Calling time on the Leyland Pacer

Ever sat somewhere that’s uncomfortable? Maybe at work, or a long haul flight? Maybe on an appalling Northern Rail Class 142 “Pacer”?

Built by an appallingly low-tech combination of placing a British Leyand designed bus derived body onto a British Rail freight chassis, these trains can have all the ride quality of the Wild Mouse at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

The picture posted is of one such until operated by Northern Rail, who must not give any consideration of passenger comfort (via ride quality or temperature control) or safety by the historic and original BR seat design. Sadly Northern have no plans afoot to replace then and their franchise has been extended until 2016.

Northern is 50% owned by the Dutch state railway and it raises the question whether the rail reliant Dutch commuter would tolerate such poor levels of comfort.

However there is some good news on the horizon as under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, all trains will need to be accessible by 1 January 2020. Pacers are unable to meet this requirement so will have to be withdrawn by the end of 2019.

Sadly, unless some thought is given to phasing these fiends out sooner, we could have another 7 years of being shaken, rattled and rolled on Pacers.

Rail can unlock Euston real estate

I’ve been fascinated for a while about what’s above the “submarine pens” at Euston Station. A few weeks ago I took this photo from the 1st class lounge and it’s surprising how much potential gross external area the roof and old parcels depot above the station could have.

Now HS2 will take up much of this, but just think of the rare opportunity to develop such a large area in London, albeit above the platforms at Euston.

Free webinar on Environmental Spill Response and Emergency Planning

Emergency prepareness and response, including testing this, is a requirement of the ISO 14001 environmental management standard, plus makes good business sence.

This webinar discusses some easy to use techniques on how to do this

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJwFZrVzmtA&feature=share&list=UUh3ArqAPK2wFFn_na9bjIaA

#Environmental & #Waste Management Explained- Half Day course in Burnley- Fri 26th October

QHS Solutions Ltd are hosting a half day Environmental & Waste Management Explained course in Burnley on Friday 26th October.

 

Delivered by Chartered Environmental Surveyor and Chartered Environmentalist David Inman, of Blackburn based environmental consultants DIEM Ltd, this course will give sensible and practical expert advice on reducing environmental and waste management risks and potential costs, plus demystify some common environmental challenges that businesses face today.

 

For more details and to book please contact Alison at QHS Solutions on:

01282 839103

Email, info@qhs-solutions.com

 

The Virgin Trains revolution got it right

I’ve got to say that I’m very disappointed that Virgin Trains lost the West Coast Main Line (WCML) franchise as a regular user.

When they took over the franchise, they inherited out of date rolling stock running on out of date infrastructure.

As someone who worked on West Coast Route Modernisation (WCRM) on PWay, OLE & civils projects, I saw at first hand the engineering challenge of carrying our “open heart surgery” as Network Rail say of such work on Victorian infrastructure.

I worked on WCRM under the days of Railtrack and sadly the Pendolino’s so admirably sought by Virgin Trains to replace the Class 86, 87 and 90 electric traction on WCML never has had the opportunity to run at it’s design speed on 140mph due to problems within Railtrack.

OK, the “Voyager” class 220 and 221 do not come up to the HST sets they replaced, but Virgin revolutionised service levels from one which was pretty poor to being customer focused.

They also changed the way people think about ticketing. Yes, some of the walk on fares are very expensive, but they are for airlines too. For planned journeys off peak, even first class travel is very affordable.

My main worry with the next WCML franchise holder, First, is that the great customer service levels will be cut.  I enjoy the first class lounge at London Euston and have spent many a productive hour working from there waiting for trains and then having complimentary food onboard makes business trips to London, if planned in advance, affordable and efficient.

So, on reflection, the red revolution of Virgin changed attitudes of service and punctuality from some awful standards and via a painful experience of providing services through WCRM and the Railtrack blanket speed restrictions post-Hatfield. I hope First West Coast can meet these standards and hope all Virgin staff who have delivered this service retain their jobs with the new franchise holder.

RICS Lancashire Local Association/RICS Rural & Commercial Local Networks & Green Drinks Lancashire joint networking event.

gdl_aug_12.pdf Download this file

Testing your emergency environmental planning arrangements

Is your organisation is responsible for storing and transporting materials that could cause pollution if they leak or are spilt, such as

•       diesel

•       oil

•       chemicals?

 

If so have you prepared an environmental incident response plan?

 

I’ve been working a construction client in this area to reduce their risk and meet the requirements of ISO 14001:2004.

 

You may want to carry out and emergency response planning exercise which can cover:

• identifying sources of pollution
• causes of spillages
• internal procedures for spill management
• responsibilities on site for spill control
• equipment for spill control
• managing spills
• the subsequent clean up.

 

Testing the plan can take the form of:

• deploying spill equipment to show staff what to do under controlled conditions
• do a desk top exercise where a spill scenario on a site is discussed by staff, with in a group or one to one 

 

Items included in your exercise will be site specific but can include typically:

• Identify the location and type of site drains from both drawings & on site information
• Review your site drainage plan
• Review then brief staff to chemicals and substances on site including COSHH requirements
• Use of diesel plant and plant nappy/drip dray use
• Security risk of keeping fuel on site and how to prevent theft
• Review and brief staff on refuelling & chemical use, plus confirm authorisation to do so
• After checking contents, brief staff to location and type of spill kit on site
• Review and brief staff on arrangements for safe and compliance disposal of used spill kits as hazardous waste

 

 

Don’t forget to create a record of what was discussed and who attended. 

 

For work with my client, I’ve videoed one spill response test session in order to make a training video for them. So, there are lots of ways, but please ensure that you know your environmental risks, minimise them and prepare for the unexpected as spills and leaks can

• cause environmental damage which can result in prosecution
• lead to civil claims
• give loss of reputation
• affect you winning work