Northumberland Line opens! & Bowker dissects Rail Minister's TSC performance | Ep 64

[@keithvenables5313]

I have only recently come across green signals. I am now an avid follower . Many thanks to you all for enabling me to catch up on the current state of the network .

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks Keith. You are most welcome to the team!

[@keithgrafton3067]

What a pleasure it was to listen to Richard and his incisive review of the shenanigans going on at the Transport Selective Committee, please continue to shine a light onto the dark art of politics and railways. Seasons greetings to all at Green Signals.

[@GreenSignals]

Thank you Keith. And a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too!

[@davidahugill99]

It was interesting to see the work being done on the Yarm viaduct . An ancestor of ours Mr Thomas Grainger , in conjunction the contractor John Miller , was the engineer in charge when the viaduct was built . They are both remembered by an impressive carving on the stonework high up on one of the arches . Knaresborough viaduct , Arthington , Bramley tunnel , and other railway buildings in the Leeds area are connected with Mr Grainger , who came from the Edinburgh area . He is buried in the area , and his portrait hangs in Heriott Watt university . The maternal side of are Graingers and came to live in the Burnley area , and John Mair Grainger ran the Inn at Whitewell in the 1860s. You are doing a great job with Green Signals chaps ………..Have a great Chistmas and New Year . Cheers , Dave Hugill Carnforth

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks David. What super detailed history. Really appreciate that (and of course your kind words about the channel!). Cheers!

[@Andrewjg_89]

I’m happy that the Northumberland Line is now reopened. It’s been a long time coming.

[@GreenSignals]

Indeed so.

[@bennelson4772]

Well done to you all for still getting the episode out despite the challenges, it’s much appreciated and shows your absolute commitment to the cause! Get well soon Stef!

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks! And Stef is feeling much better as well.

[@julianroberts8760]

Very interesting to see RB in such forthright mode. Great stuff

[@poppyland74]

Was it because the SRA was mentioned?!

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks Julian. I was feeling rather forthright. It may well be my New Year resolution....

[@GreenSignals]

Just can't resist can you.

[@AllenORourke1954]

I'm new to the channel and thanks for the really professionally produced and informative videos. I'm sure It's been said before on here but HS2 makes my blood boil, I'm all for new railway infrastructure but the this project has been nothing more than a money sucking catastrophe from the get go. Consider that the Victorians built the Settle to Carlisle in seven years with picks shovels and wheelbarrows, forteen tunnels and twenty two viaducts; ok only seventy miles or so but you get my point. The billions that's been spaffed here would have reinstated many an old line where population growth either side of it would have greatly improved the lives of many people. I've lived all my life next to the Consett branch in County Durham which was ripped up with indecent haste in 1984/85 is a point in case; as is the reinstatement of the Northumberland line. Keep up the good work and a very merry Christmas to you all...

[@rossclark9437]

It is fantastic to see another line reopen to passenger services. This line I'm sure will be better for commuting into and out of Newcastle but bring economic benefit to the local areas it serves.

[@GreenSignals]

On this one Ross, I agree!

[@TheDaf95xf]

First of all get well soon Steph 🤒 Big jolly for Richard lol 😂 Fantastic as always guys and girls 😊 Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and happy new year 👍🏻

[@forrestrobin2712]

Great way for an expat across the channel (I left the UK in 1989 before privatisation !) and have been with SNCF since 1997. As a lifelong railway enthusiast I've continued following the UK scène all this time, but this channel is a Godsend. Thankyou. I wish someone would explain to French politicians why full privatisation is such a bad idea. Things just get more complicated for us everyday. Frankly, I'm glad to be up for retirement in a couple of years, which is sad because I firmly believe the railways are a national asset and as such should be vertically integrated. All the best to you all.

[@GreenSignals]

Thank you for such kind words. Much appreciated.

[@mikehindson-evans159]

A great update as always, despite the geographical separation. Live "The Northumberline"!! Fascinating review of the Transport Select Committee - well done, Richard. Mesmerising "floater" in the background right, at 17:01 - almost a distraction from your excellent review of Alex Hinds. Thanks, both.

[@tridentmusic5570]

Happy Christmas everyone.er, Keep Warm?

[@GreenSignals]

Cheers Mike. I have to admit I was unaware of the LiLo moving around until I watched the footage in the edit - but by then it was too late to re-record (and it's never as spontaneous second time round - I did the vast majority in one take and didn't want to spoil that!)

[@hammertime4437]

I know this is a bit random but I love the drum beat introduction. Great Video as always :)

[@GreenSignals]

Not random at all. We love it too!

[@tomwood9401]

Must be nice that side of the world as the last time I was that side of the world I was on holiday in Australia and I visited such places as the Puffing billy railway and the Kuranda scenic railway as well as using the railway around Perth to visit Fremantle’s sailing museum whilst visiting my Great uncle

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks for the super thanks Tom - really very much appreciated. And I too love that run down to Fremantle. There's been an extension to the north of the city as well since the last time I was there (which of course included visiting the same person as you!). Cheers. Richard

[@andrewhotston983]

I wish my local line had remained open for freight! It would be so good to be able to catch a train from Ross on Wye today.

[@tomwood9401]

Must be nice that side of the world as the last time I was that side of the world I was on holiday in Australia and I visited such places as the Puffing billy railway and the Kuranda scenic railway as well as using the railway around Perth to visit Fremantle’s sailing museum etc

[@paulroberts9570]

Great show guys live from Lincolnshire and Abergele 😃

[@andrewhotston983]

I've been looking for Aberdarby in my atlas - no success so far.

[@GreenSignals]

Many thanks Paul.

[@johnsamson-snell9558]

The segment about Peter Hendy’s performance at the transport select committee was very informative and interesting. I’m going to watch the full transcript. Being good at one’s job and being good as an agile political spokesperson is a very different thing. I’m thinking that Lord Peter is feeling this right now. I picked up the early signs from the last time I met him back in November. I felt that he was not finding this new coat (read straight jacket) very comfortable. I wish him well as I fear that the Sir Humphrey Appleby’s are still stalking the corridors of power in Westminster.

[@highpath4776]

I think Civil Servants would like to deliver a better railway, treasury though wont let them spend the money

[@maunsell24]

One is tempted to say that the noble Lord has run out of steam... On the broader transport front, I'm reminded of a date 42 years ago 9th December 1982. Yes Minister Series 3 Episode 5 The Bed of Nails. Go figure. As Sir Humphrey (in a different episode) reminded Jim Hacker, it is not the latter's job to run his department. His most important function is to fight for the largest possible slice of the Treasury's pie. It also doesn't help when a Minister has an obvious bias towards one sector. Ernest Marples, who grudgingly sold his controlling shares in the roads construction company Marples Ridgeway to his wife with a subsequent buyback clause at the same price! Beeching is remembered by posterity but he was appointed by Marples.

[@GreenSignals]

Civil servants should advise on policy. They should not have any role in operational delivery. Can't say it more clearly enough.

[@highpath4776]

@@GreenSignals they have been at it enough when they "planned" the Northern network and resources, when does operations cross to policy ?

[@ChrisExley-sk1fh]

Thanks

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks ever so much Chris. Incredibly kind of you.

[@dasy2k1]

The killer with discontious electrification is that it is totally useless for freight. It works fine when you have a rural or even the end of a suburban branch line service with trains every 30 mins or so (assuming you have a branching suburban service where the core route that's electrified gets trains much more frequently that then dissappear to several destinations) But EWR could be absolutely key for freight longer term connecting easily as it will eventually to Felixstowe... (assuming that you also electrify the Suffolk lines and the branch to Felixstowe itself) Something like the class 88/93 works well for that where you can use diesel or batteries for shunting in the terminal (you wouldn't wire beyond the arrivals/departure sidings)

[@GreenSignals]

I tend to agree, even if i would still look on a case by case basis.

[@robertwalsh1724]

Thanks!

[@GreenSignals]

Cheers Bob. As ever, it's very much appreciated.

[@Anonymoususer_8823]

And after the Northumberland Line reopened on the 15th December. Few days later Tyne and Wear Metro started introducing their brand new Class 555 trains in service with more coming into service from next year. I do think that the Northumberland Line should extend to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.

[@GreenSignals]

Look forward to seeing those new T&W metro sets when we go up for out North Eastern jolly in the New Year.

[@stephendavies6949]

When I passed my driving test back in the early 1980s, the last sentence on the page that dealt with level crossing in The Highway Code said, "Always give way to trains." Sage advice. Some top class inflatables in that pool, Richard. Steph: get well soon 😊

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks Stephen. Definitely sage advice to give way to trains on a level crossing! And many thanks for the well wishes. (Stef).

[@highpath4776]

@@GreenSignals on ungated tram crossings this needs to be made clear with signage.

[@mrcogginsgarage7062]

Thanks all have a very happy Christmas And get well soon Steph cheers.

[@GreenSignals]

Cheers! And the same to you.

[@allanmorton6022]

Pity the TSC was not an inspiring event as we always hope for. Government always puts a damper on things and people. Lucky Richard out in the desert but the episode still flowed really well. Good progress on IoW but the amount of work this upgraded railway still needs seems endless. Great work at Yarm, looks a fine structure. Looking forward to boxing day. Happy Christmas to all at GS and hope Stef gets better soon.

[@GreenSignals]

Cheers Allan. And having got back to the UK, I can confirm the desert was lovely and warm!

[@GDGRailway47712]

I see Scotrail have announced they are beginning the procurement process to replace the 25 strong HST fleet. They are hoping to have trains introduced some time between the end of 2025 (coincidently when the Meridians are off lease?) and the end of 2026 (if the trains they acquire need a heavy general overhaul). The Meridian fleet being 23x 5-car and 4x 7-car units. I don't know what other options there are, the 13 Nova3 sets?

[@GreenSignals]

Indeed so. Looking forward to seeing how the market reacts to this one.

[@anthonypowell5665]

Great show and happy Christmas to you all

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks Anthony! Happy Christmas to you too.

[@fixitmakeit]

good show as always . Also in Perth WA.

[@GreenSignals]

A lovely place indeed!

[@ricktownend9144]

Thanks for a great show despite the difficult circumstances - sympathies to Stef! I sense Richard's frustration at the lack of detail at Lord Hendy's TSC appearance; we hear a lot about big-figure 'over-spends' on mega projects, but is there publicly available data whereby the big figures can be broken down meaningfully? One must assume - or hope - that the DfT, and/or National Rail - and/or HS2 and the TSC for that matter - have access to proper cost records to see how much each of price inflation, insufficient fore-knowledge of ground condtions, equipment failures, legal and planning issues, bad weather, lack of team inexperience, and all the other factors have contributed ... but is enough - or any - of that available to the public? I remember that, shortly after the GW electrification fiasco, Roger Ford mused whether anyone had just listed on a spreadsheet the cost data (quantities, prices etc.) for that and compared it to the BR East Coast electrification. I know comparisons with continental Europe are maybe not as easy as they might seem, but it does seem bizarre that the standard high-level explanations are so general and often appear to approach the meaningless.

[@highpath4776]

Perhaps Peter Hendy should not really accept anything to do with HS2 , its not really part of the present day to day rail network or useful later sized network.

[@GreenSignals]

The joy of politics. Being seen to do something as opposed to actually doing something that could come back and bite.....

[@Parax77]

Island Line needs to be running the Battery Tech that Viva/GWR have developed in the 230 D-Train

[@GreenSignals]

Worth checking out the interview we did with Neil Drury (Engineering & Infrastructure Director, South Western Railway) on Episode 47 in which we discussed that very point and he explained why it had not been possible from the outset.

[@robertwalsh1724]

Happy Christmas All.

[@GreenSignals]

And to you Bob!

[@Richardhill1978]

Great analysis of the transport select committee I watched it and was a little underwhelmed

[@GreenSignals]

Yep, underwhelming is the right word.

[@thesudricmerman3318]

Great to see railway reopen now just need crack on with reopening beverley to york railway to open up better transport connections and local business and local

[@oninbridders]

11:11 do you see what he did there 😂

[@GreenSignals]

Yes, and would you believe, it wasn't deliberate!

[@steamdrivenandy6880]

From hard by the WCML just south of Crewe, that wasn't Abu Dhabi, that looked like a back garden in Wiltshire to me.

[@GreenSignals]

Nope, definitely Abu Dhabi. We have lovely weather in Wiltshire but there's no way I'd be sitting outside at 07.00 in the morning in a Tshirt with Frangipani and Jasmine next to me!

[@steamdrivenandy6880]

I'm sorry, you can't fool me, that was definitely Salisbury Cathedral spire over your left shoulder 😂

[@Adam-pk2te]

Thanks, Something different but good as always. Wishing you a Merry Christmas. Can’t say I blame Hendy’s lack of enthusiasm and energy especially since the departure of Haigh. All seems rather doomed and stalled

[@GreenSignals]

Cheers Adam.

[@studio6584]

Ref: at around 29m, The bridge incidents; how easy would it be to fit sensors to the front of high vehicles above the cab roofline? Most modern cars have such things - my car beeps at me if the car in front slows down. At the very least, a loud warning horn and light, but ideally shove the brakes on. I'm sure it would pay for itself in a couple of years - perhaps the insurance industry could drive this forward. The technology exists!

[@andrewhotston983]

Yes, precisely.

[@GreenSignals]

Am planning a deep dive into this in the New Year.

[@ChangesOneTim]

@@GreenSignals Looking forward to that. It's high time technology to mitigate this huge safety and performance risk is installed where it more correctly belongs; the vehicles most prone to do the bashing and not the infrastructures that suffer the consequences of being bashed.

[@ChangesOneTim]

Not listened to the Committee hearing yet, but as a former NR Chairperson Lord H should have known and spoken better about GWML electrification. Among NR's big mistakes that made GWEP a disaster was failure - in concert with main contractors - to get a grip on technical standards strategy, leading to the pricey, vastly overspecced and bleedin' ugly equipment that will blight the landscape for a hundred years. Sure, this and the other big mistakes led to the then Sir Peter's review for the Transport Sec who then 'paused' then cancelled GWEP's later phases. At the time this was understandably the right thing to do...but that happened in 2015! It's very disappointing that Lord H didn't instead mention the lessons industry has learned since GWEP, and indeed schemes completed in Central Scotland and North West England at far lower cost per mile and without the undue drama and chaos of GWEP. His first Committee appearance it may have been, but even with his Ministerial hat on Lord H surely can show confidence to Parliament that the railway can again be trusted to do electrification properly again.

[@TheFrogfather1]

The Cook St bridge is extremely low - somewhere around 12 ft. It's been the scene of multiple strikes including one (which must have been before 2000 because I was still working at Scottish TV) involving a bus load of school kids several of whom were killed.

[@maunsell24]

How can someone employed by a bus company not be aware of the height of the vehicle he is driving? That bridge has a multiple array of 12' 6" headroom signs.

[@martindooley4439]

Have a great Christmas and New Year break. Catch up in 2025

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks very much Martin and the same to you and yours!

[@jimmillington8299]

The latest passenger usage data has been released today by ORR/GBRTT, covering July-September. This is important because it represents the first quarter of LENNON data unaffected by industrial action since the pandemic. The data show (real, inflation-adjusted) revenue up 11%, year-on-year, with very little difference across journey purposes. Overall, real revenue is *still* 13% below pre-pandemic levels, which means it's 25%-30% lower than pre-pandemic forecasts for 2024/25. This is why HMT will be demanding *big* reforms in GB rail. The taxpayer handouts are simply unsustainable and indefensible. Can Heidi-hi and Hendy finally deliver a seven-day railway, with all traincrew contracted to work Sundays, and with far higher productivity all round?! ..... Don't hold your breath!

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks Jim. Will be setting aside some time over Christmas for a real deep dive into this data.

[@jimmillington8299]

​@@GreenSignalsExcellent. The ongoing levels of day-to-day operating subsidy, c£10bn pa, are eye-watering. This equates to at least £50 per rail worker per day, or £20k per minute! HMT will be 'all over this', so sadly calls for further rail investment (incl HS2 Lite) will be filed in the bin ... Only major productivity (and reliability) improvements can (belatedly) change rail's prospects.

[@chrisgrose5431]

What was the cost to Richard what he told his wife he was going to be recording Green Signals stuff whilst on holiday?! She must of been delighted! Interesting comments about accessibility schemes as Crowborough has gained a footbridge and 2 lifts when many of us thought they could have just put in a path down to the street level from Platform 2. Maybe there’s not space though.

[@GreenSignals]

I kept the cost to a minimum by getting up early Chris! Those pieces to camera were recorded at 07.00 with a very strong coffee!!

[@ChangesOneTim]

Accessibility schemes: From what I've been hearing, there's pressure within NR to water down longstanding 'no new level crossings' policy, so that step-free access by bridges/ lifts might instead be achieved by an inherently higher-risk alternative. If so, I'd love to know how any such proposals will get past the ORR.

[@gorgu08]

Says all about the UK, with the Northumberland line really, built in 2 years with 9 years of faffing before that…!

[@RobboSez]

Hi Richard, How is Etihad Rail coming along? When will passenger services commence? Thanks, Robbo

[@SimonPilkington-g3i]

I rather detect that Lord Hendy is slowly drifting out of favour unless I am majorly mistaken. The other thing this week that Euston HS2 will only feature 6 low level platforms and I personally think that will be a reliability nightmare. I shall be guarded and not say any more. Olly Glover is an excellent MP and I regard him as certainly a former industry colleague and really does know the detail and will catch ministers out in future when they try to churn out what their ill informed advisers have informed them but Olly will ‘derail’ these poor comments and find them out for the nonsense they might well be.

[@GreenSignals]

We'll be doing a considered piece on Euston very early in the New Year thanks to the recent news which I confess, did not fill me with delight.

[@SimonPilkington-g3i]

@ the whole situation and alleged specification of the 6 platforms at Euston LL also has major repercussions for Curzon Street in Birmingham. The plan as I understand for 7 platforms in Birmingham seem very odd as the 4 tph Birmingham - Euston LL HS2 trains surely mean no more than 4 will be needed there unless use is made of a Birmingham - ‘North’ service which could justify above 4 platforms. Very very odd and a recipe for skimping on something REALLY useful as this development is going to be around for decades! Look at the EMR workings at St Pancras HL and the highly disciplined method of working needed in those platforms. With due respect to the East Mids, we are talking much greater flows at Euston LL.

[@alant1647]

HOW MUCH? £298.5m for 18 miles of track, with a trackbed already there!! Amongst all the flag waving and jubilation, why does no-one comment on the ridiculous cost of the Northumberland Line reinstatement

[@Goldenoldie49]

Totally agree with you. Someone is carving themselves a big fat profit.

[@Goldenoldie49]

That’s over £16.5 million a mile!

[@memediatek]

That's 5 new stations, new road bridge, new pedestrian bridges and a complete resignalling

[@andysmith2013]

Strange how the preserved railway seem to manage.

[@daviddearden6372]

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company was founded on 20 May 1824. The line opened on 15 September 1830 That is six years and a couple of months to complete the whole process including some quite difficult engineering (Chat Moss). In 2017, the Department for Transport created the East West Railway Company, following preparatory work by Network Rail, the DFT and local authorities. At present (December 2024) the line between Oxford and Bedford is nearly completed. This mostly involved reinstating the old line, no major engineering work necessary.So seven years have gone by so far. As yet there has been no start on the Bedford to Cambridge section. This will be a completely new build as the old line has been built over. The estimated finish date for this is 2035. So in total if and it's a big if, the line is completed on time it will have taken twenty eight years to have completed a line not dissimilar to one the Victorians managed in six years using little more than picks, shovels and man power. Now you question the millions spent on the Northumberland line. Somebody needs to ask the question how much the reviews, public enquiries and other examples of government obscurification cost with major rail infrastructure projects. Indeed how much inflation over twenty eight years will have cost.

[@Bristoltwingo]

Can someone explain to me how discontinious electrification on East West Rail will be better than continious electrification?

[@ChangesOneTim]

'Better' only in the short term by cutting installation cost and therefore overall project outlay. Beyond the short-term it's bonkers not better; trains operating EWR need to have hybrid battery traction kit grafted within what could be otherwise straight-electrics, creating sub-fleets which need careful diagramming, prone to being less reliable and potentially a real headache when it comes to redeployment/cascade elsewhere later. The correct answer is to forget disingenuous electrification, do it properly, and procure 'normal' 25kV-only trains with a (fully understood) long service life and without risk of incurring abortive costs that could well be higher than what's allegedly being saved by doing disingenuous. MEGA: Make Electrification Great Again.

[@Bristoltwingo]

@@ChangesOneTim Thanks, funny how the word discontinous is close to disingenuous. I'm worried how the Cardiff Valley lines' discontinous electrification will pan out even if it won't have the same demand for freight as the EWR will have.

[@ChangesOneTim]

@Bristoltwingo Credit for 'disingenuous electrification' rightly goes to Mr Walmsley, retired rail fleet engineer now respected railway writer. Apt indeed. Sure it can make sense on some lines operated by captive fleets and nil or virtually nil freight.

[@mikebradley4096]

Vision, Energy and Passion are not something that politicians ever have for railways unless they happen to be grandstanding in front of voters about their favourite panacea for their made-up supposed problems. The rest of the time the railways are just a bloody nuisance that they'd rather not have anything to do with - and yet they seem to think they are qualified to make decisions on timetabling! Always ready to use a story about the railways for their own purposes, happy to interfere but rarely ready to offer any positive help. It sounds as though Peter Hendy has been brought to heel somewhat by the political elite! Good to hear about the the cascading of materials on the Isle of Wight. Often in the past there have been missed opportunities for this.

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks Mike. Some fair observations there.

[@Beatlefan67]

380,000 by 2034? I'll wager that figure will be reached waaaaay earlier than that!

[@GreenSignals]

Will certainly be interesting to see!

[@michaellancaster1980]

Darlington railway station is being extended with new platforms etc. I thought this would be a good new storey.

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks Michael.

[@andrewhotston983]

The more the spotlight is turned on Hendy, the more thuggish and ineffectual he appears.

[@domtweed7323]

Gareth Dennis for rail minister.

[@johnallen7807]

Only 2 stations open, nearly twice the original cost and late completion, just about sums up rail projects in this country! I live in Ashington and hope it works but we already have a reasonable (and cheap) bus service to Newcastle so I'm not sure.

[@andrewhotston983]

Has there ever been any explanation why the reopening wasn't done as an extension to the Metro?

[@highpath4776]

@@andrewhotston983 I think so trains can run beyond Newcastle and north from Ashington in due course and the line is still in use for freight

[@highpath4776]

It appears to be built to bring additional development and the faster time seems to be generating journeys via the park and ride effectiveness, buses still quicker overall from the south of Ashington ( 40 bus vs 40min walk/cycle to a 38 min train journey

[@highpath4776]

@@andrewhotston983 It will interchange, when a rather complex station is completed , north of Newcastle

[@andrewhotston983]

@@highpath4776 Freight used to share the Metro track to the (Rowntrees?) siding near Newcastle Airport, so that shouldn't have been a major problem.

[@sg5881sg]

Surely you are looking at the Northumberland line the wrong way round. Newcastle has become a dormitory city. The peak time rail traffic should be running TOWARDS Ashington with its large scope for business premises and imports of high tech supplies at Blyth providing jobs for the residents of Newcastle.

[@highpath4776]

Rail (sorry chiltern) needs to be fully back in the Govt sector, including London operating more services over suburban lines. East West Rail was done wrong looking at the Blechley - Bedford Section not really up to use as a higher speed route though hopefully the line from Oxford will show itself as useful

[@fndjfgsdk]

Hendy is such a corruptible PoS… Getting railway engineers fired for perfectly valid points of view, making veiled threats during the TSC. He should be gone.

[@AndrewRoberts11]

Given Northern Ireland Railways is owned by the Devolved Northern Ireland Govt, ScotRail and the Caledonian Sleeper by the Devolved Scottish Govt, Transport for Wales Rail Limited by the Devolved Welsh Govt, Transport For London by the Devolved London Assembly, why are the Northern Railways, SouthEastern, LNER, Transpennine, ... English franchises to be amalgamated in Great British Railways a holding company of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and and Northern Ireland Govt, with its many thousand politicians and million civil servants, and not a Devolved English Railways?

[@GreenSignals]

Principally because of the way in which the Devolved nations have been established and are funded. For them, devolution is a far bigger issue than just transport.

[@RaysRailVideos]

I don't want to see humour from mps and civil servants I want to see seriousness and drive to get the job done and to be trueful and honest while doing the job.

[@GreenSignals]

Not unreasonable......

[@roglaker9353]

What the hell is RB doing at c.09.00 talking about "laying waste to the agricultural sector"? Is he another tax-dodging 'farmer'?

[@GreenSignals]

I wondered how long it would take someone to comment on that. Rather longer than I thought it would as it happened. No, I am not a tax dodging farmer (I no longer own any land) but there's the root of the problem. There may well be a few who are taking advantage of the tax system so why not design something that sorts that problem instead of coming up with something that will really do damage to family run farms and our the bedrock of our agricultural sector. I am lucky enough to call a fair number of famers as good friends and they are genuinely in distress over this.

[@roglaker9353]

@GreenSignals at the time I heard you talking about the Transpennine Route Upgrade, which is the sort of material which I come to GS for. I can do without the political commentary on entirely unrelated matters, which I absolutely do not come to GS for. Pitifully poor judgement using WFA and IHT as comparators to try to make your point, as if there are none within the rail sector.

[@ChangesOneTim]

@@GreenSignals In an interview soon after the Budget, Lisa Nandy indicated that Labour's target is the high-net-worths like Clarkson, Darvall etc whose only/ main objective was to shelter huge chunks of their wealth from the taxman. If that were the true intention, indeed it cannot have been hard to make the Ag Relief rules changes fit accordingly. But they didn't. Shameful.

[@AlanKirkman-q1h]

Thanks!

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks Alan. Really very much appreciated.

[@paulroberts9570]

Thanks

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks Paul. Much appreciated.

[@RobertAllison-j4o]

Thanks

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks Robert. Thats very much appreciated.

[@evan123455]

Thanks

[@GreenSignals]

Thanks so much - it's much appreciated.