East Lancs Railway

Fairly sure the trackbed and infrastructure could accommodate a double track if necessary

 

Latest.......

https://www.lancs.live/news/lancash...aA76b_sJBZkySHG9cq5XCVXkRTcnBRH7BeBFi1BGkeMfg

 

"Huge step forward in plans for resorted trains between Rawtenstall and Manchester"
Does this mean the train carriages will be arranged in a different order?
You've got to love the language skills of modern journalists and editors.

 

It could also be a typo that the spell-checker didn't flag; these days, if people don't see a squiggly red line, they think it's OK. ('I'm going to take a different tact' passes OK.) Yes, being fully literate and checking carefully, instead of being lazy and relying on the spell-checker, will catch those 'two' (sic).

Noel

 

I don't see how that would work, especially with regards the signal boxes. Are they planning on only running trains when volunteers are available, or will they need to be manned by paid staff? If they envisage a useful service for commuters, then the services will need to start early and finish late, requiring two shifts of signallers. You can't be relying on volunteers if you're running a proper service. So you'd probably need about 16 signallers to cover for hours, leave and sickness. Is that really an option?

 

This has been often cited as one of several reasons why a commuter service on the WSR is impractical. How would the East Lancs be any different in that respect?

 

No , it isn't a realistic option, but the whole thing is an amazing aspiration from certain people within one of the three councils who own the trackbed, but which is on a 99 year lease to the ELLR. The other two councils and the ELLR have no intention of any commuter service being allowed to interfere with the heritage operation. It's a classic politics 'pie in the sky' project, and the application form for the Restoring your Railway fund that got Rossendale Council the £50,000 is so full of political 'half-truths' that even Boris Johnson would have trouble keeping a straight face.

 

All the money will deliver is the next stage of feasibility studies. These will probably flag up the issues raised above as insurmountable and the scheme won't go any further.

 

But isn't it nice to know that our tax money is being wisely spent. . .

 

Actually I'd argue that this is spending taxpayers money wisely - for a start £50k in the great scheme of things is nothing.

Secondly, sometimes good ideas get buried because 'everybody knows' they won't work. You me and the gatepost probably know this one won't work, but without the body of evidence to say that (the scoping piece) then really it would be a dereliction to say 'we all know it won't work so that's an end of it' - it works the same the other way round too. No project should be started just because you and me think it's a good idea either. There needs to be a paper trail to show it has been thought about.

We can all probably say what the feasibility study will say right now, but there still needs to be a feasibility study - it shows the proponents the reason why their idea is a non-starter, and it doesn't preclude the wisdom of crowds being found wrong.

 

That is all perfectly reasonable, but why does it cost £50k? Even with a good salary and overheads that would pay for a few months of someone working full time on it.

 

I've said before, its all consultant fees and that theres no real appetite for for any of these plans given that they're mostly being proposed for preserved railways. Its all bungs to friends, nothing more nothing less.

 

No, at small consultancy rates (i.e. not Accenture), that's about 5 weeks work for an Associate Director, with some Director time for checking the work, and a Research Manager and say two researchers to do the spadework.

 

Is it me, but do I read it that a local councillor is pushing for a rail link to make it easier for people to travel out of that councils area for work and leisure purposes etc. Or even the reverse which will provide easier links into the borough for Manchester dwelling people who will then probably be able to purchase property in the area, thus driving up prices, and forcing the locals out of the housing market.

 

There have been two such full feasibility studies in the last 11 years commissioned by the various 'bigger picture' authorities in the area (one by Greater Manchester, one by Lancashire). Suffice it to say that the costs were eye-watering, many millions higher than the extremely simplistic figures quoted in this latest submission. There is also the little matter of a requirement for an ongoing annual subsidy that was (at best estimates) nudging towards seven figures (5 years ago). This is the third attempt by Rossendale Borough Council to seek funds from the Restoring your Railways fund, the previous two attempts having been unsuccessful for some reason.........

 

Or for that matter Swanage Railway where the railway will have to dispell the belief that some locals have that SR will offer a 7 day a week year round service between Swanage and Wareham including times that would enable commuting or even going to London for the day.

 

@gwralatea has answered on the rates themselves, but I’d also add that projects like that tend not to be full time, but intermittent because of the need to gather input, wait for responses, etc.

There’s a legitimate discussion about whether this work is best done by a consultant or on payroll, but that question has to include discussion of “who’s payroll?”. That analysis work does require some specialist knowledge and skills, not to do the spreadsheets but actually to understand what is - and isn’t - plausible as part of the business case.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Does it really need even five weeks of someone's time?

 

as per post above, that's not 5 weeks of 9-5, Monday-Friday, it's 5 weeks of elapsed time. To be honest, for a data review/collation, it's about standard. Bear in mind the thing will be basically written in three weeks (week one is reading everything, week 2 is synthesising it and additional lines of enquiry off the back off what you've read week three is writing it), week 4 is polishing/formatting/obsessively proofing, and week 5 is the work to be done when the client has read it - before final submission.

Data review and reporting, even at £50k, is not a way to make money (to the extent that many consultancies that can offer it choose not to). On a strict 'hours' basis they often end up undercosted - when you get 200 documents out of the blue, for example, so at least you could console yourself that £50k to review the East Lancs situation is doing nothing more than contributing to someone's bottom line, there's basically no profit margin.

 

This appearred on the BBC Lancashire News page.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-59219788

No mention of the ELR but how else do you get from Rawtenstall to Bury?