Go-Op Cooperative - proposals for additional rail services (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

My ongoing concern is over the financial reality of this proposal.

I really do wish them all the best with their bid - but can they actually produce the funds, up front, to start it?

[eightonedee]

That seems to be a concern of ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about), too.

To quote the decision letter-

44.    Go-op’s limited rail experience and novel (in the rail sector) commercial model meant we considered it necessary to gather a reasonable degree of further evidence on Go-op’s ability to use the capacity in its application.
 45.    Following our assessment of Go-op’s operational plans and business model, we have concluded that the ongoing viability of these services is less clearly established than previous open access proposals approved by ORR. The resultant risks mean that we will be setting strict conditions precedent around Go-op’s ability to use the rights.
46. These conditions precedent will include a requirement to evidence, to ORR’s satisfaction and within 12 months of the contract being entered into: • the necessary finance to start operations; • the necessary finance to fund £1.5m of level crossing enhancements in advance of operations commencing; and • that the necessary rolling stock has been secured.  
47. We will discuss the exact terms of the contract with the parties following publication of this decision letter. We recognise that the completion of level crossing enhancements is reliant on Network Rail, which has responsibilities as a competent infrastructure manager under its licence.

So this is only a conditional approval, and those conditions have to be met. I think the headline on the ORR press release is therefore somewhat misleading. I see from Go-op's website that a fund-raising campaign has been started to raise £2m. But as well as £1.5m of works, there's the costs of leasing the rolling stock, making arrangements to lease premises for storage and maintenance, set up the on-line infrastructure, the professional fees for negotiating the agreements with Network Rail and the Rosco (the latter will I imagine seek some kind of guarantee or security for their financial exposure), getting insurance and so on.

I can't help feeling that it would have been more efficient if there GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) could be persuaded (and allowed!) to acquire another (say) six trains on lease, recruit the additional staff and run additional trains along at least some of the route - say Taunton to Westbury and strengthening the Westbury-Swindon service.

[grahame]

I am asked what my opinion is on the granting of a license to operate trains, subject to certain conditions being met - "You must do this then you can".

Prime in "what's my view" is "what works for the passenger and wannabe passenger" and that's a close relative of "what's good for the area and it's economy" and should have a good relationship with "what works for a sustainable environment". Go-op, FGW^▸ (First Great Western), GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), GBR^▸ (Great British Railways), FirstBus, Faresaver, Stagecoach, BusesofSwindon, FromeBus, GoAhead, National Express and Seend Community Bus are all, or have been in my personal memory, or will be operators of public passenger services in the Melksham community area.  And which one of that dozen names actually operates the service you are on is of little interest, surveys tell us, to most people.

It's very interesting that what I am asked is for an opinion and an explanation and not an unadulterated expression of joy, isn't it?


Let's look forward at two possibilities, and I'm taking the Melksham Passengeresque view

The optimistic view

As from the December 2025 timetable, the train service seven days a week to Swindon will run at 2 trains every 2 hours in each direction. Realistically, it will not be possible to go clock-face and maintain connections along the way at this point, and I would anticipate the two trains being something like ... 12:30, 13:10, 14:30, 15:10 northbound and 12:10, 13:30, 14:10, 15:30 southbound which allows a freight path through Melksham at :50 in every hour.  The alternate trains at :30 connect from and to the Portsmouth Harbour service at Westbury, and the :10 service southbound every 2 hours carries on to Frome and Taunton. Please note peak and school time tuning to be applied such as the 15:30 I mentioned remaining at 15:40.

The ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) document mentions class 153 trains which are single carriages, and with accessible loos in them the seating capacity is limited.  However, TfW who have done the work (and I suspect these are the train that Go-op will use as they retire) have also retained 9 (classed 153-9) without a loo and I would look forward to seeing Go-op running two carriage trains (and needing to for capacity) quite soon.

As from the December 2026 timetable, with a Penryn / Dovey Junction / Bad Doberan style station at Melksham, it will become clock-face at :30 in both directions and that will allow 2 freight paths each way in the hour. With freight able to pass each other at Melksham so that's up from one to four freights per hour, and there's extra flexibility with them able to follow each other at tighter headway if nothing is coming the other way.

A further (community supported) service of a Town Bus vehicle connecting with the trains at xx:30 - arriving the station at xx:22 from Berryfield, Hampton West, Bowerhill Business, Pathfinder Way, Melksham East Relief Road stops, Sandridge Road and the Town Centre, and leaving at xx:38 back along the same route.


The Pessimistic view

Nothing starts beyond Taunton - Westbury in December 2025, but perhaps two or three of trains in the middle of the day extend to Swindon at some point in the following year. They run 20 minutes ahead of, or behind, the GWR / GBR service in the same direction so there are still 100 minute gaps in the service.  The DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) sees "duplication" as it did with the Bristol to London (Waterloo) via Westbury and Bristol to Brighton (via Westbury) services, and withdraws the TransWilts shuttle leaving just the 07:21 and 20:22 northbound, and 06:32 and 19:19 southbound on the national operation, and perhaps Go-op northbound services at 09:30, 12:30 and 15:30, southbound at 10:30, 13:30 and 16:30.

A business run on off-peak trains only would be hard to sustain I would suspect that the model I have just described would make it hard to break even, especially if things like mutual ticket acceptance was not in place and the train run by both companies shared the unreliability problems we see today, and I can see the Go-op experiment has a significant risk of failing, leaving Melksham back as it was in 2010 - just two trains each way per day, and the joke of "two trains - too early and too late to be of any practical use to most people" once again.


Both extreme possibilities ... and my crystal ball is prismatic and may be distorting what I see.

I would love to see the optimistic view fall into place and I am prepared and happy to support that as best I can.  I hope all other parties are too. I look carefully at who the decision makers are in each organisation, and what their motivation is, and what track record they have. "What turns them on" and  "Why are they doing this?"

[grahame]

From https://grahamellis.uk/blog1418.html

But there are so many ifs in there it worries me.

If we believe it's possible on the timescale (and Go-op does have a history of missed deadlines - the service will be at least a dozen years late) we should all be working together. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway). ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about). NR^» (Network Rail - home page). GBR^▸ (Great British Railways). DfT^» (Department for Transport - about). WC^▸ (Wiltshire Council (Unitary Authority)). TWCRP^» (TransWilts Community Rail Partnership - about). WWRUG^» (West Wiltshire Rail Users Group - about). MTUG^» (Melksham Transport User Group - site). FoCS. TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website). FOCs^▸ (Freight Operating Company). Passenger Focus. Western Gateway SnTB. MTC^» (Melksham Town Council - about), MWPC^» (Melksham Without Parish Council - see here) and other local councils. and of course Go-op.

* - yes, I can fill in all those initials and I have a working relatinship with many of them
* - the possible train service does take account of single line occupancy
* - freight operation and main line paths and platforms need to be considered
* - same time every hour would need more trains or a passing loop or onward services
* - the possible train service adds just a single extra train going up and down
* - the extra passenger numbers will make a Melkshan rail linked local bus blindingly obvious
* - extra traffic will justify even more a human presence at Melksham station
* - note also massive extra through traffic from Chippenham to Trowbridge and beyond
* - projections based on current population - probably should be higher

Illustration - Melksham Station with and without a train

[Phantom]

Hopefully finally a decent service to get to the cricket in Taunton when travelling from Weston

EDIT: On seeing they are single carriage trains and then reading this, I am not holding my breath "It will compete with Great Western Railway (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)), a public service operator. Go-op plans to start in December 2025 at the earliest, and must do so no later than December 2026 in order to use the capacity ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) has granted."

[Western Pathfinder]

Green Signals the railway podcast have sent Richard Bowker down to Taunton to have a chat with Go Op ,the result of this is here on YouTube
It's an interesting watch but above that I'm not going to comment as I don't fully have the  information to do so.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jRRhOba44dI.

[TonyK]

This is getting serious. Anyone growing frustrated with Go-op's 12-years-and-counting campaign for new trains will be pleased to know that they are also getting frustrated with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s service. At least according to this in The i Paper

Frustrated commuters are taking on a £650m rail giant to run trains for themselves
Fed up of being neglected by GWR's timetable the West Country residents behind Go-op plan to offer their communities a better rail service


Alex Laurie and John Hassell of Go-op, at Westbury Station in Wiltshire, where their services should soon offer an alternative to GWR (Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith)

Moaning about Britain’s railways has become a national pastime. But rather than joining the chorus, frustrated rail users in the West Country are taking matters into their own hands – by launching their own train company.

“You find yourself standing on windswept platforms thinking ‘I could do better than this’,” says Alex Lawrie. He’s the chair of the community owned Go-op, which last month was given the green light to compete with the giant multi-national owned Great Western Railway (GWR) in Somerset and Wiltshire.

It’s a story that might remind some of The Titfield Thunderbolt – the famous Ealing Comedy film about a group of villagers running their own railway line.

But Go-op is a much more serious business. Next week will see another important milestone for the co-operative rail venture – currently owned by 280 members – as it seeks to attract the capital it will need to realise its plan to get its own trains on the tracks next year.

The story continues at source for subscribers, or at the MSN copy of the link for interested cheapskates (like me). The word "soon" is not defined in terms relating to our progress through the heavens.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Simply in the interests of accuracy, Alex Lawrie (not Laurie) is standing to the right in that image, not the left, as their caption implies.  The other director in that image is John Hassall, not Hassell. 

See https://go-op.coop/go-ops-directors/ 

[grahame]

Significant coverage in The Guardian today

The idea for the country’s first cooperative rail service came to Alex Lawrie in 2004 after another frustrating trip across Somerset.

Having moved to Yeovil four years earlier with his young family, his job as a cooperative development manager involved daily trips across the south-west trying to set up member-owned businesses.

A reluctant motorist, he quickly became frustrated with the rail service he was depending on to get around.

“It baffled me, trains came at seemingly random intervals, there were only a few trains serving a big town like Yeovil, hours would pass without a train coming,” Lawrie says. “I couldn’t understand it, I was like, ‘There are the rails, they all link up, more or less, how hard can it be to get a better service?’”

While most passengers would grumble and leave it at that, Lawrie took the matter into his own hands.

Despite having no experience in the sector, he bought a rail atlas, and so began the process of trying to improve services through the creation of a new operator.

Fast forward 20 years and the 56-year-old’s plan that began as notes jotted down on a sheet of A4 paper is close to becoming a reality.

The plan for the cooperative railway – Go-op – has received approval from the Office of Road and Rail (ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about)) to run a new service between Swindon, Taunton and Weston-super-Mare.

There's a great deal more in the story there, but I had best not quote tooooo much.   I have put a copy in the member's archive / mirror at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/go-op_guardiam.pdf