No way to run a railway

I'm currently being forced to endure yet another three months of the dreaded Rail Replacement Buses on my daily commute, while Network Rail resignals the line. I hope the trains will returning as promised on March 26th.

I sincerely hope that Northern Rail doesn't follow the bad example of Northern Ireland's rail operator, who managed this.

The reopening of the rail line between Larne and Belfast after a multi-million pound upgrade has been delayed.
It had been due to restart next Monday but Translink spokesman Mal McGreevy said "higher than anticipated staff turnover" meant this was not possible.

"We have some crewing issues and don't have enough staff to cover the full range of services," he said.

The Belfast to Larne commuter line represents a significant percentage of what's left of Northern Ireland's rail network, decimated by the dreadfully anti-rail Stormont government in 1950s and 60s. If they really don't have enough start to operate both it and the rest of the network at the same time, they're not just a few staff short.

Posted by TimHall at January 13, 2006 07:57 PM | TrackBack

Comments

Am I going to have to write a post for benefit of my British and Continental readers on the intricacies of a Form B track permit? The Union Pacific managed to remove several redundant signals no longer required for interlockings as well as to demolish three signal gantries under traffic. (They also renew the main line one track at a time, with the trains fleeted so as to reduce waiting time.)

Posted by: Stephen Karlson on January 14, 2006 06:38 PM

Yes, you do :)

What annoys me about the Stockport-Crewe resignalling is that the line was closed for five months a year ago for track relaying. (why did it take a whole five months to replace 25 miles of double track? Don't ask me)

I think the HSE (Our equivalent of OSHA) has a lot to answer for here.

Posted by: Tim Hall on January 14, 2006 07:00 PM

Maybe I ought to give them credit for keeping it to the weekends, but engineering work meant Lancaster had no rail comnnection at the weekends for about eleven months of 2005. There were replacement buses, but that's no use when one wishes to travel with a bike.

Posted by: NRT on January 16, 2006 02:48 PM


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