Author Archives: Paul Bigland

An example of how Hs2 will benefit the North

18 Wednesday Feb 2015

Posted by in Hs2, Railways, Transport

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I’m writing this whilst travelling on Grand Central’s 06:55 service from Bradford to London Kings Cross. I’m a regular user of their trains as they get me from Halifax to the capital in just over 3 hours. They’re comfortable with very competitive fares and have free wifi throughout the train. The West Riding services first started running in May 2010. In the early days passenger numbers were sparse, nowadays they can be full & standing – even in First Class!

Grand Central’s trains are popular with both business and leisure travellers as they offer the residents of Yorkshire a fast direct service to London that allows you to go there & back in a day if you want to. As an aside, GC regularly top the Passenger Focus poll as Britain’s highest-rated long distance train operator for customer satisfaction.

But, hang on – this is something the opponents of High Speed 2 say is what’s bad for the North. They claim Hs2 will suck all the economic life out of the North & only benefit the capital. This train (and me) are perfect examples of why this is nonsense. You see, for 25 years I lived in London. Now I live in Yorkshire – and the only way I can make that possible is by better rail connections between the two. A lot of my work is centered on London. If I don’t have easy access to it I have to move closer or move back. As it is now, I can command a London wage & transfer that spending power back home to Yorkshire. I’m not alone in this as the growing numbers of business travellers using Grand Central’s trains attest to.

So, next time you hear Hs2 opponents like Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman banging on about how Hs2 would be bad for the North, remind them of the success of Grand Central & how it’s allowed Southerners like me to move away from London – & bring our prosperity with us.

An ode to Joe (Rukin)

16 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by in Hs2, Politics, Transport

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A friend has just sent me this. It’s too good not to share with the world so, enjoy!

Joe Rukin told such Dreadful Lies,
It made one Gasp and Stretch one’s Eyes;
He hasn’t, from his Earliest Youth,
Had the least Regard for Truth,
And in what’s written by Joe Rukin,
Reality don’t get a look-in.
*************************************
Now, for his waffle we must pity,
The HS2 Select Committee.
They once, in fact, last Wednesday,
Knowing he’d have much to say,
On things that views are keenly sought on,
Interviewed Prof A McNaughton,
Who set out with alacrity,
The truth about Capacity.
“We can’t have that” cried Rukin J,
And scrambled into print to say,
From Runcorn, Stockport and Wilmslow,
No more London trains would go,
While Coventry would have none left,
And Wolverhampton be bereft,
(Well, actually he went on Twit-ter,
won’t that won’t fit).
But Joe forgot, the silly Clown,
That long ago had been set down,
The service pattern to be run,
By Trains on HS2 (Phase 1),
And what makes Joe sound rather comic,
Is all in “The Case (Economic)
For HS2”, where plain to see,
Is “Trains per hour for Stockport – 3”
Then “Wilmslow – 1”, and “Runcorn – 2”,
And something similar for Crewe.
***********************************
Well, if that sets Joe’s pants alight,
There’s more – the interesting sight,
Of PFMv4.3,
(Pron. Pee Eff Emm vee 4 point 3),
“Assumptions Report”, which shines a lamp on,
Trains per hour for Wolverhampton,
Now just one to London Town,
But as page 44 sets down,
(And surely this will tickle you),
These will be “cut” from one to TWO!
************************************
Lazy journos wanting free
Copy, have a friend in he,
Who only fools those silly men,
The IEA and Beleben.
But by the sensible and learn-ed,
Rukin and his gang are spurn-ed.

Shimbleshanks, with apologies to Hilaire Belloc

 

Image

Rail modernisation spells the death knell of the oil lamp & semaphores at Banbury

16 Monday Feb 2015

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One of the last outposts of traditional semaphore signalling has heard its death knell today. Siemens Rail Automation has been awarded a £40 million contract by Network Rail to renew life-expired signalling equipment from Leamington Spa to Heyford. This will see the signals & signalboxes at Banbury North & South replaced by Siemens’ Trackguard Westlock computer-based interlocking. The modernization will mean improved headways between Banbury and Aynho Junction, as well as a rationalised layout at Banbury Station to improve operational flexibility and minimise on-going maintenance requirements.

The project is expected to take 22 months.

Banbury has long been an oasis of former GWR lower quadrant semaphore signals, although some were converted to upper quadrant by BR. Some of the signals were still illuminated by paraffin lamps, a practice dating back to the dawn of the railways. Here’s a selection of pictures showing what will disappear:

http://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/p638949268/h5af7f476#h5af7f476

http://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/p638949268/h5af7f44c#h5af7f44c

http://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/p5959592/h53571a28#h53571a28

 

 

 

 

Posted by | Filed under Railways, Signalling, Transport, UK, Uncategorized

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Joe Rukin: The anti Hs2 mobs lies get bigger & bolder.

13 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by in Hs2, Politics, Railways

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As the anti Hs2 campaign sees any sign of success slipping further & further away their campaign has become increasingly desperate. This has meant that their lies have got bigger, bolder & more stupid…

On Wednesday, Professor Andrew McNaughton gave evidence to the High Speed Rail Committee on the capacity that would be released on the WCML after Hs2 opens. In a breathtaking example of lying through his teeth, StopHs2 Campaign Manager Joe Rukin has twisted McNaughton’s evidence to allege that “HS2 Ltd admit they will scrap all current long distance trains to Euston”

Here’s the press release Rukin has cobbled together: http://stophs2.org/news/13115-13115

And here’s the evidence that McNaugton gave to the Committee: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/hs2/oral-evidence/110215_Uncorrected_Afternoon.pdf

The relevant pages are 41 to 49.

Rukin asserts that “McNaughton has finally admitted that towns and cities in the Midlands, Scotland, Wales and The North West could lose direct services to London” Really? Where? What McNaughton actually said was this;

“We take off the main line most of the long distance non-stop services, because the purpose of HS2 is to serve cities on the long-distance network”

McNaughton went on to say “The effect for stations on the existing line is that, instead of seeing long -distance trains pass them by, albeit quite regularly, there is the opportunity to introduce new trains that serve those stations”

McNaughton also explained what the Transport Minister wanted “Now, the Secretary of State has set out some principles for how the West Coast Main Line ought to be reused and we worked within those, in doing this illustration They’re things like, broadly, where people have a train service to London, after HS2 comes in, there ought to be broadly a comparable-type service but, balanced against that, the opportunity to improve commuting to the places that most need improved commuting”

So, how can Rukin possibly justify his claim? Clearly, he can’t. It’s an obvious & very stupid lie, especially as McNaughton gave his evidence to a Parliamentary Committee where his words were recorded & transcribed. Rukin’s relying on gullible & lazy journo’s not to check their facts. After all, only the really stupid or geographically challenged will believe Hs2 Ltd will “scrap all current long distance trains to Euston” when, err – Hs2 will run into, oh yes – Euston….

Rukin repeats his lies by quoting himself (in his own press release, how’s that for ego!) “We have always said this means for dozens of towns and cities across England, Scotland and Wales ‘losing the trains you currently have”

So where’s this little revelation confirmed by McNaughton’s presentation? Nowhere. In fact, it’s completely contradicted by these words; “We’ve effectively stripped the long-distance non-stopping services off the West Coast Main Line fast lines and into that now virtually empty railway started to show the types of services that could operate, particularly to pick up the commuter growth areas, which are part of the Government’s central strategy, out at Milton Keynes, Northampton, Rugby and so forth. “

So, McNaughton actually gave evidence that new services & extra trains would run, not less.

There’s also the small matter that Hs2Ltd can’t “scrap all current long distance trains to Euston” as that’s not their decision to make as Rukin well knows. What services run after Hs2 opens will be decided by the Office of Rail Regulation, the Secretary of State for Transport & the Dft in conjunction with stakeholders (something else McNaughton made clear).

Rukin has a long & colourful history of telling porkies but this one could really blow up in his face. He’s lied about the facts presented to a Parliamentary Committee that he’s given evidence to himself. So, what does that say about his integrity, the worth of his words & the weight of his evidence? Somehow, I don’t think the High Speed Rail Committee will be impressed. They’ve shown they don’t tolerate fools gladly.

UPDATE: 14th February.

If Rukin & StopHs2 think this is going to blow over they’re in for a real disappointment. The High Speed Rail Committee have announced they will publish the slides that went with Prof McNaughton’s evidence next week. Rukin penned his lies without seeing them. Once they’re available & I’ve had a chance to look at them, I’ll be blogging again. StopHs2 are in for a very uncomfortable time. As Shakespeare’s saying goes, ‘the truth will out’…

A good example of the need for Hs2.

10 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by in Hs2, Railways, Transport

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I’m typing this on board a CrossCountry service from Manchester Piccadilly to Birmingham, a journey I do on a regular basis. The trip will take me 91 minutes on a cramped & not exactly environmentally friendly 4 -car Voyager. When Hs2 is built the same journey will take just 41 minutes on a modern, spacious, high-speed electric train, slashing a massive 50 minutes off the time. Currently rail only has around 6% of the travel market between the two cities. Imagine what slashing 50 minutes off the time will do to encourage modal shift from roads & encourage more people to travel between our major regional cities by rail?

It’s exactly these regional time savings those opposed to Hs2 hate folk drawing attention to. They prefer to focus all their attention on London. So, let’s ignore them & look at some other projected journey time savings.

Leeds to Birmingham will be down from 1hr58 to just 57m.

Newcastle to Birmingham will be down from 3hr14 to 2hr07.

Nottingham to Birmingham Interchange will be down from 1hr46 to just 32m.

Bristol to Edinburgh will be down from 5hr49 to 3hr21

Cardiff to Leeds will be down from 4hr07 to 3hr13

There are many more examples given on Hs2 Ltd’s website here:

http://www.hs2.org.uk/about-hs2/facts-figures/connecting-britain

Of course, it’s not just about intercity journey time savings. The line I’m traveling on is also heavily used by local, inter regional & freight services. When the West Coast timetable was speeded up in 2008 some stations around Stoke were closed or lost their services to clear paths for fast Virgin Trains services to Manchester. Between 2004 – 2008 Stone station lost its rail services entirely. Now it has an hourly service provided by London Midland. There’s no hope of improving this as the capacity (until Hs2 is built) isn’t available. Eturia station closed on 30 September 2005. It was demolished to allow the line speed in the area to be raised from 60mph to 85-90mph. Local rail services were sacrificed to allow faster & more frequent Intercity expresses to run (and not just here around Stoke but also elsewhere on the West Coast Maine Line (WCML). Hs2 will allow us to reverse this process by removing those capacity eating non-stop services. Instead, those paths can be used by those trains we need to encourage greater modal shift – local, inter regional & freight. Without Hs2, that will never happen.

Incidentally, 51M who offered a supposed ‘alternative’ to Hs2 would have seen further cuts to services around Stoke. To allow more expresses, they’d have closed Stone & other stations, withdrawn the local services and didn’t even think about freight. Some ‘alternative’

UPDATE.

Since I first published this earlier today. Richard Wellings of the right wing ‘Think Tank’ the Institute for Economic Affairs (in reality a lobbying front for various anonymous big business interests like the tobacco & oil industry) has tried to claim on Twitter that there’s no demand for better rail services between Manchester & Birmingham. What? Two of our top 10 major cities by population (& top 5 if you include the Greater Manchester area)? To try & claim slashing 50 minutes off won’t result in modal shift to rail suggests to me Wellings is no real economist – just an apologist for industries which are scared of the expansion of greener transport modes.

UKIP & the anti HS2 mob are at it again (aka stitched up like a kipper!)

08 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by in Hs2, Politics, Transport, UKIP

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My previous blog about UKIP & the anti Hs2 campaign both being a bunch of fantasists caused some squeals from the certain quarters. So, you can imagine my amusement when today’s events in the media only proved what I was saying.

The Sunday Times ran a piece on some politicians packing their Twitter accounts with fake followers. One of the folk featured was none other than UKIPs candidate for Aylesbury Chris Adams, who tweets as @_Chris_Adams. He’s often tweeted nonsense & downright deceit about Hs2. Today the Times revealed that Adams claimed 30,000 Twitter followers whilst following 25,400 others whom he claimed to have ‘checked manually’. Yet, within a day of the ST contacting him he’d removed 25,200 people, leaving him following just 200. How odd. Unsurprisingly, he soon started hemorrhaging followers! One is forced to ask, what is it about UKIP & fake numbers? If it’s not Romanians, it’s…

This tactic of packing your Twitter account with either fake followers or following accounts who guarantee to follow you back to make yourself look important & have influence seems to be common to the anti Hs2 mob too. I’ll highlight one of their more laughable Tweeters in another blog.

You have to wonder. If the anti Hs2 campaign really does have the genuine mass support they claim. Why do so many of them have to resort to faking figures?

 

 

 

Kicking our heels in Abu Dhabi airport….

06 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by in Abu Dhabi, Air Travel, Aircraft, Communications, Internet, Travel

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Well, the homeward trip has begun. Yesterday’s water taxi trip on Bangkok’s Chao Praya river and BTS Skytrain jaunt into the heart of the city seems like a lifetime away already. We’re flying back to the UK with Etihad Airines via their hub in Abu Dhabi. I’m not a great fan of flying. The romance of being stuck on a thin metal tube with 300 odd souls as it skims its way above the planet at 37,000ft was lost years ago. I don’t think the name ‘Airbus’ does much to bring that lost era back either although the planes Etihad use are very well equipped with a large variety of film, TV & music channels to help make 6 hours clamped in a set with legroom that can best be described as ‘cosy’, bearable. I always envy my partner’s ability to sleep on planes. She had over four hours kip whilst I took in a couple of films, including the WW2 Tank movie ‘Fury’ starring Brad Pitt (I wasn’t very impressed with the Hollywood heroics & thin characters, but it did pass the time).

Now we’re kicking our heels in Abu Dhabi airport, waiting for our onward flight to Manchester. This being an Arab state, the only temptations put in front of your are those of financial excess. The airport is a well stocked consumerist haven – especially if you’re into brand names & expensive chunky watches. Oh, and chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate…

In the spirit of these straightened times we’ve kept our cash & opted to spend our hours catching up with the world using the airport’s free wifi. It’s not particularly fast but there’s no time limit. As an itinerant photographer I spend a lot of my life fighting with free wifi at airports, stations & hotels. I have to laugh when I remember my early travels and two words most folks under 25 will probably never have heard of:’Poste Restante’- those far off days when you used to have real, handwritten letters waiting for you to collect at nominated post offices in far flung lands. My, how the world’s changed. Then you’d wait months for news from home (unless you wanted to blow your budget on the occasional phone call via some temperamental state phone system where you’d pay a fortune for the privilege of shouting to your loved ones down a receiver that sounded like it was connected with string – via the moon ). Yet, in some ways, I miss those old days. The immediacy of modern communications has taken away some of the romance & craft that went into letter writing. Now it’s time to step back into the 21st century & publish these thoughts which will be accessible to a whole planet (should any of it bother to look) at the press of a button. So, here goes…

Now the anti Hs2 mob have rediscovered cretinous ideas from the 80’s…

03 Tuesday Feb 2015

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As I’m still ostensibly on holiday & in a very different time zone I’m trying to keep my powder dry on some of the completely cretinous ideas that have emerged when Richard Wellings of the Institute of Economic Affairs has done an Indiana Jones & disturbed the tomb of ‘Transport Watch’.

So,I’m fortunate that I can give a hat tip to the brilliant commentator Tim Fenton, who has done a very good job of exposing this unholy alliance;

http://zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/iea-exhumes-flat-earth-idea.html

Georgetown reflections (pt 1)

29 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by in Georgetown, Malaysia, Travel

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I first discovered Georgetown in 1992 during a year long trip to Asia. I fell in love with it then and I’ve been coming back regularly ever since. It’s an absolute gem of a place, full of history, fantastic food & a rich mix of cultures. As a regular visitor I’m no longer on the tourist treadmill of having to tick off the ‘sights’. Instead, I come here to savour the atmosphere, relax & enjoy the food. OK, there’s a little bit of work involved too but when the sun’s blazing down & its 32 degrees in the shade I don’t mind retreating to the cool of my hotel for a spell of writing & picture editing.

Much of the character of Georgetown is centred in the old town around the harbour and the serried streets of old Chinese shop-houses & colonial era buildings which still dominate this quarter of the city. Leavening the commercial world is a multitude of Chinese & Indian temples, mosques & churches, along with many ornate Chinese clan houses. Then there’s the bewildering variety of eateries, from humble street food stalls to fancy restaurants. It’s such a fascinating mix that in 2008 UNESCO designated it a world heritage site. Whilst the rest of Georgetown & the beach villages have expanded with skyscrapers mushrooming upwards all over the place, the roads around Little India and the backpackers’ area of Lebuh Chulia have remained substantially intact. Yet the feel of the place is slowly changing as more & more locals are priced out of the area & their former homes & shops are converted into boutique hotels, antique shops and the inevitable fancy coffee shops. I’m still not sure what I make of it as, on the plus side, it’s meant more derelict or decaying shop-houses have been restored (some splendidly so) to create jobs and employment. On the down side, some of the age old local character & community is being lost.

Of course, it’s not all been swept away. Sitting outside a bar on Lebuh Chulia with a cold beer is still a great way to pass the time & indulge in people watching, observing the melange of nationalities & income brackets that pass through. There are rich tourists from Europe & Asia, backpackers from all corners of the globe. There’s retired folks who’ve settled in Thailand who’re doing their visa runs and sun seekers who’ve come into town from the holiday hotels in Batu Ferrenghi. All rub shoulders with the local Chinese; Indians & Malays who’ve make Georgetown such a melting pot. Of course, this pot is spiced up by the near universal human vices of alcohol, gambling & sex! This may be an Islamic country but alcohol is easily available – if pricy. A big 660ml bottle of Tiger been will set you back around £3.00 on Chulia (and decidedly more in the swankier bars & restaurants). Muslims are banned from gambling but non-Muslims take a flutter on the lotteries & the Chinese (who are inveterate gamblers) frequent back street games. As for drugs, that’s a big no-no in Malaysia & seems to have disappeared completely from the early 90s when you’d still see hotel staff sitting round smoking dope with daring Westerners. No, the most common illicit activity around here is prostitution. The streets around Chulia have always had a reputation for ‘ladies of the night’ – although more than a few man have had an unexpected surprise when they discovered the attractive Asian girl they’d paid to dally with was no lady, but a man…

Most nights there’s still a few dozen ‘girls’ hanging around the street corners. Most are Chinese & Thai, whilst many of the genuine women are Indian. The staff at our hotel (where we had 3 Thai ‘ladyboys’ as guests) told us that prostitution is tolerated as long as it doesn’t get out of hand & become a nuisance. Somehow I can’t see that side of Georgetown changing for quite some time.

Exotic nightlife aside, one of the greatest reasons to come to Georgetown is to enjoy an activity that’s both legal & sublime: Eating. You’ll hear about that in part 2. Right now it’s time for us to shower & change before heading out to a family run restaurant to try Nyonya cuisine.

If you’d like to browse a selection of pictures from my various trips to Georgetown, click on this link to my website, where i’ve set up a gallery:

http://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/?q=Georgetown

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UKIP and the anti Hs2 campaign. Fantasists who are well suited

28 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Hs2, Politics, Railways, Transport, UKIP

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One of the many laughable claims from the anti Hs2 campaign is that there’s millions of people who will ditch all other political considerations & priorities to vote for any party that opposes Hs2. Antis try & pretend they have an army of supporters up & down the country who are ready to cause a political earthquake because of Hs2. Like their other claims, this one’s another load of hot air.

UKIP, being the cynical vote chasers they are have ditched their 2010 manifesto pledge to but not one but THREE high speed lines & come out in opposition to Hs2, hoping to hoover up all these votes that are supposedly waiting to be had. The problem is, they don’t exist. UKIP have been lied to by the anti campaign that doesn’t command anything like the level of support they claim & certainly doesn’t have a massive vote bank to hand to UKIP.

Evidence of this is all around us.

Firstly, let’s look at people’s main concerns. Here’s a recent Guardian poll that asked voters what issues most concern them:

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/9/23/1411459719741/MoriIssues.png …

And where’s Hs2 on that list? Nowhere. It doesn’t even rate a mention. People have other prorities. The only people who really care enough to change their vote are some of the people who are directly affected because they live on the route of Hs2. But, many of these people aren’t that die-hard either.

Another good example is the supposed anti Hs2 ‘heartlands’ of Warwickshire & the Chilterns/Bucks.

In 2013 UKIP were confidently expecting they’d gain a massive amount of new Councillors as people voted for them to show their opposition to Hs2. So, how many seats did they win in Warwickshire? Not a single one! The biggest gains were made by Labour – a party that actively supports Hs2. In other areas (such as the North-West) UKIP didn’t even bother campaigning on Hs2, preferring local issues instead.

And in Bucks & the Chilterns?

UKIP did gain seats there. But it was clear that the ‘Hs2 effect’ was confined to the areas the route will actually pass through.

Interestingly enough, the picture for UKIP in the Chilterns has got worse, not better since 2013. In December 2014 there were elections for two Councillors in the Aylesbury Vale district (another supposed anti ‘stronghold). Both were won by, the supposedly unelectable Liberal Democrats!

http://www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/news/2014/dec/liberal-democrats-win-gatehouse-southcourt-elections/

To add to UKIPs woes, both their rebadged former Tory MPs voted FOR Hs2 & one, Mark Reckless put Farage in the firing line by restating his support for Hs2 as a UKIP MP.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/11170215/Mark-Reckless-refuses-to-back-scrapping-HS2-in-first-public-split-with-Ukip-leader-Nigel-Farage.html

Farage was forced into admitting that Hs2 is not a ‘big ticket issue’ for the party.

2015 has got off to an even worse start as a Chilterns UKIP Cllr has defected to the Tories.

http://www.bucksherald.co.uk/news/more-news/updated-ukip-defector-i-m-not-right-wing-enough-for-party-1-6544468

This has exposed the fact that neither UKIP or the Tories are really that worried by the anti Hs2 campaign. It’s been clear for some time that anti’s have been writing political cheques they can’t cash by promising levels of support they don’t have. It seems that fact has finally dawned on UKIP too. The antis also seem to have quietly dropped their ineffective ‘no votes for you with Hs2’ as it scared no-one & didn’t persuade a single MP to change sides.

The forthcoming general election has the potential to be a disaster for the anti Hs2 campaign who’ve firmly nailed their flag to the UKIP mast. The party’s been battered in the media & the polls as their extremist tendencies, fruitloop membership & infighting has attracted negative attention, the idea that it will be in any position to deliver on its promise to ‘StopHs2’ looks more & more ridiculous as time goes on.