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Once upon a time, we used to regard the August Modern Railways as the ‘holiday issue'. The summer was the silly season for all the media, nothing much was happening on the railways either. Time for a bit of nostalgia or a look at an overseas railway.
Now railways are a 52/12 operation. Major news stories break week after week, 12 months a year. Five years into privatisation we are still in a state of constant revolution. And while the results are all grist to the editorial mill, it is not good for our industry which both craves and needs stability if it is to prosper and, more importantly, attract private investment.
So a qualified welcome to the Association of Train Operating Companies which, despite its members being at each other's throats during franchise replacement, has recognised that passengers want a seamless journey and launched ‘National Rail'. Congratulations, too, to whoever designed the innovative National Rail logo which appears to combine a symbolic track with double arrows giving a sense of speed and direction.
But this is a mere palliative in an industry with a black hole at what should be its centre. We refer, of course, to the inaptly named Shadow Strategic Rail Authority. We welcomed its creation by the Government and the appointment of Sir Alastair Morton, a man who combined experience of rail transport with fire, drive and vision, as its Chairman. And we are not alone in being sorely disappointed by its performance.
While we did not agree with what Roger Salmon and then John O'Brien, the first two Franchising Directors, were doing to the railway, we grew to admire the efficiency and purpose with which the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising privatised the railway. They knew what they had to do, knew that they had two years to do it in and amazed the sceptics by doing it with time to spare.
Contrast that certainty with the fumbling approach to re-franchising of the SSRA. It is as if Bruce Willis in Diehard has been replaced by Hugh Grant in Notting Hill. There is no conviction, no plan and no sense of urgency. Once again, nNot the situation to attract city investors.
Now, Sir Alastair's much vaunted plan for fewer stronger franchises able to make serious investment has strained mightily and given birth to a mouse. Instead of 25 franchises, there are 22 and that is after giving Mersey Rail and Wight Rail to local authorities.
At least we think it is a mouse, because the new structure is still fluid and will firm up only when the replacement franchise bidders have put forward their ideas. Assuming that anyone is still willing to risk serious money preparing ideas like Wales Rail or High Speed Lines when, instead of proving to be the expected killer bid, the better mousetrap is made free issue to your rivals.
Similarly with Mk 1 stock replacement, where the SSRA's pre-emptive acquisition of funded train feet, which we have to applaud because you read it here first, has turned into an action replay of the worst excesses of British Rail procurement 1980s style.
As we write, Rolling Stock Companies and Banks are evaluating the bids from six train builders the SSRA received. No ROSCO or finance house in its right mind would fund three of these trains for early delivery because their builders have no first hand experience of the Railtrack acceptance process. Yet hundreds of man hours have been wasted on preparing nugatory bids when the requirement is for a quick decision if replacement is to start, let alone be completed, before der Tag on the Southern.
Meanwhile passenger train performance continues to deteriorate. SSRA Chief Executive cum Franchise Director Mike Grant says that the latest disappointing results ‘demonstrate the urgency of the replacement process <ital> we are embarking upon<ital> (our italics). ‘Much needed investment from operators and Railtrack and stronger incentive regimes for operators are the key strands of the process, leading to improvements in performance over time', Grant adds.
Not so: the key strand is a coherent plan of the railway the SSRA is trying to create. How can you let Network South Central without knowing what you are going to do to develop Thameslink? HardyRail, otherwise the new Wessex franchise, has implications for SWT and Wales Rail, Thames and Great Western. The two bidders foolish enough to get involved with Central are less than happy with being asked to bid a smorgasboard of option to allow for the possible loss of services in the far East and far West as the SSRA makes it up on the run. And what, pray, is the logic of Anglia and Humber ?
In short, where is a national rail strategy?
It was not just ATOC's return to the double arrow that engendered a strong sense of deja-vu in the editorial office in July. The Government thought that sufficient time had passed for ‘We're getting there' to emerge as Labour's newly minted slogan. What next? Perhaps the SSRA will tell us that ‘This is the age – of the train'. Well it ought to be, but they're going about it a funny way.