This morning was a bit of a shock to the system, Robbie's contorted travel plans involved me being woken at 5am and kick started with a nice hot cup of tea. Very reluctantly I dragged myself out of a warm and comfortable bed to take Robbie to Kettering at 6am. It is worse for Robbie because he had to make a long, cold, time wasting rail journey, but as I drove home again I was thinking evil thoughts about Network Rail - but I suspect I wasn't the only one!! Before we even set out for the station they had a spokesman for Virgin Trains talking about the problems caused by Network Rail failing to manage the engineering works effectively. I think the Virgin spokesman was called Arthur something or other, I think he must have been the night shift, but he got his message across fairly well. Chris Gibb was on Radio 4 at a slightly more civilised hour, he was clear and down to earth and his words were measured and reasonable. He used the word 'staggered' several times to describe the mismanagement of the work at Rugby by Network Rail. Perhaps it was a good thing that he was on Radio rather than TV because I suspect that his expression may have betrayed his thoughts!
Robbie got to work just after 9am, but his journey had been much more comfortable than the coach that he would have been forced to use if he had travelled from Northampton. He hates getting to work late, but even when he settled down in front of his computer he had to wade through a flood of spam email that had accumulated over Christmas. Apparently he was inundated with invitations to enlarge his manhood and advertisements for viagra, Robbie had no need of either, but after some of the limp excuses this morning maybe he should have forwarded the email to Network Rail!
The failings of Network Rail dominated the news bulletins all day and Virgin Trains had mobilised their SWAT team to ensure that even the most dense listener understood that they were the innocent victims rather than the perpetrator of the chaos. James Kennedy an area manager for Virgin Trains informed us that they had lost faith in information coming from Network Rail. Tony Collins Virgin Trains CEO told us that Network Rail got it wrong and they were guilty of unrealistic planning. He went on to explain that the reason for the engineering delay was a shortage of overhead electrification line men (I will forgive him for being sexist on this occasion as he was probably not having a good day). Nigel Harris editor of Rail magazine agreed that the root of the problem was poor management at Network Rail. As usual Gwyneth Dunwoody Chair of the Commons Transport Committee said that this was the result of breaking up the rail network into private companies. British Rail was pretty diabolical when it came to delays and they were hopeless at providing passengers with adequate information, but she has conveniently forgotten that. Theresa Villiers the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport accused Network rail of mismanagement and said that we should also blame the government (who created Network Rail) because Network Rail was not accountable enough to customers and passengers. She said the regulator should have greater sanctions available to them. Finally Network Rail offered a spokesperson. Robin Gisby who rejoices in the title of Director of Operations and Customer Service at Network Rail sounded as if was standing in front of a firing squad. I can only describe his incoherent ramblings as total claptrap, but I couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for him - customer services? Network Rail? he's never likely to achieve his performance targets is he!!
A slightly less measured Chris Gibb was on the radio again at tea time. He blamed Network Rail for bad planning and bad communication, he said the delay and the disruption to customers was not understandable and it was not acceptable. When asked about the promise from Network Rail to hand over the line at 5am on Friday, he was adamant that his contingency arrangements would remain in place. When asked if he didn't believe them he said "I haven't had a promise delivered by them in the past week". The art of understatement! he would probably make a good spy because he seem extremely cool when under pressure.
To conclude my ramblings, the most remarkable aspect of the day is not the media coup by Virgin Trains but the fact that is the first time I can recall that there has been a railway related news story and nobody has wheeled out Christian Wolmar - how refreshing!
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