WOW Arriva Win Cross-Country

[whole diary]

[Timmer]

Personally I feel that Cross Country is a burden on the tax payer, from dec 2008 nearly all services will start/terminate at Birmingham New Street, surely it would make more sense for FGW^▸ (First Great Western) to run the services as far as Birmingham (mind you, they need to run what they've got properly first!) and for the services north of Birmingham to be spread between Northern and Traspennine Express. I really don't see how Cross country should be subsidised by the tax payer and yet other franchises pay a premium?

Good point. It was always the Cinderella part of the network back in the days of BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) and IC^▸ (Inter City). Its more of a convenience service for the handful of people who make that once in a year trip say from Plymouth or Bournemouth to see a relative who lives in say Carlisle or Berwick on Tweed. Virgin have really put it on the map thanks to the high frequency service on trains which quite frankly are travelling tin cans but people travel on them so something must be working. Most passengers on XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) journeys are only on the train for a part of it's long journey.

If you were to split the XC franchise, which incidently has in part been done with the West Coast part bolted on to the West Coast franchise, first of all you would need to sort New Street out as its way over capacity and very user unfriendly.

[martyjon]

One things for sure there are going to be plenty of spare MK3 buffet cars lying around sidings around the country though likely they will eventually end up getting scrapped. It really is becoming a budget airline style railway. Wonder if one day we will see Easyrail appear on the network?

The question of these redundant buffet cars has raised questions in my mind of why didnt FGW^▸ (First Great Western) refurbish them and put HD standard class seating in rather than withdrawing them on the shorter trips.

Alternatively why not strip out the carriage shell, cut out bigger windows to the ones currently adorning these vehicles in the buffet area of the vehicle and make the vehicles a completely Standard Class Open vehicle.

I expect its the same old story, cost, indeed under the regime of today to make any alteration to the body of a vehicle I expect they would have to go through a safety case procedure for this to happen and no doubt the inflated fees that the so-called experts would command for such a procedure.

Personally, although its not my avenue of knowledge, aviation is more my line, I do not think the structural integrity of the vehicle would be compromised to such an extent that would preclude such a conversion exercise.

Comments from others more versed in the structural integrity a passenger rail vehicles welcomed.

[grahame]

Alternatively why not strip out the carriage shell, cut out bigger windows to the ones currently adorning these vehicles in the buffet area of the vehicle and make the vehicles a completely Standard Class Open vehicle.

Personally, although its not my avenue of knowledge, aviation is more my line, I do not think the structural integrity of the vehicle would be compromised to such an extent that would preclude such a conversion exercise.

Comments from others more versed in the structural integrity a passenger rail vehicles welcomed.

It's not my area of knowledge either, but I understand that there is a bottleneck and delay caused by too much design work for upgrades and modifications at times.   That comment came to me w.r.t. the "West" fleet (14x, 15x) upgrades rather than the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train), but is indicative I suspect.

[simonw]

Why is CC such a burden on the taxpayer?

It trains are always full. It has grown, and out performed, every other inter city franchise since deregulation.

The initial idea of breaking up CC and allocating its South and West routes to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) fills me with horror. Not because the idea has no merit, but because FGW cannot even manage itself at the moment.

Forcing all trains to start/terminate at Birmingham New Street requires BNS^▸ (Barnes (not Birmingham New Street)) to have sufficient capacity to handle this. It doesn't. A through train stops for approximately 5 minutes, a terminating train stops for approximately 15 minutes.

[Lee]

Believe it or not , Stagecoach are removing buffet cars on their East Midland franchise HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services as well (link below.)
http://www.eastmidlandstrains.co.uk/midland.php

Quotes :

"What is happening to the present catering facilities?

We plan to remove the buffet cars on the HST's and replace with an at seat trolley service (standard class). We will continue to provide an enhanced catering offer in first class. We also plan to introduce a trolley service on the Meridians and to keep the current level of catering on the regional services.

Will there be a restaurant car on the morning services?

We plan to be able to offer some hot, good quality food for our first class customers."

More on this in the link below.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/6980550.stm

Tim Shoveller , managing director of East Midlands Trains , said the dining cars simply take up too much space.

"To have a restaurant car service often ties up two seats - the seat they are sitting on for their journey and the restaurant seat - we don't think that is the best use of space."

[martyjon]

For members interest the latest Arriva Group Interim Results and Report published today 06/09/2007 and are available at ;-



http://www.arriva.co.uk/arriva/en/investor_relations/regulatory_news/rnsitem?id=1189058499nRNSF3709D&t=popup


I note that in the rail division there was a REDUCTION in profits of over 80% from ^5.9 million to ^1.1 millon in the 6 month period under review. Even so the report is upbeat on their winning the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) franchise and indicates the lower profits was in the main attributable to the costs of preparing three franchise bids in the same period.

[vacman]

Why is CC such a burden on the taxpayer?

It trains are always full. It has grown, and out performed, every other inter city franchise since deregulation.

The initial idea of breaking up CC and allocating its South and West routes to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) fills me with horror. Not because the idea has no merit, but because FGW cannot even manage itself at the moment.

Forcing all trains to start/terminate at Birmingham New Street requires BNS^▸ (Barnes (not Birmingham New Street)) to have sufficient capacity to handle this. It doesn't. A through train stops for approximately 5 minutes, a terminating train stops for approximately 15 minutes.

Try telling the DFT^▸ (Department for Transport), they're the ones that decided that trains will start/terminate at Birmingham New Street! My point about West country services being handed to FGW has got nothing to do with FGW's performance, it would be the same whichever operator was running the franchise.

CC is a burden on the tax payer because if it was spread over the three operators it would be paying a premium, why should FGW commuters be subsidising holiday makers using Cross Country?

[Lee]

For members interest the latest Arriva Group Interim Results and Report published today 06/09/2007 and are available at ;-



http://www.arriva.co.uk/arriva/en/investor_relations/regulatory_news/rnsitem?id=1189058499nRNSF3709D&t=popup


I note that in the rail division there was a REDUCTION in profits of over 80% from ^5.9 million to ^1.1 millon in the 6 month period under review. Even so the report is upbeat on their winning the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) franchise and indicates the lower profits was in the main attributable to the costs of preparing three franchise bids in the same period.

More on this in the link below.
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2007/09/higher_costs_hit_arriva_profit.html#more

Elsewhere , Go-Ahead says its rail business contributed strongly to its annual profits , but it has warned that next year will be tougher (link below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6982946.stm

Pre-tax profit rose 13% to ^94.8m in the year to the end of June.

Go-Ahead predicts falling profits from its rail businesses in the coming year because of "lower government subsidies and ongoing cost pressures".