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Surely this shows a great weakness
Guided busway: funnier than the Simpsons?
in British rail management in that
their relations with staff are as they
oening
are?
It would seem that one aspect of
our rail industry that needs serious
attention is management – and staff
g
ies to Matt Gr
management in particular!
ith apolo
Eric Stuart
W
Isère, France
Green future
Thank you to Robert Wright for
opening up a fascinating debate on
whether rail’s green credentials are
always as good as its supporters
claim (Green smoke screen’,
November 2008 issue). It is one we
welcome the opportunity to join.
The big picture is that rail
contributes to meaningful
In the October 2009 letters page I described the bland Cambridge News now describes it as a ‘standing joke’. reductions in transport emissions.
disaster-prone Cambridgeshire Guided Busway as a local A letter writer perfectly summed up the situation by The white paper data that Robert
embarrassment. It seems this was the understatement of asking ‘Does this remind anyone else of the Simpsons cites provides a league table of
the decade. episode where a conman sells Springfield a monorail?’ 10 types of rolling stock, each
Following the recent abandonment of the third promised Jerry Alderson of which delivers a progressively
opening date (29 November 2009) owing to contractual Milton bigger carbon saving over cars and
difficulties, snagging and untrained bus drivers, even the Cambridgeshire aeroplanes.
The data also reflects broad-
brush assumptions about load
LU portrayal was clichéd less than a third of all threatened Strike threats show weak factors – these are all-important
Your correspondent’s attempt to industrial action in the last five years management when making comparisons on a per
portray London Underground’s has materialised, and of the small Much more electrification, a high- passenger kilometre basis.
industrial relations (Unrest on the number which have gone ahead all speed network, Crossrail, new trains Whereas researchers mainly used
Underground, December 2009 issue) but two have been restricted to a – the future looks bright for the the relatively conservative load
bears no resemblance to the diligence small group of stations or a depot. railways! factor of 30 per cent, busy intercity
and professionalism with which this We recognise that engagement But what do we have? Hundreds of routes often have an average of 40
company engages with its staff. with frontline staff is the way we trains cancelled because the drivers per cent and Eurostar is currently at
We have long invested time and will unlock the potential of London will not work on their ‘days off’. This 70 per cent and rising, as customer
effort into strong relations with our Underground as we deliver the sort of problem has now beset a awareness of its high quality service
staff, who embody the customer- biggest investment programme since number of Tocs. increases.
focused ethos for which the Tube is the war. Month after month, in the Were the league table to
so well-known. The tired old clichés expressed in magazine of a rail trade union, I see be based on these figures, the
Furthermore, it is nothing but a this article have no bearing on the extensions of agreements for rest comparison would be even
well-worn myth that the Tube and way we do business. day/Sunday/overtime working and more favourable towards trains.
its customers are frequent victims Howard Collins some have now been ongoing for Moreover, while some of the newer
of strikes. COO many months. And more strikes trains are indeed more powerful,
Thanks to strong management, London Underground threatened. as Robert points out, they also
12 raiL profeSSionaL : JANUARY 2010
RPJan10 pp12-13 Letters.indd 12 11/12/09 13:06:54
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