Bedtime Reading

Robbie and I had both had a busy week and by Friday evening we were worn out. Emily was working, and Mum's taxi was booked for 10pm, but she was out on time and we were home again by 10.30pm. After finishing a couple of jobs I headed off to bed. I was just settling down when Robbie announced that he had something that I would really enjoy. I wondered whatever he could mean - but life with Robbie is never predictable so I waited patiently while he rummaged through his bag and proudly produced the April edition of Railways Illustrated. I hadn't planned to spend an early night with my husband reading railway magazines and my quizzical expression elicited more information from Robbie. He said, "it has an article about Chris Gibb (Virgin Trains MD), you know how much you like him, but they haven't got his feet in the photo". I am used to translating 'Robbie speak' into English but that sentence took more effort than most.

It is not possible to like someone I have never met, but Chris Gibb does sound like a decent bloke. As someone who observes the railways from a distance, I like the fact that he speaks in plain English that everyone can understand and as far as I can tell he does what he says he will do. The straight answer seems as rare in the railways as it is in politics, so it is refreshing when you find someone capable of saying what they mean and when necessary calling a spade a spade. In the article he was eloquent about the farce at Rugby over the new year period "it was totally avoidable. It was a shortage of key people at the right time and Network Rail will be getting a bill from us for long term damage to growth".

OK, I did once say that he was easier on the eye than some of his counterparts from the other TOC's, etc. I wasn't commenting on his looks as much as his ability to smile and to look approachable. There are a number of faces in the railways that could have made convincing gargoyles! While on the subject of confession, Robbie is right that I did once say that Chris Gibb had very expressive legs. Back in the old days when he was MD of Cross Country I noticed that when he was photographed his feet seemed to be working to their own agenda. The photo with the Railways Illustrated didn't show his feet and was cropped oddly leaving people to wonder about his hands, but it had the trademark cheerful smile.

The article was a good read, clearly Virgin has some interesting plans for the future. I learned a little more about Chris Gibb too, apparently he has a passion for punk rock music, that didn't seem to fit with the photo of him in a fleece; but when I looked closely at his shirt and tie it was clear that there is a streak of anarchy within him. Not many people would be brave enough to combine a shirt with vertical stripes and a vivid red tie with crazy diagonal stripes. It seems that his role is to be known as Chief Operating Officer, a rather grim sounding title, I wonder who he will be operating on first - Network Rail Perhaps?

The dead fridge freezer was taken away for a post mortem today. Bosch want to work out what caused the plug to burst into flames. I already have a written report from the tradesman who came out on Christmas Day, it was a wiring fault in the plug so it will be interesting to see how they try to put a positive spin on that. I have sent the plug back as requested, but as you can see from the photo there is not much left for them to examine. A new fridge freezer has been delivered to replace the one that spontaneously cremated itself. I insisted on a different model but I am still struggling to overcome the urge to turn off the electricity every time I go out, it has really frightened me.





Robbie was finally able to travel to Birmingham from Northampton today. The handover was not problem free, Robbie rang me with updates on delays and diversions but it is far too boring to detail here. I feel really sorry for Virgin, they must be wondering if things will ever get back to normal. I went to visit some relatives today and they enquired about the train problems and the impact they were having on Robbie. My sister in law said she had seen a rather charismatic man from Virgin being interviewed on TV. I don't know who it was, but I would hazard a guess that it was probably Chris Gibb. You certainly have to give them full marks for managing the media. When it comes to spin Virgin make the Labour party look like amateurs. Beware 'the Dark Side' are taking over the world!!

This article makes interesting reading. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/money/2008/01/04/cnvirgin104.xml

Network Fail - Again! 03.01.08

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!

The John Wayne Look 22.06.07

After a busy and challenging day I sat down with this weeks issue of Rail. Like most people I don't start at the beginning of the magazine and work through in a methodical manner, I browse stopping at whatever takes my fancy along the way. I read the article on West Coast Railways, then my attention was caught by the article on the spring National Passenger Survey results. It came as no surprise to find FGW languishing in the relegation zone at the bottom of the league in terms of satisfaction and value for money. Maybe their fictional track, non existent seats and fantasy timetable were not such a good idea after all!

I thumbed the pages towards the front of the magazine and was startled to come across an alarming picture of Chris Gibb holding a urine sample! Ok I admit he is fairly easy on the eye compared to many other railway people, but bodily fluids in rail magazine - surely not! When I recovered from the initial horror I realised he was proudly displaying a sample of bio-diesel at the launch of the first bio-diesel train in UK. I think it is a hopeful sign and if the government sort out the nonsense regarding tax on bio-diesel maybe the railways can become a little greener, but please no more scary photos!

I found another photo of Chris Gibb on the Christian Wolmar page, he was still waving the dratted 'urine sample' but this time he was standing in front of the Voyager with a group of Virgin CrossCountry staff. I am sure they are all nice people but the Voyager is the star of the show, so please move the people and let us look at the Voyager. While on the subject of photos, why do all male Virgin employees stand like that? I can only describe it as the 'John Wayne look' - to put it bluntly they stand with their legs so far appart that they look as if they have just got off a horse!