Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Is this the same Ordsall chord that NR said would open up routes to Manchester Airport and allow more trains to run as well as winning awards!
Which are the awards that it won?
Is this the same Ordsall chord that NR said would open up routes to Manchester Airport and allow more trains to run as well as winning awards!
The works at Castlefield, Manchester Picc P15/16 and Oxford Road remodelling which were promised but not delivered. The TWAO is still in DfT's in tray but wasn't signed off by Chris Grayling despite a promise at the time that it would be.
Northern Franchise ITT asked bidders to assume as per a mysterious Bidders Infrastructure Assumptions Document that a package called Northern Hub / NW Electrification will be in place by Dec 17 (CS5).The works at Castlefield, Manchester Picc P15/16 and Oxford Road remodelling which were promised but not delivered. The TWAO is still in DfT's in tray but wasn't signed off by Chris Grayling despite a promise at the time that it would be.
Piccadilly 15/16 has never been at even an advanced planning stage. Where / how did it become part of the Northern TSR let alone becoming a missing deliverable as soon as late 2019? The Franchise itself is only about 3 years old.
Political promises are worthless, it is contracts that matter.
It's very much not a new idea. According to Network Rail's CP5 delivery plan dated March 2014, GRIP 3 was to be completed later that year, start on site in 2016 and the infrastructure ready for use by December 2018. If Network Rail never did any more planning on it that's pretty disgraceful in my opinion. We all know they can't be trusted to deliver anything on time or in budget, which is part of why the project hasn't got the go ahead, but how on earth did they expect to meet their own targets if the project was and is nowhere near ready to go when the TWAO was granted?
To add a bit of balance I thought Northern did much better today at the Liverpool end with approx 90% trains running, mostly on time and not a single cancellation for a big chunk of the day! Yesterday was dire though.
19% CASL at the moment and planned cancellations on 7 lines in the NW.It shows how bad things have got if Northern only cancelling 10 per cent of its services is perceived as a good day!
Any change, of any type has to be proposed and agreed, none of it can be imposed. SRTs, TPRs you name it. Much of it is agreed with little issue but a change that suddenly means a path is no longer compliant and cannot be made to be is a different kettle of fish....Evidence is a good thing.
All of the planning rules need an evidence base otherwise they risk becoming a made up work of fiction.
If there were evidence base there wouldn't be much scope for disputes.
As system operator is really does sound like Network Rails job to impose planning rules on TOCs. Otherwise they are managing capacity and performance for you and not very well in many cases.
If you can impose x mins if engineering time between Liverpool and Scarborough and impose the running times between different locations, I don't see why you can't dictate that for every 10mins of running time there is 1min of turnaround time in addition to what is necessary to change crews and cabs. This can be based on typical minutes of delay accumulated on a route.
I keep reading how things went to pot when Network Rail moved their planning team to an old ice hockey stadium in Milton Keynes and lost many 'old hands' but the problems causing all these delays seem more fundamental.
Of course it isn't just Castlefield. It's also the botched and much delayed NW electrification programme and the fact that the Transpennine Route Upgrade which at one stage was a CP5 project still hasn't started in earnest at the beginning of CP6 and I'm still not sure anyone knows what the scope of it is
I don't think any of these issues have helped Northern or TPE plan their future with any confidence and NR should take as much flak as the operators in my view
In the ITT bidders were told not to expect the TP upgrade during the franchise.Of course it isn't just Castlefield. It's also the botched and much delayed NW electrification programme and the fact that the Transpennine Route Upgrade which at one stage was a CP5 project still hasn't started in earnest at the beginning of CP6 and I'm still not sure anyone knows what the scope of it is
I don't think any of these issues have helped Northern or TPE plan their future with any confidence and NR should take as much flak as the operators in my view
The works at Castlefield, Manchester Picc P15/16 and Oxford Road remodelling which were promised but not delivered. The TWAO is still in DfT's in tray but wasn't signed off by Chris Grayling despite a promise at the time that it would be.
Of course it isn't just Castlefield. It's also the botched and much delayed NW electrification programme and the fact that the Transpennine Route Upgrade which at one stage was a CP5 project still hasn't started in earnest at the beginning of CP6 and I'm still not sure anyone knows what the scope of it is
I don't think any of these issues have helped Northern or TPE plan their future with any confidence and NR should take as much flak as the operators in my view
In that case why did DfT approve the TSR if they knew it was going to be undeliverable?
You'll have to ask them, but the bidders were well aware that Castlefield works (if they ever happen) would not be part of the franchise
Most recently the Chord won building of the year at the Riba north west awards, Michael Riley [architect] won architect of the year award. The Chord also won a number of top design awards from the British construction industry.Which are the awards that it won?
It appears that the realisation the service doesn't work post Ordsall has come about from experience since it opened rather than some undelivered enhancements.If it is true that the works were never included in the franchise documents then that is an absurd situation. The TSR's in the ITT (not the agreement with Arriva, the service specifications all bidders had to meet or be thrown out of the competition) require all the current services through Castlefield - already more than can be handled reliably, plus a Manchester Airport to (at least) Bradford service. From what we can see that is literally impossible to deliver on the current infrastructure.
So the DfT position was that they would not accept any bid it was possible to deliver.
It appears that the realisation the service doesn't work post Ordsall has come about from experience since it opened rather than some undelivered enhancements.
The Northern ITT was published in February 2015. At that time the Network Rail CP5 Enhancements Delivery Plan, December 2014 version, had the GRIP 6 complete milestones for the Oxford Road and Piccadilly schemes as December 2018, as part of the North of England Programmes (LNW) project. They were annotated "Configuration State 7 - Delivers the interventions to enable the operation of the proposed timetable in December 2018". The Ordsall Chord had a GRIP 6 complete milestone of December 2016, as had electrification from Manchester to Preston and Victoria to Stalybridge. These were annotated "Configuration State 5 - Delivers the interventions to enable the operation of the proposed timetable in December 2016".In the ITT bidders were told not to expect the TP upgrade during the franchise.
The NW electrification while late has been delivered. The missing enhancements seem to have been those removes by the Hendy Review therefore didn't form part of the planning or bidding.
If they weren't promised, the lack of them can't be blamed.
Can I reassure Northern Rail that the public doesn't have the slightest bit of sympathy for your position.This morning Northern have cancelled two Leeds -York via Harrogate trains in succession, which leaves a 2 hour gap in service frequency and passengers stranded who cant get to work.
According to Northern this is 'minor disruption'
No it's not 'its major disruption' to anybody but Northern.
They don't ever accept they have a problem.
I'm currently on a BDI - BPN service which is a two carriage 144 and has left people behind at almost every station we've stopped at.
Northern Rail have really outdone themselves this morning.
Embarrassing and shocking.
It is likely that there was no other unit available possibly due to a short notice failure. A 2 car 144 is surely better than a cancellation, particularly on an off peak service that would probably usually cope as a 2 car 158.I'm currently on a BDI - BPN service which is a two carriage 144 and has left people behind at almost every station we've stopped at.
Northern Rail have really outdone themselves this morning.
Embarrassing and shocking.