One, then perhaps 2 year First extension?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From my mailbox

We are writing to alert you to a package of announcements being made by the Secretary of State this morning.  The package includes announcements and a public consultation about the future of the Great Western rail franchise.  The web link is www.gov.uk/dft.
 
So far as the GW^▸ (Great Western) franchise is concerned, the key points being announced by the Secretary of State this morning are:
 
·         that the Government is calling the one-year extension in the current GW franchise agreement (so the franchise will run to March 2020);
 
·         that we will be starting discussions with the current franchisee, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), with a view to them continuing to operate the franchise for a further two years (to March 2022); and
 
·         the launch of a 12-week public consultation on future priorities for the GW franchise.
 
With the franchise undergoing a transformational infrastructure and rolling stock enhancement programme through 2018 and 2019, maintaining continuity of operator will ensure the best possible service for passengers throughout.  The further continuation will allow a short period for the new trains and service patterns to bed in before the next franchise competition, creating the right conditions to secure the best possible outcomes for passengers from that competition.
 
As part of the consultation, we also invite views on whether the franchise should remain in its current form or be split into smaller franchises, each with the strongest possible focus on the needs of passengers in its own area.  The consultation invites views on the idea of a new “West of England” franchise.  Such a franchise could combine long-distance services between London, Devon and Cornwall (including the Sleeper) with regional and local services across the central and western parts of the franchise area.
 
We will be arranging some consultation events across the franchise area, details of which will be published on the website in due course.

[grahame]

further breaking comment ... (may need to split topic later)  ... says "released at 07:24" so I see no embargo ....

29 November 2017
 
Stagecoach Group welcomes new direction for UK^▸ (United Kingdom) rail network
 
Stagecoach Group ("Stagecoach") welcomes the planned new direction for the UK rail network announced today by the Secretary of State for Transport.
 
The Secretary of State's vision envisages a number of changes to franchises currently operated by Stagecoach, as well as other routes, as part of plans to deliver improved integration between train and track.
 
Planned new arrangements include:
 
• the introduction from 2020 of the East Coast Partnership, a joint venture between the public and private sector, operated by a single management, under a single brand and overseen by a single leader. The Government is currently in discussion with Stagecoach-Virgin, which runs the existing East Coast franchise, with the aim of putting in place new contractual arrangements in early course to facilitate the transition to the East Coast Partnership model over the next two years.
 
• the next competitively tendered East Midlands franchise being operated by a joint team under an alliance. The Department for Transport ("DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)") previously exercised its pre-contracted option to extend our East Midlands Trains franchise to March 2019, with plans for a further Direct Award franchise from March 2019.  We look forward to hearing the detailed plans beyond that for a franchise operated by a joint team under an alliance agreement.
 
In addition, the DfT today published the Invitation to Tender for the new South Eastern franchise, for which Stagecoach is shortlisted. The Government has indicated that the new franchise will be headed by a new Alliance Director, with a joint team responsible for the day-to-day operation of train and track.
 
Martin Griffiths, Stagecoach Group Chief Executive, said: "Stagecoach has championed a more integrated and customer-focused railway over many years and we are encouraged by the positive new direction for Britain'srailway.

"We welcome the Secretary of State's clear statement of intent to seek to negotiate new terms for the East Coast franchise with Virgin Trains East Coast and we are hopeful of reaching an agreement through to 2020 within the next few months. 

"We look forward to exploring further with the DfT its vision for the franchise from 2020, leveraging our knowledge and expertise from the South Western Railway deep alliance and our longstanding interest in greater vertical integration of UK rail.

"We are excited by the potential to be a trailblazer for a new regional partnership railway on East Coast, building on the huge transformation we have already delivered in customer experience and benefits for local communities on the route.

 "With a strong commitment to partnership working by all industry stakeholders, we see a successful future for the UK rail market as a whole which will benefit customers, communities and the country."
 
As previously confirmed, Stagecoach will announce its half year results on 6 December 2017.

[grahame]

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/strategic-vision-for-rail-29-november-2017

From Chris Grayling

I am today (29 November 2017) publishing Connecting people: a strategic vision for rail, which describes our vision for the railways, and the actions we are taking to make it a reality. We are bringing the organisations that run the tracks and trains closer together to deliver better services for passengers. We are pressing ahead with Network Rail devolution to a series of route based businesses. We are investing in upgrades to the network to deliver faster journey times, more capacity, and unlock growth. We are also improving the customer experience, including smart ticketing.

I will make copies of the strategic vision available in the libraries of both Houses.

I am also today announcing a consultation on the future of the Great Western franchise, and issuing the invitation to tender for the next South Eastern franchise.

See article for links

[ChrisB]

The consultation invites views on the idea of a new “West of England” franchise.  Such a franchise could combine long-distance services between London, Devon and Cornwall (including the Sleeper) with regional and local services across the central and western parts of the franchise area.

Leaving Wales & Thames Valley in the current franchise? Surely, that will get amended?
I can foresee trouble ahead over slots out of/into PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains), especially if the Wwlsh long-distance end up in a third (Welsh?) franchise?

[grahame]

First Group press release (pasted raw and hot off the presses!)

FIRSTGROUP PLC ­ Statement re Great Western Railway franchise
Released : 29.11.2017

FIRSTGROUP PLC
STATEMENT RE^▸ (Religious Education): GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY FRANCHISE

FirstGroup welcomes the publication by the Department for Transport (‘DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)’) of a new strategic vision railways which sets out a number of proposals to increase capacity and improve service for customers.

Accompanying this, the DfT has announced plans for the future of the Great Western rail network. The
confirmed it will exercise its option to extend the current Great Western Railway (‘GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)’) franchise contract by one year, to 1 April 2020. The DfT has also announced that it intends to negotiate a direct award for the GWR franchise for a duration of two years to April 2022, with an option for an extension of up to two further years at the DfT’s discretion.

In addition, the DfT also begins a public consultation today on how rail services are delivered across the Great Western network in any future new franchise and as the current operator, we will work with the DfT to support this.

Our extensive experience of managing the Great Western route, in partnership with Network Rail, will be critical to the success of the £7.5bn Great Western Mainline modernisation programme and the continued delivery of passenger improvements.

Commenting, Tim O’Toole, FirstGroup’s Chief Executive, said:
“We welcome the publication of the DfT’s new strategic vision for the railways and look forward to progressing this with the Government.
“We are pleased that our strong track record at GWR is recognised, and that the DfT intend to extend the franchise and negotiate a further direct award lasting at least two years. A period of detailed negotiation will now follow, but this opportunity will create further stability on the Great Western route as our experienced team continue their work with our partners to transform a key part of the country’s transport infrastructure.
“GWR was recently awarded Rail Operator of the Year, and our passengers are already seeing the benefits of significant investment. We have introduced new suburban and long distance trains with more seats, and going forward the upgrade work will enable us to offer more frequent and faster services. These will help keep people moving and communities prospering across the network for generations to come.”

Notes to Editors

About FirstGroup plc

FirstGroup plc (LSE: FGP.L) is a leading transport operator in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) and North America. With £5.7 billion in revenue and more than 100,000 employees, we transported around two billion passengers last year. Each of our five divisions is a leader in its field: In North America, First Student is the largest provider of student transportation with a fleet of more than 40,000 yellow school buses, First Transit is one of the largest providers of outsourced transit management and contracting services, while Greyhound is the only nationwide operator of scheduled intercity coaches. In the UK, First Bus is one of Britain's largest bus operators, transporting 1.6 million passengers a day.

About First Rail

FirstGroup is one of the most experienced rail operators in the UK and the only one to run every sort of railway ­ long distance, regional, commuter and sleeper operations. We carried around 130 million passengers in 2016/17.
o We operate three passenger franchises – Great Western Railway (GWR), South Western Railway (SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)) and TransPennine Express – and one open access service, Hull Trains.
o We operate the Tramlink network on behalf of Transport for London carrying around 30 million passengers a year and the Heathrow Connect service in partnership with Heathrow Airport.
Our vision is to provide solutions for an increasingly congested world... keeping people moving and communities prospering.
Visit our website at www.firstgroupplc.com and follow us @firstgroupplc on Twitter.

[Timmer]

Is this wretched franchise ever going to end? Been going since 2006. The bosses at Firstgroup probably can't believe their luck. What's it going to take to let someone else to be given the chance to run our railways in this part of the world?

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) was recently awarded Rail Operator of the Year

You have got to be kidding me. Frequent cancellations due to lack of staff, serviceable rolling stock and GWR are awarded the title of Rail Operator of the Year for providing the level of service they provide...crazy, absolutely crazy. I thought accolades had to be earned, clearly not in the Utopian world of the rail industry where everything is great.

What an insult to GWR's long suffering customers.

[grahame]

I, and I suspect many others, have heard from Mark Hopwood this morning - copy here as I'm darned sure this will be widely copied and circulated ... and no point in telling me if I'm going to keep it to myself ;-)

You may well have seen the Department for Transport’s (DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)) announcement this morning regarding its strategy for the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) rail industry, and its plans for the future of the Great Western franchise.  If not, you can download a copy at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/great-western-rail-franchise
 
As part of the announcement, the DfT has confirmed it will extend the current GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) franchise by 12 months until April 2020.  They have also confirmed their intention to discuss with us a further direct award franchise lasting at least two years.
We believe the DfT’s announcement today is a vote of confidence in the work we have been doing with you and all our industry and community partners.  It will bring stability and mean that we can continue to deliver improvements for our customers.

A period of detailed negotiation will now follow, but this opportunity will create further stability on the Great Western route as we continue our work to deliver the biggest investment since Brunel, transforming rail services to support the local and regional economy.

Our customers are already travelling on brand new suburban and long-distance trains, with more seats and better Wi-Fi. Going forward, Network Rail’s upgrade work will mean the biggest timetable change in a generation with more frequent and faster services, keeping people moving and communities prospering across the network for generations to come.

As well as the franchise extension, the DfT also announced it is starting a consultation into the future shape of the franchise in the future, and how we can build on the improvements we have already delivered, and are about to deliver.

I wanted to make sure you were aware of the opportunity.  We have always believed that the Great Western is a partnership, taking local aspirations and turning them into reality, this is a chance to set down what you want for the future and I do hope you will take part in the consultation.

[Timmer]

In other words, 'we'll just throw a few scraps at Dft and they will give us an unending franchise'. No chance of new trains for the West unlike other recently awarded regional rail based franchises like Northern and West Midlands. Late 2020's now I think.

[bobm]

You could look at the announcement as the least worst option.  Which company is going to tender for a franchise when there is major disruption likely for the next few years while the electrification continues?  Let someone else (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) take the flak and then a new company can bid and takeover, if successful, once the work is done and start with a clean slate.

From GWR's point of view they have the chance to show - if the two year extension is agreed - what sort of service they can run when there isn't widespread engineering work and new trains "bedding in".

[ellendune]

Is this wretched franchise ever going to end? Been going since 2006. The bosses at Firstgroup probably can't believe their luck. What's it going to take to let someone else to be given the chance to run our railways in this part of the world?

Luck? Or poison chalice?

For most of that period they have had their services disrupted by endless engineering work. First Reading, then Crossrail then electrification. They had massive growth in demand but no more trains available to provide seats. They then have had trains taken away from them before the new ones have been delivered.  Of course they are going to be unpopular and if that was a factor in any competitive award then they would have no chance in winning. But for that very reason others would not want to bid so DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) have carried on.  

Yes their customer service has been bad, but thats what we (via DfT) get when they insist of reducing costs - that's why the likes of Capita are still in business their outsourced service may be bad, but it is all their customer can pay given what most other costs are fixed and DfT want cheap. So cheap customer service is what we get.  

In every franchise there seems to be something wrong we (most of us) are just closer to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) than the other TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company).  Whatever we may feel they have done a better job than the current Southern/Thameslink franchise holder!

[grahame]

In every franchise there seems to be something wrong we (most of us) are just closer to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) than the other TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company).  Whatever we may feel they have done a better job than the current Southern/Thameslink franchise holder!

In what has turned from a hobby into something more within a community rail line in the area, I get the opportunity to meet with community rail professionals from all around Great Britain, and I also have the opportunity to listen to many community groups and others.

For the most part, I feel fortunate in being able to engage with GWR rather than engaging (and on a much more limited basis) with another franchise operator.  The start of the franchise in 2006 is now ancient history and needs to be taken as a lesson and not something we keep pinning on the current GWR team. 

Since the start of this decade, GWR's help and support to our Wiltshire team - for the common good of themselves and our communities - has been excellent.   Hard nosed costs (they are a company with a profit motive) and the ability to see an opportunity to make a balance sheet improvement, even if that foils an opportunity to do something really good for the communities served and the wider economy of the region, have at times been frustrating. At least we see far more of both sides with GWR and can thus work out our strategy to help them meet their aims within our primary task of meeting ours for the community.

There has indeed been slippage of this excellence of late, but the relationship and information feeds remain far better than we hear (through hearsay, it must be admitted) of elsewhere.   Of course, there's a huge danger of the direction of things getting worse continuing so I'll no longer be able to say "thank goodness for this lot rather than xxxxxx", but that does not come across from anyone as the plan.

To a great extent, First and GWR have been let down by their contractors who promised to supply electric trains to "X" by "Y" date;  the extent of that is open to argument, as is the degree to which further mitigation could or should have been put in place.  I personally suspect that it's convenient for some parties to have this somewhat complex supply chain, so that the "not me, Guv"  reason can be given when in reality further mitigation could have been put in place, but to the detriment of balance sheets.

Anyway - we (TransWilts) too are to some extent leaves blown in the winds of government transport policy, local government policy, Network Rail, our train operators and others - and we should look at the updated metrics of upcoming changes and franchises and ask ourselves how to work for the best outcome for all.

[Timmer]

You could look at the announcement as the least worst option.  Which company is going to tender for a franchise when there is major disruption likely for the next few years while the electrification continues?  Let someone else (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) take the flak and then a new company can bid and takeover, if successful, once the work is done and start with a clean slate.

Good point. With the lack of interest in recent franchises up for tender, it's likely that the GW^▸ (Great Western) franchise is still seen as toxic with Dft taking the view that if companies aren't bidding for more stable franchises, they aren't going to be keen on the GW franchise until all is running smoothly sometime in the 2020s we hope.

[Timmer]

With all that's been written above I have no issue with First when it comes to the Intercity and Thames part of the franchise, with what's happened has pretty much been out of their hands.

What I have a big issue with is the way the Wessex part of the franchise has been treated with weekend after weekend of services being cancelled because of rolling stock and train crew issues.

I've heard all the arguments as to why this happening but hey this is a private company being given the job to provide a reliable service which they accepted. It's their job to do that and sort out these issues. If it costs them money to do that then that's they should do. Why should the travelling public put up with this every weekend not knowing whether their train is going to turn up?

Sort this out then I'd be happier to call them Rail Company of the Year.

[ChrisB]

If they are promised stock released from another area and it doesn't happen - are you suggesting they move the stock anyway? that just moves the problem. How else do they solve this do you suggest? Realisticaly we have to accept that the problem is off our Government's making.

[Timmer]

If they are promised stock released from another area and it doesn't happen - are you suggesting they move the stock anyway? that just moves the problem. How else do they solve this do you suggest? Realisticaly we have to accept that the problem is off our Government's making.

Not at all, just keep the current stock running reliably. Yes I know fitters have gone over to Hitachi causing a backlog but I say again, this is a private company making money out of this franchise so need to come up with the solution.

Why do people want to keep making excuses for a privately owned profit making company?