BLOGS
A selection of our recent blogs posted at
www.railtechnologymagazine.com
June 21 Learn and let
With so many franchises nearing their end and due to be re-let, there is much to be considered in how
the future of rail services will play out for the next few years.
It will be a time of substantial change, but the benefits that companies will commit to providing could see significant improvements to the passenger experience.
Operators will also need to consider how they can deliver services whilst making efficiency savings, as demanded by the McNulty Value for Money review and the DfT Command Paper, which specifically makes operators and not just Network Rail
responsible for cutting the costs of running the UK railways.
This could be difficult: the operators are private companies and the DfT has little direct control over how they choose to spend their money, apart from through the franchise specification process and general regulation. Are the incentives there?
June 6 Education, education, education
Another day, another piece of research showing how little the great travelling public know about ticketing and fares.
Blame has to be shared, you’d think: the operators have to make things clearer, where possible, but let’s be honest too – sometimes people just don’t listen or care. Few people who have been on long- distance train journeys in the last couple of years can have failed to hear the constant announcements about Advance tickets only being valid on that service, for example.
The tickets also try to make it clear, though obviously even more clarity is needed, considering 70% of on- train interviewees spoken to by the ORR had no idea about that key restriction. We’ve all heard the unfortunate conversations between confused and upset passengers at on-board ticket inspections, when it’s clear they genuinely didn’t know they couldn’t catch the next train if they missed the one specified on their ticket.
ATOC has a long list of remedies it’s implemented or soon will do. These will not be enough, but then nothing ever would, to teach everyone what they need to know about tickets. But something has to be done.
One rogue thought jumps to mind, however: did the ORR really need to spend money doing this research, when Passenger Focus, and independent consumer bodies like Which?, often do very similar things, with similar findings? It sounds a bit like the kind of inefficient duplication of effort that they’d normally decry…
May 25 Keep on trucking
The American preference for road over rail is well-established, but the latest idea to install OLE on a California highway for use by pantograph-equipped freight lorries is actually a German innovation (see image).
The plans – aimed at cutting carbon and fuel use by 30%, and known as the ‘eHighway’ – were developed by Siemens and have been tested in Germany. The pilot project, however, on Interstate 710 which links LA to Long Beach, would be the first live implementation.
The trucks would be bi-mode, able to switch back to diesel when they leave electrified parts of the road network (sounds familiar…)
If successful and rolled out further, could the idea pose competitive problems for rail freight, whose revenue share has been on the decline in the US? Initial installation costs are high, but long-term maintenance much less so.
Image: Siemens AG
See our daily blogs at
www.railtechnologymagazine.com where you can also sign up to thedailyrailnews, the free weekly RTM newsletter, featuring rail industry news, interviews and comment.
10 | rail technology magazine Jun/Jul 12
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92