It doesn't matter where you are in the world...

 ...the gripes are all the same..

http://transportrail.canalblog.com/

Mrs Choi

Mrs Choi.

No one knew where she was born or her exact age*. She would never say. What was known was that there was a huge network of family scattered across the HK/Kowloon area into China or so it seemed. On her visits home she seemed to stuff her suitcase full of sweets, tshirts and the best genuine fakes this side of Tin Pan Alley, to be followed in short notice on her return by huge box of foodstuffs crammed full of noodles, snacks and savouries more commonly found on dusty shelves of South Asian supermarkets next to the waving ceramic cats.

She had a hard life. Of relationships which were not always straight forward and worked in that clichéd manner in a fast food emporium- long hours. She was as I can personally attest to; some cook. She was also cynical about men, and was somewhat surprised after one Christmas day lunch to be told to sit down and read the paper and watch TVB whilst I and my now ex brother in law did the washing up and cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom. Men never did that in her experience.

She was canny. Claimed that she had very poor English but there was always a glint in her eye that told you she understood perfectly well. She had 3 daughters who work in social care and education; the story of an immigrant family whose offspring strove to do better - and one which we seem to deny in this country. She doted on her grandchildren who came late on in her life.

She passed away this evening. A victim of Covid's icy grip. I know not what conditions were placed on her daughters in those final hours on them seeing her, but they played her the voices of her grandchildren which I hoped brought her peace.

I never married her daughter to her disappointment. And time proved that was the right decision... but I always regarded her as the Mum in law. And she was always Mrs Choi.

Not much of an obit but there it is.

* It transpires she was 84. 

ELMS

 This could be complex but bear with me. Following the UK withdrawal from the EU the UK government is currently scrabbling to cobble together a system of farm support - it doesn't favour paying landowners to own land, but inspired by Rewild my fire we have a proposed system called ELMS. (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-land-management-schemes-overview). 

Well how does this affect the railway I hear you ask. Well, one of the rationales behind ELMS is to mitigate climate change - changes in land management practices it is theorised can lock carbon in the soil, as well as providing for a healthy environment in terms of flora, fauna, animals and ultimately healthier meat (see for example https://www.pastureforlife.org/) - and land management practices by a neighbour have an affect on how you manage your estate. 

Network Rail are doing an awful lot of work researching, modelling and quantifying the effects of a changing climate on what is essentially 150 year old earthworks in many cases see https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/environment/climate-change-and-weather-resilience/climate-change-adaptation/ and the accident report by the ORR https://www.orr.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2020-09/annual-health-and-safety-report-2019-20.pdf reinforces this requirement. 

So here is an idea. Why not use ELMS as a tool to pay landowners and managers to mitigate the downstream effects of farming practices. This may cause ructions in places - especially in regard to correlation and causation and liability are two grey areas which may need further research and exploration - but if upstream run off is increasing erosion, coupled with the propensity for more extreme weather events and that creates the conditions for say, increased bridge scouring or embankment erosion then one way to stop that is to pay. Who directly benefits will be an issue - is it the cumulative effect of land managment practices by several farms which is creating the problem for the NR estate? And of course what happens if an accident happens and contributory blame is allocated to those land management practices? 

Questions, questions. 

Great British Railways

The new White Paper (aka the heavily delayed Williams Report) has arrived. I will blog my thoughts on it as time passes - suffice to say it is woolly and I await the legislation with interest...

There is a Plan

 In New Zealand that is: 

https://www.transport.govt.nz//assets/Uploads/Report/The-New-Zealand-Rail-Plan.pdf

one out. all out. And the reasons?

There has been a huge increase in the number of line blockages since red zone working was banned on the network. And consequential to that the rumoured job cuts which are to come to reduce the number and size of S&T/ Pway teams, plus a railway desperate to save cash (reduction on overtime/ sunday working) has seen the number of contractors on the railway noticeably increase - and these contractors are undertaking work (point heater maintenance) which NR staff undertook. 

Whilst prima facie there is no underlying reason why casual staff cannot undertake work - it is alarming that in an industry which is reliant on communication the quality of spoken English is difficult to follow on occasions - it is even more alarming that the basic tenets of the rule book https://www.rssb.co.uk/en/standards/understanding-and-applying-standards/national-operations-publications - are now becoming grey areas. For example is it really a good idea to give up a line blockage with handsignaller protection without cancelling the authority number first? 

The pressure to run a railway around line blockages in the current COVID degraded environment is getting oppressive - and where the emphasis on protection has basically shifted from those on the ground (especially the hierarchy) to those in the 'box. At some stage when dealing with or even in one case 30th line block request in a shift (remember that each separate line block can be granted up to 6 times per the 3180) a mistake is going to be made. You get tired, you get fatigued and the process can become rote. Yes, there maybe a local instruction that only 2 line blocks on one panel can be granted - however when the Pway can't gain access and start signing infrastructure out of use because of a) no access as that has been refused due to b) the ban on red zone working then the spotlight falls on the poor bloody infantry. Again. 

regulating breakfast.

I am sure there are in depth studies on the effect of diet on shift workers and why they are statistically likelier to keel over earlier. But just look at this and admire. I mean what is there not to like?