Network Rail - Shambles

[Bry Nylon]

And lets not forget, sadly one lady died in this accident, the first person who has died due to a railway mistake in over 5 years!

Deaths on the roads in Sussex in the last 5 years? Hmmmm!

Don't know what the figure for Sussex is, but nationally its about 9 road deaths EVERY DAY...

 

[British Bulldog]

Heads must roll and the railway infrastructure should perhaps be re-integrated.

No perhaps about it BH the whole network should be under one company, It was a big mistake the way it was broken up.

 

[readingstockport]

Network rail are under tremendous pressure from the TOC's to keep lines open and if they fail to they have to pay massive amounts of compensation to the TOC's. Renationalise the entire network, no f***ing compensation. And if they complain tell them they shouldn't have bought stolen goods in the first place.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Network Rail's 'not-for-profit' status is a massive improvement over the thoroughly-discredited snouts-in-the-trough regime that was Railtrack. The accident figures have gone down accordingly. And the admission of corporate responsibility for the Virgin train crash within a matter of days is a credit to that organisation. Train accidents are going to happen no matter who's in charge or how diligent they are, and all credit to the top man for holding his hands up. He says he's not going to resign, but for all the right reasons. He wants to stay on and implement the lessons learned. What more can he do?

 

[British Bulldog]

Network rail are under tremendous pressure from the TOC's to keep lines open and if they fail to they have to pay massive amounts of compensation to the TOC's. Renationalise the entire network, no f***ing compensation. And if they complain tell them they shouldn't have bought stolen goods in the first place.

On the whole it's a no win situation for Network Rail and it's employee's. On one hand there's fines for delays to trains and on the other hand there's safety, I know which hand I work with so I dont care how many trains I delay.

 

[readingstockport]

Of course both BB and Tom Hark are correct but ofr as long as the TOC's are beholden to (private) shareholders then NR will be f***ed. The entire theft of the rail system was a disgrace and has destroyed the system. We now pay more in susbsidy each year than we ever did under BR and it goes to give shareholders and Branson profits whilst we sit on shitty delayed trains being treated liek cattle.

 

[British Bulldog]

whilst we sit on shitty delayed trains being treated liek cattle.

Just remember though when your sat on a train being delayed the delay is usualy safety related, Whats a bit of delay due to a points failure compared to what can happen?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Of course both BB and Tom Hark are correct but ofr as long as the TOC's are beholden to (private) shareholders then NR will be f***ed. The entire theft of the rail system was a disgrace and has destroyed the system. We now pay more in susbsidy each year than we ever did under BR and it goes to give shareholders and Branson profits whilst we sit on shitty delayed trains being treated liek cattle.

Me dad worked for British Rail all his life and I'm a big fan of BR. But the Tories ran it down for years through refusal to invest to the point where it didn't function anymore. It IS getting better. You can see it. the investment in the new trains (nobody could really find serious fault with Southern trains) and Virgin's massive investment in the West Coast line is paying dividends. As is the never-ending investment in weekend engineering works and the improved customer information systems etc. etc. Obviously there's still scope for massive improvement (that Thameslink/KFC franchise is a disgrace) and it's expensive to the point where it's cheaper to fly on some routes, but they seem to me to be trying hard to turn things around. Would never have happened under a Tory government.

 

[NS Herald]

And lets not forget, sadly one lady died in this accident, the first person who has died due to a railway mistake in over 5 years!

Deaths on the roads in Sussex in the last 5 years? Hmmmm!

Couldn't agree more. Of course rail safety is important as is any form of public transport but let's face it, accidents happen and the railways are a dam sight safer than the roads.

I can't help feel that the media go OTT on situations like this and they are always looking for a scapegoat. Generally speaking Network Rail have worked very hard to make the railways safer but someone cocked up - it happens!!

Now let's put the same effort into making our roads safer and start by throwing away the keys of dangerous drivers

 

[SpidersLegs]

I work for NR and have responsibilty for the maintenance of several sets of points, signals and barriers. I really feel for the poor bloke who's responsible for the points which caused that derailment. These stetcher bars can break anytime but don't usually fall apart.

 

[British Bulldog]

I work for NR and have responsibilty for the maintenance of several sets of points, signals and barriers. I really feel for the poor bloke who's responsible for the points which caused that derailment. These stetcher bars can break anytime but don't usually fall apart.

What I dont understand is where I work on the Brighton - London main line the maintenance on points/signals etc has invreased over the last few years, So it seems a very strange set of circumstances that a set of points should literally fall apart as a train goes over them!

 

[SpidersLegs]

What I dont understand is where I work on the Brighton - London main line the maintenance on points/signals etc has invreased over the last few years, So it seems a very strange set of circumstances that a set of points should literally fall apart as a train goes over them!

The maintenance frequency has not changed. We have to do more now that what we used to a few years ago.

 

[Kent Seagull]

Couldn't agree more. Of course rail safety is important as is any form of public transport but let's face it, accidents happen and the railways are a dam sight safer than the roads.

I can't help feel that the media go OTT on situations like this and they are always looking for a scapegoat. Generally speaking Network Rail have worked very hard to make the railways safer but someone cocked up - it happens!!

Now let's put the same effort into making our roads safer and start by throwing away the keys of dangerous drivers

Very good point. The daily carnage on our roads is virtually ignored yet rail accidents are very high profile. Every rail accident is thoroughly investigated, the RAIB already have an initial report issued. The full report in due course will inevitably contain several action points to make railways safer. Until I see the full report I wouldn't like to speculate on the causes of the accident.

An interesting point though to put this into perspective, since the Stockton and Darlington first turned a wheel, the total passenger death toll on Britain's railways is still below 3000. The annual road death toll is continuously above 3000.

 

[British Bulldog]

The maintenance frequency has not changed. We have to do more now that what we used to a few years ago.

Aint I noticed it fella! What used to be a quick guage using the IPS has now progressed into taking points on the handle which makes it harder to find the time to get you boys in to do the maintenance, I dare say you find it as frustrating as we do?

Was interested to see that the train was derailed at a facing G.F. crossover though, All the G.F.'s i've ever seen or worked have allways been trailing.

 

[justin]

on a subtle note isnt this the line and train were supposed to get to blackpool on !