BBC News: 31 October 2006

The crash at Ladbroke Grove, near Paddington, killed 31 people

Network Rail is facing an unlimited fine after admitting health and safety breaches relating to the 1999 Ladbroke Grove rail crash that claimed 31 lives.

It admitted charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Sentencing was adjourned to 18 December.

The crash happened when a Thames Trains locomotive passed a red signal and hit a Great Western express.

Network Rail pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the signal was clearly visible from a sufficient distance.

Risk creation

The charge the company admitted also said part of the signal had been obscured by a large insulator.

Network Rail, which owns and operates the entire rail infrastructure, had failed to ensure "so far as was reasonably practicable that persons not in its employment who might be affected thereby were not thereby exposed to risks to their health and safety", it said.

"We are going to stick this out" - Linda Di Lieto, Bereaved mother

Covering two A4 sheets of paper, the charge also said the signal configuration at the crash scene had been "found nowhere else in the UK".

It further criticised Network Rail - formerly Railtrack - for failing to ensure a signal sighting committee met, not only following equipment installation in 1995, but also after six Spad (Signals Passed At Danger) incidents between 1996 and 1998.

The company also admitted failing to conduct any "adequate risk assessment" or investigation following the Spads.

'Unused material'

But its guilty plea is simply an admission of risk creation - not an acceptance of responsibility for the deaths and injuries caused by the crash.

At London's Blackfriars Crown Court Judge, Aidan Marron QC adjourned sentencing until 18 December, when Network Rail will indicate the full basis of its guilty plea in writing.

"They have put all the bereaved families through torture" - Maureen Groves, Bereaved mother

Nigel Sweeney QC, defending, had asked for the adjournment to allow time for a mass of "unused material" to be examined.

But the relatives of three of those who died, who attended the 20-minute plea and case management hearing, called it yet another example of "prevarication" by Network Rail.

Linda Di Lieto, whose son, Sam, a 24-year-old Cellnet sim designer manager, from Bloomsbury, central London, was killed on the Thames train, said: "It seems it is just a game to them.

Legal costs

"How many times can they keep delaying? This has been going on for seven years.

"But we are going to stick this out. We are not going to vanish."

"Railtrack killed my daughter" - Robin Kellow, Bereaved father

Maureen Groves, whose daughter, Juliet, 25, a chartered accountant from Chiswick, west London, was also on the three-carriage local service, said: "They are playing for time, just trying to wear us down.

"The legal costs of all this must be staggering and could have gone on making the railway safer.

'Lessons learnt'

"They have wasted so much money and they have put all the bereaved families through torture."

Robin Kellow, whose daughter, Elaine, 24, an IT worker from Paddington, central London, was also among the fatalities, said: "Railtrack killed my daughter. Everybody knows they did."

"Lessons have been learnt and the rail industry has changed enormously for the better over the past seven years" - Network Rail

A Network Rail spokesman said: "The Ladbroke Grove tragedy was a terrible event for everyone involved.

"Lessons have been learnt and the rail industry has changed enormously for the better over the past seven years.

"The tragedy happened before the Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) became available.

"TPWS automatically applies a train's brakes if it is approaching a red signal too quickly to stop.

"This system has greatly reduced the risk of an accident caused by a train passing a red light.

Public inquiry

"This change, along with many others, has helped to make rail travel today the safest form of transport."

More than 400 people were injured in the crash on 5 October, 1999.

Thames Trains and Railtrack were both criticised in a public inquiry report by Lord Cullen.

Thames Trains pleaded guilty to health and safety offences in relation to the 1999 crash and was fined £2m in April 2004.

See also:

Network Rail accepts Ladbroke Grove blame

Daily Telegraph: 31/10/2006
By Matthew Moore and PA

Network Rail is facing an unlimited fine after admitting a string of health and safety blunders leading up to the Ladbroke Grove rail disaster.

The firm, which owns and operates Britain's rail infrastructure, conceded its faults at a plea hearing at London's Blackfriars Crown Court this morning.

Thirty-one people died in October 1999 when a Thames Trains turbo went past a red signal and collided head-on with a Great Western express at Ladbroke Grove, two miles from Paddington. More than 400 passengers were injured.

An independent investigation into the crash blamed Railtrack - which later became Network Rail - for "institutional paralysis" and "lamentable failures" over six years to reduce known safety risks.

Lord Cullen's report accused Railtrack of "serious and persistent" failure to deal with the weaknesses of the track and signal layout at Paddington, which became the subject of complaint from drivers after a major revision in 1993.

Over the six years before the crash, 67 spads were recorded in the area, including eight at SN109, the signal missed by the Thames driver, Michael Hodder, before the head-on collision with a Great Western express.

Nigel Sweeney QC, defending, told the court today that he had been instructed by Network Rail Infrastructure Limited to enter a guilty plea to the single count indictment.

The indictment detailed various breaches of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act, including the poor visibility of the signal through which the express train passed.

Thames Trains has previously been fined £2m for breaching two health and safety charges in relation to the Ladbroke Grove crash.

Posted on 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Expatica: 30 October 2006

BRUSSELS - Railway staff working on the trains serving Ath, Braine-le-Comte, La Louvière, Mons and Tournai went on strike Monday morning causing mayhem on the Walloon railway services.

Their action affects about 50 percent of the railway traffic including lines coming and going from Brussels.

The workers went on strike to protest against lack of staffing and the resulting difficulties relating to work and holiday planning.

The railway company NMBS/ SNCB said that they had considered the workers request during the recent strikes and that long-term hiring was underway.

See also:

Double transport trouble isolates Brussels

Expatica: 25 October 2006

BRUSSELS - Train controllers went on strike on Wednesday morning causing major delays, and unfinished road works have led to the closing of the Brussels ring-road causing major traffic jams.

The train controllers began striking at 4:00 am in the Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve station and caused disruptions on the Namur - Brussels - Charleroi line, announced Belgian radio RTBF.

The Brussels - Luxembourg line was not affected. Strikers did not block any trains and said they would end the strike at midnight.

Labour unions are in discussions with the management of the Belgian railway company NMBS/ SNCB tackling the heart of the issue; lack of resources and staff.

Ottignies complained about their lack of staffing and has been given the green light to create jobs.

Currently 34 controllers are employed at the station but the union claims that at least 40 are needed. "They are unable to choose their days-off or holidays," said Christian Martin, a representative of the CGSP, a labour union.

Labour union representatives agree that there are no short-term solutions. Hiring campaigns need to be launched but as it takes at least nine months to train a controller, qualified staff won't be dispatched to Ottignies until the summer.

Adding to these railway delays, the Brussels ring-road has been closed to traffic and today's traffic jams are as long as 7 to 8 km.

Road works have caused the traffic jams stretching to Waterloo.

The construction work should have been finished in the early hours of the morning, before traffic intensified, but the machine needed to complete the last stage of the operation broke down.

Circulation is now limited to one lane until Thursday morning.

Posted on 12:03 PM | Permalink

RMT: October 31 2006

MORE THAN 900 RMT diving personnel in the North Sea oil and gas industry will begin an indefinite strike at a minute after midnight tonight after overwhelmingly rejecting the employers’ latest pay offer.

The employers' offer was rejected by 516 votes (68 per cent) to 240 (32 per cent), on a 79 per cent turnout, in a poll that closed at midday today. It follows the near-unanimous rejection of an earlier offer.

"This result shows just how angry RMT diving personnel have become after 20 years of pay erosion," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"North Sea divers do a particularly difficult job in a particularly hazardous industry, yet over two decades their earnings have slipped by 20 per cent in the average pay tables, while the oil and gas companies have been raking in super-profits.

"Our members have now made it quite clear that the offer on the table falls short of their aspirations and they will therefore be on strike from a minute after midnight tonight.

"We remain ready to talk, and we would hope that the employers will now return to the table with an offer that meets those aspirations," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 12:01 PM | Permalink

AFX: 31st October 2006

LONDON - Tender invitations have been issued for the new Cross Country, East Midlands and West Midlands rail franchises, said UK junior Transport Minister Tom Harris.

He said the new franchises will start operating on Nov 11 2007 and will provide more than 2,000 services daily.

In September, the DfT revealed the parties that have qualified to bid for the new franchises.

For the New Cross Country franchise the qualifiers are Arriva PLC, FirstGroup PLC, National Express Group PLC and Virgin Rail Group. Virgin Rail Group is a 51:49 percent joint venture between Richard Branson's Virgin group and StageCoach Group PLC.

Arriva, FirstGroup, National Express and Stagecoach have also qualified to bid for the East Midlands franchise.

For the West Midlands franchise the qualifiers are Govia (Go-Ahead Group PLC's 65:35 joint venture with Keolis SA (a unit of Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais - SNCF), MTR Corp of Hong Kong, and a joint venture between Serco Group PLC and NedRailways.

Posted on 11:44 AM | Permalink

York Press: 30th October 2006
By Matthew Woodcock

THREE men have been arrested during a multi-million pound fraud investigation into the attempted purchase of part of York's former carriageworks site.

A British Transport Police spokesman said the men were former Network Rail contractors, who had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud Network Rail.

He said the arrests came after a 12-month investigation, which involved two lines of inquiry.

Officers were looking into the alleged use of confidential information to assist in the proposed purchase of the site in Holgate Road, where the carriageworks was based until shut down in the mid-1990s.

They were investigating allegations that the site was to be purchased for £8.5 million with the aim of selling it on for £20 million.

The second allegation concerned the awarding of a contract worth about £1 million to a company.

He said the three arrested men were all from York.

All three men had been released on bail and no one had been charged.

He said the investigation was expected to continue for a considerable period.

A spokesman for Network Rail said today: "We are co-operating fully with British Transport Police on this matter. However it would be inappropriate to comment further until the investigation is concluded."

The carriageworks site once employed thousands of rail workers and played a key role in York's once proud wagon building industry.

But since the mid-1990s, its fortunes have changed dramatically.

ABB bosses announced the closure of its factory on the site in January, 1995, following the completion of a deal to produce 465 Networker carriages for commuter trains in Kent.

ABB's 750 workers were told production would wind down and, in August 1996, the last trains rolled off the production line at the Holgate Road plant.

Rail manufacturing later returned to the site with the arrival of US rail giant Thrall Europa, which made wagons there.

But in June 2002, the company announced it was to close with the loss of 260 jobs. Since then, Network Rail has been using the historic location to help keep trains running on time.

The company has established a firm base there to get its national maintenance fleet ready for action.

In May 2005, we reported that 20 of its rail head treatment trains were being maintained at the site in preparation for the autumn season when they were used to help combat the problem of leaves falling on the rail network.

Trains can be delayed for hours at a time because of the seasonal difficulty.

Multi-purpose vehicles are also treated at the former Thrall works, which are used for weed spraying and de-icing on the hundreds of miles of rail track across the UK

Posted on 09:26 AM | Permalink

AP: Oct. 30, 2006

PARIS - An elderly couple waltzes to the steady carnival music of an organ grinder on the dingy platform of a Paris subway station. But it's nearly 3 a.m., and the station has been closed since World War II.

Old Sprague-Thomson trains are seen in the Paris subway network, Oct. 14th. An all-night history tour of the metro is organized a dozen times a year by a group of railway fanatics.

They are part of a traveling nocturnal party that barrels through the tunnels of the Metro long after the passenger trains have been tucked away for the night. These riders are on an exclusive, all-night Metro history tour, organized a dozen times a year by a group of railway buffs.

The ADEMAS association, dedicated to restoring old trains and preserving the Metro's history, has been around since 1992. (ADEMAS stands for Association D'Exploitation du Material Sprague; the Paris Metro's Sprague-Thomson model cars date to the early 1900s.)

But until recently, the group was as mysterious as the phantom stations they visit on their tours.

Rumors about the all-night Metro rides circulated by word of mouth and in Internet chat rooms, but details were almost impossible to track down - until June, when ADEMAS launched its Web site. But even that lacks specific times and tour dates.

Association president Julian Pepinster says it's with good reason. There are just 2,400 spots available each year.

"There's a constant demand for the tours," he said in an interview. "Even with a dozen tours a year, there's always a six-month wait."

It begins before midnight down a cobblestone side street just outside Paris' northern border. A small crowd, jittery like children off to summer camp, gathers behind an iron gate that opens onto a vast rail yard: a messy stack of rail ties, wood and machinery.

If You Go...
SIGNING UP: Tours for 2006 are already full, and dates for 2007 have not yet been announced. The best way to book is to sign up for the mailing list on the ADEMAS Web site, http://ademas.assoc.free.fr, or to become a member of the association for $31.

COSTS: A ticket will cost $57. Along with the ticket, the association will send a detailed map with directions on how to get to the rail yard.

WHAT TO BRING: Wear comfortable clothing, and bring a flashlight and a bottle of water. Drinks and snacks are available for purchase at the bar.

LANGUAGE: Tours are conducted in French, at least until demand for English-language tours grows. Groups can arrange to bring along a translator.

"Tickets! Tickets, please!" a man calls from a rickety table.

The guides, railway enthusiasts from ADEMAS, explain historical changes in voltage, and how different types of wheels connect to the rails. (If a rubber tire goes flat, there's a smaller iron wheel behind it that will take over.)

Some people take notes, some take photographs, and many glance over their shoulders at the large clock in anticipation.

It's almost midnight. The Metro is about to close, clearing its tunnels of trains and making way for the tour. The night travelers clamber on to the brilliantly green Sprague-Thomson car, a vintage model from 1930.

On board, there are polished wooden bench seats and enamel decoration in cream, mustard and burgundy. Original maps showing Line Two stops and streets are posted overhead, and iron baskets hang above the seats for small luggage.

A sign above the seats informs passengers that smoking and spitting are prohibited - a nod to modern day mores.

After the Metro's creation for the Universal Exposition of 1900, lines spread throughout the city. The insignia decorating the doors of this train bear the initials CMP, one of the two Metro companies that competed for customers before World War II.

The train departs with a jolt that surprises a few passengers. They smile nervously and grip the seat backs, laughing as high-pitched whirring and chugging noises accompany the train into the city's underground tunnels.

From the loudspeakers, a comfortable banter soon emerges from the night's hosts, veritable tomes of history on the Paris Metro. Whenever the train is moving, for the next five hours, it's nonstop Metro trivia.

"We started off as a small group of friends," Pepinster explained, adding that the association includes Metro employees and retirees, police officers, insurance salesmen and research scientists.

The train travels through the city center in between the last two passenger trains, called the Sleeve and the Sweeper.

Bewildered late-night Metro riders watch from the platform as the 1930s train rumbles through the station without stopping. Many step back and wave at the tour passengers, who enthusiastically reciprocate.

After changing Metro lines via a shortcut normally only used by repair cars, the Sprague heads to its first stop: Croix-Rouge in southwestern Paris, one of the Metro's "phantom stations."

The economic stresses of World War II forced Paris to close many Metro stops. Much of the population had been moved to the front lines, and the city needed to conserve energy.

Four of the stations that closed in 1939 - Arsenal, Champ de Mars, Saint-Martin and Croix-Rouge - never reopened. After the war, the two Metro companies combined to form the RATP (the agency that handles local public transportation, Regie Autonome des Transports Parisiens). The RATP decided those four stations were unnecessary because of other stations nearby.

Everything is oddly familiar as the train pulls into the grime-and dust-covered platform of the abandoned station at Croix-Rouge. Like other, still-operating stations designed in the early 20th century, Croix-Rouge has tile-covered vaulted ceilings and large frames for advertisements. A rectangular space announces the station's name in white on blue.

Only this station is covered from top to bottom in filth and graffiti.

If the defacing of an important piece of Paris' history is reason to mourn, tonight's passengers are oblivious. The doors open, spilling almost 200 people onto the platform, and the 20-minute party begins.

The organ grinder wakes up from his cushy spot on board and begins cranking out music and singing along. People rush the bar in the first-class car for coffee or beer. Some dance. Others explore the station's fenced-off stairwells and hallways.

Soon the guides usher the crowd back on board, and the group is off to other phantom stations. At a stop around 3:30 a.m. at a training station for Metro drivers, the group gets champagne and pastries.

The evening that started out so jovial is winding down to a quiet halt in western Paris. The guides provide a breakfast of hot chocolate and croissants before the weary crowd heads home, via the first Metro of the new day.

Posted on 09:12 AM | Permalink

BBC News: 31 October 2006

China is to build a railway line between Nigeria's two main commercial cities, Lagos and Kano.
An $8bn contract was signed by the deputy transport minister and the president of the Chinese firm (CCECC).

CCECC President Lin Rongxin said 50,000 Nigerians would work on the 1,315km line which he said was "a design, construct and maintain project".

Nigeria's leader said the five-year north-south line was the first phase in a 20-year modernisation programme.

President Olusegun Obasanjo, who watched the signing, said the second phase of the railway project would include a link between the southern oil city of Port Harcourt and the central city of Jos.

China recently granted Nigeria a loan of $2.5bn and much of this is expected to be used in the railway project.

Earlier this year Nigeria repaid a multi-billion dollar debt it owed to the Paris Club, becoming the first African nation to settle with its official lenders.

Nigeria is one of the world's biggest oil exporters, but it is also one of the world's poorest countries, with the majority of the population living on less than $1 per day.

See also:

Nigeria-China ink $8.3-billion rail contract

AFP: 31 October 2006 08:09

Nigeria and China on Monday signed a $8,3-billion contract for the construction of a railway line from the nation's economic capital Lagos to Kano, the largest commercial city in the north, the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported.

The deal signed in Abuja was in two tranches, including the main contract covering the first phase of the railway modernisation project to be concluded in five years by a Chinese firm, the CCECC, and an Italian consultancy firm, NAN said.

NAN did not supply the name of the Italian firm.

The accord, signed by the deputy transport minister, Muhammad Aliyu, the president of the CCECC, Lin Rongxin, and officials of the Italian consultancy firm, was witnessed by President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Obasanjo said the rail modernisation project was part of an integrated transportation system for the country covering land, air and maritime transport.

Obasanjo said the construction of the new standard gauge track north-south line was only the first phase of a modernisation programme that would cover two major longitudinal lines, he said.

The second would link the southern oil city of Port Harcourt and the central city of Jos and five latitudinal lines that would also link all the 36 state capitals in Nigeria, he said.

Under the 20-year strategic plan for the modernisation of the transport sector, about 8 000km of standard rail line would be constructed with the first phase covering 1 315km.

The Chinese recently granted Nigeria a $2,5-billion loan facility of which a substantial amount would be used on the rail project.

Obasanjo also charged the Chinese company to look ahead by projecting possible rail links with neighbouring Benin, Niger and Chad, NAN added.

Lin said the rail contract was the biggest ever in the history of the country, and that of Nigeria/China ties, adding that the project was "a design, construct and maintain project".

He said that about 50 000 Nigerians would be employed during the construction of the rail line.

Posted on 08:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

RMT Circular No. IR0238/06: October 26 2006

Dear Colleague,
Further to my previous circular on this matter (IR0230/06), there have been further developments and the final agreement on the Hours of Work clause is as follows:

6. HOURS OF WORK

You will be scheduled to work an average of 35 hours per week (the Company's standard working week) but may be required to work additional hours in any week in order to complete the training outcomes, including studies relevant to achievement of the scheme. The days of the week on which you may be required to work and the number of working hours within each working day, may vary or be changed periodically, which may require some Saturdays and Sundays to be worked. You will be notified in advance of when these will be.

Upon completion of your first year, you will be allocated to a depot in the vicinity of your home in order to undertake a period of practical training. The details of this will be discussed with you nearer the time and you will be notified in writing, however, during this period of practical training, you will be dealt with as follows:

You will be expected to work the roster pattern of the group to which you have been allocated.

You will be entitled to extra payment for any overtime worked in a four weekly period, as follows:

Per 4 weekly period

Hours Ex gratia Lump Sum

0 - 10 hours Nil

10 - 15 hours £75.00

15 - 20 hours £112.50

20 - 25 hours £150.00

25 - 30 hours £187.50

30+ hours £225.00

The maximum additional hours an Apprentice will be asked to work is 50 hours per four weekly period, they will, however, be expected to complete their studies in their own time.

Shift Premiums

Any weekend working which is undertaken should normally be part of the working week, therefore if an individual works 5 x shifts per week, (including weekend shift(s)), they will normally have time off during the rest of the week, providing that the distribution of weekend work is equitable.

On those occasions where weekend work is undertaken, individuals will receive a 25% enhancement for any hours which are worked between 14.00 hours on Saturday and 06.00 hours on Monday morning.

In addition, individuals will also receive a 25% enhancement for any hours which are worked between 22.00 hours and 06.00 hours during the week, (i.e. Monday - Friday).

Yours sincerely

Bob Crow
General Secretary

Posted on 08:46 AM | Permalink

Morning Star: 29 October 2006
by BRIAN DENNY

HUNDREDS OF shop stewards from across Britain gathered in London over the weekend to found a grass-roots network capable of mobilising trade unionists to fight for workers' rights.

Opening the conference, RMT president Tony Donaghey said that his union had convened the meeting to create the broadest possible unity among rank-and-file trade unionists.

"The simple fact is that the trade union movement today has fewer freedoms than when the Trades Disputes Act was passed a century ago and that has to change," he said.

Therefore, the meeting elected 10 rank-and-file trade unionists to organise a national shop stewards conference next spring.

RMT donated £3,000 towards the cost of setting up the network that would be made up of TUC-affiliated trade union workplace representatives that could offer support in campaigns and industrial disputes.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the organisation of workplace reps had always been a crucial barometer of the general health of the trade union movement.

"If we are to roll back the tide of privatisation and war, it is an absolute necessity and rebuilding the grass-roots of the movement is an essential part of that process," he said.

'We were never handed anything.We had to fight for it. And we have to fight for our rights now.' - T&G rep Rob Williams

T&G deputy general secretary Barry Camfield said that it was "absolute hypocrisy" for former general secretaries who had become Labour ministers to lecture trade unionists that they cannot have basic rights that are enshrined in international law.

He pointed out that it was a rank-and-file movement that built the campaign to win trade union political fund ballots, which had been forced upon the movement by the Tories.

"We need to change the centre of gravity towards shop-floor representatives if we are to create the conditions for change," he said.

Institute of Employment Rights director Carolyn Jones said that one of the first tasks of the new organisation would be to build for a mass lobby of Parliament being planned for next year in support of the Trade Union Freedom Bill.

T&G rep Rob Williams said that the meeting was the start of a much-needed fightback.

"We were never handed anything. We had to fight for it. And we have to fight for our rights now," Mr Williams said.

Amicus rep Ian Allinson warned that trade union membership in the private sector had plummeted and that had to be reversed.

"Private-sector bosses are determined to keep unions out and we must be as just determined to organise that sector," he said.

The meeting also agreed that the network would not interfere in the internal affairs and elections of trade unions.

Communication Workers Union rep Dave Chapple said that many workers were breaking unjust anti-trade union laws every day and were clearly prepared to fight if they were given a lead.

"We need a democratic grass-roots movement that is not dominated by any single party," he said.

Prison Officers Association general secretary Brian Caton was among a dozen trade union general secretaries who welcomed the new movement, which would be built on the traditions of "free, independent and democratic trade unionism.

"My union has already enjoyed the support of other trade unionists in the fight to win back our right to take industrial action, despite threats from the government to put us in prison.

"Give us our trade union rights - they are human rights," he said to applause.

Posted on 11:20 AM | Permalink

AFX: 30th October 2006

LONDON - Two of the UK's three train leasing companies have warned the UK government they may stop buying new trains if it launches an inquiry into the industry, according to a report.

Angel Trains, owned by Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, and Derby-based Porterbrook, owned by Abbey and Banco Santander Central Hispano, are understood to have warned the Department for Transport that uncertainty caused by a full inquiry would prevent them arranging new leases, the Financial Times reported.

Ministers complained in June to the UK's rail regulator that prices being charged to train operators for leasing older trains were unreasonably high.

The regulator will issue a consultation document before the end of November about whether the matter should be referred to the Competition Commission. Together with HSBC Rail, the three leasing companies have owned most of Britain's rolling stock since the industry was privatised in the mid-1990s.

Posted on 09:26 AM | Permalink

RMT: October 27 2006

HUNDREDS OF shop stewards from across Britain will converge on London tomorrow (Saturday) for a conference focussing on building the grass-roots campaign for a Trade Union Freedom Bill.

The conference will take place from 11:30 to 15:30 at the Camden Centre, Bidborough Street, London WC1.

Speakers will include Instituteof Employment Rights director Carolyn Jones, RMT general secretary Bob Crow, T&G deputy general secretary Barry Camfield, CWU deputy general secretary Tony Kearns, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka, UCU joint general secretary Paul Mackney, NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear, NUM national secretary Steve Kemp, CYWU national officer Dave Proctor, FBU general secretary Matt Wrack, BFAWU general secretary Joe Marino, and trades councils national committee member Shirley Winter, and POA general secretary Brian Caton

"It should anger all of us that the trade union movement today has fewer freedoms than when the Trades Disputes Act was passed a century ago," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"Winning our shared goal of the Trade Union Freedom Bill depends upon us mobilising the broadest possible unity among trade unionsists.

"The depth and breadth of grass-roots organisation of workplace reps has always been a crucial barometer of the general health of the trade-union movement.

"Removing the shackles that make solidarity and effective trade unionism illegal is no luxury: if we are to halt and roll back the tide of privatisation, it is an absolute necessity, and rebuilding the grassroots of the movement is an essential part of that process," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 03:20 PM | Permalink

RMT: October 27 2006

TRANSPORT UNION RMT’s executive has agreed to disaffiliate the union from the Scottish Socialist Party after consulting its Scottish committee and branches.

The union has also decided that it will not affiliate to the new Solidarity movement.

"It gives no pleasure to have to take this decision, which has been made in close consultation with our Scottish committee and branches," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"However, it is clear that there are elements within the SSP that have destablised the organisation, that the atmosphere within it is no longer conducive to comradeship, and that it is no longer in our members' interests to remain affiliated..

"We will of course be monitoring political developments and the question of any possible future affiliation will be decided, as allowed under rule, in line with the union's aims and objects and the wishes of the membership," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 03:17 PM | Permalink

CGT – FO – SUD Rail – CFE/CGC – FGAAC: October 20, 2006
THE FRENCH RAILWORKERS TRADE UNION FEDERATIONS

French railworkers’ disquiet about the root and branch restructuring of SNCF, re-organisation, flexible working and fragmentation, the disastrous plan for FREIGHT, sectorisation and internal competition within each group, job cuts and productivity increases, led all the trade union organizations to ask for a meeting with Mrs. Idrac (the French Railways Minister) to get answers on the company strategy and assurances on the future of SNCF, railworkers’ employment rights and social protection.

At this meeting we did not receive the responses we had the right to expect. Despite a letter and high-level discussions, the President has brought forward no new proposals likely to reassure the staff.

The trade union organisations CGT, FO, SUD Rail, CFE-CGC and FGAAC, jointly affirm that only a massive mobilisation by railworkers is capable of making the company back down on its latest demands.

Accordingly, the trade union federations CGT, FO, SUD Rail, CFE-CGC and FGAAC have decided to call a national rail strike for Wednesday November 8, 2006.

SNCF FREIGHT

SNCF Management has failed to hide from its clear responsibilities and that of the Government in the current running down of SNCF FREIGHT.

Disorganisation, shrinking of production, cutting over 7,000 railworkers’ jobs, closure of stations, of freight sidings and marshalling yards, wagon repair workshops, the loss of a great deal of traffic, support for private sector competition … all constitute the tangible elements of the plan for FREIGHT 2004-2006.

Management makes a great pretence of remaining serene but in vain, it is not serene about it any more than Mrs. IDRAC who is hiding the forecasts for the FREIGHT sector, which estimate a reduction in 2006 to 38 billion tons/kilometer (possibly less) compared with 55 billion tons/ kilometer in 2000.

The railworkers’ Trade Union Federations demand the immediate announcement of:
• The halt to irreversible decisions, which weaken productive capacity.
• The confirmation that FREIGHT will not be vested as a separate company.
• Confirmation of the policy of developing the volume of SNCF FREIGHT activity with the corresponding means.

RULINGS ON PRIVATE OPERATORS

The railworkers’ Trade Union Federations have signalled their opposition to SNCF Management and to the Government, in relation to work regulations, for the workers of private operators of rail transport, which supports social dumping and is leading to the death of SNCF FREIGHT. The first retreat by the government has already taken place by not publishing the rulings.
• Only one Working regulation is required in the railway sector and the application of RH 0077 to all Railway Transport personnel.

SNCF SERVICE PUBLIC

The restructuring of SNCF into separate sectors has only one goal, financial profitability. It has as a consequence the reduction of labour costs and the abandonment of activities judged to be non-profitable, the subsidiarisation or the contracting out of activities.

For that purpose, various projects are cropping up everywhere. The Industrial Logistics Plan (PLI) with plant and workshops closures. Plan VFE with the closure of stations, ticket offices, shops, Administrative Centre Hot Lines, offices and of social establishments and the Alliance project for the ASCT. With the Public Transport Sector, it is management by line of TER (Regional Railways Services) and Transilien (Greater Paris Services). As for Civil Engineering, there are modification of maintenance and of course the concept of brigades. With Traction Maintenance, management obstinately refused to respond by May 31 2006. Add to this the plan for freight and the conclusions are alarming for the network audit, the entire project of reorganisation, mergers, contracting out and subsidiarisation. All grades are affected, all railworkers are concerned.

The railworkers’ Trade Union Federations reaffirm their commitment to:
• The integral character the Public Company.
• The unity of all grades and all subsidiaries.
A fatal blow must be dealt to the dismantling of the railways, the reorganisations, and the subsidiarisations whether at the planning stage or currently in progress; it is necessary to regain development of the public utility and of our working tool.

JOBS AND CONDITIONS

The impact of all the reorganisation projects and reorganisations has meant that employment of railworkers with full statutory rights has reduced by 14,000 since the end of 2001.

The lack of railworkers is felt hard on the ground with repercussions for the service to rail users and working conditions for railworkers.

Reduction of employment and the threats which burden the Public Company SNCF do not reassure railworkers on the future of their Statutory rights and conditions of our special retirement scheme and insurance.

The railworkers’ Trade Union Federations underline their determination to fight anyone who puts in question our regime special of social protection. This constitutes a social retreat and a new attack against all workers within the framework of the pension reforms planned for 2008. They require:
• The halt to job cuts.
• The immediate implementation of recruitment planned for 2006.
• The implementation of a programme of recruitment of railworkers with full statutory rights for future years.
• The respect for all subsidiaries.
• Immediate recruitment of 1,500 statutory railworkers to respond effectively to the increase in VFE traffic and TER and with the need for development for FREIGHT.

WAGE POLICY

The railworkers’ Trade Union Federations underline their united claim, which lead in springtime on wage questions, which has constrained Management and the Government drop more than they had initially bargained for:
• A general increase in wages and pensions from + 1,8%.
• A work bonus of 10 euros monthly.
• Low-wages measures.

Still, important claims remain outstanding. Management must answer them. Therefore, the railworkers’ Trade Union Federations demand immediately:
• The payment of a 13th salary month.

DISMISSALS

The railworkers’ Trade Union Federations note the intensification of disciplinary measures, which translate into an increase in the dismissals. As a consequence, they require: the suspension of the disciplinary boards and disciplinary measures until the conclusion of experts on the Mosaïque system of evidence collection.

THE INTERVENTION OF THE RAILWORKERS IS NECESSARY

Conscious that only the mobilisation of railwaymen and railwaywomen will make it possible to impose alternative choices of development of the Public utility and social progress, the railworkers’ Trade Union Federations CGT, FO, SUD-Rail, CFE/CGC, FGAAC invite all railworkers to take part in a

National Rail Strike

“All together” on Wednesday November 8, 2006

For this purpose, the federations give formal notice of strike action for the period from 20.00 hrs Tuesday November 7, 2006 to 8.00 on Thursday November.

Paris, on October 20, 2006

Posted on 12:52 AM | Permalink

RMT Circular No. IR233/06: October 25 2006
(BR5/11/3)

Dear Colleague,
On 1st September Network Rail introduced a new computer based assessment process known as 'Cognisco'.

Members have raised a number of concerns relating to the introduction of this process and in addition the following resolution was carried at last month's National Conference of Signalling Grades:-

"Our branch must disagree with "Cognisco" as this has not been looked into properly, and we can see many pitfalls with it. With this type of assessment and the results going to H.Q and also the Local operations Managers, the results of the assessment will not give specific information on which questions were answered correctly or incorrectly. Also the Data Protection Act may come into this. Since last year's emergency resolution on this there does not seem to have been any feedback. A colleague has spoken to Data Protection Act Commissioner who advised him that he was baffled at Network Rail's approach on the assessment and said that their proposals will breach legislation if full accurate data on assessments is not recorded and available upon request within 40 days. We therefore instruct the General Secretary to look into this in much more detail with Network Rail before agreeing for this new method of assessment to come into force."

The matter was discussed at a recent meeting with Network Rail when the union's representatives raised the following issues:

* There remains a widespread concern that the system will be used for disciplinary purposes.
* Signallers who are not at ease with using computers will be at a disadvantage.
* The system is supposedly designed not to either pass or fail the candidate. However, each section requires the candidate to reach a "benchmark" score and if the benchmark is not reached the candidate will have to re-sit the section involved.
* The questions are very ambiguously written and difficult to understand with in many cases a perception of there being "trick" questions and irrelevant information. Answers must be a strict "Yes" or "No" yet the questions are often worded so that they can be answered in more than one way.
* The examiner is not allowed to explain to the candidate any question that may prove hard to understand.
* Members at York have reported that briefers are adamant that the questions are timed whilst the person in charge of the project is adamant that they are not.
* After the test the candidate is given their score but there are no answers provided or indication to which questions the candidate has answered wrongly. Members ask how an individual can improve on something if no one can tell him what he/she is supposedly getting wrong.
* Some of the questions do not appertain to signalling grade duties and therefore signallers cannot be expected to know the answers, e.g setting up emergency speed restriction boards.
* Concern that the personal information held by Cognisco breaches the Data Protection Act, e.g each individual has to log in using their pay number, yet members have found on taking the test that they have already been signed in by Cognisco.
* The company may be in breach of legislation if full accurate data on assessments is not recorded and available within 40 days.

In response management said that the feedback they had received was that in general employees felt it was a step in the right direction. Most questions relating to the new process were about procedural concerns. The company accepted that some individuals are uneasy about the computer based approach and said that it is the duty of Local Operations Managers to assist staff in these circumstances. Management were adamant that there were no "trick" questions and said that examiners could provide clarification to a signaller if he/she was unsure as to the meaning of a question. Managers would be re-briefed on this.

In response to the union's view that many of the questions are irrelevant to signallers, the company said that the process will reviewed after 12 months and the questions fine tuned if feedback demands it. In addition, benchmark scores will be moved if experience indicates there is a need.

The union's representatives said that there is too much emphasis being put on testing and not enough on training. Network Rail responded that 'Cognisco' is designed for development, and is not a tool to pass or fail someone. We gave examples of cases where we understood members had been suspended following the assessment. Management said that these would be investigated. The company also said that they would investigate whether they are under an obligation to have available full accurate data on assessments within 40 days.

It was agreed that a further meeting would take place in the very near future and I shall keep you advised of developments.

Yours sincerely

Bob Crow
General Secretary

For background information on Cognisco - see also:

DTI exceptional R & D award recognises strategic importance of Cogniscos work

Online Recruiting: 09/12/2004

Cranfield based Cognisco, the company who’s innovative measurement tools recently revealed that the majority of skilled workers possess level of understanding well below what their employers expect, have been awarded an Exceptional Grant for Research and Development from the Department of Trade and Industry.

The DTI grant is for the development of the Cognisco Index™, an enhancement of their existing assessment product to allow organisations to measure their employees’ knowledge and understanding against employees of other organisations in the same sector.

Small Business and Enterprise Minister, Nigel Griffiths said:

"I am delighted that the DTI, through the Grant for Research and Development, has been able to support Cognisco’s innovative work in the field of employee assessment solutions. To obtain an Exceptional Project award, the company has had to show its development project is both of strategic importance to an industry or technology and is likely to generate much wider economic benefits."

The Cognisco Index™ will utilise the Cognisco Milestone 400™ assessment platform and will provide comparative data for each of the key industry sectors. Using National and International generic standards the Cognisco Index™ will complement existing competency frameworks by adding a further dimension to effective performance. Major organisations already use the Cognisco Milestone 400™ product as an integral component of their workforce development and compliance.

Chairman of Cognisco Limited, Firdaus Ruttonshaw said:
“Cognisco will provide industry specific comparative performance data against a number of benchmarks for best practice as a route to overall competitiveness. As a key player in the assessment solutions market, we are enabling the UK productivity and skills agenda.”

Mary Clarke, Managing Director of Cognisco Limited said:
“The Cognisco Index™ highlights the need for an organisation to address skill shortages and gaps whilst bundling training into wider human resource practices so as not to inhibit movement towards higher performance. Cognisco Global Assessment Solutions aspire to meet the strategic needs of businesses and the exceptional R&D award recognises our progress.”

Cognisco Limited was established in 1998 to address the needs of the e-training marketplace and has emerged as the ‘knowledge based assessment solutions’ provider using its Milestone400™ product.

Cognisco designs, develops and markets Assessment Solutions, which provide organisations with objective measurement of employee understanding. The web based Employee/Division/Company Assessments can be:

Integrated with specialist Learning Management Systems supplied by major integrators.

Supplemented by ‘in-house’ specialist question authoring.

Sold directly and through major distributors to small, medium and large sized companies in the home market and overseas.

Cognisco will receive a financial boost from the government for their innovative approach, as well as on going support and advice.

The awards are given for four major types of projects:

Micro Projects - simple low cost development projects lasting no longer than 12 months. Up to £20,000 is available to businesses with fewer than 10 employees

Research Projects - planned research or critical investigation lasting between 6 and 18 months. Up to £75,000 is available to businesses with fewer than 50 employees

Development Projects - shaping of industrial research into a pre-production prototype of a technologically innovative product or industrial process. Up to £200,000 is available for businesses with fewer than 250 employees

Exceptional Projects - technology developments that have higher costs. These projects are likely to generate much wider economic benefits and must be recognised as of ’strategic ’ importance for a technology or industrial sector. Up to £500,000 is available to businesses with fewer than 250 employees.

Posted on 09:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

RMT: October 24 2006

EWS Referendum Result
Papers Returned: 428
Voting Yes: 9
Voting No: 419
Spoilt Papers: 0

The matter is now before RMT's Council of Executives, who will consider the union's options.

Posted on 09:02 AM | Permalink

RMT Circular No. IR0235/06: October 25 2006

Dear Colleague,
Trevor Adams, a Machine Driver working for Carillion Rail at Rugby, was recently dismissed from his job, the reason being that he failed to cancel an AWS warning when his hand slipped, losing him most of the three seconds provided to carry out the procedure.

This was despite a witness statement from his instructor, and an admission from the Hearing Officer that Brother Adams had not broken any rules.

A gross injustice has obviously been done to our member and a threat has been issued to the other Machine Drivers. Carillion Rail have made clear that there is now zero tolerance for on track incidents, and a simply case of human error is now sufficient to cost our members their livelihoods.

The GGC have therefore considered the case, and the following decision has been made:

"That having read the officers report, the General Secretary is instructed to inform the company that we are now in dispute with them over their application of the disciplinary procedure.

Further, all our machine driver members within the company to be balloted for strike action and action short of a strike over this matter. Meanwhile, the General Secretary is also instructed to arrange meetings of our members together with the Regional Organisers, General Secretary and GGC members in attendance to explain the application of the company's position to also discuss a strategy for enacting any mandate for action that may arise.

All Branches, Regional Councils and members to be informed of this position."

I will inform you of developments.

Yours sincerely

Bob Crow
General Secretary

Posted on 08:58 AM | Permalink

RMT Circular No. IR227/06: October 19 2006
(BR5/28/1)

Dear Colleague,
I enclose for your attention the Report & Decisions of the 2006 National Conference of Signalling Grades that was held last month. Click here to download report (PDF file).

I shall write to you again once the successful resolutions have been considered by the General Grades Committee.

Yours sincerely

Bob Crow
General Secretary

Posted on 08:51 AM | Permalink

Associated Press: Oct. 25, 2006
By EMILY WITHROW

PARIS — Canada's Bombardier Inc. won a contract worth up to $5 billion to supply hundreds of trains to the Paris railway authority and French rail company SNCF, dealing a major blow to engineering company Alstom SA in its home market.

SNCF Chief Executive Anne-Marie Idrac said Wednesday that Bombardier had been chosen over Alstom and German rival Siemens AG for its "higher quality of service," following a rigorous selection process in which some 5,000 criteria were considered.

But the decision drew an immediate outcry from left-wing opposition parties and looked set to rekindle a long-running political debate on "economic patriotism," just as campaigning intensifies for presidential elections next April.

"To see the SNCF make a decision like this is a real shame. It's sad and even worrying," said Daniel Guerin, a Paris regional lawmaker with the left-wing Republican Citizens' Movement. Alstom was "perfectly competent" to supply the order, he added.

SNCF said it placed a firm $2.33 billion order with Bombardier for 172 trains, due to enter service on suburban Paris lines in 2009-2015, and an option for a further 200 that could more than double the final bill.

Much of the work should stay in France, Idrac said, where Bombardier already has a factory near the northern city of Valenciennes. STIF, the Paris regional rail authority that is funding part of the deal, said some of the work would likely be subcontracted to Alstom.

Alstom, which is back in the black after a series of government bailouts that saved it from bankruptcy, expressed "disappointment" and suggested it may consider challenging the decision.

"We will now examine the conditions under which this order was awarded and draw our own conclusions," Philippe Kasse, a spokesman for the Paris-based engineering company said. "We're not ruling anything out in response."

The French company has previously complained that it was excluded from bidding for a deal to supply equipment for the Montreal subway, eventually awarded to Bombardier at a price Alstom considers it could easily have beaten.

The SNCF deal is a boost to Bombardier just a day after it announced that its aerospace division is cutting 1,330 jobs in Montreal and Belfast, Northern Ireland, as it reduces production of its regional jets.

There was also consolation for Alstom on Wednesday, as the company won a deal to supply 500 freight locomotives to China in a joint venture with Chinese company Dantong. The contract, announced during a visit to China by French President Jacques Chirac, is worth more than $1.3 billion.

Alstom shares fell 0.6 percent to $91.21 in Paris. The decision to hand the SNCF rolling stock deal to Bombardier had been widely anticipated in recent weeks French press reports that cited unnamed sources.

See also:

Bombardier of Canada wins huge SNCF contract

International Herald Tribune: October 26, 2006
By Nicolas Johnson

PARIS Bombardier, the world's biggest train manufacturer, won a contract Wednesday worth as much as €2.7 billion to supply commuter trains for the Paris region. The Canadian company edged out its French competitor Alstom.

The award includes a firm order of €1.35 billion, or $1.69 billion, for 172 cars for the suburban network, plus options for another 200 cars, said Jean- Paul Boulet, a spokesman for the buyer, the French state rail company, Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français, or SNCF.

Losing the significant order is a defeat for Alstom, which was rescued by the French government from near bankruptcy in 2003. Alstom, the world's largest maker of high-speed trains, has supplied the French railroad's entire fleet of TGV, or high- speed, trains.

"Alstom's loss is a blow," said Pedro Alvès, who holds Alstom shares but no Bombardier stock among the assets he oversees for Spot Gestão Financeira in Braga, Portugal. "This is a free market, and Bombardier could very well have made a better offer."

The trains to be supplied by Bombardier would replace more than one- fourth of the Transilien network used around Paris by the SNCF.

"We're very happy to have been selected," the Bombardier executive vice president, André Navarri, said at a news conference in Paris, before presenting a prototype of the new train. Bombardier is based in Montreal.

It was the first time that companies had to submit a full-scale model as part of their bids, said Philippe Ogier, who led the project for Bombardier.

Bombardier's offer was 9 percent lower than that of Alstom, said an aide to the SNCF chairman, Anne-Marie Idrac.

Shares of Bombardier fell 17 cents to close at 3.94 Canadian dollars, or $3.50, in Toronto. Alstom shares fell 40 cents to close at €72.50 Wednesday in Paris.

European railroads ordered $22 billion in rolling stock, signaling equipment and products in the year ended Jan. 31, accounting for about three-quarters of global orders, Bombardier said.

Bombardier, Alstom, and Siemens of Germany, the three biggest train makers, bid against one another on some projects, bid together on others, and also subcontract work to one another.

See also:

France's Alstom signs China rail, hydro deals

Reuters: Oct 26, 2006

BEIJING - French engineering firm Alstom signed rail and hydro-electric deals with China worth a combined 400 million euros ($505.5 million) to the French company.

The deals, signed in front of reporters by Alstom Chief Executive Patrick Kron during a state visit by French President Jacques Chirac, included the sale of 500 freight locomotives worth 300 million euros for Alstom, the company said.

Patrick Kron, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, aged 52 started his career in the French Ministry of Industry between 1979 and 1984 and then held various positions within the Pechiney Group.

Kron told Reuters on Wednesday the deal, shared with Alstom's Chinese partner, Datong, was worth a total of more than a billion euros of which several hundred million euros would go to Alstom.

Kron also publicly signed a deal to sell hydroelectric equipment for three dams to China for 100 million euros.

Posted on 08:42 AM | Permalink

Der Spiegel: October 25, 2006

DEATH TRAINS -- Germany's transport minister wants to mount an exhibition on how the national railway deported 11,000 Jewish children to their deaths in concentration camps. But the CEO of Deutsche Bahn is refusing to comply, saying his stations are the wrong venue.

The German government and the state-owned national railway are currently locked in a bitter dispute over a proposed exhibition on the role of its predecessor, the Reichsbahn, in the Holocaust. Federal Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee wants to see the exhibition shown in the country's train stations, but the head of Deutsche Bahn, Hartmut Mehdorn, is vehemently opposed to the idea. There seems to be little prospect of a compromise in sight.

The dispute centers on plans to develop an exhibition which focuses on the role of the Reichsbahn in the deportation of Jewish children to Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The project, which was originally conceived by the well-known anti-Nazi campaigner Beate Klarsfeld, is entitled "11,000 Jewish children. With the Reichsbahn to death," and has already been shown in 18 French train stations.

Mehdorn has refused to agree to allow the exhibition to be shown in Germany's train stations, citing financial, organizational and technical reasons. Tiefensee had already written to the rail boss back in the spring requesting that he give the green light to the project. However, no one from Deutsche Bahn even turned up to the briefing meetings in July and September. The minister then summoned Mehdorn to a meeting which is reported to have ended in a furious argument. When Mehdorn refused to budge, Tiefensee is said to have stood up and left the room.

Now the fight is being played out in the open. This weekend Mehdorn said he would be happy to have an exhibition in a museum or another chosen location, but not in train stations. "The subject is far too serious for people to engage with it while chewing on a sandwich and rushing to catch a train," he said. Tiefensee immediately retaliated. In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung, he said "National Socialism was a dictatorship that was played out in everyday life and that was drawn from everyday life." That is why, according to the minister, an exhibition on the deportation of Jewish children by train belongs "in those same places, in the train stations". He warned that Mehdorn should not give the impression that Deutsche Bahn is trying to keep the subject away from broader public attention.
Tiefensee has said he wants the German version of the project to be developed by Jan Philipp Reemtsma, who was responsible for a previous controversial exhibition on the role played by the German army, the Wehrmacht, in the Holocaust. Reemtsma has already said he will only work on the project on condition that it is shown in the train stations.

In Beate Klarsfeld's exhibition in France, 180 pictures showed the fate of Jewish children who were deported by the Reichsbahn to concentration camps. It is thought that around 11,000 children were led to their deaths in this way. The German exhibition is slated to open on Jan. 27, 2008 to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945.

While the plan is to show the exhibition in a number of different German cities, the current very public dispute means it is still unclear whether this will be in those cities' train stations or in other venues.

Posted on 12:50 AM | Permalink

Baltic Times: Oct 25, 2006
By Joel Alas

TALLINN - when an Estonian passenger train hit a truck and ploughed off its tracks on Oct. 23, it was symbolic of the failed process of privatizing the nation’s railways.

Ironically, the incident happened the same week the government announced that it would spend 2.4 billion kroons to buy back Estonian Railway (Eesti Raudtee), the transport company it sold a 66 percent stake in only five years ago. The comparison between the crash and the de-privatization is not entirely fair – the derailed train belonged to a different company.

Yet photos of the mangled locomotive alongside news of the buy-back made for startling symbolism.
Police have blamed an intoxicated train driver for the crash, in which no one was injured. Meanwhile, opposition parties have blamed the failed Estonian Railway sell-off on current and former economic ministers, who they said were uncooperative with Baltic Rail Services, the company that bought Estonian Railway for a total of around one billion kroons. The government has blamed Baltic Rail Services, claiming the investors failed to meet their obligations.

Economy Minister Edgar Savisaar signed an agreement on Oct. 18 to re-nationalize Estonian Railway by purchasing the remaining 66 percent of the company for 2.4 billion kroons.

The deal is expected to be passed by a Cabinet meeting on Oct. 26 and finalized by Parliament shortly after.

Savisaar said he believed that he negotiated a fair price for the purchase. The company had been buoyed by about two billion kroons’ worth of investment during its years in private hands.

He said that re-purchasing the railway was important in terms of international policy and Estonia’s domestic affairs, given that the rail route is primarily a trade connection with Russia.

As its first step, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said the government would consider raising cargo fees charged by Estonian Railway to pay for infrastructure improvements.

“One cannot carry on in the old fashion on the railway. The investments made so far are not sufficient, and due to the sell-off the (Baltic Rail Services) lost the moral duty to invest in the railway too,” Ansip said.

Suggestions that costs should be raised have angered the opposition party, the Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica. Party member Juhan Parts said the government did not permit the private owner to raise tariffs, which may have allowed it to operate more successfully.

Parts, a former prime minister and a current parliamentarian, said the government’s relationship with Baltic Rail Services had never been healthy.

“The ministers of the economy were not able to cooperate with the private owner,” Parts told The Baltic Times. “The situation changed rapidly for the worse when Savisaar came to government.”

Parts said it was “unacceptable” that the small print of the repurchase contract would remain confidential for a year.

“Savisaar declared that the seller wanted the contract to be confidential for a year. We are going to spend a huge amount of tax-payers money. All this business should be as transparent as possible.”

He said there had been too much political interference in the rail route, which links Tallinn to Narva and primarily operates as a cargo line for Russian goods.

Mart Laar, leader of the opposition party, previously decried the re-nationalization of Estonian Railway as a populist plan that favored Russian transit capital.

“At present, the re-nationalization is a decision that has not been made with economic consideration, rather it is a populist plan that allows for discounts to Russian transit capital,” Laar said on Oct. 2.

“We should also take into consideration the fact that, after buying back the railway, we will have to start putting money into it, in European countries these sums tend to be very high.”

Vaino Sarnet, the former head of Estonia’s Privatization Agency, said that the deal was economically advantageous, but warned that problems could return to the company. He said the book value of the company had increased.

“In the long term, the problems that used to be there with the railway will return – the state usually doesn’t’ stand up for its interests as consistently as a private company,” Sarnet said.

“Ensuring the protection of the interests of the railway is theoretically possible, but before the privatization they didn’t manage to do it.”

Sarnet said that reversing a privatization deal was “swimming upstream” in an open market economy, and that it was also possible for the government to influence industries by controlling them through inspectorate agencies.

Posted on 12:38 AM | Permalink

Independent Online: 25 October 2006
By Peter Woodman, PA

An engineering company took a "massive and unacceptable gamble with people's lives" by taking two 54-kilo containers of highly flammable and unstable acetylene gas on London Underground during track-replacement work, a transport union said today.

The RMT union added that an investigation was under way into how Balfour Beattie took what amounted to "two massive potential bombs" into the Victoria line last August.

The company is part of the Metronet consortium, which is one of the two private infrastructure companies responsible for Tube maintenance.

Earlier this week, Balfour Beattie was awarded a £363-million contract to build the East London Line rail extension.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "Balfour Beatty appear to have broken just about every safety rule in the book by taking these potentially explosive cylinders onto the Victoria line for 48 hours.

"Acetylene is extremely flammable, unstable and explosive, and is only allowed onto the Underground in half-litre containers under strict rules, and it seems that Balfour Beatty flouted them."

He went on: "We understand they had no hot-works licence, no permission to take the cylinders underground and no method statement on transporting them - and that this was not the first time they had done it.

"If that was not bad enough, we understand they even transported four oxygen cylinders alongside the acetylene - a potentially catastrophic mixture.

"This incident underlines the case we have been making that we cannot afford to lose the 12 sub-surface fire-safety regulations that lay down strict rules for what can and can't be done down there."

Posted on 12:29 AM | Permalink

RMT: October 25 2006

METRONET CONSORTIUM member Balfour Beatty took a “massive and unacceptable gamble with people’s lives” by taking two 54-kilo containers of highly flammable and unstable acetylene gas into the Victoria Line, London Underground’s biggest union reveals today.

An LUL investigation is under way into how and why the contractor - one of the firms contracted to build the East London Line extension - took what amounted to two massive potential bombs to track-replacement works on August 12.

"Balfour Beatty appear to have broken just about every safety rule in the book by taking these potentially explosive cylinders onto the Victoria Line for 48 hours," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"Acetylene is extremely flammable, unstable and explosive, and is only allowed onto the Underground in half-litre containers under strict rules, and it seems that Balfour Beatty flouted them.

"We understand they had no hot-works licence, no permission to take the cylinders underground and no method statement on transporting them - and that this was not the first time they had done it.

"If that was not bad enough we understand they even transported four oxygen cylinders alongside the acetylene - a potentially catastrophic mixture.

"This incident underlines the case we have been making that we cannot afford to lose the Section 12 sub-surface fire-safety regulations that lay down strict rules for what can and can't be done down there.

"The idea of giving employers the initiative on fire-safety sends a shiver up my spine, because where there's a profit to be made the privateers simply can't be trusted, and the sooner all Tube infrastructure work is brought back in-house, the better," Bob Crow said.

Posted on 11:15 AM | Permalink

Leeds Today: 24 October 2006
By Paul Robinson

THE BATTLE of wills between the Government and GNER over the future of the Leeds to London rail link took a significant new twist today.

Bosses at the firm have been threatening to walk away from their East Coast Main Line franchise unless the amount of money they pay to operate services on the route is reduced.

Soaring energy prices and increased competition mean the line – which runs between London and Edinburgh via Yorkshire – is not proving as profitable as was expected when GNER signed the £1.3bn 10-year deal.

The operator's calls for a contract renegotiation have taken place against a backdrop of financial problems for its parent company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States earlier this month.

Now Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman has attempted to seize the initiative by indicating that the Government is ready to take control of GNER's franchise, just as it did with Connex in the South East in 2000.
He said: "If we need to we can take action.

"We have the mechanisms for doing that, as we did in Kent for example, where we had to strip a franchisee of the franchise and basically we stepped in and ran the franchise centrally until the franchise could be re-let."

York-based GNER has operated services on the East Coast line since 1996.

It signed its latest deal in March last year after a fierce bidding war with FirstGroup and Virgin Trains.

Posted on 03:39 PM | Permalink

Yorkshire Post: 24 October 2006
Simon McGee Political Editor

Government poised to take over East Coast main line.

MINISTERS revealed last night that the Government is poised to take over the running of the East Coast main line from troubled rail operator GNER if the current financial crisis worsens.

GNER's parent company, Bermuda-based Sea Containers, has claimed it will quit the London-Yorkshire-Scotland rail business because it cannot meet the agreed £1.3bn it has to pay the Treasury over the 10-year life of the franchise.

But Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman turned up the pressure last night by stressing that the mechanisms are in place for the Government to grab back control of the franchise in exactly the same way it did with cash-strapped operator Connex in the South East in 2000.

Connex remains to date the only rail operator since privatisation to have been stripped of a franchise midway through and the comparison will only serve to alarm those hoping for movement from the Government on GNER's franchise terms.

Asked by the Yorkshire Post to explain the Department of Transport's concerns, Mr Ladyman said: "At this stage we've been given assurance that the situation with the company won't affect the franchise and the operation of it.

"Beyond that I don't think really I ought to comment too much, except to say we're staying very close to it and if we need to we can take action.

"We have the mechanisms for doing that, as we did in Kent for example, where we had to strip a franchisee of the franchise and basically we stepped in and ran the franchise centrally until the franchise could be re-let."

But Mr Ladyman rejected suggestions that the franchise system was failing – and attacked the Conservatives for their

U-turn on the issue. Tory transport spokesman Chris Grayling said over the summer that the break-up of the railways, into separate track and train operator franchises, had only served to push up running costs and hinder expansion.

Speaking to a Westminster lunch of political editors Mr Ladyman said: "It seems odd to me that the Conservatives have raised the idea of the franchise system not working just as some of the franchises have to start paying money to the Government."

He added: "Some of the franchises are now running very profitable services, many to capacity, and there's no reason why the taxpayers shouldn't be getting something back from the franchises."

Mr Ladyman also attempted to address head-on the central plea of the Yorkshire Post's Road to Ruin campaign – more equitable transport funding compared to London and the South East.

He said: "One or two regions, and regional media, tend to highlight what they see as the disparity between the local per capita funding and the London per capita funding.

"But you can't do that because London is absolutely unique in UK transport terms in that it's the hub out of which all the major spokes emerge.

"It has to be seen that investment in London's infrastructure is an investment that tends to benefit the regions as well.

"It may appear at first glance that London gets a better deal but it's not as easy as that."

Mr Ladyman also reinforced his Government's now total commitment to future road pricing: "Ultimately, we need to get to a national road pricing system but ultimately we need to start off with some pilots."

He would not comment on where the pilots would be set up but did, however, signal that trials in areas with "complex" transport demands were clear favourites.

Posted on 08:04 AM | Permalink

The Sunday Times: October 22, 2006

THE cash-strapped operator of Britain’s most prestigious train company, GNER, will walk away from the business in May unless the government agrees to more favourable franchise terms.

Bob MacKenzie, chief executive of Sea Containers, GNER’s parent company, told The Sunday Times the train company was profitable, but could not cope with the £1.3 billion premium that it had to pay to the Treasury under the franchise agreement.

Unless the franchise was renegotiated, the transport group would withdraw in May, because of a minor but significant clause in the franchise deal.

GNER’s performance bond — a sum it must set aside for the government to call on in case it fails — nearly doubles on May 1 from £15.3m to £28.7m. Sea Containers did not want to be potentially liable for the greater amount. “That is the important date, but I would hope we can come to an agreement [with the government] earlier than that,” MacKenzie said.

In March last year, GNER signed a new 10-year franchise under which it must make £1.3 billion in premium payments to the Treasury over 10 years.

MacKenzie said the revenue projections made when the deal was signed were “optimistic”. The Department for Transport has rejected suggestions it w