Network Rail Fined

[FOH]

Easy.
Just because your ONE train is late does not mean that the whole railway network is the same.
I consider your analogy stupid.

You've obviously missed a few of my other posts over the past year!

 

[suzanneparis]

Except that the problems were in part caused by having to work around doing a load of work in a short period of time. So a slightly unfair punishment.

Perhaps we have to accept that our ailing railway infrastructure will need to be closed for long periods of time whilst work is carried out on it.

 

[Taunton]

Perhaps we have to accept that our ailing railway infrastructure will need to be closed for long periods of time whilst work is carried out on it.

No, it needs to get better at doing work while running the service. We don't have electricity suppliers telling us that our houses will be cut off for six weeks while they replace the wires.

 

[Bald Rick]

No, it needs to get better at doing work while running the service. We don't have electricity suppliers telling us that our houses will be cut off for six weeks while they replace the wires.

No but they do dig up our roads / paths / alleyways such that you have to take a different route to the station for several weeks, extending your journey time by 20%. As happened to me this summer.

They also have the notable advantage that electrons travel at the speed of light* and thus don't mind how they get from A to B.

(* yes I know they don't actually travel at the speed of light, but you get my drift).

 

[suzanneparis]

Good post Bald Rick!

 

[67018]

From the BBC :



Well, apart from the fact that he's forgotten that the GWR changed the gauge of the entire line from Taunton to Penzance in 1892, including running all the old rolling stock off, regauging hundreds of miles of track, and running the new stock in, over a SINGLE WEEKEND, a task which makes London Bridge look trivial in comparison, they have most certainly NOT kept services running - I can't get from Charing Cross to London Bridge or Greenwich any more, there's no Thameslink from St Pancras to London Bridge, they pretty much gave up on local services on the Forest Hill line at peak hours for months - and what service remained on the Southern side has been subject to regular great disruption.

And in what way is an engineering change in the remote West Country over a hundred years ago relevant to the rebuilding of stations and junctions at a major London station in 2015 while simultaneously attempting to run an intensive commuter service?

I bet it would have taken longer to do London Bridge in 1892, and they would have shut the whole service down not kept running it, and wouldn't have minded a few dozen fatalities...

There is plenty of scope to debate how the whole thing could have been done better, but nobody who has been following all the works can be in any doubt that it's a major and complex job. Suggesting otherwise suggests no more than staggering ignorance of what it takes to get something like this done while complying with modern standards.

 

[HH]

If you're very well paid then losing a bonus isn't much of a punishment.

From this comment I can tell that (a) you've never been paid a fat bonus and (b) that you've never observed people who do.

Losing those big fat bonuses would hurt. As would a 0% pay rise.

 

[Taunton]

There is plenty of scope to debate how the whole thing could have been done better, but nobody who has been following all the works can be in any doubt that it's a major and complex job. Suggesting otherwise suggests no more than staggering ignorance of what it takes to get something like this done while complying with modern standards.

No, it suggests someone with experience and background of mainstream civil engineering projects across all sectors, and who is well aware of comparable jobs done without disorganising the existing users.

 

[colchesterken]

mmmmm..Just a thought..if it were to happen ! Would things be better under Corbynisation..
We need a fat controller in charge of everything, trains, rails, staff ..They could be called "the rail minister"

 

[Bald Rick]

No, it suggests someone with experience and background of mainstream civil engineering projects across all sectors, and who is well aware of comparable jobs done without disorganising the existing users.

Only half the London Bridge job is civil engineering. Those with a background of delivering civil, mechanical, electrical, electronic and telecoms engineering projects in the rail sector will tell you this is the most complex and largest single point project done on the railway in this country for decades if not ever.

But even if it was 'just' civil engineering... And I will borrow something from a slide I have seen presented elsewhere ... the civils part of London Bridge is about 50% larger than the rebuilding of Wembley. Except it is being done more quickly, in the middle of Central London (rather than next to the North Circular) and there's four cup finals' worth of people passing through every day. If only we could have asked the population of South East London to move to Cardiff for 6 years...

Oh and the broad gauge changeover in 1892 was Exeter to Truro, which AIUI used every single GWR ganger for that weekend. But all they needed were saws, spanners, crowbars and hammers.

 

[Deepgreen]

Oh and the broad gauge changeover in 1892 was Exeter to Truro, which AIUI used every single GWR ganger for that weekend. But all they needed were saws, spanners, crowbars and hammers.

Yes - H&S wasn't an issue then so anything went (and they had no 442s to deal with!).

 

[CdBrux]

If you're very well paid then losing a bonus isn't much of a punishment.

on which basis they may as well keep it then?

 

[67018]

No, it suggests someone with experience and background of mainstream civil engineering projects across all sectors, and who is well aware of comparable jobs done without disorganising the existing users.

Difficult to gauge given that the 'comparable' job cited is a completely different one in totally different environment done in 1892.

Some of the comments made here smack of the 'how difficult can it be?' attitude that is an occupational hazard faced by project managers everywhere.

 

[Taunton]

Only half the London Bridge job is civil engineering. Those with a background of delivering civil, mechanical, electrical, electronic and telecoms engineering projects in the rail sector will tell you this is the most complex and largest single point project done on the railway in this country for decades if not ever.

The funny thing is, the last time London Bridge was resignalled (1976 ?) that too was done over a long weekend, including a lot of track reorganisation and direction reversing, and that was done over a long weekend as well. Now I can quite believe that the team think it's the most complex THEY have worked on, but that's only from their perspective.

And I will borrow something from a slide I have seen presented elsewhere ... the civils part of London Bridge is about 50% larger than the rebuilding of Wembley.

That [Wembley] should have been a straightforward job, although directors I was working with at the time backed out at late tendering stage because the client was too challenging to work with. How on earth Multiplex made such a cods of it is a matter of continuing discussion in the industry (especially as they did Westfield Shepherds Bush at the same time, a more challenging job, which they just managed easily). Notably, few on the Wembley project put it on their CV.

Oh and the broad gauge changeover in 1892 was Exeter to Truro, which AIUI used every single GWR ganger for that weekend. But all they needed were saws, spanners, crowbars and hammers.

. Much like the old adage about civils being so simple - "Just muck out, concrete in". Just have a think about how you regauge pointwork ...

 

[Llanigraham]

No, it needs to get better at doing work while running the service. We don't have electricity suppliers telling us that our houses will be cut off for six weeks while they replace the wires.

How on earth can the electricity supply industry be compared to the railways?

If nothing else, electric supply can be re routed along other wires. A bit difficult to do that on most railways!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

No, it suggests someone with experience and background of mainstream civil engineering projects across all sectors, and who is well aware of comparable jobs done without disorganising the existing users.

No, and to put it bluntly, it suggests that you don't have a clue about how the railways work or anything to do with railway engineering!

 

[Bald Rick]

The funny thing is, the last time London Bridge was resignalled (1976 ?) that too was done over a long weekend, including a lot of track reorganisation and direction reversing, and that was done over a long weekend as well. Now I can quite believe that the team think it's the most complex THEY have worked on, but that's only from their perspective.

1972-1976.

I'd heard of the 3 day week in the 70s, but didn't think it got to the point of the 4 year weekend.

 

[carriageline]

1972-1976.



I'd heard of the 3 day week in the 70s, but didn't think it got to the point of the 4 year weekend.

Be careful, you might be letting facts get in the way of someone's "the old days were brilliant", rose tinted rant!!

 

[68000]

They're not extremely complicated. They are a straightforward railway civil engineering job for those who have the skills to manage and plan them. However, that doesn't seem to cover the NR management any more, and they don't show any moves to getting those who know how to do these things competently into place.

Best put your skills to use and get down there and sort it all out :roll: