Charter Plane down- breaking news

Now that's just complete and utter tosh.

*They* didn't make the decision to abandon it, the transport minister
made a decision to take it back into public ownership through what
looked like *very* sharp practise.

The Labour Gov. when the re-privatise? Probably.

 

spouted the following in

Heh. We'll see. Fucked if I want to pay for it a third time though.

 

Damn right.

What an accountant can do, however, from FD downwards, is get the
figures wrong, or summarise them wrong, or present them badly. Any
poor decisions resulting therefrom can fairly be laid at the door of
the beancounters. Unfortunately, this happens all too often - there
are some really thick accountants out there.

 

Perhaps they'd like to look in the books they issue drivers. The
Sectional Appendix is jolly useful in this respect.

The problem, I suspect, is not so much current railway tunnels that NR
are responsible for, but long closed sections that NR are still
responsible for.

At Aber there was a P/Way inspector who, amongst other things, was
responsible for a huge number of bridges in mid Wales. His beat only
covered one bridge that actually carried trains. All the others were
long since disused, but still standing, and required inspection and
maintenance.

 

As an ex-engineer and currently Corporate Finance Manager - **** off!

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Colin Irvine

Lion taming next week, is it?

 

Some years ago BR lost a number of wagons. They knew they still had them
but weren't sure where they were, as they hadn't been entered into the
computerised tracking system [1].

They asked the spotters [2] to keep an eye out for them.

[1] TOPS, which dated from the '70s
[2] There are spotters who specialise in wagons (they're not called
trucks)

 

As an accountant I'd have to agree. As an engineer I wouldn't - I'd
want an adequate level of redundancy.

 

Oh, I don't mind paying for it a second... if it's priced such that I
make a few quid again.

IMO it's wrong to have privatised so many essential services. Water,
Electricity, Gas definitely not. Air Traffic Control, Post Office,
Railways most probably not. British Telecom- I didn't have a problem
with that one.

It was wrong that the majority of these flotations were priced at such a
level that one could fairly reliably 'stag' them and make a profit. I
don't believe it was done to allow the Government's friends to make a
few quid; I think it was done through some belief that a shareholding
democracy along the lines of the states would buttress the Tories
position in power.

However, as I owned parts of these companies when they were state owned,
and in the case of Railtrack am likely to pay to get it put right I
don't see anything bad in my taking *my* share of the 'underpricing
profit' since if I don't someone else will; and if it's not bought by
the general public then the city will pick it all up... and invest it in
our pension funds...

 

So do I...

Summary:

http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/1998/AAR9801.htm

Report (large 1.6Mb):

http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/1998/AAR9801.pdf

The last one may give the bandwidth deprived (like me) an opportunity to
go make a cup of tea.

NTSB reports are always pleasant reading for frequent flyers on US
domestic airlines.

 

This isn't limited to accountants, I've seen several managers who do
this as well.

 

Be fair the same can be said of any business function although I suppose
managing the business funding badly probably has the scope to have a
much more serious impact in the short term...

 

They're different systems. ATP will not allow trains to pass signals at
danger [1], TPWS will but mitigates the results of that SPAD.

Which is to say that TPWS doesn't stop the train prior to the signal
being passed but applies the brakes after the signal has been passed or
in the event of an overspeed approach to the signal at danger. But not
the warning signals preceding it (the important ones).

It would have prevented Ladbroke Grove due to low speed (of the Thames
unit) allowing it to be effective within the signal section overlap. But
wouldn't have prevented Colwich, Watford or Southall because the speeds
would have exceeded the overlap. (Clapham and Hatfield the signals and
track were borked).

The speeds may have been reduced, although the overspeed grids are
usually within sight of the signal and the driver would have had the
handle round the moment he'd realised the signal was still on (at danger).


[1] There are special override methods for both systems so trains can
pass signals at danger in certain circumstances.

 

Ha! Couldn't hack it as an Engineer then? ;-)

 

But these aren't geographically referenced are they?

IIRC I saw one of these and it only showed changes in the line.

I needed something I could load into a 'computer system' so I could
carry out radio propagation predictions.

No, the problem was that Railtrack couldn't provide me with the
information in a geo-referenced format and had to spend 100k with
Ordinance Survey to do so. This information was for current lines only.

When asked if they had proper maps they hummed and hahed and said "some
of them are still on vellum". I found this *very* hard to believe *but*
given that they managed to find money to spend (the 100k) then I presume
it to be true. This was a big project which (if it had come off) would
have required very large scale investment- it was to replace the
existing cab radio schemes.

 

Harsh.

Anyway, it's strange isn't it because I was always lead to believe that
accountancy was for Engineers who couldn't handle the Maths.

 

You decide ....

May 2002 Potters Bar 7 dead, 70 injured
Feb 2001 Selby 10 dead, 70 injured
Oct 2000 Hatfield 4 dead, 34 injured
Oct 1999 Ladbroke Grove 31 dead, 244 injured
Jun 1999 Winsford 30 injured
Jan 1999 London Bridge 7 injured
Sep 1997 Southall 7 dead, 150 injured
Aug 1996 Watford 1 dead, 73 injured
Mar 1996 Stafford 1 dead, 24 injured
Jan 1995 Aisgill 1 dead, 30 injured
Oct 1994 Cowden 5 dead, 12 injured
Dec 1991 Severn Tunnel 102 injured
Jan 1991 Cannon St 2 dead, 240 injured
Mar 1990 Glasgow 4 dead, 22 injured
Aug 1990 Stafford 1 dead, 35 injured
Nov 1989 Newcastle 15 injured
Mar 1989 Glasgow 2 dead
Mar 1989 Purley 5 dead, 90 injured
Dec 1988 Clapham 35 dead
Nov 1988 St Helens 1 dead, 18 injured
Oct 1988 Forest Gate 14 injured
Oct 1988 River Towy 4 dead
Sep 1986 Colwich 1 dead, 60 injured
Jul 1986 Lockington 9 dead 11 injured
Oct 1984 Wembley 3 dead 60 injured
Jul 1984 Polmont 13 dead, 44 injured
Oct 1979 Invergowrie 5 dead, 52 injured
Feb 1975 Moregate 43 dead, 74 injured
Jul 1975 Nuneaton 6 dead, 67 inured
Dec 1973 Ealing 10 dead, 94 injured
May 1969 Morpeth 6 dead, 121 injured
Nov 1967 Hither Green 49 dead, 78 injured
Dec 1957 Lewisham 90 dead, 173 injured
Oct 1952 Harrow 112 dead, 340 injured
May 1915 Gretna Green 227 dead

Casualties are fewer in recent years mainly because of better rolling
stock and triage and care arrangements.

 

Ah, this doesn't surprise me.

And we still have the cheap and cheerful NRN. CSR on the DOO lines is an
improvement, but only just.

 

Listen - I met Mick at the first Hulland Ward do, although he probably
won't remember, and he's a real fluffy bunny. Every time he has a go
at accountants or the NHS I have a go at him - and he always admits
he's wrong. Actually, I'm not sure about that last bit.

 

Your sharp practice is my politics.

That aside, Byers was one of the most capable Transport Ministers we've
had in a very long time.