Great Western Franchise Consultation

[whole diary]

[grahame]

The current Great Western franchise is ending on 31st March 2013, and just before Christmas [2011], the Department for Transport (DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)) published a consultation document concerning the future provision of services after that date on services that it covered.   

The DfT proposal is for a single, 15 year franchise - effective from 1st April 2013 to 31st March 2028, and their consultation document runs to 31st March 2012. The press release that covers the consultation is at:
*> http://www.dft.gov.uk/news/press-releases/dft-news-20111222a
The link / header page on the DfT website is here:
*> http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/dft-2011-36
And the Great Western Franchise Replacement Consultation document itself is at:
*> http://assets.dft.gov.uk/consultations/dft-2011-36/great-western-franchise-replacement.pdf
which is some 6 Mbytes / 99 pages long.

This is probably the most important and far reaching consultation that's relevant to this forun since it was set up.  Rail travel is an integral part of the economy of the South West of England and South Wales  - its tentacles reach directly or indirectly into many aspects of life, and getting this one "right" is of paramount, and long-reaching consequence. 

The consultation's originators have included some 34 specific points on which they seek input (but I can't say that I can see anything that limits inputs to those specific questions).

Views vary as to how effective consultations inputs actually are. Some will say that they just allow boxes to be ticked.  Others who are less cynical will say that they can make a real difference.  Of course, it would be impossible for every suggestion made to be taken up, so many ideas put forward may, in the end, appear to have been "for nowt".  But (personally), I don't believe that's even the case ... it may at times feel like no-one listens, but if enough people talk, and keep on talking, we can each and all help towards shaping a rail service that's appropriate for our needs for the next decade and a half.


"This forum is provided by a First Great Western Customer, for First Great Western customers".  So says our introduction page. Although we currently have "First" in our current title (who knows beyond 2013?), the forum is not sponsored or funded by the First Group in any way.  So we're very clearly an appropriate place / tool to discuss the next franchise, independent of who is eventually awarded the franchise.


This new board "Looking forward - 2013 to 2028" has been created for discussions on the new franchise, the process, and other aspects associated with lines / services currently run as part of the Great Western franchise, or discussed for inclusion formally or informally.   

The moderator team will (as ever) be taking a keen interest from both a personal and a group standpoint, and they're tentatively proposing that the CoffeeShop inputs be summarised and used to make a submission.  Views on that welcomed.

Speaking personally again, I would encourage groups and individuals to read the documents carefully, and make submissions to the Department for Transport where appropriate ... especially where they can add local, journey specific,  or specialised knowledge, feelings and information to help make a better outcome for the whole.

P.S. If you are not a member of the Coffee Shop, but would like to contribute, please sign up.  Registration is free - we (the team of moderators and administrators running the forum) just need to have a mechanism to know who's posting so that we're not flooded out by spam and other inapproriate material.  You can read more about being a member [here]

[grahame]

The 99 page consultation document is published under the Open Government License for public sector information, and this gives us on this forum a far greater freedom to quote than we would have been allowed in the past.    The full license is at:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/

You are free to:

* copy, publish, distribute and transmit the Information;
* adapt the Information;
* exploit the Information commercially for example, by combining it with other Information, or by including it in your own product or application.

You must, where you do any of the above:

* acknowledge the source of the Information by including any attribution statement specified by the Information Provider(s) and, where possible, provide a link to this licence;
* ensure that you do not use the Information in a way that suggests any official status or that the Information Provider endorses you or your use of the Information;
* ensure that you do not mislead others or misrepresent the Information or its source;
* ensure that your use of the Information does not breach the Data Protection Act 1998 or the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.

But this licence does not cover the use of:

* personal data in the Information;
* Information that has neither been published nor disclosed under information access legislation (including the Freedom of Information Acts for the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) and Scotland) by or with the consent of the Information Provider;
* departmental or public sector organisation logos, crests and the Royal Arms except where they form an integral part of a document or dataset;
* military insignia;
* third party rights the Information Provider is not authorised to license;
* Information subject to other intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks, and design rights
* identity documents such as the British Passport.

So I think than means ... we can quote just about any of the document here, in large chunks if we wish, provided that we refer back to where it came from and the license that I've linked to above.

[grahame]

From: Great Western Franchise Replacement Consultation
Republished here under: Open Government License

[grahame]

I have split off a good and wideranging discusssion that developed under this thread, and given it a life of its own at
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10049

I have also made this topic sticky - so that it remains at the top of the board for newcomers looking for general guidance on the consultation process, and the metrics of what we're providing on the "Coffee Shop" to help and assist them in that.

[grahame]

Closing date is 31st March.   I have been reminded today that any submissions which are posted rather than emailed really need to be in the post on Wednesday evening.

[ChrisB]

For those wondering about the revised tendering process, this appears in Hansard....

Alison Seabeck asked the Secretary of State for Transport when the Greater Western franchise ends; whether he intends to extend the franchise; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns replied that the Government recently confirmed that we would consider the findings of the independent review of rail franchising by Richard Brown, and that a further statement would be made by February about the three franchise competitions put on hold last October. This will include future plans for the Great Western franchise.

[ChrisB]

Announcement due tomorrow about the three outstanding franchises. Christian Wolmar tweeted tonight that the GW^▸ (Great Western) franchise bid is being absndoned without compensation being offered.

Presumably a restart being ordered with new bids? Christian ram out of characters....

[Rhydgaled]

Modern Railways magazine (Feb 2013) suggests that the Brown review of franchising, while supporting the franchising concept in generally warned that a concession/managament contract might be more suited for a franchise that is to experience a major infrastructure project. The magazine suggested that Great Western and Thameslink fit that discription, so maybe a concession/managament contract for GW^▸ (Great Western)?

[Network SouthEast]

From the Telegraph:

Bidders for the Great Western line are braced for an announcement on Thursday by the Department for Transport (DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)) that FirstGroup, which currently runs the services connecting London to Bristol and Cardiff, has been awarded an extension to its contract.

A process had been started last year to re-let the 15-year franchise only for it to be suspended in the wake of the West Coast fiasco, which had seen Sir Richard Branson^s Virgin Rail Group controversially lose out to FirstGroup.
The whole competition for the Great Western Line is expected to be jetissoned, forcing the Government to reimburse - at huge expense to the taxpayer - the train companies that had bid for the contract.

An operating extension on the Great Western line would be a significant boost to FirstGroup after it was named as the winner of the West Coast competition in August - only to be denied the franchise two months later when the Government aborted the process, following the discovery of ^significant technical flaws^ in the way the process was handled.

The Government announced last March that, alongside FirstGroup, National Express, Stagecoach, and Arriva, a division of Deutsche Bahn, had been short-listed for the Great Western franchise.

However, the bidding process was suspended in October by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, along with two other franchise competitions to run Essex Thameside and Thameslink services.
The unprecedented move threw the rail franchising system into chaos, with nine major contracts due to expire by the end of 2014.

Awarding a new contract to run Great Western services is believed to be particularly problematic as the line is due to undergo a significant infrastructure upgrade, along with changes to some services and rolling stock.
Rail industry sources say the changes have made it difficult to accurately forecast future revenue and passenger numbers.

Changes are also expected to the Essex Thameside and Thameslink competitions, with sources raising the prospect that the latter could be run on a management contract rather than a long-term franchise.
The DfT would not comment other than to confirm that an announcement will be made on rail franchising today.
The news comes as transport ministers were blamed by MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) for a series of ^irresponsible decisions^ that led to the West Coast debacle.

Ultimate responsibility for the fiasco lies with Government ministers, who pressed ahead with a ^complex^ and ^perhaps unworkable^ franchising policy ^in haste^, according to a committee of MPs.
A report from the Commons Transport Select Committee points the finger firmly at ministers, who have so far allowed DfT officials to shoulder most of the blame.

The select committee stops short of naming individual ministers but the findings put former Transport Secretary Justine Greening, her predecessor Philip Hammond and former Transport Minister Theresa Villiers in the frame.
Louise Ellman, chair of the transport committee, said: ^Embarking on an ambitious - perhaps unachievable -reform of franchising, in haste, on the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)^s most complex piece of railway was an irresponsible decision for which ministers were ultimately responsible.^

So there you go. First appear to have an extended GW^▸ (Great Western) franchise for now, and Thameslink looks like a management contract.

[gwr2006]

It was announced at 7am today that the Great Western franchise competition will be terminated.

The current franchise contract is being extended by 28 weeks until October and an additional two-year contract will then commence with FirstGroup, while longer-term franchising proposals will be set out in the spring

Transport Secretary^s written statement to the House of Commons

In response, FirstGroup have issued the following statement - although there is no mention of the millions of pounds they've probably spent already on the cancelled bid:

First Great Western and First Capital Connect rail franchises

[grahame]

Thanks for posting that, GWR2006

There is a need for all concerned for the 2 year contract to allow the metamorphosis of services and the growth of passenger numbers and travel requirements, and not to freeze things at "currently committed and unstoppable" only.  That would turn a fiasco into a 30 month frozen disaster.

Top of the agenda for our "Wiltshire Link" meeting on Saturday is where rail and connection in Wiltshire should go for the next period, and the meeting was specifically set up to take a look at things when it became clearer what mechanisms would be used to take services forward.

Any user groups / thoughtful / knowledgable travellers / wannabe travellers in, through, effecting Wiltshire welcome.  Please email or PM me or Phil if coming (nice to know numbers).   Target outcome - a joined up set of suggestions to local councils, central govt, rail industry supporting practical options / improvements that are supported across the board.   A unified passenger voice for Wiltshire.

[grahame]

Link to meeting .... http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=11891.0

[paul7575]

The Telegraph's article includes:

Awarding a new contract to run Great Western services is believed to be particularly problematic as the line is due to undergo a significant infrastructure upgrade, along with changes to some services and rolling stock.  Rail industry sources say the changes have made it difficult to accurately forecast future revenue and passenger numbers.

In two and a half years time it will be nearly 2016, but the only major project completed will be Reading? Unless all the electrification is also complete, and all the new rolling stock has been delivered, won't that basic point about accurate forecasting continue to be present?  Does this mean that any orders for new EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) stock by the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) will also be deferred, or does it mean DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) will make the decision and order it, or cascade it from elsewhere, making there own decision on what goes where?

Paul

[John R]

Does this mean that any orders for new EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) stock by the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) will also be deferred, or does it mean DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) will make the decision and order it, or cascade it from elsewhere, making there own decision on what goes where?

Paul

Southern have recently launched a procurement for new 110mph EMUs on behalf of DaFT^» (Department for Transport - critical sounding abbreviation I discourage - about), though they won't be used on Southern services.  It's quite likely that they with either end up on GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line), or alternatively be used on Thameslink services to enable the cascade of 319s to happen in time for Western and North Western electrification.

[ChrisB]

I thought electrification toOxford / Newbury was due by end 2015?....

I wonder whether the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) will start negotiations with FGW^▸ (First Great Western) over the additional two years by asking them to pay the original premiums due under the old franchise? :-)
Nothing like getting the original franchise back without the contracted payments....grrr