On This Day: 5 October 1999

At least eight people are confirmed dead and 160 injured after two trains collided near Paddington Station in west London at the height of the morning rush hour.

Thirty-nine people are seriously injured, with three critically ill and 11 in intensive care.

There are thought to be some 200 with minor injuries.

Many more passengers could still be trapped in the wreckage, said Chief Inspector Brian Gosden of British Transport Police.

Hospitals across the capital are taking in casualties. St Mary’s Hospital has cancelled all out-patient appointments to treat most of the wounded.

The walking wounded are being treated at a local school and Sainsbury’s supermarket.

A Thames Trains 0806 BST from Paddington to Bedwyn in Wiltshire collided with the incoming 0603 BST Great Western 125 express train from Cheltenham at 0811 BST.

Carriages came off the track and one train burst into flames. A massive column of smoke could be seen across west London.

Up to 30 ambulances, 12 fire engines and 70 firefighters rushed to the scene.

Mark Rogers, a passenger on the 0806, said: “There was an almighty crash and the train rolled over and over, first onto its roof and then onto its side.

“One woman I saw thrown out of the window and she was trapped beneath the train. She was at least very severely injured.

“It is absolute pandemonium. ”

Mr Rogers said the carriage behind the driver had been “ripped apart like a sardine can” and was lying over the top of the 125 Great Western train.

“It is chaos. There are doors and broken glass lying everywhere.”

Prime Minister Tony Blair said: “I am absolutely appalled by what is a truly dreadful tragedy.”

Transport Secretary John Prescott has promised a public inquiry into the crash and praised the “swift efforts of all the emergency services”.

Conservative Transport spokesman John Redwood said: “We need a proper inquiry and we need some answers for the future.”

The trains collided on the same stretch of line as the Southall rail crash in 1997, in which seven people died and 150 were injured.

Health and Safety Executive inspectors are at the scene.

 

What’s Happened Since The Crash Occurred

Investigations revealed how 31 people died and dozens were injured because of a head-on collision when one of the trains passed a red signal.

Public inquiries were headed by Scottish judge Lord Cullen. He made dozens of safety recommendations and concluded Railtrack, the company then in charge of rail infrastructure and its investment, had failed to respond to earlier warnings about signalling problems.

He also criticised the Health and Safety Executive’s Rail Inspectorate and recommended an independent Rail Industry Safety Body.

Another inquiry comparing the Ladbroke Grove disaster with the 1997 Southall crash recommended implementing sophisticated safety technology.

Thames Trains was fined a record £2m in April 2004 for breaking health and safety laws. The court was told the train driver had not been warned about problems with the signal at Ladbroke Grove and had not received adequate training.

In December 2004 the Paddington Survivors’ Group complained that many of the safety recommendations made after the crash in 1999 had still not been implemented.

A year later, in December 2005, the Crown Prosecution Service said no individuals would face criminal charges over the crash as there was “insufficient evidence” to provide a realistic prospect of conviction”.

In October 2006, Network Rail admitted health and safety breaches concerning the siting of the signal. It received a record fine of £4 million for its part in the crash on 30 March 2007.

“Excuses please”; £200m cost of fare dodging on the railways, figures reveal

Fare dodgers are depriving the rail network and other passengers of an estimated £200m a year, according to figures published by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) which represents Britain’s train operators.

Fare dodgers who choose to travel without buying a ticket are estimated to be making more than 110,000 train journeys each and every day on the rail network.

The figures come as train companies publish a list of some of the more memorable excuses used by passengers caught travelling without a ticket.

Examples of excuses given by fare dodgers for not buying a ticket include:-

“I’m related to The Queen so I don’t need a ticket.”

“I’m in the Zimbabwean SAS, on covert ops.”

“Don’t you know who I am?”

“What’s a ticket?”

“Do I need a ticket? I thought the railway was free.”

“If the ticket man doesn’t see me then I don’t need one.”

“I’m a freeman of the land, I don’t recognise the law and the law does not apply to me.”

An adult travelling with a child ticket said “I thought I was a child until I was 21.”

A passenger claimed he did not buy a ticket because “I didn’t think you would accept my fare.”

“I thought by hiding in the luggage rack you wouldn’t see me.”
The hundreds of millions of pounds lost every year due to fare dodging is money train operators could otherwise invest in improving services for passengers.

It is estimated that the £200m currently lost every year due to fare dodging would be enough to:

– Lease over 1,300 extra commuter carriages, or;
– Lease around 800 extra inter-city carriages for longer distance journeys, or;
– Pay for the upkeep of around 380 stations for the next five years.

Train companies have a number of safeguards in place aimed at ensuring that customers unable to buy a ticket are not given a penalty fare. Staff are regularly updated about ticket machines which may not be working and other circumstances which may prevent people from buying tickets. Passengers should check with their train operator what its policies are on ticketing and fare evasion.

David Mapp, Commercial Director for the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC), said:
“It’s frustrating for the vast majority of honest passengers who do pay for their ticket when fare dodgers’ selfish actions suck millions of pounds out of the railways each year. That’s money both train companies and passengers alike would rather see going back into further improving services.

“Train companies deal with fare dodgers in a fair but firm manner. Where there is a genuine reason for someone travelling without a ticket, train companies will always use their discretion. Strong deterrents are in place to ensure that the vast majority of passengers don’t end up paying for the few who think they can get away without buying a ticket.

“As these excuses show, there are always some people who choose to spend time thinking up an excuse rather than buying a ticket.”

Concerns over train tables raised after Suffolk crash

Concerns about the safety of tables on board some types of trains used by National Express East Anglia and other train companies have been raised in an accident report into a crash.

In August 2010, two carriages were derailed and 21 people injured when a sewage tanker collided with a National Express train, near Sudbury in Suffolk.

A report says most of the injuries were due to tables working loose on impact.

National Express East Anglia said it would co-operate with any reviews.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) investigation could have implications for hundreds of carriages across the rail network.

National Express East Anglia, which leases the carriages from Porterbrook Leasing, said it used the 156 rolling stock on rural services.

The RAIB report includes pictures which show how the legs of the tables bent, thrusting the tables towards passengers.

The carriages used – on a class 156 train – date back to the 1980s, when safety standards for train tables were less stringent.

There is no suggestion that the train involved breached any safety laws.

But the RAIB report urges: “Owners and operators of Class 156 units to co-operate on producing a review of the crashworthiness performance of the tables and determine whether the table design should be changed.”

National Express East Anglia – the operator of the train which crashed – said it leased the carriages from another company.

A spokesman said: “We will fully assist the train leasing company which owns the vehicles in their review of the report’s recommendation.”

In November 2010 the driver of the sewage tanker which collided with the train – Arvydas Bartasius, 38, of Littleport, Cambridgeshire – was jailed for 15 months after admitting endangering safety on the railway.

8800 extra spaces for busy trains on key routes

Source: Department for Transport

Space for up to an extra 8,800 rail passengers is being created on key commuter services in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield and Newcastle, Rail Minister Theresa Villiers announced today.

Under a deal funded by the Government, passengers on Northern Rail are to benefit from an extra 22 train carriages. Separate agreements also deliver an extra 6 carriages to First Great Western and an additional 4 carriages to London Midland.

Theresa Villiers said:

“I am delighted we have been able to finalise these important deals which will make a real difference to passengers. Even at a time when we are tackling the huge deficit we inherited, we are determined to invest in Britain’s future. That is why we’re committed to a major investment programme in our railways to deliver a big increase in capacity to ease crowding and provide commuters with more comfortable journeys.”

“Today’s good news has been made possible by our plans to introduce 2,700 new rail carriages on to the network by May 2019.

“We are also committed to the completion of the vital Crossrail and Thameslink projects in London and we are investing £900m in rail electrification. In the longer term our plans for a high speed rail network will free up a huge amount of space on our current network for more commuter trains – with some towns potentially seeing a near doubling of services.”

“As well as improving life for passengers, these rail improvements will play an important role in strengthening economic growth.”

The extra carriages, which will be in service from December 2011, are becoming available as a result of the planned deployment of 69 new train carriages which are being delivered to London Midland for use in the Birmingham area. This then allows for the carriages currently being used by London Midland to serve passengers using Northern Rail and First Great Western services. Consequently some First Great Western trains are to be released to serve Northern Rail passengers.

Bombardier ‘had little chance’ on Thameslink because of contract terms

From: Daily Telegraph

Bombardier had virtually no chance of winning the controversial £1.5bn contract for Thameslink trains because of its relatively higher financing costs, senior Government sources have disclosed.

The Canadian train maker, which on Tuesday axed 1,400 jobs at its Derby plant, was at a competitive disadvantage worth hundreds of millions of pounds because of the way the previous Labour government structured the contract.

The tender called for bidders to build, maintain and, crucially, finance 1,200 new carriages over 30 years for the London commuter service.

Bombardier Class 377 EMU in service with Southern

The financing element gave Siemens of Germany a big advantage over the three other bidders because of its higher credit rating – one vastly superior to Bombardier’s, which is below investment grade.

Siemens’ debt is rated A+ by credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s – six notches above Bombardier’s BB+. The other two bidders, Alstom and Hitachi, are respectively rated BBB and BBB+.

Investment bankers familiar with deals similar to Thameslink trains said that each notch of difference equated to at least 0.25 of a percentage point on any debt-funded deal.

That would leave Bombardier having to pay extra interest of at least 1.5pc a year to finance the deal. Over a 30-year contract that could amount to £700m.

“The way the contract was structured, it wasn’t just about building the trains but financing them,” said the source. “On that basis it was very hard to compete with Siemens.”

A summary of the tender, dated April 2008, states: “The Department [for Transport] intends that the chosen bidder will be required to arrange the finance necessary for the acquisition and ownership of the rolling stock.”

That effectively turned the winning bidder into a rolling stock leasing company, where cost of finance is crucial.

Bombardier, which remains reserve bidder on the Thameslink contract, is yet to be told by the Government why it lost the bid. A company spokesman declined to comment.

So it seems that once again Labour have screwed up and the Conservatives are taking the blame.  There is no denial that the Labour Government set up the contracting process and it has been left for the Conservatives to deal with the mess.  How many more deals will go up in smoke due to this incompetence?  Only time will tell.

All is not lost for Bombardier despite Thameslink setback

I found this statement from Heather Wheeler, the Conservative MP for South Derbyshire and thought it raised some valid points.

LIKE you, I was shocked and disappointed to hear that Bombardier had lost out to Siemens in its bid to build the new trains for Thameslink, and will be asking questions of ministers and in the House as to why this has happened, writes MP Heather Wheeler.

It is important not to lose sight of the fact that the Government intends to retain Bombardier Transportation UK Ltd with VeloCity as the reserve bidder in the event that contracts cannot be satisfactorily finalised with Siemens.

I am asking particularly if part of the tender can be subcontracted to any of the businesses which form the Derbyshire Rail Forum, including Bombardier.

Other members may be able to tender for work from Siemens and we hope they will be successful. ESG, which is already expanding its facilities in Bretby, is one of these, so hopefully some of this contract will come back here.

It is not all gloom and doom, as Bombardier has a number of active orders at its Derby plant, the largest of which is 1,300 carriages for the Sub-Surface lines, due for completion by 2014.

The company has employed a number of contract workers on short-term contracts to cope with this peak activity.

Bombardier is also one of the bidders who have pre-qualified for the Crossrail rolling stock order (around 600 carriages), with the contract award expected in late 2013, and is a potential bidders for the new LUL tube trains, which could total up to 3,400 carriages.

There has been a lot of anger and disbelief in both the railway and National press regarding the fact that the Thameslink rolling stock contract has gone to German company Siemens.  The fact of the matter is that, with the findings of the McNulty review, rolling stock procurement as well as other facets of railway life now have to offer value for money to the British taxpayer. 

As unfortunate as the loss of this contract is, the future for Bombardier could still be secured if they can gain the contract for either the Crossrail rolling stock or to continue producing tube stock for London Underground.  Work on the “S Stock” Underground trains for the Metropolitan, Circle, District & Hammersmith & City Lines should see work continue until 2014 which should give enough time to gain more work.