First Capital Connect - The Empire Strikes Back !

On Tuesday I posted a blog - First Capital Connect - Another Fine Mess. Someone who posts under the name of "The Insider" posted a couple of comments, the gist of which is that I'm a thick useless twat, who doesn't know what I'm talking about when I write blogs about FCC. Now I think that these comments are rather interesting, so I thought I'd examine them in Greater Detail. Then, my dear Reader, you can decide who is right Rog T or "The Insider". Let's start with the exchange of comments :-

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theinsider said...

you really know nothing about the railway do you? wasting you life writting crap!!!

9 February 2010 14:05

Rog T said...

Dear "The Insider", I know nothing about the railway? Well I've used it since 1981 on a regular basis so I know what it's like to be a passenger on this godawful service. I know it's got MUCH WORSE under FCC. If you know so much, tell me exactly what I've got wrong and why I know so little. I'm sure that we'd all be happy to benefit from your wealth of knowledge. It would be great if you explained who you are and what your wealth of experience is.

9 February 2010 15:22

theinsider said...

Ok, the 377’s were ordered in April 2007 BUT Neal joined FCC May 2009 so he did not order these units. His role was New trains director for the new fleet that will replace the 319’s. The 377’s are part of the Electrostar family with southern and C2C operating them as well. One thing that has been consistent with these units as with any new train, because they’re so complex there has always been reliability problems to begin with but once ironed out the miles between failures increase. One difficulty on the Thameslink side is the trains have to change the supply from overhead to the third rail system and vice versa This is a multipart circuit and is prone to failures where as the southern route only runs on a single power supply. The position of the driver’s seat would never have been an issue if the cctv the train manufacturer supplied had been reliable. All new trains since privatization are supplied on a build and maintain contract meaning it’s not fcc or southern that maintain the 377’s its Bombardier. The TOCs only over see the maintenance and ensure it’s carried out on time. The late delivery of these units is because a number of part suppliers for Bombardier going into admin. I must stress that I am not a manager/teamleader of any kind of pr person for FCC. Everyone is entitled to have an opinion and so they should when they are not receiving a service that they desire. I think you should do some research before writing these articles.

10 February 2010 16:11

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 So having seen the comments, and heard what "The Insider" has to say, here's my response (in "big red letters".

Ok, the 377’s were ordered in April 2007 BUT Neal joined FCC May 2009 so he did not order these units. His role was New trains director for the new fleet that will replace the 319’s.

The press release concerning Mr Neal Lawson said this "Neal joined First Capital Connect in May 2009 and has been working as Engineering and New Trains Director, responsible for the delivery of the next generation of rolling stock for the £5.5 billion Thameslink Programme." Now as I read this, he's been in charge of the new fleet since may 2009. This means that he's responsible for the commissioning and testing of the new trains, since then, which has been a calamity. There is a press release dated 22.1.2010 on the FCC website which says "Last New Trains in Fleet Enter Service". If Mr Lawson had no involvement with the 377 at all as head of engineering and new trains director, then that is quite staggering. Then again it wouldn't surprise me if FCC's Engineering and New Trains Director didn't get involved with overseeing the engineering and new trains.

The 377’s are part of the Electrostar family with southern and C2C operating them as well. One thing that has been consistent with these units as with any new train, because they’re so complex there has always been reliability problems to begin with but once ironed out the miles between failures increase. 

Again this takes us to the question of what level of testing during commissioning did Mr Lawson insist on when he was director of "Engineering and New Trains"? Were the new trains accepted with known problems? Surely these should have been corrected prior to delivery.

 

One difficulty on the Thameslink side is the trains have to change the supply from overhead to the third rail system and vice versa This is a multipart circuit and is prone to failures where as the southern route only runs on a single power supply.

I am rather surprised by this comment. Firstly Thameslink has been dual voltage since the mid 1980's, it's not new technology. Secondly the 377's are already in use on dual voltage services on Southern Railway - see picture of train at Watford Junction. There is a train 186 in the Southern Railways Timetable which runs from Watford Junction to Brighton. Thirdly, Dual voltage running is well established in the UK. Eurostar did it for years and I've no recollection of these scale of problems FCC have had. It should also be noted that one of the most common problems is the failure of the CCTV on the Door opening system, which results in the train being unable to stop at many stations where a train despatcher is not present. This is nothing to do with dual voltage operation as presumably the trains have a reliable system of voltage regulation for onboard systems. If they didn't the whole caboodle would get fried when they switch from 750v to 25kv.

The position of the driver’s seat would never have been an issue if the cctv the train manufacturer supplied had been reliable.

This is the most ridiculous comment of the lot. Haven't FCC ever heard of the concept of a plan B. Given that a simple window would have given a preexisting backup to the CCTV cameras it is quite frankly ridiculous. Sadly their skimping on the cost of a window, has resulted in many hours of misery for passengers on this route.
 

All new trains since privatization are supplied on a build and maintain contract meaning it’s not fcc or southern that maintain the 377’s its Bombardier. The TOCs only over see the maintenance and ensure it’s carried out on time.

As ever in the crazy world of privatised railways, the old excuse. It's always someone elses fault.

The late delivery of these units is because a number of part suppliers for Bombardier going into admin.
I must stress that I am not a manager/teamleader of any kind of pr person for FCC. Everyone is entitled to have an opinion and so they should when they are not receiving a service that they desire. I think you should do some research before writing these articles.

And finally the most/least revealing comment of the lot. "The Insider" is not a  "manager/teamleader of any kind of pr person for FCC". Which begs the question who is "The Insider". As they've put nothing in the profile, I can't say for sure, but I've had a couple of emailed suggestions. I'm all for people from FCC (or anywhere else) adding comments. I don't mind people correcting mistakes in these blogs. What does slightly alarm me is that this stinks of a bit of creative PR. If the Insider wants to do a guest post telling us all why FCC are marvellous, I'll post it up unedited and without comments from me, just so long as they say who they really are. Can't say fairer than that. As to who is right, Me or the Insider? Decide for yourself.