Great Western Coffee Shop

The final Invitation to Tender and associated documents for the InterCity West Coast franchise have been published on the DfTs website.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/rail-passenger-franchise-intercity-west-coast/#

Nothing earth shattering in the tender and pretty much the same as last year's draft ITT. So, more of the same (with a few extra Pendos) up and down the WCML until 2026.

The four shortlisted bidders are:

Virgin/Stagecoach (incumbent)
First Group
Abellio (NV Nederlandse Spoorwagen)
SNCF/Keolis SA.

The winning bid is due to be announced in August 2012, with the new franchise beginning at 0200 on 9th December 2012.

Place your bets now...

What appears relevant to the immediate future in the GW area is that despite all the doom merchants suggesting that the DfT would allow the TOC to run trains wherever and whenever, the actual trains service requirement (TSR) is basically the exact number of station calls they make today, (or as of the May 11 timetable).

Rumours of service decimation appear to have been premature.  So I'd expect something similar for the GW franchise ITT when it comes out...

Paul

How have they covered the pendo strenthening to 11 coaches if a new bidder wins are they expected to take them on?

Are they using the spare path for a second xx37 Liverpool service? Or a semi fast to Preston allowing Glasgow's to have Warrington and Wigan calls axed?
Will Glasgow be fully hourly now?
Pendos on the B'ham to Scotland?

Can't work it out from the table.

OK I've never taken much interest in TOC ITTs before but is 3 months a realistic time frame for a new TOC to come on line?

Yes.  Perfectly normal, and comparable with nearly all previous announcements.  Don't forget the timetable almost always stays the same for at least a year (or sometimes longer), and 99% of the staff carry on doing exactly the same job anyway...

Paul

The lengthening project is to be completed by Dec 2012, this is in line with the timetable originally announced for the fleet expansion. So it doesn't need to be mentioned in the new ITT.   When the draft ITT was first issued, it was included, but this has been overtaken by the 9 month extension to the existing franchise... 

Paul

There is no officially recognised demand for a second Liverpool service.  Contd p94...

Paul

Alternatively, it could be argued that the noise that the "doom merchants" originally made at the prospect of allowing TOC's to run trains wherever and whenever may well have caused the DfT to quietly drop any plans that they may have had to do so...  ;D

Whatever the truth, I think its fair to say that we knew (as far as Intercity WestCoast is concerned) as early as 19 May 2011 that this prospect was off the agenda, thanks to this letter (http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/intercity-west-coast-franchise/draft-invitation-to-tender-sofs-letter.pdf) from former Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, which was published as one of the draft ITT documents.

There is another side of the coin, of course. By specifying (as Paul points out) pretty much the exact number of station calls they make today, (or as of the May 11 timetable) , they have effectively ruled out making any of the service level improvements that TSR consultees from various parts of the franchise area aspire to. Indeed, the final (http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/intercity-west-coast-franchise-itt/attachment-a.pdf) TSR is little changed from the draft (http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/intercity-west-coast-franchise/draft-tender-invite-attachment-a.pdf) TSR.

As far as the GW franchise is concerned, the DfT have said that the current level of service will provide the starting point for deciding what goes into the new franchise, and they will therefore expect bidders to base their proposals around the overall current level of service as set out in the most recent FGW timetable (see here (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10042.msg104298#msg104298) for more details).

Paul - by predicting something similar for the GW franchise ITT when it comes out, are you also predicting that the service level will remain virtually the same as now, with the aspirations of various groups in GW-land for improved services on their routes dashed?

Not really, just that it shouldn't really reduce.  Projects such as Reading remodelling, electrification, and IEP (if they go ahead with it), are all intended to increase services anyway, as described in the GWML RUS. 

But there are nothing like those opportunities for change happening on the WCML at the moment.  AIUI the only infrastructure change on their horizon is the remodelling at Norton Bridge - this only provides a very limited increase of one offpeak WCML fast path, it's more to do with deconflicting crosing moves.

Paul

Just because the number of calls are the same, it doesn't mean the level of service can't improve.

With the current spare path, new Pendos and the proposed new path following Acton Bridge, more limited stop services can run. Plus more for the Trent Valley. I'm pretty sure they'll use at least one of these 2 spare paths with the new trains. Apparently, the only reason the 2nd Liverpool path wasn't used this time round was because the Gayrgg Pendo being written off.

The extra services don't have to go to Liverpool. Glasgow, Blackpool, Edinburgh, just Crewe. All possible.

That's why I deleted everything else except Liverpool. 

The DfT has announced four shortlisted bidders to run the West Coast Main Line from December 2012.

Abellio, FirstGroup, Keolis/ SNCF and Virgin go head to head to contest the franchise. The franchise is for 15 years and includes a commitment to provide 28,000 seats a day under a new flexible agreement which will allow further services to be scheduled around busy periods.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/news/press-releases/dft-press-20120120/

That reference to 'Virgin' presumably includes the same 'fairly silent partner' as now though?

Paul

And in English? Does it mean using the spare path? What does 28,000 seats equate to, or are they counting all the 11 car pendolinos? (i.e so not many more actual services!)

Counting the extra carriages being added to the Pendos as well as the two new 11 car sets. No extra services have been mandated by the DfT in the ITT.

Interesting that the DfT regard the extra capacity as a new commitment for the next franchise. This extra capacity will be fully introduced before the end of the current franchise.