Case number 3459162

I will be the first to admit that activity has been low recently in Case 3459162, my on-going campaign to transform the rail system in this part of England. Readers may think that this is because the system has undergone a miraculous transformation, brought about by the devastating impact of my campaign. Oh, how I wish this were so.

A quick re-cap on the campaign. I managed to obtain confirmation from all parties that the Hull-Leeds- Manchester service was a disgrace. By all parties, I mean the Govt:

"Diane[Johnson, my MP and member of the ruling party] travels regularly on this route, and is aware of the numerous problems..."

Transpennine (who lease the trains and own the route's franchise):

"From a reliability perspective, the route between Leeds and Hull has been problematic since we commenced operation back in 2004" [letter to me from Vernon Barker, Managing Director of Transpennine who's company recieves £22million a year in subsidy from taxes. TP made £48 million in pre-tax profit last year)

Network Rail (who own the track that the trains run on and who are responsible for engineering the signal failures that occur daily)

"Network Rail has a dedicated project called Project Kingston which is designed to concentrate specifically on this route.. the line is going to have a signal upgrade by 2010..."

In the light of these replies, a letter was drafted to all concerned. I listed a series of (what I considered logical) assumptions, as follows;

We all know there is a problem, and have done so for at least four years.

We all want to fix the problem.

We know how to fix the problem.

There is money available to fix the problem. This can be derived from the simple formula below:

TP Profit (48) - Annual subsidy(22) = 26 (million. annually)

I followed up by asking:

Am I to understand that the Government have to give Transpennine permission to buy more carriages? Does this mean that Transpennine are legally, or contractually, prohibited from purchasing additional rolling stock unless the Government permit them to do so?
Why then, in the light of the foregoing, does not the Government simply draft a bill very quickly [don't forget, our Parliament managed to organize a vote to invade Iraq, none of whose citizens travel on a route serviced by Transpennine Express, in less than 24 hours]and allow TPE to buy more carriages. As the carriages are made in Germany[Government having shut down domestic train manufacturing capability upon privatization in the interests of efficiency, and trains only cost 1 million each, we could have 12 more carriages inside a year, leaving TP with the still substantial profit of £14 million.]delivery could be within one year.

NOTE: The sentences within [] are my editorial comments, not included in the letter.

I was excited when I opened the letter, addressed personally to me, from the Minister for Transport himself, a Mr Tom Harris. Mr Harris proudly informed me that the Government had produced a White Paper. For those Canadians who may not be aware, a White Paper is a Very Important Government Report. "Delivering a Sustainable Railway" the report in question, had taken a long hard look at the Hull-Leeds line and concluded that "additional capacity should be provided on the TransPennine Route by lengthening the trains".

Mr Harris commented on this astonishing breakthrough :

"the timescale for delivering additional rolling stock is 2009 to 2014: we are currently in discussion with the company with the aim of finding a framework for discussions that will allow the subsequent negotiations to proceed as quickly as possible. While we have no firm timescales,I shall be happy to keep you informed of progress."

For his part, Mr Vernon Barker replied thus;

"We have been lobbying the Dept. Transport for additional vehicles.....although we have been mentioned in their High Level Output Specification as being a route in need of additional stock...I cannot offer definitive details at this time regarding when these may be provided."

At this point, words fail me. I had wanted to use words like "man of action" and "dynamic" when describing Tom Harris, but they no longer seem appropriate. Likewise for Mr Barker, other words seem more appropriate. When I consider that the same picture is repeated regionally across the country that invented railways, and others are involved in similar campaigns to mine, with equal ineffectiveness, I think I'm going to hang up my pen. But not before I write just one more letter.....this time to the Queen. Maybe she'll get something done - not only do I support her family financially, but in another letter I received this morning, the news is that the first stage of my application for Canadian citizenship has been processed, so I will soon have her as my Head of State in two of the three countries I owe allegiance to.

Bruogh, Howden, Selby, Leeds

Brough



It may appear that Case No 3459162 is moribund, given the lack of recent posts, but not so. The case has now, as North American Reality Show contestants are fond of saying, stepped up to the next level. I believe that everything can be fixed, even Transpennine Express, and have now put in motion a course of action that will possibly bring the Government down. I have written to every English member of Parliament, every councillor, every Member of the European Parliament, every committee member on every transport committee covering the geographical areas served by the trains that I am daily delayed on. This area includes (East to West) Hull, Brough, Howden, Selby, Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester and involved a lot of copy and pasting.

HowdenThe provocation that caused this latest intensifying of my campaign was a Customer Services response to my latest weekly report to Transpennine Express. The response contained the following second paragraph, the first two sentences of which are reproduced, verbatim, below:

"Although I am grateful for your comments regarding allocation of a specific number of seats. Whilst we do not wish any service to become uncomfortable, passengers will be allowed to board until such time that as we consider safety may be breached."

As if the grammar was not bad enough ( or totally incomprehensible), the letter continues "I am very sorry that you were unable to travel with your bicycle....". This is rubbish. I was able to travel with the trusty Fuji. I was simply not allowed to travel with my steed.

Selby


The response from various officials has been illuminating. The New Labour representatives, by and large, have proposed setting up a Steering Committee to consider the possibility of establishing a Review Body focusing on my issues as a travel stakeholder and with the possibility of an urgent Action Group being formed at the end of a consultation process to find out whether there is a problem or not. The Conservative representatives have been the most plainly spoken, and approachable, frankly describing the service as a problem, and promising to meet with TransPennine to find out what solutions are proposed.

Despite all my previous political education, I find the contrast between the New Labour responses and the Conservative response to be akin to the contrast between Canadian realtors and English realtors - creepy versus Down to Earth. Where I diverge from the Conservative perspective is on solutions. I propose complete re-nationalization under workers control, with public executions just prior to kick-off at major soccer matches of any underperforming Rail Executive, whereas the Conservatives propose allowing the Free Market another twenty years to prove that "the market" WILL deliver better services to us, the consumer, and when these services do finally arrive they will be well worth the wait.

The photos in this post were taken from a seated position (on the floor) of the 7.33 as some of my fellow passengers became hidden during our commute. The same images were sent to Transpennine Express a week ago. Their response is awaited.

Cry Havoc and let loose the Dogs Of War

Round one of Case 3459162 :

Excerpt from Nickson to TransPennine Customer Services Department:

"I definitely DO NOT want a letter that tells me you are very sorry and that you are constantly striving to improve your services. I want you to DO something. Despite your Train Manager's disgraceful rudeness, the real problem is overcrowding on this service, and you have to avenues of ACTION that you can take, namely policy and number of coaches at peak/seasonal times."

Excerpt from reply to Nickson from TransPennine:

"We are currently experiencing high volumes of customer contact due to the
RECENT severe weather conditions. We will respond to your email as quickly
as we can, but please be aware that we may be unable to respond as quickly
as we would like to. Should your enquiry be in relation to customer service
disruptions, please check our website for information"

Weather summary for Hull Region from 17 to 23 September, from the BBC:

Monday 17 September 2007 to Sunday 23 September 2007

“Cooler and increasingly unsettled.”

Monday night will see the showers fading thanks to a transient ridge of high pressure. Under clear skies it will be a chilly night with a risk of patchy frost in the north. The clear skies bode well for Tuesday which is likely to be the driest and sunniest day this week.

The remainder of the week will be increasingly influenced by low pressure. A band of rain will sweep from north to south on Wednesday, however southern England is likely to stay dry until after dark.

This front will then clear from southern UK on Thursday to be followed by breezy conditions and mixture of sunny spells and showers.

Case No 3459162

Work has changed over the last few weeks. While it is true that the workload has reduced significantly, there have also been some conversations about excessive hours and how these excessive hours may be related to a staff turnover of 33%. More might be said about this in subsequent posts, but for the subject of this note, it is sufficient to say that the Crosstowner and myself arrived at Leeds Station on Friday at the relatively civilized hour of 18.15, fully expecting to board the 18.38 after a nice cup of tea.

Warmish tea secured (£1.05), the Crosstowner and I held back from the press as the usual scrum resolved at the doors of the arriving 730 Turbobooster. There is a rhythm to the arrival of trains. As the train approaches, commuters close formation and creep towards the edge of the platform. When the train stops, people move forward, crowding round doors, giving every impression that as soon as the doors open they are going to pile on to the train, like storming the Bastille. Only when the train doors open does it occur to the crowd (by now a unified organism) that others have to get off, so they all reluctantly back off, leaving the smallest gap for alighters, and as soon as it is possible to board without actually pushing someone out of the way, the crowd push again, totally ignoring the logic that a doorway of certain physical dimensions, by definition, limits the number of humans that can pass through at any time. It is like watching the tide, except that the tide is non-sentient, whereas humans, supposedly are (sentient). By observation, I can report that the same people perform the same pointless experiment every day.

Feeling infinitely superior to the lumpen proletariat, the Crosstowner and I leisurely board the train as the scrum clears, and I secure the bike in the designated bicycle storage area, unpack my newspaper(Amy Winehouse still doing drugs, massive floods in Africa, Blue Peter cat called named Socks despite viewer's TV vote scandal, permafrost melting at unprecedented rates) and begin to plan next blog entry.

"Will the passenger who boarded the train with a bike get off NOW, the train is overcrowded, we cannot carry you", the PA speaker announces. This is an unexpected announcement. A more usual announcement is "Transpennine Express would like to apologize for the late running of this train, and the shortfall of coaches on this service. This is caused by vandalism/squirrels on the line/the sudden appearance of a religious deity outside Brechworth/devolution/post-modernism/ anything except anything that might possibly be TransPennine's responsibility". I realize that the annoucement is directed at me, and the trusty Crosstowner. I hesitate slightly and realize that everyone on the train who wants to get home is looking at me. It's all my fault. I alight the train, embarrassed as only an English person who has been "shown up" can be.

I am extremely angry, but wo'nt relate the whole conversation. All that is needed to be said is that a furious(but swearing free) argument with the Train Manager ensued until he pulled his train out of the station, forcing me to wait the next train (about 1 1/4 hours later). The only reason given is that the train was "overcrowded" and he made a decision based on Health and Safety. My argument - that by this definition the train is overcrowded every day - fell on deaf ears.

I have immediately swung into "campaign " mode. I have complained, case number 3459162, a number that I intend to become every bit as famous as the prison number of the illustrious former President of South Africa. I am going to photograph the train every day, count the passengers, and if necessary, start a Passengers Travel Group. E-mails will flow like rain-drops on the parched plains of Good Customer Service. It is bad enough that TP Express are still using The Great Floods of 07 as an excuse for poor service, worse that they mangle the English language with the whole "Station Stop" nonsense, worse still that the tea they sell is virtually undrinkable, but now, by picking on the CrossTowner (joint third in my affections with Liverpool, and narrowly behind the cats. Oh, yes, and Nel, of course), TP have really crossed the line.

I imagine that when they hear the story, the commuters will flock to the cause. I imagine sit-down protests, ticket strikes, mass mailings, demonstrations and people chaining themselves to the buffet thus preventing the sale of "snacks, light refreshments [undrinkable] tea. coffee, and soft drinks". I already have several campaign slogans - "Arise, commuters of the 7.33 Hull-Leeds Service, you have nothing to loose but your jobs", "We need more 700 Series Units on a daily basis", and "Bikes, not safety".

Watch this space....