Gricer blows off
MY railway correspondent, I.K. Gricer, telephones to say that he is on a train. He is marooned outside York with a party from the Bank of Scotland. Their opposite num- bers from Abbey National are stuck some- where south of Hatfield. No wonder the two sides (each wants to bid for the other) aren't talking. My correspondent is blowing off steam. When he was an apprentice at Swindon, he says, they used to tidy up the mess and get the trains rolling next day, leaving the inspector to hold his inquiry, which would be done within weeks. It all now seems to take months and years. There is nothing new about steel wheels on steel rails, like the one that broke at Hatfield, or about fast trains or heavy trains, either. Any doubts over a batch of rails or the specification could be resolved in the rail- ways' research establishments. Railtrack should bring them back, says I.K. Gricer. A furious crackling noise follows. Like the network, he seems to be breaking up.
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