unjust 'Pole tax'. The Government rightly recognises the value that Polish workers add to the UK economy and has responded quickly to union concerns that they were not being treated fairly.'

Julia Verne, Polski Bristol, said: 'This is great news for Polish workers who have been penalised with unfair tax demands when they go home. The current double tax system doesn't take into account the high cost of living in the UK and is especially punitive to workers on low pay. The system means that workers are left with very little disposable income. When we first raised this issue, the church was packed with workers who wanted to know why they faced double tax. This treaty is great news and we are indebted to the TUC for helping us tackle this issue.'

Nigel Costley, South West TUC Regional Secretary, said: 'Unions are giving on-the-ground support to Polish workers to make sure they are treated properly at work but we've proved we can also tackle bigger problems. I didn't realise that they had to pay double tax and was pleased to help them campaign for reform. Dawn Primarolo has been very quick to respond to this issue and make the system fairer for workers in her own constituency and across the country.'

Posted on 09:26 AM | Permalink

Weston Mercury: 20 July 2006

YOUNGSTERS are causing chaos on railway lines through Weston and Worle, turning them into some of the most dangerous in the country.

Of the 221 recorded dangerous incidents last year in the Bristol, Bath and North Somerset area, Weston contributed more than half. The incidents include stone throwing, placing objects on lines and starting fires near tracks.

Earlier this year the Weston & Somerset Mercury revealed youngsters had been dicing with death by creating drinking dens underneath platforms in Weston and Worle.

There were 118 recorded incidents last year at stations in Weston, Milton, Worle and Yatton. The figure also includes cases of youngsters playing on lines and throwing stones at trains in Uphill.

Letters have been sent out to schools, telling pupils there have been an exceptionally high number of incidents over the past year for a town the size of Weston. Police have also visited schools.

Roy Hamlin, Network Rail's general manager for the West Country, said: "We implore parents and guardians to make sure their children understand the dangers of playing on the tracks.

Posted on 04:48 AM | Permalink

Computing: 20 Jul 2006
Dave Friedlos

£100,000 contract to improve services at 17 mainline stations.

Network Rail is upgrading its patrol systems to manage security and maintenance activities at 17 mainline train stations.

The rail company believes the upgraded software will improve staff productivity, ensure consistent service delivery and provide vital management information.

It has signed a £100,000 contract with Contemporary Enterprises Innovise division to implement the upgraded software throughout the year.

The upgraded system uses an Oracle database and handheld devices running on a Microsoft Pocket PC.

Network Rail manages a number of major mainline stations including Charing Cross, Waterloo, Euston, Fenchurch Street, Paddington and Victoria.

Posted on 05:44 PM | Permalink

RMT: July 19 2006

BRITAIN?S BIGGEST rail union RMT today suspended strike action by 5,000 Network Rail operational staff after an improved pay and hours offer which will see a 35-hour week introduced this August.

The strikes, which were due to take place on July 21-22 and July 27-29, have been suspended while the new offer is put to members in a ballot. The ballot result is due on July 28 with RMT's general grades committee recommending acceptance of the offer.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow praised the determination shown by members in winning the 35-hour week, the introduction of which management had long been stalling.

"While there is no doubt that negotiations on our claim have been protracted it is worth remembering how far we have persuaded the company to move," Bob Crow said.

"Their first offer, made in February, was for a three-year deal that gave only 0.5 per cent in year one. In addition the 35-hour week would not have been fully introduced until April 1, 2008."

Ends

Note: Network Rail's offer is for a 3.2 per cent increase on base salaries while from April 2007 there will be an increase of RPI plus 0.75 per cent. If the current RPI figure of 3.3 per cent remains constant then signallers will receive a 4.05 per cent increase over the following nine months.

Posted on 11:32 PM | Permalink

Guardian Unlimited: July 19, 2006

Strikes planned by thousands of rail workers, which would have caused travel chaos across the country over the next week, were called off today following last-ditch talks to resolve a pay row.

The Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said it had reached a deal with Network Rail, averting a 24-hour walkout from noon on Friday and a 48-hour stoppage the following week.

The announcement followed an agreement between Network Rail and RMT's executive about the earlier implementation of a 35-hour working week for signallers.

Under the proposed deal, workers will receive a pay rise of 3.2% backdated to April, an increase of the rate of inflation plus 0.75% from April 2007, a 35-hour week from next month, an increase in travel subsidies and improved London allowances.

Welcoming the news, Network Rail chief executive John Armitt said: "This is good news for passengers and freight customers, who are no longer facing the disruption of a strike. We hope RMT members will vote to accept this deal".

The RMT will recommend the pay deal, with the 35-hour working week now starting in August, to its members in a referendum, which will close on July 28.

Some rail operators had already drawn up emergency timetables, warning passengers that services would be severely disrupted if the strike went ahead.

South West Trains is still facing four days of strikes by its train drivers in a separate row over the use of taxis taking staff to and from work on early or late shifts. Aslef has ordered its drivers working for South West Trains to strike on July 28 and 31 and on August 11 and 14.

The union has already staged a series of strikes by drivers based at Waterloo but the dispute escalated after South West Trains drafted in managers to make sure services were not affected on strike days. The union responded by ordering a strike ballot among its 900 drivers across the company.

Posted on 11:29 PM | Permalink

AFX News Limited: 07.19.2006

LONDON - The government will look at the issue of increasing capacity on Britain's rail network, said Junior Transport Minister Derek Twigg.

Network Rail, which operates tracks, signals and stations has just started two-year negotiations over its funding requirements for the next control period from 2009-2014.

The not-for-profit operator has asked for an extra 8 billion sterling on top of the 20.7 billion it claims is necessary just to keep the network running. It was given 25 billion sterling for the current control period which ends in 2008.

The extra cash would be used to deal with problems such as overcrowding on services in the South east of England.

Twigg told the Transport select committee that most of the increased expenditure on the network in the last four years since Network Rail took over from Railtrack 'has been down to the major renewals and maintenance work that has been undertaken by Network rail because of the decades of under-investment'.

'Obviously you would not need to have that amount of money in terms of the future, but having said that we need to look at what we've got to do in terms of capacity...and also a way to maintain the maintenance and renewals and also the safety aspects,' he said.

'I think you can expect improvements in capacity...in terms of the next control period.'

'Clearly there are a number of infrastructure improvements that can be made to improve capacity.'

If it gets its way, Network Rail will spend 4 billion sterling of its extra cash on extending the Thameslink commuter system with the aim of running 24 trains an hour, or a tripling of services.

Some operators in the South East have said they will raise fares during peak periods to price commuters not travelling to work off the system to create capacity.

FirstGroup PLC was forced to back down on planned fare restrictions on rail fares on its London routes after pressure from passenger watchdogs.

First said it is reducing the number of stations affected by the new restrictions introduced on June 11 after complaints from London Travelwatch and Passenger Focus.

The company, which took over the Thameslink and Great Northern rail routes from National Express Group PLC in April, banned the use of cheap day returns on northbound weekday services from London to stations outside the London Travelcard zones between 4.30pm and 7pm.

First said the measure was primarily designed to reduce overcrowding and said it was only expected to result in a small increase in revenue.

However, watchdogs criticised the measures, saying they effectively represented large fare increases and would discourage public transport use.

Earlier this week the Conservative Party, who were responsible for the disastrous splitting up of the network a decade ago when in power, admitted they had blundered.

Shadow transport secretary Chris Grayling said creating one firm to manage track and then franchising out train services had increased the costs of running the network and delayed decisions on capacity expansion.

'We think that the separation has helped push up the cost of running the railways and hence fares and has slowed decisions about capacity improvements. Too many people and organisations are now involved in getting things done so nothing happens,' Grayling said.

Posted on 11:26 PM | Permalink

Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees: July 19

Union Strikes to Resolve Longstanding Dispute as Carrier Refuses To Schedule Negotiations.

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., July 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) of the Teamster's Rail Conference initiated a strike against the Canadian National Railway (CN) today in an effort to resolve a longstanding contract dispute. BMWED's strike targets properties of the former Grand Trunk Western, Detroit Toledo & Ironton, and Detroit Toledo & Shore Line portions of the CN.

The strike and related lawsuit were initiated by BMWED after many months of attempts to resolve the dispute through bargaining and mediation. However, CN has now failed and refused to exert every reasonable effort to make an agreement, to settle the dispute, and to bargain with the BMWED in good faith as required under provisions of the Railway Labor Act (RLA). As a result BMWED struck in order to resolve the dispute.

BMWED served contract demands on CN in December 2004. The parties bargained and participated in mediation with the National Mediation Board through March 2006. Just prior to the March 2006 mediation sessions, CN suddenly took a giant step backward by submitting new proposals that would decimate longstanding employee rights. Among other things, CN proposed to eliminate existing seniority rights, give CN a free hand in contracting-out all maintenance of way work, allow CN complete discretion in making work assignments and impose unprecedented huge and annually increasing health insurance contributions.

The parties have not met since March 2006 even though BMWED has written repeatedly to CN requesting direct negotiations between the parties. CN has continued its refusal to meet directly with BMWED negotiators, and they have refused to offer alternative dates to schedule bargaining.

CN's actions violate the Railway Labor Act because CN has failed and refused to make every reasonable effort to settle the dispute, has failed to bargain in good faith, and failed to meet with the designated representative of its employees. Due to CN's continuing failure and refusal to bargain in good faith, the BMWED has been forced to strike the carrier in an effort to resolve the dispute.

BMWED represents approximately 250 maintenance of way employees who construct, maintain, inspect and repair the tracks, right of way, and structures at CN Railway.

See also:

UPDATE 2-Strike hits part of CN Rail's U.S. operations

Reuters: Jul 19, 2006

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 19 - Track maintenance workers on part of Canadian National Railway's (CNR.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) U.S. operations walked off the job in a contract dispute on Wednesday, but the company called the strike illegal.

The Teamsters union said the strike by about 250 employees on the former Grand Trunk Western, Detroit Toledo & Ironton, and Detroit Toledo & Shore Line portions of CN was over issues such as seniority rights and contracting out of work.

Canadian National spokesman Mark Hallman said the company was "going to continue to run the railroad." The lines involved in the dispute are in Michigan and northwestern Ohio, and the strike does not include CN's other U.S. operations.

"We don't believe it is going to have any significant impact," Hallman said. "We deem this strike to be an illegal one, and we're going to take appropriate action to end the illegal walkout."

The union said it walked off the job to protest the company's failure to bargain in good faith. The two sides have not met since March, and the union said the company has refused its request to return to the bargaining table.

Canadian National submitted a proposal prior to the March mediated session that would "decimate longstanding employee rights," the Teamsters' Maintenance of Way Employees unit said in a press release.

Canadian National refused to comment on the contract issues.

The workers last contract was signed in April 2001, and the union served its demands for this round of negotiations in December 2004.

See also:

Rail workers strike CN in Flint, Michigan

WJRT: (07/19/06) 
By Matt Franklin

Union says there's been no contract for 18 months

FLINT -- Teamsters railway workers in Mid-Michigan and across the region have launched a strike against Canadian National Railway.

Track maintenance workers this morning walked off the job after a long-standing contract dispute with the company.

The workers say they have been without a contract for nearly a year and a half, and they've had enough.

At 6 this morning, about 17 track maintenance workers took to the picket lines  with the support of  other CN railway union members.

The workers, who construct, maintain, inspect, and repair railway tracks, picketed in front of the Canadian National Yard on Bristol Road.

Members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division say, so far,  no union workers have crossed the picket lines.

A spokesperson for Canadian National Yard says the company is trying to maintain the same standard of operation  and it is using management staff to perform various duties.

Workers say the company is asking for cuts in health care benefits and reduced wages.

"About 10 years ago, it seems like I was making more money than I'm making now," said Ted Portis, who has worked with the railroad since 1975 and is four years from retirement.

The strike was initiated by the union after, it claims, months were spent attempting to come up with a contract.

The last time both sides met was March 2006 and the union says the company refuses to set a date for another meeting.

"We can't even get them to come to the table to negotiate the terms of the contract," said Jason Richert, the vice president of BMWE, Local 109.

See also:

UPDATE 1- Strike suspended on CN Rail's US Grand Trunk line

Reuters: Thu Jul 20, 2006

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 20 - Striking track workers on a portion of Canadian National Railway Co.'s (CNR.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) U.S. network returned to work on Thursday after agreeing with the company to resume contract talks.

About 250 workers on the former Grand Trunk Western, Detroit Toledo & Ironton, and Detroit Toledo & Shore Lines walked off the job on Wednesday to protest what they said was CN's refusal to bargain in good faith.

The sides plan to meet Friday and have invited a federal mediator to join the negotiations, officials said.

They have also asked the courts to postpone a hearing on a preliminary injunction request until July 26 to allow time for talks. The union said it will suspend its strike and picketing during the interval.

"I am cautiously optimistic that we can reach an agreement without further work stoppages," Chief Executive Hunter Harrison told analysts in a conference call on CN's second quarter earnings, which were also released Thursday.

The company and the workers, who are represented by a unit of the Teamsters union, are at odds over issues such as employee seniority rights, health-care payments and the railroad's contracting out of work.

The previous contract signed in 2001 expired in December 2004, according to the union, which had accused CN before the walkout of refusing to come to the negotiating table.

A Teamsters spokesman said the picket lines had been honored by other unions, but CN said it was able to maintain regular freight service using management crews.

The affected tracks were in Michigan, northern Indiana and northwest Ohio. The strike did not involve Canadian National's other operations in the United States or in Canada.

Posted on 11:07 PM | Permalink

Times Online: July 18, 2006
By Lee Glendinning

A strike by signallers on Friday and Saturday is predicted to cripple 80 per cent of the rail network (Ben Gurr/The Times)

Thousands of commuters across England could be disrupted on Friday and Saturday as rail staff threaten to hold a series of rolling strikes which would halt up to 80 per cent of services.

South West Trains, the train operating company whose services run mostly out of Waterloo station and cover the south-east and south-west of England, has already warned that many routes "will have no trains at all" for 48 hours because of a strike over pay and conditions between signallers and Network Rail. Other train operating companies will also be affected.

Commuters are advised not to travel from noon on Friday until midnight on Saturday. Network Rail has predicted that only 800 trains out of the usual 4,000 will run nationwide.

The dispute surrounds an ongoing row with 5,000 signallers working for Network Rail. Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union are arguing that they are not being given the same rights as infrastructure workers

The union is pressing for a one-year pay deal and has rejected Network Rail?s attempts to negotiate a longer agreement. Talks will be held later today in a bid to avert a strike.

Further strikes are scheduled to be held the following Thursday, July 27, and Saturday, July 29.

In a separate fight, South West Trains drivers will hold four 24-hour strikes because of tensions over staff not being provided with taxis after an early morning or late night shift.

The strikes will be held a week on Friday, July 28, then Monday July 31, Friday August 11 and Monday August 14, the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen union said.

Posted on 10:30 PM | Permalink

BBC 7 Comedy: Hancock's Half Hour (Radio)
Second Series - Programme 8

With no trains running due to a national rail strike, Sid and Hancock run their own train - pulled by the original "Rocket", stolen from the Science Museum.

Cast
Tony Hancock
Bill Kerr
Sidney James
Andr?Melly
Kenneth Williams
Alan Simpson

Programme Guide

We open to the sound of a steam train rattling by - "Just thought you'd like to hear one again." says Hancock to an audience in the grip of a national rail strike.

Sid reckons that the current strike means they can make some money by providing the public with transport. Bill has his doubts, in view of the fact that the only transport they have is a bike and a pair of roller skates. Sid thinks that they can run their own train but Hancock is doubtful, especially as they haven't got a train.

Sid: "I know where we can get an engine, no trouble at all, leave it to your Uncle Sidney."

Meanwhile, we learn that George Stephenson's Rocket has been stolen from the South Kensington Science Museum. Later, Sid brings along the train he has acquired.

Sid: "What do you think?"

Hancock: "What is it?"

Sid: "It's a railway engine."

The only problem now is that they need some rolling stock, of the carriage variety. They improvise with a pram, a bath tub and Hancock's bed for the sleeping car. Sid wonders how they should class them.

Hancock: "Pram - 1st Class; bath tub: wide end, 1st Class - middle, 2nd Class and in the taps and over the plug hole, 3rd Class."

Now they need a dining car, so Sid obliges with Charlie's Pie Stall and as a final touch for the guard's van they get a night watchman's hut.

Under cover of darkness, they reach Clapham Junction, but to stop the train, Hancock has to throw a log under the front wheels and all the "coaches" pile on top of one another.

Hancock: "I can't understand it. I never had this trouble with me train set."

They get this mess sorted out and Hancock gives a little piece of railway folklore, which is cutting and to the point.

Hancock: "It still hasn't got the atmosphere of a train yet. It lacks those little touches that our railways do so well.

Sid: "What do you suggest?"

Hancock: "Scatter some dust about. Put a few foot marks over the seats."

Sid: "Anything Else?"

Hancock: "Get some pictures put up. Now I want a nice brown photograph of the bandstand at Leamington Spa in 1897 and those detailed maps that always end three stations before the place you're going to. You know, another thing, must get some paper bags - fill 'em up with breadcrumbs and banana skins and throw 'em under the tables."

Come the morning the train is due to leave Clapham Junction at 1023, calling at all stations to Brighton. However, on the platform Andr?has got lumbered with Snide (Kenneth Williams).

Snide: "Going to Brighton as well. Isn't that lucky."

Andr?(uncertain): "Yes".

Snide: "You're French aren't you? My wife doesn't understand me, you know.

Andr? "You should speak more clearly."

They are interrupted by Bill's Tannoy announcement: "The thing now arriving is definitely a train ... get your tickets from the little fat guy on the train."

With all the passengers on board, Hancock tells Sid (the driver) to get underway. However, the train wont start.

Hancock: "First Class passengers stay where you are - 3rd Class passengers get out and push."
They get the train started but it will only move extremely slowly.

Hancock: "Hey, Sid, can't you go any faster? I'm getting fed up with that little bloke walking alongside tapping the wheels ... the passengers are a bit browned off. We steamed out of Clapham Junction two hours ago."

Sid: "Well?"

Hancock: "The last carriage hasn't cleared the platform yet."

Sid: "You'll have to kid 'em we're going faster... you and Bill dress up as trees and run past the windows."

Hancock: "Ha Ha, very droll."

Hancock collects a £44.10s.0d. fare from Snide and Andr?falls out with Hancock about the way he is exploiting people on the train service. The train goes into a tunnel and Hancock attempts to make things up.

Hancock: "Oh come on, Andr? little fingers. Sit on me lap. There, that's better isn't it? (he kisses) ha ha, admit it, you can't resist me, can you? (kisses again)... we're coming out of the tunnel, you'd better get off me lap ... there, did you enjoy that?"

Snide: " Quite honestly, I can't say that I did."

Snide and Hancock's half-hearted attempts to start a fight come to nothing.

After four days, there is still no sign of Brighton and it gets dark again. There is a storm brewing.

Hancock: "Of course, this is the first time I've been out in a storm.

Alan Simpson: "Isn't it?"

Hancock: " I've been in a storm when it's rained so much even the fish were swimming about in raincoats."

They go off the rails for a short time and once back on again Hancock is convinced they are on the South Downs because of the way the train is going up and down.

Hancock: "Don't worry, we'll be in Brighton by the morning."

Kenneth Williams: "Here is the news. This morning, the police arrested the three men who stole the Rocket. Shortly before dawn this morning, they were found giving members of the public pleasure rides on a a home-made train on the big dipper at Battersea Fun Fair.

A show that requires the listener to suspend belief to a largo extent, but for all that, it is very enjoyable.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Transmitted: Tuesday 7th June 1955 at 2130, BBC Light Programme.
Repeated: Sunday 12th June 1955 at 1500, BBC Light Programme.
Recorded: Monday 6th June 1955
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson
Music by Wally Stott
Produced by Dennis Main Wilson.
BBC Radio.

Posted on 05:29 AM | Permalink

Workers Online: 14 July 2006  

The last safety rep left on the trouble-plagued Perth-Mandurah rail project will tour Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane to raise support for colleagues facing $28,000 fines.

Mal Peters has seen delegates and safety reps sacked around him as employers and the federal government went flat out to claim scalps for draconian new powers bestowed on John Howard's building industry police force.

The campaign culminated with Peters and 106 colleagues being charged by the Building Industry Commission with defying orders that forbade them taking any industrial action whatsoever.

They struck for 12 days, after job delegate Peter Ballard was summarily dismissed by the Leightons Kumaigi consortium.

"It's like World War Two over here," Peters told Workers Online. "The guys are shell shocked but they are standing together.

"It's been a non-stop campaign of intimidation.

"One safety rep went away on holiday and found he had been replaced when he got back. A tunneler who raised a safety issue was moved out of the tunnel to the far end of the job.

"They sacked another good bloke who stood up for his mates, Charlie Isaac, and then they sacked Peter when the new laws came in.

"I have already had two written warnings and I know they are after me but somebody has to stand up and tell the truth."

Peters said when agents for the Building Industry Commission started delivering writs to homes, late at night, workers were shattered.

"They thought they had weeded out all the staunch guys but nobody is going to put up with this, not in Australia," he said. "Blokes are really arcing up.

"When we went back to work, months ago, Leightons promised not to pursue legal action and they haven't. These writs, and the threats to people's homes, are the government's doing."

Peters and his wife, Bernie, will speak at union and public meetings in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane over the next two weeks.

Dates and venues were being finalised as Workers Online published.

Final details should be available from state branches of the CFMEU, or peak union bodies

Posted on 10:44 PM | Permalink

Easybourse: 17 juillet 2006

MADRID (AP)--Spanish train drivers have called a two-day strike to demand an increase in training hours for new drivers as part of a new government plan, a union official said.

The strike, called for Tuesday and Wednesday, will affect between 25% and 50% of all commuter and long-distance trains, said Spain's rail company, Renfe.

The train drivers union, known as Semaf, is demanding that the number of training hours for drivers be increased to 2,000, from the current 350, under a new training program, the daily El Mundo said.

A round of talks with officials of the Public Works Ministry, which controls Renfe, ended in disagreement Saturday. Another round was to be held later Monday.

Semaf Secretary-General Juan Jesus Garcia told Cadena SER radio the extra training hours were needed to ensure safety.

He said it was also a safeguard against companies that are looking to enter the sector in the coming years when Renfe's monopoly ends, training drivers as fast as possible.

There was no immediate comment from the Public Works Ministry.

The strike comes a week after pilots at Spanish airline Iberia went on strike for three days in search of guarantees that a new low-cost carrier created with Iberia capital will not cost the pilots jobs.

The strike, staged as the holiday season got under way, led to the cancelation of some 200 flights daily.

Posted on 10:40 PM | Permalink

RMT: July 17 2006

BRITAIN'S biggest rail union RMT dismissed Tory plans announced today for the re-privatisation of the track and the break up of the national network.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said confused Tory plans to hand over the track directly to the private train operating companies was a dangerous idea that would compromise safety and reliability.

"It's a bit rich for the Tories, who wreaked such havoc when they smashed up British Rail and handed it over to the private sector, to now call for the re-privatisation and fragmentation of rail infrastructure," he said.

The plans were announced following an admission by Tory leader David Cameron that splitting responsibility for trains and tracks was a fundamental error when the Tories privatised the railways.

Bob Crow pointed out that private train operating companies are interested in profits, just as Railtrack had been, and if these companies took over the track they would simply 'sweat the assets' in order to boost shareholder dividends.

"Instead of more 'horizontal fragmentation' of the track in the private sector we need to see the 'vertical' re-integration of the rail industry within the public sector," he said.

Bob Crow said that train punctuality had vastly improved since Network Rail brought rail maintenance back in-house over two years ago and the company should now take over train operations as well.

Ends

Notes to editors: Key facts

* According to research over £800 million every year, or £15 million every week, is lost from the industry in profits and interest payments. The total figure could be more than £6 billion since privatisation in 1996.

* Railways cost three times more to run than under BR. Without public subsidies, the train operators would have made a loss every single year.

* The Catlyst Forum's briefing, The Railways in a Third Term, analysed the potential savings of restoring Britain's railways to public ownership. To read the full report go to http://www.catalystforum.org.uk/pdf/railways2.pdf

See also:

The Big Question: Was the break-up of the railways such a disaster that it needs to be reversed?

Independent Online: 18 July 2006
By Barrie Clement, Transport Editor

What is the problem?

Too many passengers, not enough trains. Launching a review of the rail industry yesterday, the Conservatives summed up the most likely scenario if the network stays as it is: "More and more passengers, on more and more overcrowded trains, and with constant upward pressure on fares to try to take the sting out of overcrowding."

The demand for train journeys is forecast to grow by 30 per cent over the next 10 years, but there are no plans for any major increase in capacity between 2007 and 2014.

Fundamentally, the Tories are arguing that Britain does not spend enough on long-term investment in the railways and that present expenditure is wasteful.

Did the original structure imposed by the Tories work?

Nobody thinks so - as of yesterday, not even the Conservatives do. The party's transport spokesman, Chris Grayling, said: "We think, with hindsight, that the complete separation of track and train into separate businesses at the time of privatisation was not right for our railways. We think that the separation has helped push up the cost of running the railways - and hence fares - and is now slowing decisions about capacity improvements. Too many people and organisations are now involved in getting things done - so nothing happens."

More than two dozen passenger train franchises were created in 1995-96 and there was no effective central co-ordination of the network. It was a shambles. Perhaps the least-loved child of the Tories' privatisation was the now defunct Railtrack, which was meant to look after the network used by the train operators. The "core" business of Railtrack - maintaining the track - was farmed out to engineering companies, with little provision made for overseeing their performance.

Some critics assert that the structure created by the Conservatives was directly responsible for the Southall, Paddington, Hatfield and Potters Bar disasters.

The Labour Government established the Strategic Rail Authority to get a grip on the system - a function more recently taken over by the Department for Transport. Following the controversial liquidation of Railtrack, the Government created the "not for profit" Network Rail, which is controlled by the industry's "stakeholders" but financially backed by the state. Hence, since the abolition of British Rail we still have a structural separation between those responsible for the track and those who run the trains. However, the Government has a lot more control than before over the system.

What is the solution?

Mr Grayling believes that "a much closer integration" of the organisations that run the track and the trains would mean a simpler chain of command and faster decision-making.

One possibility would be to award franchises to major train operators, which would include a duty to look after the tracks and signalling in their areas - thus abolishing Network Rail. Another might be closer working between the infrastructure organisation and train operators. A further option would be to integrate the trains and track in some areas - such as Scotland - but not everywhere.

The Tory's transport spokesman takes issue with the short-term, seven-year franchises currently awarded to train operators which, he believes, inhibit long-term investment. He argues that the 20-year licence awarded to Chiltern - the longest given on the main network - has enabled it to upgrade its service and expand Marylebone station.

What does the industry think?

Essentially, the big train operators like his ideas, but Network Rail does not. Train company chiefs have accused Network Rail of wasting "billions of pounds" because the infrastructure company escapes the kind of competitive pressures faced by operators. David Franks, chief executive of the train division of National Express, says the state-backed network company's battle with the rail regulator over costs is nowhere near as demanding as the stringent disciplines applied to bidding for franchises.

The National Express chief's comments came in the wake of a bid by Network Rail for £29bn of funding for the next five years. The infrastructure organisation is seeking £8bn to upgrade the network. Mr Franks argues that at least one major train operator should be allowed to take over responsibility for the infrastructure in its area in order to provide a financial "benchmark". He points out that Merseyrail, which is responsible for issuing franchises in its region, believes it could save £33m if it took over the infrastructure from Network Rail.

Network Rail demurs. It argues that it has already taken measures to integrate wheel and rail by establishing "integrated control centres" where train operators and Network Rail staff sit together to manage the network. Joint "performance improvement plans" have also been produced for each route. John Armitt, Network Rail's chief executive, said: "It is difficult to see what could be achieved by a fundamental restructure of the industry with the upheaval and uncertainty that would result."
What are the main worries?

Just about any structure can be made to work because the people in the industry will try and make it work. It's a question of how well. There are problems with allowing one train operator to control a route used by other operators and freight companies. At the moment, the division of responsibilities between train companies and Network Rail is policed by administrators and lawyers. The same people presumably would have to monitor the relationship between a train operator that controls the track in a certain area and other operators whose services used it. Some parts of the West Coast route, for instance, are used by five different operators.

What about a return to British Rail?

The main advantage of a single, state-owned system is that it involves one chain of command. There is never any doubt as to who is responsible for operational shortcomings. By its nature such an organisation would also be immediately responsive to the wishes of a democratically-elected government. The disadvantages are the perceived inefficiencies of a state-run enterprise, the problem of constant ministerial meddling and the extreme reluctance of the Treasury to countenance any significant capital investment.

One way around the financial problem would be to grant a resurrected British Rail the ability to raise its own funds through issuing bonds. The Treasury - always concerned about increasing public sector debt - would have to be told that long-term investment in the rail system is more important than short-term concerns in City dealing rooms. Neither Mr Grayling nor the Government however, will be considering this option.

Will the Tories' new plan for the railways work?

Yes...
* The present split between train operation and track maintenance leads to confusion.
* Re-introducing the profit motive for companies overseeing the infrastructure will aid efficiency.
* Longer-term franchises will lead to longer-term investment.

No...
* There would be clashes between companies that run trains and maintain tracks with other operators who want to use the same track.
* Re-introducing the profit motive could result in lower safety standards.
* Longer-term franchises will lead to complacency.

Posted on 05:11 PM | Permalink

The Scotsman: 17 Jul 2006
ALASTAIR DALTON TRANSPORT CORRESPONDENT

EAST coast main line train operator GNER could be sold by its troubled shipping owners in an attempt to stave off bankruptcy in the United States, it was reported yesterday.

Bermuda-registered Sea Containers is thought to hope to receive £200 million for the firm, which was awarded a new ten-year passenger franchise last year.

Sea Containers, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, was said to have breached several lending agreements with its bankers and needs the money to settle debts and restore liquidity.

The reports said the only alternative to a sale would be for Sea Containers to seek Chapter 11 protection from creditors in the US, but that would lead to a breach of its UK franchise and could result in the company being stripped of the contract.

An industry source told The Scotsman yesterday: "The sale of GNER would be a surprising development, since Sea Containers' core strategy is focused on ferries and rail, but in business you cannot rule anything out."

Last month, the firm wrapped up a $594 million (£323m) deal to offload ferry operator Silja Line and said it had substantially reduced overheads.

The disposal of the Baltic Sea operator was seen as a key element of the company's plans to secure short-term liquidity. It also delayed publication of its annual results while the attempts at restructuring continued.

GNER provides rail services between London and Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen. Last month, it pulled out of the race for the new South Western franchise, admitting resources were needed elsewhere. Sea Containers also cited "current challenges" for its decision to pull out of the process.

More significantly, it is awaiting a decision following the end of a week-long appeal hearing at the High Court in London against the Office of Rail Regulation's (ORR) decision to allow a rival operator to run services on the east coast line.

GNER will pay the government £1.3 billion for its franchise, and claims Grand Central will significantly cut its fare revenue because the new firm's Sunderland-London trains will also call at York.

It has also warned - with the backing of the Scottish Executive's Transport Scotland agency - that the move could see some Scotland-London trains cancelled or delayed by up to half an hour.

The ORR has countered that the effect of Grand Central's plans on GNER services would be "either negligible or none at all".

GNER, which has run trains on the line for ten years, won its latest franchise after beating off competition from rivals that are seen as potential bidders should the operator be sold off by Sea Containers.

They include Aberdeen-based FirstGroup, which is Britain's biggest train and bus firm, and Virgin Trains and Stagecoach, which jointly run the two Virgin rail franchises.

See also:

Crisis firm to put top rail service on market

Leeds Today: 17 July 2006
By Paul Robinson

RAIL giant GNER is on the verge of being put up for sale by its foreign owner, according to reports.

Bermuda-registered Sea Containers is said to be ready to ditch the east coast main line operator in a bid to raise £200m and stave off bankruptcy in the US.

GNER has been running services between London, Leeds and Scotland since 1996, and recently won a new 10-year franchise for the route.

Two of the competitors which GNER beat in the franchise race, FirstGroup and Virgin Trains, were today being tipped as likely bidders if the York-based business did end up on the market.

Sea Containers, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is reported to need extra funds to settle debts after breaching lending agreements with its bankers.

Last month GNER dropped out of the running for the UK's new South Western rail franchise, saying resources were required elsewhere.

It is also waiting for the outcome of a judicial review into the Office of Rail Regulation's decision to allow its rival firm Grand Central to operate thenew London to Sunderland services on the east coast main line.

Posted on 04:42 PM | Permalink

The Times: July 17, 2006
By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent

SPLITTING responsibility for trains and tracks when privatising the railways was a fundamental error and the link must be restored, the Conservatives will say today in a major shift in policy.

The party will propose that train operators should be allowed to run their own tracks, with one option being to create regional companies like those that dominated the network before the Second World War. David Cameron, the Tory leader, and Chris Grayling, the Shadow Transport Secretary, will visit Clapham Junction in South London to announce a review of the rail industry that will focus on reuniting wheel and rail.

They will admit that John Major?s decision to create one company to manage the tracks and another 25 to run trains was fatally flawed.

Mr Grayling told The Times that the divisions in the industry created by privatisation were partly responsible for the quadrupling in subsidy and the worsening problem of overcrowding. He said companies that controlled both trains and tracks would be more efficient.

?There are too many participants in the current structure,? he said. ?There is also an excessive level of contractualisation. Too much time is spent debating the fine detail of contracts and not enough on getting things done. With hindsight, the complete separation of track and train has not turned out to be the right way forward.?

A number of options would be considered, including creating joint ventures between train operators and Network Rail?s divisions. Operators might also be allowed to lease tracks for long periods.

?However, we are not going to simply break up Network Rail and sell it off,? he said.

The new structure is likely to be tested in areas where one train operator already dominates, such as Scotland, Merseyside and the South West Trains network, which operates from Waterloo station in London.

Network Rail will fiercely oppose any attempt to end its monopoly over Britain?s 21,000 miles of track. In April John Armitt, Network Rail?s chief executive, rejected a proposal from First, the biggest train operator, that it should be allowed to run its own tracks. He said that First would minimise investment.

?It would be more rational for us to go and lease the trains,? Mr Armitt said.

See also:

Tories admit rail privatisation flawed

Politics.co.uk: 17 Jul 2006

Shadow transport secretary Chris Grayling to announce shift on trains policy

The Conservatives have admitted they were wrong to split responsibility for trains and tracks when privatising the railways ten years ago.

Shadow transport secretary Chris Grayling said the creation of one company to manage the tracks and another 25 to run the trains had increased the costs of running the railways and delayed decisions about expanding capacity.

He was speaking at the launch of the Conservatives' rail review, which is due to report back in 2007 and will focus specifically on how the firms running tracks and trains are better integrated to allow them to better respond to increased passenger numbers.

The number of people travelling on the railways is set to grow by more than a third in the next eight years, but Mr Grayling warned there were no plans to increase capacity ? meaning overcrowding will get much worse, or fares will rise further.

"We don?t think it is realistic to keep expecting passengers to pay more and more to travel on trains that will be more and more overcrowded. And people won?t leave their car at home if that is the alternative. Something has to change," he said.

Speaking from Clapham Junction, Britain's busiest train station, Mr Grayling said a key problem was the structure of the industry as it was set up under John Major's Conservative government in 1996.

"We think, with hindsight, that the complete separation of track and train into separate businesses at the time of privatisation was not right for our railways," he said.

"We think that the separation has helped push up the cost of running the railways ? and hence fares ? and has slowed decisions about capacity improvements. Too many people and organisations are now involved in getting things done ? so nothing happens."

Public subsidies have ballooned in recent years to £3.7 billion this year and £2.9 billion next year, but much of this will be eaten up by Network Rail, which took over the running of the tracks, signals, tunnels and key stations from Railtrack in 2002.

The takeover came after three serious rail crashes in three years, at Hatfield, Southall and Paddington, which raised questions of who was responsible for safety when different firms were running the tracks and trains.

Mr Grayling's admission that Mr Major's policy was flawed was welcomed by rail minister Derek Twigg, but he warned that David Cameron's Conservatives appeared to have "learned nothing from it".

"The suggestion now is to break up Network Rail which is delivering real improvements in performance and reliability based on record investment by this Labour government," he said.

"For the first time since the 1960s Britain's railways are carrying more than one billion passengers a year. The Tories real agenda is to cut that investment which they opposed every step of the way."

See also:

Tories change policy on railways

BBC News: 2006/07/17

The Conservatives have admitted their decision to divide the track and train components of the rail network in 1996 was a mistake which increased costs.

Shadow transport secretary Chris Grayling told a meeting of rail industry figures there was a lack of clarity about who was in charge.

The Conservatives did not want a return to a British Rail structure but wanted more integration, he said.

Rail Minister Derek Twigg said they had not learnt from their old mistakes.

Railtrack, the company which used to be in charge of the network of train tracks, was wound up in 2001. It was replaced by Network Rail.

"We think that the separation of train and track has helped push up the cost of running the railways" - Chris Grayling, Shadow transport secretary

Mr Grayling says new thinking is needed because passenger numbers will increase by 40% in the next seven years.

He told BBC Radio 4: "There is no serious plan for additional capacity, for more trains in which those passengers can travel.

"The only people who are seriously talking about it are Network Rail who want £7 billion extra of taxpayers' money, on top of the huge amounts of money they are already receiving from government. I think we have to do things differently."

Profit share

In his speech, Mr Grayling said the Tories did not intend to take Network Rail back into private ownership.

Instead, the policy would mean integrated organisations working under shorter franchise deals rather than owning the track.

The Conservatives are starting a review, which will result in a strategy paper next year.

"We think, with hindsight, that the complete separation of track and train into separate businesses at the time of privatisation was not right for our railways," he said.

"We think that the separation has helped push up the cost of running the railways - and hence fares - and is now slowing decisions about capacity improvements.

"Too many people and organisations are now involved in getting things done - so nothing happens.

"As a result, the industry lacks clarity about who is in charge and accountable for decisions."

Strike fears

Mr Grayling also outlined plans to give rail workers a share in the financial successes of their industry in a bid to stave off more strike action.

He said: "We know how frustrating it can be to the travelling public to see regular threats of strike action used by unions as a negotiating tactic in their discussions with their employers.

"We regard the people who work on our railways as skilled professionals, responsible for the safety, operation, logistics and customer service of our network."

Rail Minister Derek Twigg dismissed the Conservative policy as "incoherent".

"The Tories have finally admitted that their rail privatisation was a mistake but they have learned nothing from it," he said.

"Driven by dogma in the 1990s John Major's Tories fragmented our railways and driven by the same dogma in the 21st century David Cameron's Tories appear to want to fragment them again."

The plans also came under fire from Liberal Democrat rail spokesman Alistair Carmichael.

"The Tories don't seem to have learnt anything from their past mistakes, this is merely a re-privatisation by the backdoor," he said.

"These proposals are muddled in thinking and would be muddled in implementation. Because in most areas several companies share the track, this policy would lead to more conflicts between operators."

Posted on 05:59 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 16 July 2006,

Train operator First Great Western has appointed 15 new customers to a panel which aims to give train passengers a say on its services.

The firm said it had created three sub-groups to represent the South West, Bristol and Thames Valley areas.

Each of the panel members have been assigned a rail route to represent.

A spokeswoman said: "Rather than tackling individual issues, the panel is designed to ensure there is input into our strategic decisions."

First Great Western runs train services from London through the Thames Valley, the South West of England and the Cotswolds.

Posted on 12:29 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 16 July 2006

Eight railway workers in the Israeli city of Haifa died after rockets fired from Lebanon hit the train depot where they were working.

The platform at the train depot was drenched in their blood.

At least 20 people were also injured by the rocket, just one of at least 17 which landed in the city.

At Ramam hospital relatives of those caught up in the attack gathered for news. This woman collapsed upon hearing that her brother had been killed.

Posted on 12:16 AM | Permalink

The Sunday Times: July 16, 2006
Dean Nelson, Mumbai

THE explosions that ripped through the first-class carriages of seven Mumbai commuter trains last week, killing nearly 200 people, were not meant for 14-year-old Pappu and his friends Malik and Mohammad.

They were aimed at the wealthy, and largely Hindu, diamond dealers and city traders in India?s financial capital who symbolise the country?s growing wealth and closer ties with the West.

Pappu and his friends are among the forgotten victims of last Tuesday?s terrorist attack ? the homeless or runaway ?railway children? who live on the platforms and have no families to search for them or tell how they died.

They had been playing cards, a group of eight boys, after a hard day?s begging, scavenging and sheltering from the monsoon rains, when the 18.26 western line train pulled into Mahim station?s platform three.

The blast that followed tore the roof off the first-class carriage, shooting shards of glass and steel across the platforms. It killed Malik instantly and severed Mohammad?s leg below the knee, leaving it hanging by the skin.

Pappu was taken to the Sion hospital and treated for cuts, burns and shrapnel wounds. ?His skin was black and he had pieces of metal all over him,? said Sulak Sharna, of World Vision India, a charity that cares for Mumbai?s street children.

Despite pleas from the charity that he was too seriously hurt to be discharged, he was sent ?home? after his wounds had been cleaned and dressed. He was later found dirty and limping in the Dom Bosco shelter for homeless children. The bandage on his leg was filthy and oozing. He had no shoes.

He said the smoke was so thick after the explosion that he could not see his friends.

?I went to help Mohammad, who was crying out. It was raining and the electric wire fell down on me. The sparks struck me. Pieces of metal were stuck in my feet. I fell unconscious. Malik died on the spot,? he said. ?I haven?t seen any of my friends since.?

He now wants to return to his family in Assam, but is afraid to face his dead friend?s parents. ?We were neighbours. I?m a Hindu and he was a Muslim. His parents don?t know he?s dead. What will I tell them? Our parents didn?t even know we?d come to Mumbai.?

At his former home on platform four, about 15 boys were bedding down last Thursday. Some had been sniffing glue ? many of the boys are addicts. Abdul Malik, 17, from Bihar, confirmed that numerous railway children had been injured. One working at a platform ?pani puri? snack stall had lost both his legs below the knee and was now in hospital.

?Some were killed on platform two, 15 died because the roof collapsed. I was sitting on the platform taking drugs just after 6 o?clock. Those on the platform got the worst of it, but I was lucky,? he said.

As Abdul spoke, his friend Mohammed Hussein, another young Muslim who claimed to be 17 but looked much younger, was inhaling a bag of glue.

According to Pappu there had been up to 30 railway children on the platforms on Tuesday night ? more than usual because they were sheltering from the monsoon rain.

Had the attack been any later, there would have been around 100 platform-sleepers there, many of whom make their living as ?rag-pickers?, sifting through the rubbish left by commuters for materials they can sell for recycling.

Pappu said he was paid 150 rupees (£1.75) a day as a rag-picker at Mahim, and that dozens of boys and homeless young men did similar work at all the stations hit by the bombings. He was sure railway children were among the victims at those stations too, he said.

The children come from broken homes and large, poor families in India?s most desperate states such as Bihar and Assam. They aim for big, prosperous ? and to these children, glamorous ? cities such as Delhi, Bangalore and especially Mumbai, India?s city of dreams.

But with little money, no family or friends, few get further than the railway station they arrive at, with its ready network of children and the possibility of scratching a living of sorts.

According to Abdul Malik, who left his home in Bihar on India?s eastern flank to find a ?better life?, station ?coolies?, the red-jacketed porters who hustle for tips along the platforms, were also badly hit by the bombs.

Abdul Malik, Mohammed Hussein, and Pappu are among the many thousands of homeless children who live in and around the stations of India?s sprawling rail network.

In Delhi, 2,000 children are believed to make their living along the platforms. Along with western volunteers, they have formed a charity offering tours of the ?other side of the tracks? for 200 rupees. It ploughs the profits into education and training for the children.

They show tourists the ?safe? nooks and crannies where they sleep, the rag-picking middle men who buy the discarded rubbish that the children collect, and offer talks by street children on the violence, abuse and camaraderie they say are all part of their railway experience.

Mumbai?s railway children are not so organised. Their suffering has yet to feature on any tourist trail. Their stories have been overlooked since last Tuesday in the broader and better articulated tragedies of those whose friends and families searched the city for them.

One family had searched every mortuary and hospital in the city, and had seen almost every victim without finding their son. They discovered later that he had died in one of the hospitals they had visited.

?If we?d known we could have saved him, we could have taken him to a private hospital or held his hand as he passed away,? one relative said. The city?s hospitals have been posting photographs of the dead to speed identification.

Stars from Bollywood held a candlelit prayer vigil for the victims while police mounted two equally important operations ? one to find the culprits, the other to prevent communal riots.

Arup Patnaik, a police commissioner, said his officers were visiting community leaders and patrolling volatile districts. ?We?re hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst,? he said.

The search for the culprits has focused on a little-known group, the Students Islamic Movement of India. It began as a Muslim empowerment movement in the 1970s but took a militant turn in the early 1990s and now supports Al-Qaeda.

Its founder, Mohammad A Siddiqi, is a journalism professor in America. Last week he said the group had turned militant after he left it. ?Not in my wildest dreams did I think it would become an extremist fundamentalist group,? he said.

On Mahim station?s platform four, the mainly Muslim railway children were dodging police patrols, trying to find a spot to sleep, unaware that anyone had struck a blow for them.

BLASTS 'REVENGE FOR MUSLIM RIOT DEATHS'

THE Mumbai railway bombings were carried out by an Islamic militant group in retaliation for the deaths of more than 1,000 Muslims in riots in the neighbouring Indian state of Gujarat, a leading member claimed this weekend, writes Dean Nelson.

The group, Gujarat Revenge, is an offshoot of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which detectives believe was responsible for the bomb attacks.

A SIMI leader ? known as Usman ? told The Sunday Times that first-class passengers were targeted because they were mainly wealthy Gujaratis who, he claimed, had financed the state?s Hindu fundamentalist government.

He accused Gujarat?s chief minister, Narendra Modi, of failing to protect the Muslim minority during riots in 2002.

Usman said that the group would launch more attacks in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, two of the state?s largest cities, and that the bombing campaign would continue until Modi was ?sacked or punished?. He did not regret any of the Hindu deaths in the bombings and said Muslims who died had been inevitable casualties in a ?war?.

Gujarat Revenge was formed after SIMI was banned as a terrorist group in 2003. Usman, who appeared to be in his forties and has a distinctive grey stubble beard, is a key figure in planning logistics for both SIMI and Gujarat Revenge attacks.

He said he had become involved in SIMI in 1983 when it was working in education. It became more militant because it saw Muslims being discriminated against in India, he said.

?We choose violence because people do not want Muslims to progress. In 1984, during the first communal riots in Mumbai, the police supported the Hindus. If they kill one Muslim, we will kill hundreds of them.?

He said that the group had carried out two earlier bombings in Mumbai in 2003 ? an attack on a women?s carriage which killed 11 and injured 65, and the bombing of a bus in which four were killed and 32 injured.

Posted on 08:32 AM | Permalink

Daily Mirror: 15 July 2006
By Ros Wynne-Jones

Jeff Crawford, Secretary of the West Indian Standing Conference
Forty years ago this man changed the face of race relations in Britain after beating a colour bar on the railways - "Coloured people could have jobs as cleaners and labourers, but not as guards or ticket collectors"
Many thanks to Sheena Xavier, daughter of the late Asquith Xavier for correcting our misattribution of the above photograph to her father.

Train guard, Asquith Xavier, waiting to check passengers' tickets has been forced to fight a legal battle for the right to wear his uniform.

Astonishingly, in the 60s there was a colour bar at Euston Station in London, banning black people from jobs where they might meet the public.

And it was this man, Asquith Xavier, who took on British Railways and the unions to smash it exactly 40 years ago today. He was Britain's version of Rosa Parks, an Alabama seamstress whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man was a key moment in the fight for civil rights in America.

Although 1966 was a relaxed World Cup summer of mini-skirts and pop music, Euston was still bound by rules and attitudes that would not have been out of place in the Victorian era.

Hailed as a "Rail Pioneer" in the Daily Mirror, Asquith's victory led to the strengthening of the Race Relations Act and the creation of the Commission for Racial Equality.

It also led to a full and independent inquiry into discrimination inside British Rail, which found that colour bars were in place in several London stations from Camden to Broad Street.

Yesterday Asquith's sister-in-law Agatha Xavier remembered a gentleman who never sought confrontation. "He was a kind, honourable man," she says. "He was so honest. But he also refused to accept being treated differently because of his colour. We are all very proud of him."

Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, explains why Asquith's actions were so important. "Asquith's stand against discrimination brought to light the inadequacy of early race discrimination laws and persistent widespread discrimination faced by ethnic minorities," he says.

"People who, like him, were willing to speak out against racist policies brought about changes to the way we live, changes which underpin today's multiethnic Britain and led us to become the envy of other countries."

Asquith was 46 and had come to Britain from Dominica, the largest of the Windward Isles in the eastern Caribbean. He had started work for the then British Railways in 1956 as a porter, working his way up to rail guard at Marylebone station, where there was no colour bar.

He applied for a transfer to Euston, which would have meant a pay rise of £10 to £50 a week. But, as the Daily Mirror reported, there was an agreement between British Rail officials and staff at Euston that black people would not be allowed jobs where they met the public.

"Coloured people could have jobs as cleaners and labourers, but not as guards or ticket collectors," we revealed.

In the United States it had been 11 years since Rosa Parks, 42, had refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. Her arrest and trial for this action - seen as civil disobedience - led to the Montgomery bus boycott, engineered by Martin Luther King.

By 1966 the US civil rights movement was giving way to Black Power in the wake of violent reprisals against activists.

BRITAIN, too, was struggling to change. In 1945 the country's non-white residents had numbered the low thousands. By 1970 there were around 1.4 million - a third of them born in the United Kingdom.
After the Second World War there were severe labour shortages as Britain rebuilt itself, and Commonwealth citizens were encouraged to come to the UK.

Modern immigration was born on June 22, 1948, with the arrival of the ship Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks, carrying 492 Jamaicans. Companies such as London Transport, the NHS and other organisations actively recruited in the West Indies. But those who came here often faced racial discrimination.

Phillips explains: "Like many of the Windrush generation who arrived from the Caribbean during the 50s, Asquith would have travelled to this country expecting to find a place that looked like the exported version of colonial Britain' where people were treated with respect and where even train workers knew Shakespeare.

"What greeted them was a society - dependent on them for its reconstruction following the war, system - which was prejudiced towards blacks, Jews, gipsies and other minorities."

The first Race Relations Act had been passed in 1965, making it illegal to "refuse anyone access, on racial grounds, to public places such as hotels, pubs, restaurants, cinemas, public transport or any place run by a public authority". But the legislation did not apply to the workplace.

At a press conference 40 years ago today, British Railways denied the 12-year colour bar at Euston had ever been a "real bar".

Suggesting it had been instigated by the workers out of a desire to protect their jobs, he said: "If we had wanted to impose a real colour bar we would not have done it this way. We would have found some excuse to show he was not suitable for the job, wouldn't we?"

For Asquith, a father of seven, starting work at Euston came at a price. He had to ask for police protection because of threatening letters from the public. But well-wishers gathered at the station on his first official day of work. "We expect Mr Xavier to fit in very well here," station manager Ernest Drinnan told reporters. "His record at Marylebone was exceptionally good and we know everyone here will take to him."

Mr Leppington shook hands with Asquith and said: "You will be fairly treated." He added: "There is now no colour bar at Euston. A coloured man can rise to any position here."

Jeff Crawford, secretary of the West Indian Standing Conference - formed in 1958 to promote the interests of the African Caribbean community in Britain - called on the government to take action at other stations.

Two years later, in 1968, a new Race Relations Act made it illegal to refuse housing, employment or public services to people because of their ethnic background.

Presenting the Bill to Parliament, then Home Secretary Jim Callaghan said: "The House has rarely faced an issue of greater social significance for our country and our children."

Trevor Phillips says: "Today, when an organisation steps out of line, the Commission for Racial Equality's legal team is ready to hold it to account. Last year we dealt with over 1,000 complaints of racial discrimination.

"The last 12 months have seen compensation of £1.6million and over £2million awarded in employment tribunals in cases of race discrimination.

In 2005 the CRE spent well over £1million on grassroots legal support, in addition to handling several hundred cases directly."

Asquith's contribution - like Rosa Parks's to the history of the US civil rights movement - was to refuse to accept that his colour should be a barrier to doing anything he was capable of.

"People like Asquith have undoubtedly shaped the way we live today," Phillips says. "Their contribution to our society should be celebrated and never forgotten."

See also:

1966: Euston staff 'colour bar' ended

BBC ON THIS DAY: 15 July, 1966

A West Indian refused a job at Euston Station will now be employed there after managers overturned a ban on black workers.

Two months ago Asquith Xavier, a train guard from Dominica, was refused a transfer from Marylebone Station to Euston because of his colour.

The new job would have meant a pay increase of around £10 a week for Mr Xavier who started work for British Railways (BR) as a porter 10 years ago.

He was informed about his rejection and the reason for it in a letter from Euston's local staff committee whose members belong to the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR).

We are going to urge the government to conduct a full and independent inquiry into discrimination throughout British Rail
Jeff Crawford, West Indian Standing ConferenceBR does not have to abide by staff committees' recommendations on appointments but they are very influential.

However, at a news conference on Friday BR spokesman Leslie Leppington said the colour bar at Euston Station had now been ended and Mr Xavier would be given a job.

However, Mr Leppington insisted the ban - rumoured to have been in place for 12 years - had not been a "real" colour bar.

He said it had been instigated by the workers out of a desire to protect their jobs and had never been management policy.

"If we had wanted to impose a real colour bar we would not have done it this way.

"We would have found some excuse to show he was not suitable for the job, wouldn't we?" Mr Leppington said.

Mr Xavier, 44, is currently off work due to ill health and was not at the news conference.

But afterwards the secretary of the West Indian Standing Conference, Jeff Crawford, said they would be calling for the government to take action.

"We are going to urge the government to conduct a full and independent inquiry into discrimination throughout British Rail - to find out the extent of the problem, the cause and effect and the solution," Mr Crawford said.

Similar bans to that ended at Euston are reported to be in force at other London stations including Camden and Broad Street.

But under current law the government's options to curb them are limited.

The Race Relations Act was passed last year but contains only measures to combat racial discrimination in public places such as hotels and pubs.

Footage of the British Rail news conference and reaction

In Context:

*Racial discrimination in various forms was a feature of everyday life for many Commonwealth immigrants who had been invited to Britain in the early 1950s and 1960s to fill labour shortages.

*Discrimination in the workplace did not begin to be tackled until an amendment to the Race Relations Act in 1968.

*However, effective measures were not put in place until the 1976 Race Relations Act which set up the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE).

*The CRE had the power to force companies and other bodies to comply with the Act.

*In spite of attempts by various governments to curb immigration the number of people from Commonwealth countries in Britain continued to climb over the years.

*The Census in 2001 showed 4.6 million people living in the UK were from an ethnic minority, or 7.9% of the population.

Posted on 12:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Swindon Advertiser: 14th July 2006

POLITICIANS met with train supporters on Friday to back the campaign to save the doomed Melksham train service.

Shadow Transport secretary Chris Grayling MP, right, with Devizes MP Michael Ancram met local rail organiser Graham Ellis, left, and supporters

Shadow transport spokesman Chris Grayling and Melksham MP Michael Ancram urged people to continue putting pressure on the Government to stop services being reduced.

First Great Western, which operates the services, has said from December the current service in Melksham of six trains a day will be cut to just two, with no trains running between 7.30am and 6.30pm.

Graham Ellis, who started the Save the Train campaign and website, said he was pleased to see the two politicians on Friday. "They came along to lend their support to up the pressure on the Government. Mr Grayling said what it is planning to do belies all logical sense. He will be putting pressure on transport minister Derek Twigg," he said.
continued...

* To find out more about Mr Ellis's campaign visit www.savethetrain.org.uk

Posted on 12:19 AM | Permalink

Daily Mirror: 14 July 2006

INDIAN police arrested more than 300 people yesterday as they hunted the terrorists behind the Mumbai train bombings, which killed 200.

They also released pictures of two bearded suspects - Sayyad Zabi-uddin and Zulfeqar Fayyaz ??" wanted in connection with Tuesday's outrage.

The authorities gave no other details on the men, whose names indicate they are Muslims.

Police said most of those held were activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi).
Simi militants were allegedly involved in bomb blasts in the city in 2003 where 55 people died.

Investigators were also probing a call from a man claiming to represent al-Qaeda who said Osama bin Laden's network now had a wing in Kashmir.

Posted on 12:06 AM | Permalink

AFX News Limited: 07.14.2006

BOMBAY (XFN-ASIA) - Reliance Energy Ltd, the power and infrastructure arm of the Anil Ambani group, is in talks with TGV of France to bid for the 30-bln rupees light railway transit system (LRTS) in Calcutta, Business Standard reported, citing sources close to the group.

A source told the paper that Reliance Energy will give a formal presentation on its plan to the West Bengal government on July 24.

Siemens and Amex International of the Czech Republic are also in the fray for the project, the report said.

'Reliance is ready to finance the project fully, but Siemens and Amex have asked for assistance; so the state government is eager to see Reliance Energy's formal proposal,' a government source was quoted as saying

Posted on 11:28 PM | Permalink

People's Weekly World Newspaper: 07/13/06

Safety concerns on the trains they run dominated the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen's conference in Las Vegas in late June. Topping the list were railroads' plans to cut the crew members per train down to one and the issue of transportation of nuclear waste.

BLE&T delegates, whose union is now part of the Teamsters Rail Conference, took the rail safety issues to the following IBT convention in Las Vegas. Oregon BLE&T Legislative Chairman Scott Palmer told delegates 'a serious threat' looms to both workers and communities from transportation of spent nuclear fuel from U.S. reactors to the Energy Department?s deep underground storage site in Yucca Mountain, Nev. Virtually all of that spent fuel will come by rail.

Palmer said rail workers do not receive proper training to handle spent fuel and do not receive the same protections given to other nuclear industry workers. And DOE has no program to track rail workers' exposure to potential radiation from the shipments. The federal agency contends the reinforced cement containers carrying the spent fuel will protect the workers and the public from radiation releases.

'It's our goal to not only track but to lower exposure levels and keep them as low as possible,' Palmer said. 'Right now, no (rail) carrier even has a program that will protect pregnant workers from radiation. If you show up to work, you cannot turn down a train of radioactive material. Rail is the way they're going to move it. It's going to be dedicated trains, and it's going to be 210 feet behind you.'

BLE&T is also leading a crusade against railroads' schemes for engineerless freight locomotives in train yards - especially since the carriers, with Bush Federal Railroad Administration approval, liberally interpret the word 'yard.' Thirty years ago, there were five crew members on a freight train. Now, Burlington Northern-Santa Fe is experimenting with running freight trains out of Galesburg, Ill., with just the engineer. Much of the actual operation will be turned over to remote computer control. Dozens of cities, counties, towns and labor bodies have protested this practice, citing fatal accidents and safety threats.

The engineer-only freight trains were thrown into current bargaining between the nation?s freight railroads, which want them, and the Teamster-led union coalition representing rail workers. Chicago is the nation?s largest freight rail hub, followed by Kansas City.

Posted on 09:24 AM | Permalink

RMT: July 13 2006

Findings by Passenger Focus released today confirm RMT?s view that fares are too expensive and act as a disincentive to rail travel.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that following privatisation one of the limited protections passengers enjoyed was regulated fares but these are being eroded, allowing fares to rise above inflation.

He called on the government to institute a review to reduce fare levels, simplify ticketing structures and encourage a shift from private car use to environmentally-sustainable rail use.

"Season ticket prices can now increase by RPI plus 1 per cent and the restrictions on the use of Savers continue to grow, leaving rail users out of pocket and not out of their cars," he said.

A House of Commons Transport Select Committee report on fares released in May 2006 also concluded that the present fares system was driven by profit rather than the needs of passengers.

*More information on the latest research on rail fares is available on the Passenger Focus website: http://www.passengerfocus.org.uk/

Posted on 09:04 AM | Permalink

RMT: July 12 2006

BRITAIN?S biggest rail union RMT announced dates for one 24-hour strike and one 48-hour strike today after Network Rail refused to agree to a one-year pay deal.

RMT signaller members will be asked not to book on between noon on Friday 21 July 2006 and 11.59am on Saturday 22 July 2006. Also for members not to book on between the hours of  noon on Thursday 27 July 2006 and 11.59am on Saturday 29 July 2006.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the union remained available to resolve the issue but added that he could not understand the attitude of Network Rail in refusing to even consider a one-year deal.
"Network Rail has just agreed a one-year deal for over 15,000 infrastructure workers but is refusing to give 5,000 signallers the same - that does not make sense.

"The company is fixated with a 21-month deal but all it has to do is apply the figures in the offer relating to the first year and it will be acceptable to the union," he said.

Posted on 12:33 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 12 July 2006

The rail network is set to be hit by two strikes by signal workers, threatening chaos for passengers, after a fresh round of pay talks broke down. Unions were originally going to strike during the World Cup.

The Rail Maritime and Transport Union said thousands of signal workers will walk out for 24 hours from noon on Friday 21 July.

A further 48-hour stoppage will start at noon on Thursday 27 July, it said.

Network Rail said it had worked hard to avert industrial action over a 21-month pay deal at the centre of the dispute.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said the union remained available to resolve the issue but added he could not understand Network Rail's refusal to consider a union request of a one-year deal.

"Network Rail has just agreed a one-year deal for over 15,000 infrastructure workers but is refusing to give 5,000 signallers the same - that does not make sense," he said.

"The company is fixated with a 21-month deal but all it has to do is apply the figures in the offer relating to the first year and it will be acceptable to the union."

'End of the line'

Network Rail Chief Executive, John Armitt, said it urged the RMT to take the offer as it was the "end of the line for negotiations".

"We are extremely disappointed by the RMT's decision, which means we are now facing a rail strike that will cause disruption for millions of people," he said.

Network Rail said the company was unable to meet the union's demand for a further substantial increase on top of the £2,500-per-employee raise already on offer.

An estimated 5,000 rail workers had planned to strike twice in June during earlier pay negotiations.

Both dates clashed with England World Cup group matches, but the union eventually called the strikes off so staff could be consulted over the new pay offer.

See also:

Rail strike dates announced

Times Online: July 12, 2006
By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent

The Rail Maritime and Transport union today announced three days of strikes by 5,000 signal workers which would would bring the network to a halt if they went ahead.

The union said the workers would walk out from 12 noon on July 21 for 24 hours and again for 48 hours from 12 noon on July 27 in a protest over pay.

Network Rail said it had already offered a £2,500 increase for signallers and could not afford the union?s demands for a further "substantial" rise.

John Armitt, Network Rail?s chief executive, said: "We are striving for a railway that is affordable to passengers and offers value for money to the British taxpayer. We urge the RMT to accept that we have offered the best deal we can and that this is the end of the line for negotiations."

Network Rail said it had been making robust contingency plans to deal with the effects of a strike.

"Sadly, we must now ask people to prepare for industrial action. On strike days we will do our best to run as many services as possible. Over the coming days we will work with our partners, the train operating companies, to put in place a strike timetable and we will make this available as soon as possible," said Mr Armitt.

See also:

Rail signal workers set to strike

Press Association: July 12, 2006

Thousands of railway signal workers are to stage a series of strikes over pay, threatening travel chaos for passengers across the country.

The Network Rail workers will walk out from noon on July 21 for 24 hours and again for 48 hours from noon on July 27.

The Rail Maritime and Transport union said the strikes were called in protest at Network Rail's refusal to change a two year deal to one year.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said the union remained available to resolve the issue but added that he could not understand the attitude of Network Rail in refusing to consider a 12 month deal.

"Network Rail has just agreed a one year deal for over 15,000 infrastructure workers but is refusing to give 5,000 signallers the same - that does not make sense.

"The company is fixated with a 21-month deal but all it has to do is apply the figures in the offer relating to the first year and it will be acceptable to the union."

The rail network faces serious disruption if the strikes go ahead.

Posted on 12:31 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 13 July 2006

Eurotunnel has applied for legal protection from its creditors after talks aimed at restructuring its huge debts broke up without agreement. Eurotunnel faces financial collapse if it does not sort out its debts.

The Channel Tunnel operator has asked a French court to freeze its debts to enable it to continue operating while a Judge tries to mediate a solution.

It has been trying to persuade its bondholders to back a deal to cut its 8.7bn euros (£6.2bn) debt pile in half.

But a dissident group of creditors has refused to support the proposals.

Services continuing

Despite its severe financial problems, Eurotunnel has insisted that it will continue to maintain services between the UK and the continent.

"I fail to understand how an institution such as Deutsche Bank has maintained its unreasonable demands" - Jacques Gounon, Eurotunnel chairman

Eurotunnel had given itself until Thursday morning to reach an agreement, warning that insolvency was a real possibility if no deal was brokered.

It has now applied to the Commercial Court of Paris for protection from its creditors, an alternative to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy procedure used in the US.

The process will prevent the firm from defaulting on its debts while a court-appointed administrator tries to put together a survival plan.

Eurotunnel's management hit out at a minority group of creditors led by Deutsche Bank, which holds about a third of the firm's debt, for blocking its restructuring plans.

"I fail to understand how an institution such as Deutsche Bank has maintained its unreasonable demands without taking into account the consequences on the 2,300 employees and 800,000 shareholders of Eurotunnel," chairman Jacques Gounon said.

Construction legacy

The crisis at Eurotunnel has its origins in the construction of the Channel Tunnel, completed in 1994.

The tunnel cost about 14bn euros ($17.7bn; £9.8bn) to build, but traffic has never been nearly as heavy as was originally forecast, hurting Eurotunnel's revenues.

If approved by the courts, the "Procedure de Sauvegarde" would give Eurotunnel a six-month window of protection from creditors while it tries to restructure its debts.

It agreed a preliminary restructuring plan with its priority lenders and Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Axa and Macquarie Bank back in May, which would see Eurotunnel's debt cut by more than 50% to £2.9bn.

However, some bondholders have complained that they are being offered too little money to support the restructuring, and are seeking a different deal which would leave them with cash and shares in the firm.

The bondholders are the lowest-ranked debt holders, very unlikely to get any of their money back if Eurotunnel is declared insolvent.

Even if a deal had been struck with bondholders, the preliminary restructuring agreement would have had to be put to Eurotunnel shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting on 27 July.

Some of them have voiced their opposition to the deal.

See also:

Key facts about the Channel Tunnel

Reuters: July 12

Anglo-French tunnel operator Eurotunnel was set to enter a final round of talks aimed at averting bankruptcy on Wednesday.

* TIMELINE:

1751 - Engineer Nicolas Desmarets suggests the idea of digging a tunnel under the English Channel.

1802 - French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte backs a scheme for a tunnel for horse-drawn carriages under the Channel.

1880 - Colonel Ernest Beaumont makes first serious attempt to build tunnel. Britain later stops project on defence grounds.

1955 - British government lifts ban on Channel Tunnel.

1994 - Britain's Queen Elizabeth and French President Francois Mitterrand formally open the Channel tunnel.

* TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION:

-- The first tunnelling machine in the marine service tunnel began excavation in December 1987 on the English side, and this broke through to the equivalent French tunnel in December 1990. -- The twin 31-mile (50 km) tunnels, built by 15,000 workers who put in 170 million man hours whisks trucks and cars on trains under the channel in just 35 minutes between Folkestone in southern England and the north-eastern French port of Calais.

* MONEY TROUBLES:

-- The Channel Tunnel operator warned creditors it will go technically bankrupt unless it reaches a debt deal by midnight (2200 GMT) on Wednesday, but reassured travellers trains will keep running whatever the outcome of the talks.

-- The original 1986 concession called for private funding when the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher insisted that "not a public penny" should be sunk into the 31-mile tunnel.

-- Delays in the start of train services in 1994 and lower traffic figures than anticipated exacerbated financial problems.

-- Eurotunnel took on massive debts to dig the rail tunnel an engineering masterpiece which has never paid its way. The loss-making company has debt interest payments which are equivalent to more than $850 every minute.

-- Eurotunnel's current debt pile stands at 6.2 billion pounds ($11.4 billion)

Update:

Eurotunnel cancels July 27 shareholder meeting

Reuters: Jul 13, 2006

PARIS - Anglo-French Channel tunnel operator Eurotunnel said on Thursday it had decided to cancel its July 27 shareholders meeting after failing to agree on a debt restructuring deal.

"At its meeting in Paris today, the Joint Board of Eurotunnel decided unanimously to cancel the General Meetings of Shareholders of Eurotunnel Plc and Eurotunnel SA, planned for 27 July, and confirmed its intention to place the Group under the protection of the Paris commercial court (Tribunal de Commerce de Paris)," the company said in a statement.

Posted on 12:23 AM | Permalink

International Transport Workers' Federation: 11 July 2006

Condemning today's atrocity David Cockroft, ITF General Secretary, said: "This is another assault on common humanity that, as in Madrid and London, targets  innocent people on their way to and from work. Transport workers and their unions will once again share the public's revulsion at this latest horror, and pledge ourselves to help in any way we can."

See also:

Mumbai bombers 'will never win'

BBC News: 2006/07/12

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has vowed that "no-one can make India kneel", a day after a series of train bombings in Mumbai killed 200 people.

In a TV address, Mr Singh said those affected by the rush hour attacks had responded with "courage and humanism".

The government says there are so far no leads, and it has avoided naming any particular groups as suspects.

Two Islamic militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir have denied any involvement in the attacks.

Correspondents say the government has publicly adopted a cautious approach, saying only that "terrorists" are to blame.

"No-one can come in the path of our progress" - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

"I urge each one of you to remain calm," the prime minister said. "Do not be provoked by rumours. Do not let anyone divide us. Our strength lies in our unity."

Mr Singh commended the work of police, firefighters and medics and said his country would not be cowed.

"No-one can come in the path of our progress," he said. "The wheels of our economy will move on.

"India will continue to walk tall, and with confidence."

Defiance

Maharashtra deputy chief minister RR Patil told the state assembly the death toll had risen overnight, with 200 bodies now pulled from the wreckage.

Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is India's commercial heart and the bombers hit right at its bustling centre in the south.

"I will go on the train today again. I am not afraid of death" - Prashant Singh, passenger on one of the bombed trains

But on Wednesday morning, the commuter trains, which carry six million people to work every day, were up and running again and crowded as usual with passengers.

"I will go on the train today again. I am not afraid of death," said Prashant Singh, a software engineer who was on the train that was bombed at Bandra station.

While the front pages of local newspapers carried stories detailing the terrible carnage, inside the headlines emphasised Mumbai's "invincible" spirit.

Correspondents also report long lines of Mumbai's minority Muslims queuing to donate blood to some of the 714 wounded in the blasts.

Meanwhile India's stock market confounded predictions, rising three percentage points on the morning after the bombings.

Group denies involvement

Police said they mounted a series of raids in the Mumbai area and detained suspects for questioning, but made no arrests.

Analysts suggest a powerful, possibly transnational group must have been behind the co-ordinated bombings, timed to go off at the height of the evening rush-hour.

The police chief of the state of Maharashtra - of which Mumbai is the capital - said the bombings bore the hallmarks of Lashkar-e-Toiba, a leading Pakistan-based militant group fighting in Kashmir.

But a spokesman for the group rejected suggestions that it had been behind the attacks, describing them as "inhuman" and "barbaric".

A second group, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, also condemned the blasts.

'Infrastructure of terrorism'

The BBC's Geeta Pandey says that unlike in the past, when India has been quick to blame Pakistan or Pakistani-supported militants for attacks, Delhi has adopted a cautious approach.

But tensions became apparent on Wednesday, when a spokesman for the Indian foreign ministry accused Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri of an "appalling" attempt to link the bombings to the failure to resolve the dispute over Kashmir.

Spokesman Navtej Sarna also urged Pakistan to "dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism" on territory under its control.

Pakistan's foreign ministry later rejected the accusations in a statement, saying Mr Kasuri's remarks had been misreported and denying he had drawn a link between the bombings and the Kashmir dispute.

It insisted Pakistan was "in the forefront of international efforts to fight [the] menace" of terrorism.

Posted on 12:08 AM | Permalink

2006 FGW (ex-Wessex Sectional Council)
RMT Representatives on the FGW Sectional Council are currently as for ex-Wessex Sectional Council:
• Rail Operators: Tim Wilkinson (07760 377515) & Glen Burrows (07764 994541)
• Clerical staff: Ian Baikie (07855 185314)

PAY & CONDITIONS TALKS
Negotiations are ongoing (ex-Wessex rep. in Pay Talks is Brian Willey), but have been delayed by Re-Organisation & the Pensions Dispute. Next Pay Meeting is 24th July. RMT has rejected an offer of 3.5%, & is looking for a substantial flat rat increase for lowest-paid staff, 35-hour week for all staff; improved family-friendly policies and a common Pay Anniversary. More news after 24th July.

TRAVEL FACILITIES
Present facilities remain valid until 30th September 2006. This date will be reviewed depending progress with Pay & Conditions talks.

PENSIONS DISPUTE – BRISTOL MEETINGHear Bob Crow report on the latest developments in the Railways Pension Dispute
Tuesday, July 25
The Railway Club
Bristol Temple Meads Station
Bristol
Meeting starts at 6.30pm

HARMONISATIONWe’ve asked for talks to begin before 31st July across the 3 original companies, and have set up a working group to draw up our demands for harmonisation of pay and conditions. Glen Burrows & Ian Baikie will represent ex-Wessex staff on this working group

RE-ORGANISATION
Truro Call Centre is to close at the end of September. Staff have been offered a move to First Info at Plymouth under the PT&R with their existing conditions.In the meantime there are opportunities within Cornwall,at Penzance ( CO2 currently advertised), Revenue Protection,On Board Staff and the staffing of Par Station in connection with the Newquay Branch. RMT members should contact Ian Baikie for advice.

NEW TICKETS.
The introduction of new tickets was a shambles, with no attempt to train or brief staff. Staff working under pressure have no time to “pick up” new systems, nor read long briefing documents. It’s very stressful, particularly at single-staffed stations, to be “dumped on” in this way. If FGW want to present a professional image, then they need to take this sort of thing seriously, since nothing is more designed to put passengers off than station staff who don’t appear to know what they’re doing. Ex-Wessex Associate Trainers are still in place, so they should have been used in this situation. Head of Stations Mark Heffernan has accepted this criticism, and has said he will endeavour to correct the situation. Ask your manager to arrange a briefing for you, if you have not already done so. And don’t take work home with you!

UNIFORMFGW have agreed that female RO staff who work in booking offices can be supplied with cardigans – as are their CO counterparts.

We’ve also asked for female staff to have a choice of pink shirts or white, for female blouses to have female fastenings, and for platform staff to be supplied with warmer clothing which is less bulky than the waterproof overcoat. We’ve also asked for a Uniform Committee to be set up, to represent staffs’ views. These points are being considered by the Uniform Project Group

TICKET VENDING MACHINES
New machines will be purchased in September. Some of these will replace existing machines, but where new locations are proposed, consultation will take place before installation. We have said that staff are not prepared to take on any additional duties in relation to TVMs unless, other duties are dropped, or appropriate remuneration is agreed. We also said that TVMs are not the answer to revenue protection, since fare-dodgers will continue to avoid machines! There will be further consultation on this , along with proposals for stations where we have raised the problem of inadequate staffing levels and lack of relief staff, leading to time-off being refused.

STATION CLEANINGWe expressed concern over the growing level of cleaning required, especially with growth of retail outlets at stations. It is not fair that station staff should have to clean up after café & bar patrons. There is a particular problem with public use of toilets. Once the new management teams are in place, there will be a review of station cleaning and how best to support staff. In the meantime, it would be a good idea to log all cases of cleaning work which cannot be carried out due to lack of time/over-use etc. and for local reps to raise these issues at LDC meetings.

INTRANET & INTERNET ACCESS
It is not FGW policy to allow unlimited internet access to staff, but only to resources for train information. It is hard to argue against this, as it’s hard to see why why anyone would want unlimited access at work! Our concern, however, is that email and intranet access have been woeful since April 1st. Some stations have had virtually no email access. Since a large amount of information is being sent by email, this is clearly not good for business! All stations must have Intranet access. Please contact Glen Burrows if yours does not. FGW is in the process of updating and improving IT, and Glen will pass on details of inadequately resourced ex-Wessex stations

SACKED MEMBER REINSTATED
Emmanuel John, who was sacked while completing his probationery period at St Austell, has been reinstated on appeal. He was supported throughout by the RMT

CONTACT YOUR LOCAL REPRESENTATIVE with any individual or local probems relating to your work. If you don’t know who your representative is, contact Glen, Ian, or Tim for details

SUPPORT YOUR BRANCH!The best source of information, support and advice is your Branch. Details of meetings are on your membership card

For details: www.rmtbristolrail.org.uk

TOLPUDDLE MARTYRS Festival 14-16 July
We shall never forget what we owe them.

Posted on 04:22 PM | Permalink

Howard "Andy" Andrews, 99 years old, who served for two years as a front-line medical worker with the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, will address the Tolpuddle Martyrs Rally on July 16th.

Dave Chapple, member of the South West TUC Executive and President of Bridgwater Trades Union Council writes this tribute to him:

Howard Andrews was born in Kilburn, North West London, in February 1907. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps at 16 and in 1924 was posted to Quetta, Baluchistan, British India. He never forgot the poorest Indian women of Bombay-some of them with babies on their backs- loading coal onto the steamships, and when he left the army in 1931, he immediately addressed street meetings back in Kilburn, telling people about the real British Empire. In the year of the General Strike, 1926, Andy was posted with an Indian regiment to Shanghai, to protect British ?interests? there, during the massacres of Chinese communists and trades unionists by Chaing-Kai Sheck?s right-wing Nationalist troops.

In North London in the early 1930?s, Andy joined the Independent Labour Party and then the Communist Party. He was present when marches against both mass unemployment and Mosley?s Blackshirts were viciously attacked by the police- on one occasion, during a Mosley rally at Earl?s Court ,Andy was thrown down flights of stairs and beaten up in full view of the police, who stood by and smiled.

In August 1936, months before the International Brigades were formed, Andy rode to Spain in an Ambulance donated by the Spanish Medical Aid Committee. He stayed in Spain as a front-line hospital worker for over two years, attached to both British and other International Brigades, and working with medics like Tudor Hart and Seymour Loutit.

The work was hard, tiring, and dangerous. Andy served at field hospitals during some of the toughest battles of the war, including Teruel and the Ebro. When the final great battle of the war, the Ebro, was lost, Andy and other nurses had to be ordered by a senior officer to retreat back across the river. On more than one occasion, hospitals Andy worked in were attacked by airplane or shell-fire, and he still remembers diving behind a wall to escape an Italian plane?s machine gun bullets and hand-grenades.

In 1939 Andy rejoined the army and was sent to France in the Royal Artillery, being lucky enough to escape with his life at Dunkirk when German planes were straffing the beaches.

Always a trades unionist, when Andy moved to Taunton in 1955 he established a Branch of COHSE at Taunton hospital, and was Branch Secretary and Taunton Trades Council delegate until he retired at the age of 65 in 1972.

In 2006 he has joined the Taunton Peace Group, rejoined the Communist Party, and is very active on the streets of Taunton ,handing out leaflets protesting against the renewal of Trident nuclear missiles.

I would like you to welcome Howard Andrews to Tolpuddle, as one of the last Spanish Civil War volunteers.

DAVE CHAPPLE

Posted on 01:33 PM | Permalink

Independent Online: 09 July 2006
By Severin Carrell

After 170 years of serving travellers and train buffs, the National Rail Timetable is to cease publication.

The book that for generations has told Britons where to go - and when they can go there - is about to be killed off. Nearly 170 years after an inspired entrepreneur called George Bradshaw printed the world's first train schedule, the National Rail Timetable is to be abolished.

This national institution - the latest issue runs to 2,830 pages with details of 700,000 trains, and all for a mere £12 - has become the latest victim of the digital era and the rapid growth of the internet. Its last printed edition will be published in December, when it will be replaced by an internet- and telephone-based inquiry service.

The book, in many ways, invented the concept of British national time. Before the railways, there was no need for towns and cities to synchronise their clocks. For train buffs, Bradshaw's timetable was an institution, on a par with Crockford's Clerical Directory, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack and Dod's Parliamentary Companion.

It was once pored over by legions of earnest young trainspotters, and was a key volume in every local library in the country. The decision to cease production has dismayed MPs from all parties. By last Friday, 30 MPs had signed a Parliamentary motion demanding that the decision is reversed.

Linda Riordan, the Labour MP for Halifax, said she and other MPs had had complaints from constituents who didn't have computers and relied on the printed guide. Many people also complained about getting inaccurate information from rail company call centres. A national guide, she said, unified a rail system that had become more fragmented after privatisation.

But officials at Network Rail insist they are reflecting public demand, pointing out that its sales have slumped from 134,000 copies 10 years ago to only 20,000 today. Most people now used the small free guides for local services, or logged on to the internet.

"The only people who have been agitated about it have been the train enthusiasts," said a National Rail spokesman. "We're trying to deal with a 21st-century railway, with a fast-growing passenger network."

The current timetable - known as the Great Britain Public Timetable - traces its roots to Bradshaw's original guide, first printed in 1838. The Bradshaw monthly guide survived until 1961, and was replaced by British Rail's timetables.

Chris Donald, the founding editor of Viz magazine and perhaps Britain's best-known trainspotter - who drew the cartoon (left) especially for the IoS - recalls his fascination with his own heavily-thumbed editions.

"It's the end of an era," he said. But Network Rail could be right, he suggested. "There were two digital trainspotters sitting opposite me recently, and they had ridiculously nerdy kit - all those digital phones with pictures of engines on them. I wouldn't imagine that modern trainspotters would read the thing."

Pete Waterman, the pop producer and train enthusiast, was less sentimental. Modern train buffs used mobile text messaging and the internet to get alerts about train times and movements. "This tradition probably should've died 10 years ago," he said.

"It's always a sad day when institutions change, but we have to be realistic. If it's a printed Bradshaw or putting that money into improving the network, I would take improving the network every time."

Posted on 08:19 AM | Permalink

Engineering News Online: 11 July 2006
Ollie Madlala
 
Nigeria is offering two concessions for its eastern and western railways as it bids to revive the country?s railways sector.

The government, through the National Council of Privatisation (NCP) and the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), has already embarked on a programme to develop and modernise the Nigerian Railway Concession (NRC).

The BPE will continue to accept expressions of interest until the end of July and prior to the beginning of the evaluation, which is to begin on August 11, says project manager: rail Kayode Khalidson. He adds that the evaluation process will begin after the NCP?s approval of the concession masterplan for the NRC concession prepared by the CPCS Transcom consortium, the transaction adviser. The objective of the programme is to revive the role of the railways in the national economy through private-sector participation, leading to improved efficiency and better-quality service.

The NRC operations, which have deteriorated, are also under strong competition from other modes of transports, particularly road transport.

Continuous neglect has reportedly caused the assets to deteriorate to an extent that injection of capital would be necessary to prevent the railways from complete collapse. However, the deterioration is mainly applicable to the rolling stock, as the recent inspection of the track by CPCS Transcom revealed that the track outside the urban areas is in relatively good condition, with the exception of a few washouts in the north-east region. Most of the problems in the urban areas are related to encroachment by traders and squatters and use of the track as a refuse dump. The government of Nigeria is reviewing plans to clear the track and secure it with perimeter fencing to prevent future encroachment. As part of the reform programme, the core operational assets of the NRC will be identified and concessions granted to private-sector operators within the framework of the vertically-integrated concession model.

Key institutional reforms include the participation of the private sector in the operation and management of the railways, corporate restructuring of the NRC and the establishment of a legal and regulatory framework for the sector. The non core assets and other assets considered to be surplus to operations of railway services will either be sold or transferred to the Railway Property Management Company.

?The proposed restructuring and concessioning of the NRC is expected to result in the private-sector concessionaires operating more efficiently and providing better-quality services,? says Khalidson.

Concession 1, which includes the western railway, will involve railway development from Lagos to Nguru and Kuara Namoda through to Zaria, while Concession 2 will involve Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, including the Kaduna?Kafanchan link.

The NRC has a network covering 3 506 km, with basic narrow-gauge, single-track lines, light- and medium-weight rails and steel, as well as wooden sleepers.

According to Khalidson, the concessions will be awarded through a competitive tender to the prequalified bidder that submits the highest financial offer.

Bidders are encouraged to promote the inclusion of local interests in the ownership and management of the concession.

Successful prequalifiers will be organisations or consortia able to demonstrate successful experience in managing railway operations and in managing and maintaining railway infrastructure.

Freight transported by the NRC has been under 100 000 tons/year since 2002.

In order for the freight operation to become financially viable, it must achieve a threshold of about 500 000 tons/year of traffic.

A number of recent studies, including the 25-year strategic vision for Nigerian railways and the report of the Presidential Committee on Railway Concessioning in 2004, have suggested that, from a macroeconomic viewpoint, rail-traffic potential for key bulk commodities that could make use of the existing network is in the range of one-million to two-million tons a year.

?Traffic levels on some segments of the existing line near Lagos and Port Harcount could easily reach three-million to four-million tons a year if and when rail links to the Lagos and Port Harcourt ports (including Onne) are revitalised and the rail links to the inland container depots and to the central line are completed,? reports Khalidson.

It is expected that the western and eastern rail-ways will have sufficient freight traffic to operate on a commercial basis.

Posted on 08:07 AM | Permalink

AFX: 6th July 2006

LONDON - Rail haulier English, Welsh & Scottish Railway said it is embarking on a restructuring to boost growth.

EWS, which is owned by Canadian National Railways Co, New Zealand merchant bank Fay Richwhite and US investment groups Berkshire Partners and Goldman Sachs Group Inc, said it is splitting itself into four divisions branded EWS Energy, EWS Industrial, EWS Construction and EWS Network.

The energy division will move coal and other fuels, industrial will focus on metals, petroleum and heavy industrial products, construction will transport materials for the building and waste industries and the network business will deal with services for logistics firms and the rail industry.

The changes will be formally launched in the autumn. EWS chief executive Keith Heller said they would result in focused expertise in each division and improved links with customers.

Posted on 12:46 AM | Permalink

IsraelNN.com: Jul 11, '06

Not wasting any time, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz on Monday night dismissed three Israel Railway officials hours after accepting the accident investigation report on last month?s Beit Yehoshua train crash that claimed five lives and left dozens injured.

After submitting the report, retired IDF Major-General Yossi Peled stated he believed the minister would take action to dismiss responsible officials, citing the deplorable state of affairs regarding safety in the nation?s rail service. Peled headed the investigation into the fatal crash.

Posted on 12:27 AM | Permalink

Press Association: 10/07/2006

A planned strike by train drivers on First Great Western has been called off following a new offer over pay and conditions, it was announced today.

Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union were due to stage a 24-hour walkout tomorrow and again on July 19 and 27.

All three strikes have been suspended while drivers vote on the offer, with a recommendation from the union to reject.

Posted on 12:14 AM | Permalink

The Australian: July 11, 2006
Paige Taylor

THE decision by Perth rail workers to strike illegally earlier this year could cost them and their militant union $11.4 million in fines, not including court costs.

Churches and the public will be asked to help pay the bill as a result of the 12-day strike in February and March by members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.

The state executive of UnionsWA is due to vote today on a proposed fundraising campaign to include requests for donations or other support from churches, the public and interest groups. UnionsWA secretary Dave Robinson said yesterday that churches would be invited to contribute to a "community and union defence fund".

The strike, which defied a union order to stay at work on the project to build a railway between Perth and Mandurah to the south of the city, was a protest against the sacking of the workers' shop steward Peter Ballard. The troubled project, the state's biggest public transport project, is believed to be five months behind schedule.

So far, the Australian Building and Construction Commission has targeted 107 workers on the Perth to Mandurah rail project who defied a total strike ban imposed by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and walked off the job in February.

They are each facing fines of up to $22,000 and, among them, 82 face an additional fine of up to $6600, bringing the combined maximum to $2.9 million.

Posted on 12:09 AM | Permalink

The Bristol Rail Branch is holding a Quiz Night on Wednesday 2nd August, 7.30pm, at the GWRSA Staff Club, Bristol Temple Meads

The cost per person is £1.50, payable on the door. This includes quiz entry, supper and prizes. Teams of four will compete. There will be a raffle in aid of the RMT Widows & Orphans Fund.

All welcome

Posted on 03:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Malcolm Cherry, a solicitor who deals with RMT members' claims for Accident, Criminal Injury and Industrial Disease will attend the Bristol Rail Branch meeting on WEDNESDAY 26TH JULY, 7pm, GWRSA Staff Club, Temple Meads.

Malcom will talk about current attempts by the Government to reduce eligibility for Criminal Injuries Compensation, as well as answering questions and offering advice to reps and members about legal claims.

Posted on 02:13 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 6 July 2006

Work has begun on a railway linking a south Wales valleys unemployment blackspot with Cardiff and Newport.

An artist's impression of the new line due to open in summer 2007

It is hoped the £30m Ebbw Vale-Newport line, due to open in summer 2007, will give better commuting opportunities to people in areas such as Blaenau Gwent.

Job creation was a theme in last week's Blaenau Gwent double by-election to Westminster and the Welsh assembly, which were both won by independents.

The new MP, Dai Davies, said the new line was vital for the area.

It is part of a drive to encourage local regeneration and there are hopes it will lead to easier access for jobs for people living along the route.

Engineers began testing on the tracks on Thursday, which is expected to take about a month.

They hope to recover sleepers from the tracks of the former Ebbw Vale passenger line to be used in the restoration of the track.

New stations along the route will include Abertillery, Llanhilleth and Risca.

The plan to open the new rail line has been led by Blaenau Gwent Council in partnership with Caerphilly and Newport councils, the Welsh Assembly Government, Network Rail and Arriva Trains.

Engineers will be examining existing tracks along the route

Mr Davies said: "It is vital for this area primarily because it will give access to services in Cardiff and Newport.

"It opens up the valley for us and hopefully it will attract jobs into the area.

"It will encourage travel - it will let the people who live in Blaenau Gwent and spend their money in Blaenau Gwent who maybe don't want to drive to Cardiff get on a train for 50 minutes and get there.

"On top of that, the new line could open up a whole new tourism industry because it is beautiful and it has heritage links with health with (former Labour cabinet minister and National Health Service founder) Aneurin Bevan and with industry."

The project is being headed by Blaenau Gwent Council, whose leader John Hopkins _ the defeated Labour candidate in the assembly by-election - said: "People will from now on be able to see engineers on the line itself.

"I think that will help to reinforce the reality of this project - we are all committed as partners to seeing the reopening of the Ebbw valley rail link, and it really will deliver huge opportunities to the people of Blaenau Gwent and the Ebbw valley region."

See also:

Completion doubts over Ebbw rail link

Western Mail: Jul 10 2006
Martin Shipton
 

SERIOUS doubts have been raised about when a much- needed new rail link will be opened after statements from the project manager and the Assembly Government appeared to contradict each other.

All parties in the recent Blaenau Gwent by-elections stressed the vital importance to the local economy of bringing passenger trains back to Ebbw Vale. Services between the town and Cardiff were originally intended to restart last year after several decades, but have been delayed until the summer of 2007.

Seen as equally important, however, is the reintroduction of passenger services between Ebbw Vale and Newport. Officially services on that route are set to restart in 2009, but rail industry sources suggested to the Western Mail that such a timescale was over-optimistic.

The Ebbw Valley rail project is being managed by Blaenau Gwent Council, with funding from the European Commission and the Assembly Government.

We asked project director Richard Crook what work needed to be done before the Ebbw Vale to Newport link could be reopened. He told us significant platform improvements would have to be carried out at Newport station, as well as new signalling arrangements. Both points are accepted by the Assembly Government.

But Mr Crook went on to say that six extra miles of track "dualling" would be required, in addition to the three already planned, to accommodate services to Newport.

Mr Crook said, "We've not got an estimate for the extra work that will be required for the Newport link, but my estimate is that an extra £15m will be needed, on top of the work at Newport station and the signalling."

He described the prospect of reopening passenger services from Ebbw Vale to Newport by 2009 as "unrealistic".

But when we put these points to the Assembly Government, we were sent a statement, saying, "A contract to establish an hourly passenger service between Ebbw Vale and Cardiff will be completed next year as planned.

"When the resignalling and major refurbishment of Newport Station by Network Rail is complete - currently planned for 2009 - it will be possible to run an hourly service from Ebbw Vale to Newport.

"Further works will be required to increase the service frequency on this line from one hourly to half hourly at an estimated cost of between £12m and £15m at some point in the future. But that work is not essential to enable a service to be run into Newport in 2009."

Posted on 07:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

IsraelNN.com: 10 Jul 10, '06 / 14 Tammuz 5766

The government has authorized a multimillion dollar rail line connecting Haifa with Beit Shan and the Jordan Valley. The route will follow an old rail line built by the Turks 100 years ago through the Jezreel Valley.

The train, expected to travel up to 160 kilometers per hour (100 mph), will reach the Jordanian border where it will link up with a Jordanian line to the city of Irbid.

The new line will facilitate the export of Jordanian products through Israel?s Haifa port.

Posted on 11:27 PM | Permalink

The Guardian: July 7, 2006
Steven Morris

* Vital backing for bid to mark Brunel achievement
* London to Bristol line 'a breathtaking monument'

Box tunnel: record-beater when built. Photograph: Barry Batchelor/PA

The average commuter probably doesn't particularly notice the tunnels, cuttings, bridges and stations on the London to Bristol railway line as they whizz by on the journey to the office.

But English Heritage yesterday put its weight behind a campaign to have the Great Western Railway recognised as a world heritage site, alongside the likes of the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and Stonehenge.

At a conference in Bristol, Sir Neil Cossons, chairman of English Heritage, said that the line, one of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's greatest achievements, was a "breathtaking" monument to British endeavour.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Born in Portsea, Portsmouth on April 9 1806. His father was a French royalist who fled the reign of terror and became a civil engineer and architect in America and Britain; his mother was the daughter of a Plymouth naval contractor. Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis

He argued that it was not far-fetched to put "God's Wonderful Railway", as it is nicknamed, on the same level as the Taj Mahal. The railway was one of the unique contributions Britain had made to world culture, society and economy.

The backing of English Heritage comes as a boost to the many lovers of the route who believe it should receive global recognition.

At yesterday's conference, held as part of the celebrations marking the bicentenary of Brunel's birth, English Heritage launched a consultation with the public about how the bid for world heritage site status ought to proceed.

Some believe the site should include the GWR network through Somerset, Devon and Cornwall; others that it should be focused on the 112 miles from Paddington station in west London to Bristol Temple Meads.

Old Temple Meads station, Bristol Brunel's Great Western Railway, linking Bristol and London, departed from Temple Meads. Services to Bath started on August 31 1840 and to London Paddington in 1841. This grand building is now the oldest surviving railway terminus in the world but ceased to be used as such in 1965. Photograph: British Empire and Commonwealth Museum

Construction of the line began in 1836, and was completed in 1841. Among the feats of engineering is Box tunnel in Wiltshire, which at the time of its construction was the longest railway tunnel in the world, and Wharncliffe viaduct at Hanwell, west London.

Box Tunnel The tunnel, dug through Box Hill, is two miles long and located between Bath and Chippenham. When the two ends of the tunnel were joined underground there was found to be less than 5cm (2in) error in their alignment. Photograph: Brunel 200

Engine House, Swindon Swindon was the base for the GWR's engineering works. Engines had to be changed here because a different type was necessary to pull trains over the hills to Bath and Bristol than the relatively easy gradients between London and Swindon. Photograph: Brunel 200

Maidenhead bridge One of the 'string of pearls' on Brunel's Great Western Railway. The line, approved by parliament in 1835, was six years in the making and tested Brunel's technical ingenuity. Photograph: Martin Argles

On a more modest level, the first railway refreshment rooms were opened at Swindon.

Earlier this week, a steam locomotive carrying Brunel's great-great-grandson, Lord Gladwyn, travelled from London to Bristol as part of the Brunel celebrations and to draw attention to the world heritage site bid.

See also:

Engineering Timeline:

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

The Great Western Railway & the broad gauge

In 1832, work on Robert Stephenson's Birmingham to London Railway was already advancing. Short link-lines ? some of them still scarcely more than tramways ? were beginning to proliferate throughout Britain. A group of promotors in Bristol determined that any transport revolution in the West Country should not be left solely for the profit of outside speculators. Local investors formed a committee to promote a Bristol to London railway.

Supported by his friend Nicholas Roch, Brunel put forward his tender to survey the new line in February 1833. Typically, he rejected the client's brief, which was to survey more than one possible route so that the committee could select on the basis of cost. Brunel would survey one route only, which he would select as best, regardless of the expense of construction.

He must have been convincing because on 7 March 1833 he was appointed engineer. To his irritation, an assistant had been chosen for him: a local surveyor called W. H. Townsend who had been one of his competitors for the top position. They began their survey two days later, an event Brunel noted in his diary with the words, "Started out with Townsend (who as usual was late)."

It's probable that it was Brunel who christened the new line the "Great Western Railway" ? the name makes its first appearance in his diary in August 1833. He had great ambitions for the project but was circumspect about revealing these until the scheme was passed by Parliament. Parliament rejected plans for the Bristol to Bath and London to Reading sections in 1834 but eventually passed the whole line in a version terminating at Euston ? also the terminus of the Birmingham to London Railway. The Bill became an Act on 31 August 1835. Unusually, the gauge (or width between the rails) of the railway was not specified in the plans. This was a deliberate omission, negotiated by the engineer.

The gauge of the railways then being built around the country was 4ft 81⁄2in. This measurement derives from the earliest coal-carrying locomotives, which were designed to pass along existing colliery paths. When George Stephenson, the founder of the railways, moved from the construction of small freight link-lines to mainline passenger rail, he did not reconsider the original gauge. As with the rails, so with the engines: the Stephensons' locomotives were designed for a 4ft 81⁄2in gauge not for any engineering reason but simply to fit the rails.

Such plodding reasoning ? or lack of it ? was not sufficient for Brunel, whose mind was alive with questions. He calculated that a wider gauge would allow locomotives to be designed with larger wheels and a lower centre of gravity and thus travel more safely at high speeds. He also hoped for a smoother, faster ride and ? a sweetener for the promoters ? room aboard for greater numbers of passengers to earn back the cost of constructing a wider track.

On 15 September 1835, scarcely a fortnight after the Act was passed, Brunel wrote to the directors of the Great Western Railway Co. revealing his innovative design. Not only was it to be the longest, levelest line in Britain, with branch lines already springing out along its trunk, but it was to be the broadest, too. Brunel had also devised a completely new method of construction for the 7ft wide track. On 29 October 1835, the Directors accepted his proposal.

By this time clearing work in the Avon valley was already well under way and Brunel was designing Maidenhead Bridge and Wharncliffe Viaduct. That November, a Bill was lodged for the Paddington extension, creating a new London terminus ? Paddington Station. The following year, excavations for Box Tunnel began. The first 22 mile section of the Great Western Railway was ready for service on 4 June 1838 and the line continued to open in stages over the three years that followed.

Had Brunel's work begun just five years earlier, his broad gauge might have survived the so-called "Battle of the Gauges" he unleashed by constructing his 7ft wide track. As it was, it was eventually defeated by an Act of Parliament in 1846 that standardized the 4ft 81⁄2in gauge. The wide gauge was not such an unqualified success as to justify the inconvenience of incompatibility ? passengers and freight were forced to change trains wherever other railway networks connected to Brunel's empire in the West.

Whatever the pros and cons of engineering design, in practice it was simpler and cheaper to lay closer rails within the wide gauge than to broaden the thousands of miles of narrow track already laid around the country.

Posted on 10:50 AM | Permalink

Financial Times: July 8 2006
By Christopher Grimes in New York and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington

The US has disrupted an alleged terrorist plot to blow up underwater rail tunnels connecting New York and New Jersey, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said yesterday on the anniversary of the London bombings.

Law enforcement officials said the plan to attack the PATH rail system in October or November - just after the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks - had not progressed beyond initial stages. But Mark Mershon, a senior FBI official, said it was the "real deal" and would have in-volved "martyrdom" and "explosives".

Over the course of a year-long investigation that involved co-operation with six countries, Mr Mershon said the FBI had identified eight "principal players". Three of those suspects were being held in custody outside the US, including Assem Hammoud, a 31-year-old Lebanese national who pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and allegedly confessed to being the mastermind of the plot.

The FBI disclosed elements of the foiled plot on the anniversary of the London bombings after the New York Daily News published details of the investigation.

Michael Bloomberg, New York mayor, said there was no evidence that [the plot] had proceeded beyond the planning stage". Ray Kelly, the New York police commissioner, said it had "not reached anything close to being operational".

Mr Mershon said none of the suspects had been in the US.

Posted on 09:53 AM | Permalink

Finanacial Times: July 7 2006
By Robert Wright, Transport Correspondent

Efforts by Eurotunnel to secure approval for its restructuring plans suffered a fresh blow on Friday when the Channel tunnel operator's most influential shareholder launched an attack on the proposals.

Nicolas Miguet, a share tipster and would-be politician who has a large following among Eurotunnel's small private shareholders, said he would not use proxy votes granted to him to support Eurotunnel's provisional restructuring agreement as it stood.

Posted on 09:46 AM | Permalink

Stuff.co.nz: 07 July 2006
By PAUL MULROONEY

Wellington rail commuters face another day today of disrupted train services despite a pay dispute being settled.

Track maintenance workers represented by the Rail and Transport Maritime Union, and employer OnTrack, settled terms for a new collective agreement yesterday, ending a week of union-imposed callout and overtime bans. The agreement is subject to a vote from union members.

But Tranz Metro, which operates commuter rail services around Wellington, said its modified Saturday timetable would remain in place till Monday.

Tranz Metro opted to run a reduced timetable from June 29, arguing it could not provide a regular service when there was no assurance, in the event of a breakdown, that maintenance problems could be fixed.

Tranz Metro spokeswoman Lisa Gibbison said it was not a party to the dispute and the company had no advance knowledge yesterday that a settlement was pending.

The extra working day before the resumption of normal service was needed for internal matters such as reorganising staff rosters, she said.

The union took the industrial action against OnTrack, which manages the rail network, as part of a campaign for greater pay parity for the track crews with other semi-skilled staff in the rail industry.

Posted on 09:34 AM | Permalink

Reuters: 2006-07-07

GANGTOK, India - China plans to extend its railway linking Beijing to Tibet to a newly opened border point in India's northeast and possibly link it to India's east coast, the Chinese envoy to New Delhi said on Friday.

Ambassador Sun Yuxi's comments came a day after the Asian giants reopened an ancient, Himalayan trading route, once part of the Silk Road, adding impetus to booming bilateral trade 44 years after the link was snapped when they fought a border war.

"Once trade starts, people will demand better transportation facilities," Sun told Reuters in an interview in Gangtok, capital of the tiny Indian state of Sikkim, joined to Tibet through the Nathu La pass on the border.

Beijing had decided to first extend the railway to Lhasa, inaugurated last week, to the Tibetan city of Shigatse and then to Yadung, Sun said.

"From Yadung, the Indian border area is only a few dozens of kilometres away," he said.

On the Indian side, New Delhi planned to build a railway to Sikkim and once complete, the missing rail link between India and China would be less than 100 km (60 miles), the envoy said.

"Then, anytime we feel the need we will link it ... we are expecting to ... if the train got through all the way to Kolkata, that will be something. Lots of potential, opportunities will develop there," Sun said referring to India's eastern port city.

The railway to Lhasa, the world's highest, was opened by Chinese President Hu Jintao this month.
Beijing and some analysts say the railway and the opening of the Nathu La trade route ties in with China's goal of developing the long-isolated Tibetan region.

TRADE DESPITE BORDER ROW

Although connecting Kolkata to Lhasa by a railway may sound extremely ambitious, more so as the route would pass through tough Himalayan terrain, it could not be completely ruled out, a senior Indian Foreign Ministry official said.

"For the Chinese, nothing seems impossible. They feel if they can take it to Lhasa they can take it anywhere," he said.

Sun, a former Foreign Ministry spokesman and ambassador to Afghanistan, said over time local people and then tourists would be allowed to cross at Nathu La, making the post at 4,310 metres (14,200 feet) the first crossing for citizens of the two nations.

The opening of Nathu La also showed India and China could do business even though their decades-old border dispute was yet to be settled, the envoy said.

Last year, the neighbours agreed to resolve the row politically. But talks have made slow progress and much of their 3,500-km (2,200-mile) frontier remains disputed.

Both sides have been tightlipped on details of negotiations after several rounds of talks between special envoys.

Sun said both sides were positive but a timeframe could not be set to reach a settlement.

"We are expecting a high level visit before the end of the year, and before that, another round of talks," the ambassador said referring to President Hu's planned visit to New Delhi.

"So we are approaching that very positively."

See also:

After Silk Road, a rail link is on its way

Reuters: July 07, 2006  
YP Rajesh

GANGTOK: China plans to extend its railway linking Beijing to Tibet to a newly-opened border point in Sikkim and possibly link it to its east coast, the Chinese envoy to New Delhi said on Friday.

Ambassador Sun Yuxi's comments came a day after the Asian giants reopened an ancient, Himalayan trading route, once part of the Silk Road, adding impetus to booming bilateral trade 44 years after the link was snapped when they fought a brutal border war.

"Once trade starts, people will demand better transportation facilities," Sun said in an interview in Gangtok, capital of Sikkim, joined to Tibet through the Nathu La pass on the border. Beijing had decided to first extend the railway to Lhasa, inaugurated last week, to the Tibetan city of Shigatse and then to Yadung, Sun said.

"From Yadung, the Indian border area is only a few dozens of kilometres away," he said. New Delhi planned to build a railway to Sikkim and once complete, the missing rail link between India and China would be less than 100 km, the envoy said.

"Then, anytime we feel the need we will link it ... we are expecting to ... if the train got through all the way to Kolkata, that will be something. Lots of potential, opportunities will develop there," Sun said referring to the port city.

The railway to Lhasa, the world's highest, was opened by Chinese President Hu Jintao this month. Critics say the railway will spur an influx of migrants that threatens Tibetans' culture.

But Beijing and some analysts say the railway and the opening of the Nathu La trade route ties in with China's goal of developing the long-isolated Tibetan region. Although connecting Kolkata to Lhasa by a railway may sound extremely ambitious, more so as the route would pass through tough Himalayan terrain, it could not be completely ruled out, a senior Indian Foreign Ministry official said.

"For the Chinese, nothing seems impossible. They feel if they can take it to Lhasa they can take it anywhere," he said. Sun, a former Foreign Ministry spokesman and ambassador to Afghanistan, said over time local people and then tourists would be allowed to cross at Nathu La, making the post at 4,310 metres the first crossing for citizens of the two nations.

The opening of Nathu La also showed India and China could do business even though their decades-old border dispute was yet to be settled, the envoy said.

Last year, the neighbours agreed to resolve the row politically. But talks have made slow progress and much of their 3,500-km frontier remains disputed. Both sides have been tightlipped on details of negotiations after several rounds of talks between special envoys. Sun said both sides were positive but a timeframe could not be set to reach a settlement.

"We are expecting a high level visit before the end of the year, and before that, another round of talks," the ambassador said referring to President Hu's planned visit to New Delhi. "So we are approaching that very positively."

Posted on 09:30 AM | Permalink

SUR: July 13th 2006
J. Rodrigo/M. Saiz-Pardo/ B. Prada

Death toll of 41 in Valencia was Spain?s most serious rail accident
* A Valencia tube train was going at double the speed limit
* Investigations point to the driver "having been indisposed"

Anguished residents of Valencia were in shock following an accident on the city?s underground railway on Monday afternoon. In what is believed to be the worst train accident in the history of Spanish railways, 41 people were killed and nearly 50 injured on a Line 1 train, run by state owned Ferrocarrils, as two carriages were derailed on a sharp bend and overturned shortly before entering Jes?ation in the city centre. The survivors escaped through windows in the midst of chaos and a storm of "sparks and smoke" produced by the overturning of the carriages. One policeman who was at the scene said that beneath the wreckage was "a disaster".

The image of the four wrecked carriages, along with the number of bloodstained passengers fleeing from the scene, brought back painful memories of the tragic train crash at Chinchilla, in the province of Albacete, in June 2003, in which 19 people died. The scenes and sounds of mobile phones ringing were also reminiscent of the horror experienced in the Madrid railway terrorist attacks on March 11th 2004. Nevertheless, regional government official Antonio Bernab?ismissed claims that the accident at Valencia was caused by terrorists.

A group of five specialists in dealing with large scale disasters travelled from Madrid to Valencia to help identify bodies at the morgue. Five of the dead were foreigners - from Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Paraguay and Bulgaria - but most of the 120 passengers came from the nearby town of Torrent.

Among the survivors, V?or, whose hands were bloodstained and covered in blisters, recounted the horror he experienced on the train: "After the crash, it took us about 15 minutes to realise what exactly had happened. People?s screams and our own state of nerves left us all paralysed". Amidst all the hysteria, a group of young people took the initiative to aid others: "The doors wouldn?t open so we had to break the windows with our fists to escape the inferno, and then we opened the doors from the outside to help other people get out".

Of the 47 people injured ten remained in hospital on Wednesday. The lives of four of them were hanging by a thread and the condition of another three was said to be critical. Among the injured was an 11-year-old girl, Violeta, from Torrent, who is training in rhythmic gymnastics and has already won several prizes. She is recovering fast and is not expected to have any sequelae that will affect her sporting career. Her mother was less lucky: she was still in a deep coma on Wednesday.

Investigators revealed on Tuesday that the tube train had been going at 80 kph, double the speed limit. Initially "a faulty wheel" had been mentioned as a possible cause of the crash but this was not confirmed. Investigators commented that "the high speed made us suspect that the train driver was indisposed or even unconscious and that that is why he didn?t react." But both the 30-year-old driver, and his assistant, a 20-year-old woman, were killed. This means that investigations are more complicated. Forensic surgeons found no trace of alcohol or drugs in the driver?s body, which was unrecognisable, making it even more difficult to find out what actually happened.

Fernando Sotok, the secretary general of the railway workers? union, explained that the driver had "accelerated hard" and then lifted his foot off the accelerator just before the accident and that that is why "we are sure that something had happened to him".

Even though the line is the oldest one in Valencia?s tube train network, after inspecting the relevant area, railway staff ruled out any fault in infrastructure as a possible cause of the crash. "It?s a very unusual accident and it seems impossible for it to have happened. This line has been operating for 20 years with 130 trains a day and there have never been any problems", they said.

They admitted, however, that even though the driver had passed all the compulsory tests, and had previously held other posts on Line 1, he did not have a great deal of experience. and had only been driving trains on this line regularly since the beginning of April.

A funeral service for the victims in Valencia cathedral on Tuesday was attended by the King, the Queen and the Prime Minister.

Posted on 09:07 AM | Permalink

Western Mail: Jul 8 2006
David Williamson

But Wales is moving towards a different approach to rail fares, says Professor Stuart Cole.

RAILWAYS throughout Europe have two sources of income.

They are the passenger paying the fare and the Government providing revenue support payments. The use of the word "subsidy" to describe these payments is significant.

The UK Treasury has always referred to public payments to the railways as subsidies and payment for roads as investment. Therefore, in some odd way it has continuously seen the railway as the private sector requiring support and not as a dynamic driver of policies solving road congestion and environmental problems.

The recent House of Commons Transport Select Committee rail fares report (June 2006) correctly identified the use of yield management by railway companies "to maximise their revenue for every seat" and helps them to "maximise revenue and profit" and "minimise the need for government subsidies".

This is not a new proposition. Those increasing numbers of air travellers who book their own seats will have noticed the wide variation in fares which can be paid and how fares will vary even over a few days let alone between peak and off peak and between business and economy class.

Train companies, as with airlines, have different market segments and yield management enables them to meet the premium payments which the UK Government is imposing as a franchise condition. Business travellers pay highly for first-class flexibility while low-income students and price-sensitive leisure travellers with advance purchased tickets receive the benefits only airlines had provided previously.

Yield management is therefore not new to the traveller but it may, in terms of its sophistication, be new to part of the railway. It has probably been used to its ultimate potential by Virgin Trains, drawing on the experience of its stablemate Virgin Atlantic Airways.

Great Western and Arriva Trains Wales by comparison have used a more basic fare structure with peak premiums and off-peak discounts, although the Greater Western subsidy profile over the next seven years has required imagination and an interesting approach to combined single tickets encouraging passengers to possibly make one leg of a return journey on an off-peak train.

What the House of Commons Committee failed to do was link directly the need for yield management as a consequence of UK government policy.

Peak demand is an unfortunate characteristic of urban life whether it be London, Cardiff or Swansea and governments have two options.

First, demand elasticity, which put simply means that if prices rise demand falls. The extent to which this happens depends on how elastic the market is - in a major urban area such as London it will be relatively inelastic.

It seems strange therefore that the UK government has tried to achieve that in order to reduce train overcrowding in London.

The second option is to increase capacity, but that inevitably means increased funding. Under the settlement between the Strategic Rail Authority and Arriva Trains Wales, there was no provision for extra trains over the following 15 years.

The Assembly Government in taking over the franchise has realised how important commuter trains are to the success of Cardiff's economy and how the major highways are not able to supply the required capacity. So while fares will rise in line with inflation, the Assembly Government's decision to increase contractual payments (subsidy) and lease additional train sets to attract car drivers, is the right approach to peak-time congestion.

Using cost benefit analysis (the means of evaluating road investment) it can compare the investment in railways as an alternative to road building. In consequence, yield management, though an important economic tool, falls secondary to an integrated transport strategy which considers all methods of travel in determining public investment.

Governments therefore have a choice. They can press railway companies into paying their way and so use yield management pricing policies to achieve this - as the UK Government is intent on doing. Alternatively, the government determines fares, frequencies and capacities and provides a below cost fares "social payment" as part of a contract with the railway company.

That is the only reason why in France £10 will carry a passenger 107 miles, in Sweden (a country with similar geographical characteristics to Wales) 69 miles, and in Britain (on average) 38 miles. In Wales we are moving towards the "social payment contract" approach. We will never achieve the mileages of the "new" EU members (where conditions are quite different) - Latvia: 643 miles; Estonia: 399 miles; Poland: 315 miles. But then, neither will anyone else.

Professor Stuart Cole is Professor of Transport and Director at the University of Glamorgan's Wales Transport Research Centre

Posted on 05:06 AM | Permalink

The Australian: July 07, 2006
By Ewin Hannan and Paige Taylor

HUNDREDS of workers face fines of tens of thousands of dollars each as the Howard Government's building watchdog prepares a wave of legal action against unlawful conduct in the construction industry.
Australian Building and Construction Commissioner John Lloyd yesterday served writs on 107 workers on the troubled Perth-Mandurah rail project, threatening heavy fines over strike action in February, and said there were plans for a further 22 separate prosecutions.

The Perth rail project workers face fines of up to $28,600 each.

Asked about the prospect of further prosecutions, Mr Lloyd told The Australian: "Clearly the message is there is the act. It requires there be lawful conduct in the industry and where it is contravened we will use (the act) where we think it's justified."

The crackdown has sharpened divisions between the Coalition and Labor, with Kim Beazley declaring the fining of individual workers a "bad development" and committing the ALP to the abolition of the Building and Construction Commission.

The Perth workers took strike action in protest against the sacking of shop steward Peter Ballard, despite the union warning they would be fined and an order from the Industrial Relations Commission not to strike. It is the first time the building commission has used these legal provisions to try to fine individual workers.

"This sort of situation that we see today will not happen under a Labor government," Mr Beazley said. "People should obey orders, of course, from commissions they can respect, and the problem is that those workers find themselves in a situation where they're hampered by John Howard's dog-eat-dog laws and that's what you get when you get this."

Federal Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews said the commission had taken the decision independently but the Government was committed to ensuring the "rule of law" applied in the building industry.

John Sutton, national secretary of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union's construction division, said the decision to prosecute the Perth workers showed the Howard Government was driven by "class hatred".

"It's Big Brother authoritarianism gone mad to reach back into the past and try and deliver retribution against these workers, who were exercising basic democratic rights," he said.

"People don't realise the extreme industrial laws in this country. They are the most extreme anywhere in the Western world.

"Ultimately there is only one solution and that is defeating these mad class-war ideologues at the election, which is 14, 15 months away."

Project developer Leighton, which is suing the CFMEU over 70 lost working days it claims have cost the company $14 million, said it was concerned yesterday's decision would further delay the project, which is already five months behind schedule.

Company spokesman Ashley Mason said industrial relations on the project had substantially improved since the strike in February.

"Over the last few months, we have been getting good productivity and there was a good feeling on the job," he said. "It's not a positive for the project. Whether it's neutral or negative, time will tell. Put yourself in these guys' position and the idea of being dragged into the Federal Court and fined $22,000."

But the nation's peak industry employer group, Master Builders Australia, said the prosecution sent a powerful message to unions and workers that they would be held accountable for unlawful conduct.

"For us, we hope this sends out a very strong signal not only to unionists in WA, but around Australia, that they have got to respect the rule of law, and where they have seen to have broken it, we strongly support the ABCC in bringing these people to book," said the organisation's chief executive, Wilhelm Harnisch.

Building commission investigators have sent 22 briefs to lawyers with a view to initiating prosecutions in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania for unlawful conduct.

A further 36 investigations were under way in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Western Australia.
Mr Harnisch said the proposed prosecutions "demonstrate that unlawful behaviour remains problematic in the industry".

Mr Lloyd said he believed the Perth workers had taken unlawful action by going on strike between February 24 and March 3 this year.

The maximum penalties that can be imposed on each worker are $22,000 for a contravention of the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act and $6600 for breaching an Industrial Relations Commission ruling.

Mr Lloyd said the union did not contravene the law because it had recommended a return to work and advised the employees they were at risk of substantial penalties.

A building commission spokeswoman last night defended the decision to target just 107 of the workers, despite more than 250 being employed on the job. She said the proceedings were limited to workers who were direct employees of the project joint venture and further proceedings were possible against other workers.

Mr Mason said the decision to target fewer than half the workforce had left employees "confused and bewildered by it all".

"It's not positive in terms of productivity, it's a distraction ... it would have been better if they had done it closer to when the project was due to finish."

He said the strike action by the union had already cost the project between $12 million and $14million.

See also:

PM says he cannot stop rail prosecutions

The West Australian: 7th July 2006

Prime Minister John Howard says the government has no control over prosecutions brought against 107 Western Australian rail workers for striking.

The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) is taking Federal Court action against the workers on the troubled $1.5 billion Perth to Mandurah railway, who walked off the job for 12 days in February to protest against the sacking of a union shop steward.

The commission was created by the federal government.

It is the first time individual workers, rather than a union, have been pursued for contravening an Australian Industrial Relations Commission order not to strike.

The action is being taken under the old workplace laws, because the walkout happened before the new Work Choices legislation came into effect.

"This action has been taken by an independent body, the government didn't decide to prosecute these people, the government didn't take the decision and the government has no power to intervene," Mr Howard told the Nine Network.

Opposition Leader Kim Beazley called for the prosecutions to be abandoned.

The workers face fines of between $22,000 and $28,000 for failing to obey a ruling of the Industrial Relations Commission.

"It's a matter for the independent authority and that authority was established in the wake of the Cole royal commission into the building industry which found there was a culture of lawlessness in that industry," Mr Howard said.

"This independent body has taken this decision and I understand it's in the wake of a refusal by the people involved to obey the Industrial Relations Commission, the independent umpire that both the Labor Party and the ACTU always tell me should be obeyed by everybody."

See also:

Jail threat over building workers

The Australian: July 08, 2006
Ewin Hannan and Paige Taylor

CONSTRUCTION workers face jail if they refuse to attend secret interrogations by investigators from the Howard Government's building industry commission.

As it was confirmed that Cowra workers could be legally sacked and re-employed on lower wages, the ACTU said workers on the Perth rail project, who face fines for a strike in February, could be jailed unless they attended secret hearings about the industrial action.

ACTU secretary Greg Combet said the workers faced jail if they did not attend the hearings or if they did not answer questions put by investigators from the Australian Building and Construction Commission. The workers are prevented from disclosing details of the hearings to family members and have to be represented by separate lawyers.

"It's an extreme denial of basic civil rights," Mr Combet told The Weekend Australian. "This is David Hicks-style treatment. It denies them the right to silence and to protect themselves from self-incrimination.

"Under threat of being thrown in jail, you have to incriminate yourself. That is a breach of one of the fundamental democratic and human rights that people have had in democratic countries."

A commission spokesman yesterday refused to comment on whether workers had been forced to attend hearings. She denied workers faced automatic jail if they did not attend. However, she said the commission was able to ask the Director of Public Prosecutions to take action if workers did not co-operate.

The West Australian division of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union said many workers had been contacted by the commission asking them to answer questions.

However, to the union's knowledge, none had yet been issued with formal notices to appear before a hearing.

"They were given letters or calls and invited to answer questions, and they were told that if they didn't come voluntarily we'd force you to come, and if you refused it's a six-month sentence for failing to appear, failing to answer questions, failing to produce documents," a spokesman said. "They have simply moved to prosecute them and have not gone through the step of compelling a formal hearing."

The federal Office of Workplace Services yesterday confirmed it was legal for the Cowra abattoir to propose sacking 29 meatworkers and re-employ them on wages up to $180 a week below their previous pay. Mr Combet said the findings showed the federal workplace laws left "workers exposed to the threat of being legally sacked and offered their jobs back on lower wages".

OWS director Nicholas Wilson found the abattoir acted legally when it sacked 29 workers in March, because it was in financial difficulty. The workers were offered their jobs back on lower pay and individual contracts. Mr Wilson said companies could sack staff and rehire on lower conditions, as long as that was not the sole or dominant reason for doing so. "My interest is in fact whether or not, in this particular instance, we can say that Cowra breached the law," he told ABC radio.

"We can't say that. The law requires that it be a sole or dominant reason that there's a connection between the union membership of the people concerned, or between the award coverage that they have.

"We decided it was not the sole or dominant reason for the decision that was taken."

Posted on 04:54 AM | Permalink

Angola Press: 07/07

Bamako, Mali - The Union of Railway workers in Mali (SYTRAIL) and the Federation of Transrail-SA workers (FETRAIL) in Senegal have threatened to observe a 72-hour strike beginning 12 July.

Both unions issued the notice in Bamako Wednesday after they staged a 48-hour strike 15-16 June throughout the Transrail-SA network, without receiving desired results.

According to the strike notice jointly signed by heads of the two unions, in the absence of a compromise, the workers will observe an indefinite general strike until their grievances are met.

Unionists blame the Management of Trans-rail, a rail concessionaire company in the two countries, for the arbitrary dismissal of several of their work-mates whose reinstatement they are demanding.

They are also demanding the dismissal of the Director General of the enterprise, Fran?s Le Mieux.

The trade unionists also denounce the violation, by the Management of Transrail-SA, of the 17 December 2004 agreement and the rejection of the 23 May 2005 draft protocol.

This is the second time within one month that SYTRAIL, which is affiliated to the Union of the Workers of Mali (UNTM), and FETRAIL, affiliated to the National Confederation of Workers in Senegal (CNTS) decided to jointly go on strike after that on 15 and 16 June.

Posted on 04:35 AM | Permalink

RMT's supreme governing body the Annual General Meeting this week in Dublin considered a report on latest developments in the union's dispute with First Great Western over Train Drivers' rest day allocation, harmonisation of rates of pay and cross-cover of work arrangements, yesterday (Wednesday, 5 July 2006).

RMT Drivers at First Great Western voted by a ratio of five to one for strike action last month in the dispute over terms and conditions.

Since the announcement of the strike mandate and the naming of three strike days in July, a meeting has taken place between FGW, Head of Trains and RMT and discussions have continued with Drivers Divisional Council Representatives from the three former Train Operating Companies that merged to form FGW.

FGW have now made an offer, which the union's AGM considered and has recommended for rejection by our Driver members employed by FGW. The RMT is a democratic union, which puts major changes to members' terms and conditions out to a vote of affected members as we are doing on this occasion.

Members will be provided with detailed reasons for the union's recommendation for a "No" vote to the company's latest offer in personal letters to be sent out to members' homes in the next few days. However, at a recent FGW Drivers' Forum held to discuss the dispute, RMT Driver members expressed disappointment at several elements of the company's offer:

* a low 2-year pay offer that splits Drivers off from general pay negotiations until 2008;
* no agreed date for harmonisation of Drivers' rates of pay across the three constituent Driver groups within the company (ex-Great Western, ex-FGW-Link and ex-Wessex);
* introduction of full cross-cover work between the three Driver groups with no additional payment, no timetable for introduction of 'one rate of pay for the Driving grade' and no guarrentees on job losses or potential depot closures.

Accordingly, RMTs AGM took the following decision:

"That we note the correspondence from the Regional Organiser and suspend the three days of action on the 11th 19th and 27th July 2006. Further we conduct a referendum of our Driver members at First Great Western with a recommendation to reject. Ballot papers to be returned by 23rd August 2006."

Posted on 06:00 PM | Permalink

Independent Online: 06 July 2006
By Barrie Clement, Transport Editor

Train company chiefs accused Network Rail yesterday of wasting "billions of pounds'' because the infrastructure company escapes the kind of competitive pressures faced by operators.

David Franks, the chief executive of the train division of National Express, said the state-backed network company's battle with the Rail Regulator over costs was nowhere near as demanding as the stringent disciplines in bidding for franchises. "Unfortunately there are not two Network Rails competing with each other,'' he said.

The National Express chief's comments come in the wake of a bid by Network Rail for £29bn of funding for the next five years. The infrastructure organisation is seeking £8bn to upgrade the network. Mr Franks argued that at least one major train operator should be allowed to take over responsibility for the infrastructure in its area in order to provide a financial "benchmark''.

Mr Franks, speaking at a hearing of the Commons Transport Select Committee, pointed out that Merseyrail, which had responsibility for trains and track, had saved about £33m after taking over the infrastructure from Network Rail.

He said that over the industry's five-year control period it would be possible to save "hundreds of millions and possibly billions of pounds".

Tom Smith, the planning director of the Go-Ahead Group, said Network Rail was run like a "government department or a local council'' rather than a commercial organisation. Paul Furze-Waddock, the commercial director of the First Group, accused Network Rail of being "very lazy'' when it estimated the cost of work to be completed. He said the infrastructure organisation always increased estimates by 35 per cent when considering costs. That could amount to up to £100m on any project.

Even at the final stages of the costing process, Network Rail built in a "huge'' amount for contingencies. "It is a very lazy way of coming up with quick, reliable estimates,'' he told MPs.

Jonathan Metcalf, the chief operating officer at Great North Eastern Railways, said that while the infrastructure organisation had concentrated more on the network's assets, compared with the now defunct Railtrack, there was considerable concern about the scale of costs.

The train company chiefs accused the Government of demanding too much information during the bidding process.

Posted on 05:18 PM | Permalink

RMT: July 6 2006

A CHUBB Security Personnel worker on the Eurostar contract compulsorily retired because of his RMT trade-union activities has won the first stage of his battle to win re-instatement.

An employment tribunal has awarded assistant supervisor Billy Kelly 'interim relief' after hearing that the RMT rep was 'retired' on his 65th birthday despite the company's normal practice of allowing staff to work on until the age of 68.

The Croydon trubunal ordered that Billy should be re-instated pending a full hearing in September.

"The tribunal has provisionally agreed that Billy Kelly was forced to retire for no other reason that he was an effective and active union shop steward who was instrumental in winning recognition," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"The company argued that retirement at 65 was expressed in Billy's contract of employment, but not only had they never invoked the clause before, they had even taken on workers who were aged over 65.

"When Chubb took over the Eurostar security contract they told the union that it would never be recognised and it was largely thanks to Billy that the company has been forced to negotiate with us and that the vast majority of the workforce are members.

"Even after the Central Arbitration Committee ordered Chubb Security Personnel to recognise us, the company refused to co-operate and it took them six months to get around to talking to us.

"Billy had already suffered victimisation when the company demoted him and cut his pay after last year's successful pay strike, in which Billy also played a leading role.

"But their transparent bid to rid themselves of someone they considered to be a troublesome activist has cut no ice with the tribunal, and Chubb should understand that RMT will always stand by members who are victimised in this way," Bob Crow said.

"This company simply cannot be allowed to get away with victimising trade union representatives," said Richard Arthur of union solicitors Thompsons. "RMT has won the first round and we are confident of securing full re-instatement for Mr Kelly at the tribunal in September."

Posted on 05:08 PM | Permalink

RMT: July 6 2006

Anger as King?s Cross classified as ?low-risk? station
A YEAR on from the terrorist attacks on London, Tube security remains a confused mess, London Underground's biggest union says today.

As Britain prepares to remember those killed, injured and traumatised by the multiple bombings, RMT says that urgent action is required to put in place clear and unequivocal systems and a single agreed chain of authority.

The union also renewed its plea to the government to abandon "unbelievable" plans to abolish crucial fire-safety rules put in place after the 1987 Kings Cross fire.

"Believe it or not, LUL has managed to classify King's Cross as a low-risk station, and the other two stations bombed a year ago, Edgware Road and Liverpool Street, as medium risk, simply because of the fare zones they are in," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"Almost everyone except LUL seems to agree that transport systems remain under a high level of threat, and we believe that the entire Tube network should be regarded as high-risk.

"We also need to ensure that there is no repeat of the debacle on July 21 last year, when confused and contradictory statements were made about whether the Tube network was to be closed.

"In the event of a similar future emergency we believe the only sensible course is to evacuate the network until it is cleared as safe to operate.

"Above all we need a clear line of command, agreed by London Underground, TfL, the police and emergency services to avoid repetition of the problems and failures already highlighted by the recent July 7 review.

"But we also need the government to drop its unbelievable plan to abolish the Section 12 sub-surface station fire regulations and replace them with the weaker and less prescriptive fire-safety order.

"In the wake of the bombings we called for a raft of measures, including breathing apparatus for front-line staff, improved training, a second qualified crew member on trains, and action on train radios, and it is unacceptable that we are still asking a year on.

"Our members and the emergency services responded selflessly and professionally to the July 7 attacks, and it is time there were systems in place that stop exposing them and the travelling public to unnecessary risk," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 05:05 PM | Permalink

Independent Online: 05 July 2006
By Mike Taylor, PA

The record £10 million fine imposed on engineering giant Balfour Beatty in the wake of the Hatfield rail disaster was cut to £7.5 million by the Court of Appeal today.

Three judges headed by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, held that the disparity between the fine and the £3.5 million fine on Railtrack was so great as to warrant a reduction.

"We consider there is scope for a reduction in the interests of proportionality which will still do justice to the applicable (legal) principles and, in particular, to the victims of the Hatfield disaster," said Lord Phillips.

Balfour Beatty's rail infrastructure division had admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act in relation to the broken rail which caused the crash, killing four people and injuring many others.

Posted on 06:33 PM | Permalink

AFX: 5th July 2006

LONDON - Rail haulier Freightliner Group said it has won the UK's biggest-ever contract to move containers by rail.

Freightliner said it has signed a five-year deal of undisclosed value with Maersk Line, the container arm of Danish conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk, to move containers from Southampton, Tilbury and Felixstowe to eight inland destinations.

The deal, which starts immediately and will run through to 2011, consolidates two previous contracts between Freightliner, Maersk Sealand and P&O Nedlloyd, which were in place prior to Maersk Sealand's acquisition of P&O Nedlloyd last year.

Posted on 06:29 PM | Permalink

RMT: July 4 2006

VETERANS OF the heroic 1966 seafarers' strike for a 40-hour week were today honoured by the RMT conference in Dublin, as the union stepped up its campaign for seafarers' rights.

In an emotional address, striker Gordon Norris recalled the six-week long struggle of the National Union of Seamen, and how he had been named by prime minister Harold Wilson as one of the "politically motivated men" behind the dispute.

"Without struggle there is no progress, nothing is given to you, you have to fight for it," Gordon Norris said.

To mark the anniversary RMT has also reproduced the 1966 pamphlet, Not Wanted on Voyage, a passionate defence of the NUS campaign.

"The NUS faced the wrath of ship owners, the capitalist media and a Labour government for daring to seek conditions for its members equivalent to those enjoyed by shore-based workers," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"Since 1966 the number of UK ratings has fallen from 65,000 to just 8,000 today, as shipowners continue cynically to replace British crews with overseas ratings on shamelessly exploitative rates of pay.

"Four decades on, seafarers are still campaigning for basic employment rights.

"Many people are astonished to learn that shipowners are specifically exempted from having to abide by the 1976 Race Relations Act, which protects workers of different nationalities from discrimination on rates of pay.

"Even the minimum wage is denied to seafarers on UK ships in UK territorial waters.

"Four decades on it is important to recognise and salute the struggle for a 40-hour week, and to step up the fight for empoloyment rights for today's generation of seafarers," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 06:25 PM | Permalink

Canadian Press: 04/07/06

Prince George, B.C. - The family of a CN Rail crewmember killed in a derailment last week is angry with how the railway handled the man's death.

Don Faulkner was one of two CN crewmen killed when a locomotive and lumber car went off the tracks on a steep grade near Lillooet, in southern British Columbia, and burst into flame.

"I heard rumours," said his daughter, Melony Faulkner. "I was under the impression for the longest time that my dad burned to death.

"It's not enough they send out their piece of (crap) train to kill my dad, they didn't have the compassion to even tell us word one about it.

"We got their condolences over the TV and it is still all we've gotten from them. Nobody from CN called us."

Don Faulkner's son, Shane, who does contract work at CN's Prince George rail yard, said he found out about the Thursday afternoon accident from family members just before going to work early Friday morning.

"I had to be on-site at 2 a.m.," he said. "If I'd found out about my father over coffee talk, things would not have been pleasant."

Mr. Faulkner, 59, died when the CN locomotive went out of control and plunged over a 300-metre cliff into the Fraser River gorge.

Mr. Faulkner, the conductor, died in the locomotive while brakeman Tommy Dodd, 55, died on the loaded lumber car they were pulling as an anchor.

Mr. Dodd was trying to set the car's manual brake when the two speeding hulks separated, both ending in balls of fire over the cliff.

Engineer Gordon Rhodes, 49, managed to leap free of the 350-tonne locomotive.

All three were seasoned railway workers and long-time friends.

"I spoke with Gord," said Melony Faulkner. "He is having a really hard time right now."

She said Mr. Rhodes is also angry because CN workers had been warning the railway about mechanical problems and technical dangers in the way trains were being run through the Fraser Canyon.

She said she hopes federal authorities now will investigate those claims.

Mr. Rhodes told her the train's crew had plenty of time to think about what would happen.

"He told me it is not like a car accident, where you hit some ice and in a second it is all done," said Melony Faulkner. "We knew for miles and miles what was going to happen, how it was going to be,' he told me."

She said Mr. Rhodes told her that he and Mr. Faulkner were prepared to leap off the hurtling locomotive but couldn't find a safe place to jump.

At the last second before the train left the tracks, Mr. Rhodes made his move. He was injured in the fall but it saved his life.

"He made it back to my dad," Shane Faulkner said. "Dad wasn't alone at the end. Gord wasn't sure if he had passed on or not, but he was there for him. He didn't leave him until they got there with the stretchers."

A funeral service for Mr. Faulkner is scheduled for Friday in Kamloops, followed by another service in Port Stanley, Ont., where most of his family lives.

The accident is under investigation. CN officials wouldn't speculate on the cause but there have been suggestions the locomotive's brakes failed.

CN Rail has been under a microscope after a series of derailments, more than 20 in 2005.

A 43-car CN derailment near Wabamum, west of Edmonton, dumped 700,000 litres of oil into a lake last August.

Two days later, a CN train derailed and spilled sodium hydroxide into the Cheakamus River about 30 kilometres north of Squamish, B.C., doing substantial damage to the river's wildlife.

Figures from the Transportation Safety Board show railway accidents have been climbing steadily for all of Canada's railways.

Last December, CN Rail pleaded guilty to failing to properly keep records of maintenance and inspection work it did on a bridge where a fatal derailment occurred in 2003. Two employees were killed in that accident.

Posted on 04:15 AM | Permalink

Citywire: 04 July 2006
Douglas Bence, Companies Correspondent

Transport group Arriva has won a contract to operate rail services between Munich, Oberstdorf in the Bavarian Alps and Lindau in southern Germany.

The contract, which will operate as part of Arriva's Regentalbahn business, starts in December 2007 and will run for ten years. It will employ around 50 staff and involve the operation of six locomotives and 22 carriages.

Over the period, the contract is expected to be worth £103 million. As part of the contract six new locomotives will be leased and the carriages refurbished

Arriva (ARI) is already involved with the current contract, known as ALEX, which it operates jointly with SBB GmbH, the German division of the federal Swiss Railway.

Sunderland-based Arriva operates buses, trains, commuter coaches and water buses in eight European countries: Denmark, Italy, Germany, Holland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

The focus of the group began to change in February when it sold its car and commercial vehicle rental division to Northgate for £129 million.

This allowed it to focus its business on the passenger service markets in the UK and mainland Europe.

It won a nine-year contract to operate Pgatg regional train services in southern Sweden in February, acquired Bils, a 118-bus operation in North-Rhine Westphalia, in April, and the following month bought a 21.5% stake in Barraqueiro SGPS, the Portuguese passenger transport operator.

Arriva, which operates in seven German states, moved into the German transport market in April 2004 with the acquisition of Prignitzer Eisenbahn Gruppe which gave it rail services in North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Mecklenberg-Western Pomerania.

In September 2004 it acquired 76.9% of Regentalbahn which provides rail services in Eastern Bavaria, Thuringia, Saxony and into the Czech Republic.

Two months later it won the contract to operate rail services between Munich, Hof and Furth im Wald in Bavaria from December 2007.

Since October 2005 Arriva has been in the German bus market with Sippel, which provides services in the Rhine-Main area, and Verkehrsbetrieb Bils KG which operates in the M?land region.

Meanwhile in a trading statement Arriva, which employs 33,000 people providing over one billion passenger journeys a year, is trading in line with expectations. The shares fell 8.75p to 594.75p in thin trading.

Arriva has submitted a bid for the South Western rail franchise, a decision on which is expected in the autumn and is also looking at other UK franchise opportunities.

Panmure Gordon, which recommends holding the shares, says the group is heavily dependant on mainland Europe for long-term growth. Although the assets could soon be re-valued, the shares did not look particularly cheap, it said.

The figures for the six months to 30 June will be revealed on 7 September.

Citywire Verdict:

Although the shares peaked at 673.5p in March, they slumped to a 13 June low of 494.5p. Over the last 12 months they have added 11%. For this sector much depends on the destination of the South West franchise which is on a much bigger scale than the Munich and most other European contracts. Arriva is not a share likely to produce a quick profit. Wait.

Posted on 11:10 PM | Permalink

The Scotsman: 4 Jul 2006

THE death toll in the Valencia train crash has risen to 41. Engineers have blamed a faulty wheel for the second rail disaster to hit the city in a year.

The underground train accelerated, shuddered and flipped off the tracks yesterday.

A further 47 people were hurt in what has been described as one of Spain's worst rail accidents.

Regional authorities and one witness said the train was going too fast and one of its wheels broke into pieces, derailing the first car, which overturned.

Rescue workers dragged bloodied, sooty survivors from the tunnel. Anguished relatives waited outside the local morgue.

The accident brought back memories of the 2004 terrorist attack on Madrid commuter trains that killed 191 people.

All but eight of the victims of the Valencia crash have been identified.

The driver was among those killed.

British consular officials were at the scene this morning, however, it is not yet known whether anyone from the UK was involved in the accident.

The death toll could yet rise further as more bodies are expected to be discovered.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero cut short a visit to India.

Posted on 10:56 PM | Permalink

Times Online: July 03, 2006
From Charles Bremner, of The Times, in Paris

France's public transport unions were appalled today after Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister, reshuffled the bosses of state industries and promoted his chief-of-staff to a plum job.

Pierre Mongin, 51, a friend and civil servant who is blamed by many MPs for the Prime Minister?s policy failures during his year in office, landed the post of chief of the RATP, the transport monopoly that runs the Metro and buses of Paris. Nicolas Sarkozy, the Interior Minister and de Villepin foe, calls M Mongin the Prime Minister?s ?partner in crime?.

The ?waltz of the bosses?, as it was dubbed by the media, was triggered by the shake-up of management at EADS, the Franco-German parent of the troubled Airbus company. The exercise was a classic case of the State placing its high servants in top industrial jobs.

Many of the cast are, like M de Villepin and President Chirac, graduates of the cole Nationale d?Administration (ENA), the elite postgraduate school for mandarins. Seven of the past ten Prime Ministers and two of the past three Presidents studied there.

The French state, holder of a 15 per cent stake in EADS, is not supposed to interfere in the company?s management, but this did not prevent M de Villepin from orchestrating a shake-up that removed Noel Foregard, the corporation?s co-chief executive. M Foregard, a former civil servant and long-standing prot? of M Chirac, was forced to carry the can for failures at Airbus and for profiting from the sale of stock last March when trouble was brewing.

To replace him, France sent in Louis Gallois, 63, a civil servant, former ENA man and colleague of Alain Jupp?the former Prime Minister, who has run the SNCF state railways for the past decade. M Gallois was deemed a good fit because he had served in state aerospace in the past. e was replaced at the railways by Anne-Marie Idrac, civil servant and ENA alumna, who was head of the RATP. While the appointment of M Gallois to EADS was generally welcomed, unions and media criticised M de Villepin?s promotions as ?jobs for the boys?. Criticism was focused on the ?parachuting? into the RATP of M Mongin, who has been a friend of the Prime Minister since they studied in the same year at the ENA. It was widely assumed that M de Villepin, who is more unpopular than any Prime Minister since the 1950s, had wanted to secure the future of his friend before the end of the Government?s term next May.

Les Echos, a business daily, lamented ?this very French tradition of musical chairs in which appointments are inspired more by politics than ability?.

There was little criticism from the Socialist opposition. The party largely favours the appointment of state technocrats to senior industrial posts. Fran?s Hollande, its leader, and S?l? Royal, the presidential favourite who is his partner, were both classmates of M de Villepin in the same year at the ENA.

Unions at the RATP, where staff have staged four strikes over the past year, said they expected trouble from a new boss who had made a name for pushing M de Villepin into confrontation with workers while serving in the pivotal job as the Prime Minister's chief-of-staff. Unions at the SNCF, who have staged several strikes over the past two years, were alarmed by the departure of the "conciliatory" M. Gallois, and his replacement by Mme Idrac, who, they suspect favours privatising the state rail monopoly.

Posted on 06:46 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 3 July 2006

A rail worker, sacked after she went on sick leave through work-related stress, has won a claim of unfair dismissal.

Sally Jenkins suffered panic attacks and depression after picking up a syringe on a Heathrow Express train.

She took an HIV test and was off work sick but was sacked on health grounds in December 2005 by her employers Heathrow Express.

An employment tribunal in London ruled she should be reinstated and awarded damages of £14,800.

Jenkins 'vindicated'

The figure related to loss of earnings and injury to feelings.

"This ruling has lifted a massive weight from me and I feel relieved and completely vindicated," she said.

She won her claim of unfair dismissal under the Disability Discrimination Act.

Her solicitor, Charlotte Moore, said it was rare for a tribunal to order reinstatement even where a finding of unfair dismissal was made.

Claire Baker, head of human resources at Heathrow Express, said the firm would be considering its options before taking any further action.

Posted on 10:19 AM | Permalink

The Guardian: July 4, 2006
Hans Kundnani

Network Rail asked the government yesterday for an extra £8bn to modernise Britain's creaking rail infrastructure.

The not-for-profit company, which owns Britain's railway tracks, stations and signals, said it would be able to cut costs by nearly £1bn a year but still needed the extra funding to make essential improvements, particularly to overcrowded commuter routes in the south-east of England.

The Department for Transport forecasts that passenger numbers will increase by a further 30% over 10 years. "The time has come to deal with the growing demands being placed on Britain's rail network," said Network Rail's chief executive, John Armitt. In total, Network Rail is asking the government for just under £29bn.

Almost half of the extra £8bn will, if approved, be spent on the extension of the Thameslink commuter system.

Network Rail, which took over Britain's railway tracks from Railtrack four years ago, wants to triple the number of trains operating on the Thameslink system to 24 an hour but said much of the work was needed to keep the system functioning even at its present capacity. "There is not a 'do nothing' option on Thameslink," Mr Armitt said.

The request for more money was made as part of Network Rail's business plan for the period from 2009 to 2014. It begins a two-year negotiation between the Department for Transport, Transport Scotland, the Office of Rail Regulation and the rail operators. The DfT and Transport Scotland will publish responses next year.

Network Rail announced that efficiency savings would reduce the costs of running the network by £4.2bn compared with the period from 2004 to 2009. For that period, Network Rail received £25bn from the DfT. The company made a pre-tax loss of £232m in 2005.

The Office of Rail Regulation had been expecting Network Rail's funding to be cut. Last December, it said in its own assessment that it expected Network Rail would require between £17bn and £20bn to maintain the serviceability and performance of the rail network.

Chris Grayling, shadow transport secretary, said the rail network had already received too much money from the taxpayer in recent years. "We need better value for the money we are already spending and should not just carry on pouring cash into what is increasingly looking like a financial black hole," he said.

See also:

Network Rail asks for an extra £8bn

The Times: July 04, 2006
By Angela Jameson, Industrial Correspondent

NETWORK RAIL has pledged that rail costs will fall after 2014, if it is allowed an £8 billion increase in its five-year funding plan from 2009.

The not-for-profit rail infrastructure group has asked the Office of Rail Regulation for an extra £7.9 billion of funds for the period from 2009 to 2014, on top of the £20.7 billion the company would need anyway.

The Conservatives attacked the request, saying that Network Rail should concentrate on cutting costs and delivering better value for money before demanding more investment.

Chris Grayling, Shadow Transport Secretary, said: ?The rail network has already had billions of pounds extra from the taxpayer in the last few years. We need better value for the money we are already spending, and should not just carry on pouring cash into what is increasingly looking like a financial black hole.?

Network Rail argues that it should receive the extra funding because it has managed to reduce the costs of running the existing network by £4.2 billion. The group received £25billion in the current five-year control period, but says that it needs only £20.7 billion to carry on business as usual for five years from 2009.

However, it argues that there is a one-off opportunity to build several major projects, which would relieve overcrowding on the network.

John Armitt, chief executive of Network Rail, said: ?The time has come to deal with the growing demands being placed on Britain?s rail network. We have seen remarkable growth over the past ten years, 40 per cent more passengers and 60 per cent more freight, and we are predicting similar increases, some 30 per cent, over the next ten years.?

About £3.5 billion of the extra £7.9 billion would go towards upgrading the Thameslink service from the South coast to Bedford. The Thameslink improvements, which have been delayed for more than six years, are the subject of a public inquiry due to report this summer. ?This project is ready to go, is much further advanced than Crossrail and will cost a lot less for similar benefits,? a Network Rail spokesman said.

The Thameslink proposals would see the service increase from eight trains an hour to 24, with the number of stations on the route doubled. The north-south route from Bedford to Brighton would be extended, serving towns from Bedford to Guildford in the south west and Dartford in the south east.

There are also proposals to redevelop London?s Waterloo station and Birmingham?s New Street station, as well as upgrading freight lines between the North and South of England.

Network Rail?s submission to the Office of Rail Regulation is the first stage in a two-year discussion with the independent regulator and the Government over funding needs.

Posted on 10:01 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 3 July 2006

Details of some of Europe's worst rail accidents.

June 2006: At least 30 people are killed and a dozen hurt in a metro train crash in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia.

January 2006: At least 39 people die and 135 are injured - many of them skiers - when a train plunges down a ravine after its brakes fail in Podgorica, Montenegro.

January 2005: A crowded Italian train collides head-on with a freight convoy in thick fog near Bologna, Italy, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 50.

November 2004: Seven are killed and 37 injured as a London to Plymouth train derails after hitting a car on a level-crossing in Berkshire, UK.

August 2004: At least six die and 85 are hurt in a head-on crash in north-western Turkey.

July 2004: A high-speed train from Istanbul to Ankara derails in the north-western province of Sakarya killing at least 36 people in one Turkey's worst ever rail disasters.

June 2003: At least 19 people die when a passenger train and a freight train collide in Spain's Albacete province.

May 2003: A train crashes into a German coach at a level crossing on the shores of Lake Balaton in Hungary, killing 33 people on the coach.

November 2002: Twelve people die in a fire on an overnight sleeper train near the eastern French city of Nancy.

May 2002: A crash at Potter's Bar in Britain kills seven people and injures dozens more when a train derails and smashes into a station.

September 2001: A head-on collision in southern Germany injures 82 people, nine of them seriously.

June 2001: Seven people are killed in two separate train crashes in Germany. Both were apparently caused by vehicles crossing railway lines despite warning signals.

March 2001: Eight people are killed when two trains smash into each other head-on in the village of Pecrot, about 26 kilometres (16 miles) east of Brussels.

February 2001: Ten people are killed in North Yorkshire, UK, when a high-speed passenger train hits a car on the track before colliding with a freight train.

October 2000: Four people are killed in the UK when a high-speed London to Leeds train derails at Hatfield, Hertfordshire.

February 2000: Eight people are killed when an overnight passenger train is derailed near Cologne, Germany.

January 2000: Two passenger trains collide in Norway, 150 km (100 miles) north of Oslo, overturning several coaches and setting off a huge blaze. A total of 19 people die.

October 1999: Thirty-one people are killed when a high-speed passenger train approaching London's Paddington Station collides with a local commuter train.

June 1998: More than 100 people are killed when a German high-speed train travelling from Munich to Hamburg goes off the rails at Eschede.

September 1997: Seven people are killed when a Swansea-to-London express train collides with a goods locomotive.

June 1989: The most horrific European rail accident of recent years happens in Russia when a gas explosion erupts beneath two trains carrying more than 1,200 people near the town of Ufa, killing about 400 and injuring 600.

June 1989: In the same month, Russia suffers another tragedy when 31 people die and 66 are injured after an express train ploughs into a bus which has stalled on a level crossing in southern Russia.

December 1988: Britain's Clapham Junction crash kills 35 people when three morning rush-hour trains collide in south London.

June 1988: A rush-hour train runs into the back of another at Paris's Gare de Lyon, killing 59.

September 1985: A holiday express crashes near Argenton-sur-Creuse, north of Limoges in France, killing 43 people and injuring another 30.

August 1985: A month earlier, 33 people die and 165 are injured in a head-on collision between two trains in southern France.

1967: Germany suffers a major rail disaster, when a train collides with another carrying petrol tankers near the city of Magdeburg, causing an explosion that kills 94 people.

October 1952: A total of 112 people are killed and 340 hurt in a crash at Harrow and Wealdstone in north-west London.

May 1915: The UK's worst crash takes place when a World War I troop train collides with a stationary train near Gretna Green in Scotland, and is then itself hit by an express passenger train. More than 200 people - most of them soldiers - are killed in the two crashes and ensuing fires.

Posted on 09:26 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 4 July 2006

Three days of mourning will be held in Valencia, Spain, as investigations continue into a underground train crash which killed at least 41 people.

Two carriages derailed and crashed in a tunnel near Jesus station. Officials say the crash may have been caused by high speed or a collapsing train wheel.

But trade unions say authorities are speculating and it is too early to determine the cause of the accident.

Some 47 people were injured, with 12 remaining in hospital.

Two of those in hospital were reported to be in a "very critical" condition. A pregnant woman was said to be among those seriously injured.

The train driver, who had earlier been said to have been seriously hurt, was later reported to have been killed in the crash.

A judge has begun preparations to take declarations from crash witnesses.

King expected

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero cut short a visit to India to travel to Valencia after Monday's crash.

"There were people with heads bleeding, cuts and bruises quite seriously injured" - Graham Moore, Eyewitness

Officials said he was expected to attend a mass in the city on Tuesday evening.

Spanish King Juan Carlos was also expected to travel to the city.

Regional government spokesman Vincent Rambla said on Monday evening that no final casualty figure was available, because recovering and identifying bodies from amid the wreckage was proving difficult.

Monday had been "one of the saddest days for Valencia", he added.

Special units trained in disaster management were deployed in central Valencia after the crash, and the injured were taken to five hospitals around the city.

Spain's national police service sent five specialist accident investigation officers from Madrid to Valencia to help establish why the train derailed.

Terrorism was quickly ruled out, and local officials and emergency services suggested speeding and defective wheels were likely causes.

The four-carriage train was travelling on Valencia's Number One underground route, close to a junction with another line, and came off the rails between Plaza de Espana and Jesus stations.

The train had passed a safety inspection just one week before the crash, Spain's EFE news agency reported.

Unions say the train line where the accident happened is the oldest in Valencia's metro network.

Last September three underground trains collided in Valencia on the same line, injuring 29 people.

Carriages were busy as the accident occurred shortly after 1300 (1100 GMT) when many would have been heading home for lunch.

The accident comes days before Pope Benedict XVI is due to visit Valencia, with preparations being made for hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to use the city's public transport network.

Posted on 09:15 AM | Permalink

A HEATHROW Express worker who was dismissed after suffering bouts of stress-related illness as the result of a 'needle-stick' injury sustained at work has won her claim of unfair dismissal on the grounds of disability.

The Employment Tribunal ruled that RMT activist Sally Jenkins should be re-instated after Heathrow Express failed to consider reasonable adjustments to her role as a customer services representative to help her return to work from illness, in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act.

The Tribunal also awarded Sally a total of £14,862 for loss of earnings and injury to her feelings.

Sally suffered panic attacks, anxiety and depression following the May 2001 needle-stick incident and the months of uncertainty waiting for the result of an HIV test. After her most recent period of sickness leave, Sally's GP, therapist, consultant psychiatrist and occupational health doctor all recommended that she was fit to return to work.

However, despite a recommendation in September 2005 from the company's own consultant psychiatrist that Sally could be eased back into work, she was dismissed on health grounds last December.

"This ruling has lifted a massive weight from me and I feel relieved and completely vindicated," Sally Jenkins said today. "It has been a long haul, but RMT backed my case all the way."

Charlotte Moore, Sally's solicitor at RMT law firm Thompsons, said: "It is rare for an employment tribunal to order reinstatement, even where a finding of unfair dismissal is made.

"This decision sends a very strong message to Heathrow Express, and to all employers, about their duties and responsibilities under the Disability Discrimination Act, including the requirement to make reasonable adjustments to enable workers with disabilities to work," Charlotte Moore said.

"Sally has been through a long and difficult ordeal, and it is clear that Heathrow Express needs to review its equal opportunities policies," said RMT general secretary Bob Crow.

"It is particularly breathtaking that Heathrow Express treated her so badly when the injury that sparked her problems was sustained at work," Bob Crow said.

July 3, 2006

Posted on 04:12 PM | Permalink

RMT: July 3 2006

FRAGMENTATION AND a lack of coherent policy-making are preventing Britain's rail network playing what should be a key role in delivering a healthier environment and sustainable development, according to damning study published today.

The 'modal share' of the car is higher in Britain than in any other European Union country, yet a "far from coherent" policy framework "tends to ignore the potential role that rail could play in the development of more sustainable communities and transport," says the Institute for European Environmental Policy.

The paper, commissioned by RMT, Britain's biggest rail union, says that the environmental edge held by rail over other transport modes provides an opportunity for the development of a sustainable transport system that is being missed by lack of joined-up government

"This failure has been criticised time and again by experts and parliamentary select committees, but with seemingly little impact on government policy," the study says.

"This is the clearest yet call for joined-up government to harness the environmental advantages that rail offers," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said in Dublin from the union's annual general meeting.

"Only in May the transport select committee condemned the fragmented shambles of rail fares policies that were aimed at maximising private-sector profits rather than encouraging people out of cars and on to trains.

"Yet last week we learned that ministers were secretly giving the nod to private monopoly operators to impose massive fares hikes deliberately aimed at discouraging peak-time rail travel - the exact opposite of stated government policy.

"The economy and the environment are crying out for joined-up government that will deliver a joined-up and growing railway, and a good first step would be to harness fares policy in the interests of passengers and environment.

"Fragmentation and the self-interest of private operators and infrastructure companies are barriers to achieving the sustainable transport development Britain needs, and it is clearer than ever that our railways must be re-united in the public sector," Bob Crow said.

ends

The Executive Summary is below. The full report can be read at the IEEP's website

Institute for European Environmental Policy
The Sustainable Case for Rail
June 2006
Executive Summary

Prior to privatisation, a nationalised British Rail took an active lead on environmental issues such as energy use. This was due to both a desire to be seen to be taking the initiative on such matters, as well as the incentive of the potential financial savings resulting in particular from lower energy use, given the scale of its operations at that time. Since privatisation, however, the fragmented nature of the rail industry has resulted in less priority being given to environmental concerns, although attempts have been made recently, by both the Office of the Rail Regulator and, latterly, Network Rail, to develop an industry-wide response to key issues.

The environmental and sustainable development agendas will, however, increasingly impact on rail, as:

* In terms of legislative attention, the environmental impacts of rail have been neglected, particularly compared to road transport, although this gap is now starting to be addressed;
* The nature of UK and EU environmental policy is changing, away from problems that are suitable for end-of-pipe solutions, such as air quality, towards issues that require a more integrated, multi-lateral approach, such as climate change; and
* The social and economic dimensions of sustainable development are increasing in their prominence on the policy agenda.

Having said this, rail's environmental performance relative to other motorised transport modes is still good in most respects. Hence, the developing environmental and sustainable development agendas should be seen as an opportunity for the rail sector to take a lead on environmental issues and to contribute proactively to the development of a sustainable transport system, of which it has to be an integral part.

In the UK, the modal share of the car is higher than in any other EU state. It is difficult to identify one single cause for this, but a more proactive and integrated approach is often taken towards the provision of public transport on the continent. The UK, for example, has very few high speed rail lines, whereas in France by contrast, the provision of these has been used to help revive areas in industrial decline, such as Lille.

However, the policy framework within which rail operates in the UK is far from coherent and tends to ignore the potential role that rail could play in the development of more sustainable communities and transport. The much-heralded integrated approach to transport policy of 1998 has not been translated into practical action on the ground. This failure has been criticised time and again by experts and parliamentary select committees, but with seemingly little impact on government policy. While multi-modal studies have attempted to take an integrated approach to developing transport infrastructure, for example, these have often not been implemented in full, usually omitting improvements to the rail network, due to a lack of financial resources and the differing strategic priorities of different key players. The sustainable communities agenda seems to be proceeding without due emphasis on the needs for transport infrastructure or consideration to the potential contribution of rail; while other government policies, such as energy and climate change policies, also appear to largely overlook the potential role that rail could play in delivering the policy objectives.

Hence, while rail has a key role to play in delivering the policy objectives of the emerging environmental and sustainable development agendas, this potential is not yet being realised or capitalised upon, either by government or by the rail industry itself.

See also:

Railways key to future

Eastern Daily Press: 04 July 2006
TARA GREAVES

It takes a lot to get us Brits to leave our cars at home. On a blistering hot day like yesterday, an air- conditioned, fast-track train might just have tipped the scales. And the fact that it would have also been kinder to the environment would have been an added bonus.

But unreliability, expense, indirect routes and ageing rolling stock on some lines means we are less likely to give up the relative luxury of our cars - and until these issues are tackled, the situation, whether it is bad for the environment or not, is unlikely to change.

Another problem, according to a study commissioned by the Rail Maritime and Transport Union (RMT), is that the role the railways could play in developing more sustainable communities and transport is being ignored.

The Institute for European Environmental Policy said the environmental impact of railways had been "neglected" in the UK, particularly compared with road transport.

Prior to privatisation, the railway industry took an active lead on environmental issues such as energy use, said the report.

It went on: "Since privatisation, however, the fragmented nature of the railway industry has resulted in less priority being given to environmental concerns."

And this is to our shame.

Keith Tovey, CRed (HSBC) director of energy science based at UEA, has conducted studies on train emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide - one of the main causes of climate change.

He said: "If you drive an average car to London by yourself, you would emit 31kg of carbon dioxide or the equivalent of 3,100 party balloons full, but if you took a train, depending on differential loading, it would work out at about 7kg of carbon dioxide or 700 balloons."

Car use is higher in the UK than in any other EU state.

The report added: "It is difficult to identify one single cause for this, but a more proactive and integrated approach is often taken towards the provision of public transport on the Continent.

"The UK, for example, has very few high-speed rail lines, whereas in France, by contrast, the provision of these has been used to help revive areas in industrial decline such as Lille."

The report said the policy framework in the UK ignored the potential role that rail could play and said that the "much-heralded" integrated approach to transport after Labour was returned to power at the end of the 1990s had not been translated into practical action on the ground.

"This failure has been criticised time and again by experts and parliamentary select committees but with seemingly little impact on government policy," said the report.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT, said at the union's annual conference in Dublin: "This is the clearest call yet for joined-up government to harness the environ-mental advantages that rail offers.

"Fragmentation and the self-interest of private operators and infrastructure companies are barriers to achieving the sustainable transport development Britain needs."

There is no doubt that rail travel passenger numbers are rising: a billion trips were made in 2005 - up by more than a third since 1997.

Britain's railway is the fastest growing in Europe but that means the daily experience of commuters is becoming increasingly fraught.

Almost three quarters of all journeys made in the East are to London, mainly at peak times.

And now Network Rail has launched a bid to get an extra £7.9bn to bring its budget up to £20.8bn - needed to combat overcrowding and congestion.

Norwich Green councillor Rupert Read said he welcomed investment in rail as long as it did not come at the expense of funding for sustainable transport.

"Travelling by train is not the greenest form of transport - it is greener to go by bike or boat - but that is not possible over longer journeys," he said.

The Green Party advocates renationalisation of the railways and sees it as the only way that proper investment can be reached.

Perhaps the point is best made by shadow transport secretary Chris Grayling.

He said: "Network Rail is basically saying that it needs either much higher fares or a big jump in its subsidy from the taxpayer if it is to tackle the growing problem of congestion and overcrowding on our railways.

"But the rail network has already had billions of pounds extra from the taxpayer in the last few years.

"We need better value for the money we are already spending, and should not just carry on pouring cash into what is increasingly looking like a financial black hole."

Posted on 11:45 AM | Permalink

The Times: July 01, 2006
From Roger Boyes, in Berlin

THE vast project has been compared with the construction of the Egyptian Pyramids or China's Three Gorges Dam.

From this weekend, teams of engineers and explosives experts will start to build the world?s largest railway tunnel through the Alps in an attempt to bring northern and southern Europe closer together.

"We have a responsibility as the custodians of the Alps," said Romano Prodi, the Italian Prime Minister, before an opening ceremony yesterday in Innsbruck, the starting point of the tunnel.

The point is to protect the Austrian and Italian Alps from the devastating pollution caused by millions of cars and lorries that move southwards every year from Germany and Europe?s industrial heartland. Most of the trucks currently cross on the Brenner Pass motorway: two million vehicles, including Mediterranean holidaymakers and freight lorries. Fifteen years ago barely 900,000 vehicles used the motorway. Again and again, environmental activists have tried to block the passes to protest against carbon emissions that are spoiling the Alpine air and wrecking communities.

When the tunnels are completed in 2016 two railway lines through the Brenner should take up the strain. The two tubes, 39 miles long, will be able to take 400 trains a day. It is regarded as the key link in the European Union project to construct a continuous high speed train connection between Munich and Palermo.

The link is expected to transform Europe in dozens of ways: bringing together the economies of northern Italy, Austria and southern Germany; saving Alpine villages; transforming neglected north Italian resorts, and ensuring quick delivery of Mediterranean food to northern Europe.

Construction costs are conservatively estimated at Euros 4.5 billion (£3.11 billion), 20 per cent of which is being underwritten by the EU. Road traffic, hpowever, will continue to rise. The EU estimates it is set to increase by 55 per cent by 2020.

Posted on 11:34 AM | Permalink

Swissinfo: July 3, 2006

The Swiss city of Basel will soon only be three hours away from Paris by rail, as the French begin work on a new high-speed line between nearby Mulhouse and Dijon.

French high-speed trains are already a familiar sight at a number of Swiss stations

Switzerland is contributing ?66 million (SFr100 million) to the project, which took over 16 years to get off the ground despite being given a high priority by the European Union.

A ceremony on Monday will mark the official launch of the Rhine-Rh?extension of the French high-speed network. Approximately 140 kilometres of rails will have to be laid and the new line should be operational in 2011.

For the time being, the tracks will only cover the distance between Dijon and the Belfort area.

But the famous TGVs (train ?rande vitesse) travelling along the line at a speed of 320 kilometres per hour will still put Basel just three hours away from the French capital, instead of nearly five now. Passengers leaving from Zurich will also gain two hours.

Travellers from northwestern Switzerland will be able to benefit as soon as next year from shorter trips to Paris with the arrival of the eastern branch of the TGV network in Strasbourg, north of Basel. The journey should only take three-and-a-half hours.

Travel time from Basel could even be cut to as little as two-and-a-quarter hours if all the planned improvements between Paris and Mulhouse ? which is just across the border from the Swiss city - are carried out.

Western Switzerland as a whole should in fact benefit from the upgrade to the French rail network.

Funding worries

However, it could some time before this goal is reached since it is still dependent on future funding decisions.

"The regions that contribute to the project have funding problems to deal with, so we have to go ahead with something more modest," said Thierry Zuttel, secretary-general of the Rhine-Rh?TGV association.

The project will be completed in stages and fresh funding will have to be found each time. The work that begins this summer has been estimated at around ?2.5 billion.

The Alsace, Burgundy, Franche-Comt?nd Rh?Alps regions have pledged ?719 million for this first stage, while the Swiss authorities have promised ?66 million.

Switzerland is also providing funding for other TGV connections, including SFr40 million for the line between Vallorbe on the French border and Dijon, and another SFr165 million for the Geneva-Bourg-en-Bresse line.

Construction of the Rhine-Rh?line took 16 years to actually get underway despite being selected as a priority project by the EU.

One hindrance was the actual time ? six years ? that it took the Swiss to decide how much funding they were prepared to give. It was only last year that parliament accepted the credit, even though the French and Swiss governments had signed an agreement in 1999.

Posted on 11:17 AM | Permalink

TVNZ: Jul 3, 2006

Rail freight operators say the cancellation of services at the weekend during industrial action by track maintenance workers, nearly brought the train network to a halt.

Staff from Ontrack, which manages the network, are refusing to do overtime or after hours call outs during a pay dispute.

Problems on two rail sections in the North Island caused four freight trains to be cancelled at the weekend, and six services were delayed.

Freight company, Toll New Zealand, says if it was not for the fact rail maintenance staff were rostered over the weekend, the entire network would have come to a standstill.

The company says it is becoming increasingly concerned about the dispute.

Both freight and commuter rail users face further disruption to services this week.

Posted on 11:11 AM | Permalink

The Observer: July 2, 2006
Juliette Jowit, transport editor

Rail operator claims funding is vital to combat overcrowding - but fares could still rise again.

The company that runs Britain's rail network will this week ask for a grant of £7bn to ease chronic overcrowding on services across the country.

Network Rail will announce tomorrow that it needs the extra money to cope with an expected 30 per cent increase in passengers and freight over the next decade - on top of more than £4bn a year that it already gets to run the current network.

It wants to spend the extra money on extending platforms to take longer trains, and on new sections of line on the busiest stretches of mainline and commuter routes into London and other cities.

The total bill will horrify ministers, who want to cut the railway's annual subsidy from taxpayers of nearly £6bn this year. It will also heighten fears that train fares, already among the highest in Europe, will rise in order to discourage people from travelling by rail. It was revealed last week that First Capital Connect had doubled fares for some journeys from St Albans to London, with government backing, in order to ease overcrowding.

Network Rail's chief executive, John Armitt, said the improvements were crucial if it was to cope with growth on what are already the most congested parts of the network. 'The growth forecasts are simply what we see as continuing growth,' Armitt told The Observer.

'If you take London, [it's] simply the forecast growth in people coming to work and growth in population.' He also warned that the forecast - less than the current passenger growth rate of 4-5 per cent a year - did not take into account the impact of national road pricing, which the government plans to introduce around the middle of the next decade. This could put more pressure on trains in urban areas, where road prices would be highest, but might also threaten rural railways if rural motoring became cheaper, said Armitt.

Network Rail's appeal, due to be submitted to the rail regulator tomorrow, will reignite the debate over massive public subsidies for the rail infrastructure and for the private companies that run train services. The railways got 40 per cent of this year's transport budget, but they only carry 6 per cent of the travelling public. Trains are also predominantly used by the middle classes and in the south-east, where 70 per cent of rail journeys are made.

Critics claim rail infrastructure costs have been too high ever since they soared after privatisation a decade ago, even though Network Rail has cut the annual operating bill by £1bn-£1.5bn since it took over from Railtrack in 2002.

'They are getting shedloads [of money], and if you look at how much it costs to do things here compared with other countries, it's quite high and they are going to have to justify that,' said Stephen Joseph, executive director of campaign group Transport 2000.

The Association of Train Operating Companies said it forecast that growth would be at least 28 per cent and possibly 40 per cent over the next decade. 'We need to start to make the planning decisions now if we're going to be able to cope,' said Edward Funnell, the association's communications director. '[Without more capacity] things are going to get very, very congested on more parts of the network, like the roads, like the airports.'

Network Rail's funding application will be split into two parts. For daily operations and maintenance, the company is expected to ask for more than the £17bn-£20bn suggested by the rail regulator in December, blaming rises in costs beyond its control, especially electricity charges. It is also expected to ask for about £7bn for major improvements - half of it for the Thameslink upgrade for services from the south coast to Bedford, Peterborough and King's Lynn. Other big investments are likely to be on commuter routes out of London Waterloo and at Birmingham New Street.

... But for now, there's still breathing space on the 07.23

The 07:23 from Windsor and Eton Riverside to Waterloo is possibly the poshest train in Britain, full of solicitors, bankers and consultants. It is also officially Britain's most crowded, carrying nearly twice the number it was built to take.

For many passengers on South West Trains - Britain's busiest commuter network - closely pressed bodies, and watching one train after another come and go before they can board have become routine. Now that punctuality has improved, overcrowding has become the main gripe.

For the first few stations, the 07.23 still has some empty seats - which is why Michael McDonough moved from Putney to Windsor. 'If you can get a seat, it's productive time, so it's certainly worth the extra time,' says McDonough, a lawyer.

By Feltham, where investment consultant Rav Parmar gets on board, it is usually standing room only. 'Any train after 7.30 into Waterloo is packed. By Richmond it's like a can of sardines.' Pritesh Mehta gets on one stop before Richmond at Twickenham. 'You end up with elbows in your face and all sorts,' he says. By the time John Stokes joins at Richmond, it's pretty unpleasant and Waterloo is still 24 minutes away. 'I've not had a seat for two years,' says Stokes, who works in IT management.

From his enviable seat, McDonough says it's not just the passengers who suffer. 'The easier it is to get into work, the more likely it is for people to show up. '

See also:

Network Rail seeks £27bn to fund improvements

Sunday Telegraph: 02/07/2006
By Edward Simpkins

Network Rail will tomorrow submit a request for up to £27bn to run the railways for a further five years.

The not-for-profit company that owns, operates and maintains the UK's railways will ask the Office of Rail Regulation for the huge sum as it begins the process of negotiating a funding agreement with the Government for the period 2009 to 2014.

Network Rail, headed by John Armitt, is expected to present the ORR with two scenarios. Under a "do nothing" plan it would request £20bn to maintain the railways at today's capacity.

But under a second scenario it will point out that demand for rail travel is expected to grow by 30 per cent by 2014 and say that improvements costing £6.5bn will be needed to accommodate the increase.

It emerged last week that the Department for Transport has been discussing allowing train operating companies to radically increase fares as an alternative way of managing demand. However, Network Rail will propose a series of improvements to cater for this extra demand.

The largest scheme, at a cost of £3bn would be to upgrade the Thameslink line which runs north to south through London, although other major schemes such as lengthening the platforms at Waterloo, remodelling Clapham Junction, Britain's busiest station, and increasing the length of trains on commuter routes are also proposed.

Posted on 06:32 PM | Permalink

RMT: July 2 2006

A Tube driver awarded the MBE for his selfless efforts in helping victims of the July 7 bombings at two stations has slammed the "hypocrisy" of ministers seeking to axe compensation to workers injured at work through criminal actions.

RMT member John Boyle, who was off-duty when he rushed to aid the injured at both Aldgate and Aldgate East stations, received £1,000 in compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) for the serious effects of the trauma he suffered.

However, the Home Office has proposed not only that CICA's lower tariffs be removed, but that workers injured through criminal actions at work should not qualify for CICA compensation at all.

"The government's proposals are just terrible," says John Boyle. "I was off-duty when the bombs went off, so under these proposals I might still have had a claim, but my workmates and all the emergency services people who did so much wouldn?t qualify at all just because they were on duty.

"How can they say that people injured in the course of duty are different to those injured off-duty, or on their way to work?

"We were all victims that day, and it is appalling that they are trying to find money to pay to people more seriously injured by taking it away from others. To call people heroes and then to try to bar them from claiming compensation looks like hypocrisy to me," John Boyle says.

"Penalising victims of criminal acts is plain wrong and the government really should just drop these proposals," said RMT general secretary Bob Crow in Dublin as delegates gathered for the union?s annual general meeting.

"Thompsons, our lawyers, have already made a number of CICA applications on behalf of our members, but people who were affected should get in touch with the union and get a claim in as soon as possible," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 03:17 PM | Permalink

GMB: 30 June 2006

The GMB union has established the right of workers to organize collectively and be represented by unions of their choice at the distribution depots of Asda.

Wal-Mart is known to many as the ultimate "union-free" company. It has been nearly impossible for trade unionists to get a foothold in the company's US stores, though there have been some organizing
victories in Canada. A few years back, Wal-Mart acquired the British supermarket chain, Asda, leading to concerns that the company's anti-union tactics would now spread across the Atlantic. It is in this
context that we must understand -- and celebrate -- the victory announced this week by Britain's GMB union.

They achieved this by preparing for a major strike. Not only did they win recognition from management for current union members, they also won "access to all ASDA distribution sites (current and future), with facilities for appropriate levels of union workplace representatives, facilities to distribute union
literature, recruit into the union, present the union case during company induction procedures" and more. For full details of this victory, read the GMB press release here:

http://www.gmb.org.uk/Templates/PressItems.asp?NodeID=94098

labourstart@unionlists.org.uk 1st July 2006

Posted on 08:34 PM | Permalink

The Times: July 01, 2006
Letters to the Editor

Sir, Forty-odd years ago, Dr Beeching made the error of believing that, even if rail travel was made less accessible, people would still make the extra effort required to travel by train, which would have achieved economies of scale on a contracted network.

History since then, especially in those areas deprived of their lines, has conclusively proved him wrong, and the consequent increased use of the car - especially in the rural areas which suffered from rail closures the most - is now seen as a particular evil in the Government's regional spatial strategies, which are out for consultation at the present time.

How depressing, therefore, to read that First Trains (and in prospect South West Trains as well) and the same Government hope to solve the problem of overcrowding on some passenger trains by increasing fares (report, June 29).

In the days of locomotive-hauled trains, an excess of demand would be met by the provision of an extra carriage or two when the timetable required it, plus, if necessary, a slightly more powerful engine. That flexible approach must still be the way forward for the railways (if they value their own future) when passenger numbers increase, even if it also means reinstating crossovers and sidings at terminuses to allow the engines to change ends.

New locomotives and carriages on busy routes are surely a better solution to this particular problem, rather than another short-sighted remedy which will make rail travel a preserve of the rich, or drive passengers away, and on to the roads, for good.

SIR PHILIP WILLIAMS
Dorchester

Sir, There are several options available to reduce overcrowding on trains. Higher fares might work. However, the main aim should surely be to increase passenger numbers. This could be achieved by increasing capacity or smoothing occupancy. The latter might be achieved by significant fare reductions for travel during normal off-peak periods.

JOHN BYLES
Bristol

Sir, The railways receive a massive public subsidy, partly to get people out of their cars and into public transport. This has been a popular move with sections of the public who have access to these facilities. Higher fares will reduce train usage, forcing people back into their cars, but meaning that railway companies don?t have to invest in new rolling stock and increasing their profits. As this will achieve the exact opposite of what was sought, is there any reason why the subsidy should still be paid?

DAVID LESLIE
Crieff, Perthshire

Posted on 03:06 PM | Permalink

BBC News: 30 June 2006

A former rail worker accused of vandalising rail infrastructure is to stand trial next year.

Alan Nicol, 47, pleaded not guilty at Birmingham Crown Court to criminal damage and arson being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.

The offences related to attacks on the rail works in Staffordshire and Warwickshire last year.

Mr Nicol, from Yardley, Birmingham, was remanded in custody, and will attend a pre-trial hearing on 4 December.

The charges relate to damage to lineside cabling at Kingsbury Junction, Warwickshire, and a relay room in Rugeley, Staffordshire.

They are alleged to have been committed between June 2004 and November 2005.

Posted on 02:59 PM | Permalink

AFX: 30th June 2006

LONDON - National Express Group PLC said it has teamed up with MTR Corporation Ltd, the operator of the Hong Kong mass transit railway system, for a joint bid for the South Western rail franchise competition, for which National Express pre-qualified earlier this year.

Through the 50-50 joint venture agreement, National Express said it has fully reviewed and contributed to the South Western franchise bid and will participate in post franchise submission negotiations with the UK's Department for Transport.

National Express Group chief executive Phil White said: 'Following an approach by MTR, we undertook a comprehensive review

of the bid, and with our experience and additional resource, we felt we were in a position to add value to what in our view is a strong bid.'

Posted on 02:57 PM | Permalink

TVNZ: Jul 1, 2006

Hundreds of school holiday travellers are facing disruption to school holiday travel plans following the cancellation of the rail service between Wellington and Auckland for the next week.

Longhaul train operator, Tranz Scenic, says the Overlander service has been stopped to minimise disruption from industrial action by track maintenance staff.

Nearly 500 staff are refusing to work overtime or attend night time callouts because of a pay dispute.

Tranz Scenic spokesperson, Lisa Gibbison, says the company has offered new booking dates or a full refund to most customers, but is urging anyone who has not been called to make contact.

It says more train services will be cancelled each day the industrial action continues.

Posted on 02:53 PM | Permalink