Public ownership for Northern Rail.

[Workingman]

It has been failing for years and the government has had enough and is taking it over from its parent, Arriva.

Whoopee! We all say, or do we?

It will still have the same ancient rolling stock, degraded rails, managers, engineers, drivers, conductors and platform staff, so what will improve? OK the timetable might be tweaked (again) but not much else can happen.

The basic problems are under investment in the network infrastructure and tarted up but still old trains being offloaded from other regions. Taking it back into public ownership will not be the cure without a whole load of investment to back it up... and that should have been done anyway.

[TheOstrich]

Quite agree, nothing is going to change - in the short-term, anyway. They say that the OLR (Operator of Last Resort) will try to come up with an action plan within the next 100 days, and even if they accomplish that, any plan will take some time to implement.

If it were me, the first thing I'd do is actually cut the number of services to get the remainder running on time. Congestion - certainly through the centre of Manchester (the so-called Castlefield Corridor) - is a major source of the problems, certainly that side of the Pennines.

Stop moaning about the Pacers! (We've still got 'em in Devon - I think they're a great ride!) Anyway, you've got all those brand new Class 195 DMUs and Class 331 EMUs in service. That said, the build quality of the drivers' cup holders in the cabs leaves a lot to be desired - I'm sure I read recently that one Class 331 lurched across the points leaving Manchester Piccadilly, the coffee went flying over the control panel, fused the electrics, and the train ground to a halt blocking access to half the station!

More seriously, the franchise model is pretty much dead in the water now - although I do wonder why the Government has still not published the Williams Review into how we move forward on operating the railways. One can feel slightly sorry for Arriva, as they inherited a lot of infrastructure promises from Network Rail which have simply not been delivered or delivered ineptly. It would not surprise me if Northern isn't ultimately split into three sub-regions, based on Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle, and regional Mayors given the responsibility for running them, TfL-style.

[Workingman]

Ah yes, the 195 / 331 trickle down effect.

The Supers replace the Spacers replace the Pacers and Stevenson's Rocket only gets mothballed in 2038, just in case.

60/400ths isn't really progress compared to Landarn and the Sarfeast, is it?

Other regions also need upgrades as well, esp the S. West.

[Kaz]

Other regions also need upgrades as well, esp the S. West.

Definitely!

[cromwell]

The basic problems are under investment in the network infrastructure.

Yup. Not enough train lines into Manchester, for instance. We have (at best) 1950's capacity for 2020 demand. We need more lines, more stations, longer platforms.
None of which, be it noted, will be solved by HS2.

[JoM]

Bang on there Crommers, the rail infrastructure in insuffiencent.

As Ossie knows, our local line which runs from Rugeley Trent Valley into New St - the Chase Line - has over the last few years been electrified at a cost in excess of £200 million. It's taken six years and the process has caused no end of disruption but we were promised that it'd be worth the wait with more frequent and faster trains, more seats and an hourly service to London.

It was finally ready last May and has been an absolute nightmare. The London trains are frequently delayed due to congestion on the line closer to London, and that's meant that trains have been terminating at Hednesford rather than carrying on to Rugeley Town and then Trent Valley. For a long time there was a permanent rail replacement bus parked in the car park in Hednesford for the use of Rugeley passengers, and West Midland Railway have been paying out for taxis and extra childcare when people have been stranded.

WMR are in no way blameless here though as a lot of problems are caused by train faults and lack of staff (commuters are now bracing themselves for Feb half term) but the fact is, because the West Coast Mainline is over capacity, our shiny new electric line here is only going to serve the local stations into New St after May (although I think that there may be some services which carry on to the airport/NEC) and we're totally losing the direct service to Euston.
In a nutshell £200million + has been spent in order to shave, at best, 4 minutes off the journey between here and New St.

[Workingman]

Jo, that is world class ineptitude, but it's not their money eh?

Having worked in engineering and IT I have seen a big move towards 'specialists'. Now there is nothing at all wrong in having people who know their work down to the last doted i and crossed t, but what we have lost in the process are people who can see the big picture. They are vitally important for big projects yet as time goes by we have fewer and fewer of them.

If we still had them one might have clocked that more fast trains from Rugeley might run into a railblock somewhere near Watford Junction and ask how to avoid it before spending a mint.

[TheOstrich]

Yes, as I read it, the problems that have arisen with Jo's London services from Cannock are mainly due to (1) the daft idea that they could split/combine the Rugeley - Euston service with a Liverpool - Euston service at Birmingham New Street (you just need one late running train and the whole timetabling thing simply falls apart), and (2) the Birmingham - Coventry corridor which is only double track, and because it's mainly through urban terrain or deep cuttings, there's no possibility of increasing capacity by making it 4 track. The current attempts to fit a quart into a pint pot can only really be alleviated by weeding out services.

And I guess this is the biggest argument for HS2 - providing that extra capacity between Birmingham and London so that Virgin, Avanti or whatever they're calling themselves these days, won't need to cram 3 trains per hour down that narrow corridor alongside all the suburban stoppers and semi-fast trains via Northampton.