Great Western Franchise Consultation

[whole diary]

[Southern Stag]

I believe it is sometimes the case that the top level staff are employed by First Group rather than First Great Western so they won't TUPE^▸ (The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006.) across to a new company.

[Andy W]

It would appear that there are 8 people in these senior positions

http://www.joinusonthejourney.co.uk/NonCmsPages/our_structure_mark.htm

Of those only 2 would appear to be relevant to any 'safety case' the Operations Director & the Engineering Director - of the others only the Customer Services Director would have a day to day role - others such as Finance I presume are already in place as DOR already operates.

DOR (or whoever) will have no strategic or development roles but it is their role to ensure the running of the railway while a new franchise is sorted out & all the engineering work (Reading / Electrification) is completed.

Surely in this caretaker role DOR would be fine allowing TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) to work on any tender process at the high / strategic level.

Seems to me this safety case has more than a whiff of Yes Minister about it.

[JayMac]

It would appear that there are 8 people in these senior positions
http://www.joinusonthejourney.co.uk/NonCmsPages/our_structure_mark.htm

That list is severely out of date. James Burt left FGW^▸ (First Great Western) in September 2009. Neil Mickelthwaite left in 2010 and Matthew Golton is now apparently back as Bid Director rather than Projects Director, at least according to his LinkedIn profile.

However the two people most likely to hold the 'safety case' are still in position.

The current list of directors can be seen here:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/About-Us/Our-business/Our-executive-team

[thetrout]

Why would Arriva Great Western necessarily be a bad thing? The parent company, Deutsche Bahn, knows a thing or two about passenger railways and sister company Chiltern are often lauded as one of the better TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company). Their joint venture at London Overground is also winning many plaudits.

I agree that Deutsche Bahn know a thing or too. I mean, they ran WSMR^▸ (Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone Railway) before their demise and I'd say I've never travelled on such a better service. Not to mention such excellent value for money. The 4 Hours + Journey to London as the onboard service was so good really didn't phase me...

Based on my experience of CrossCountry when they first started, something that was extensively covered on this forum by yours truly and others...

Yes they may have improved over the years, I really couldn't say as I seldom use them now. But having to put up with the (was then; not sure if it's improved) awful service for nearly 2 years it really didn't fill me with confidence that they were taking a punt at GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line)...

I can remember being told that if I wanted a cup of Tea in First Class on the 14:44 BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) - PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains) that was running 1 hour late I couldn't until Standard Class had been first. But I could purchase one if I so wished. Presenting a Ticket which was about ^60 on that particular journey did nothing more than a response of "I'm sure if you write to crosscountry they'll deal with your complaint and apologise"

I didn't want an apology... I wanted a cup of tea

[JayMac]

Catering on CrossCountry is a problem (I often board with coffee and scran in hand), the fares policies of CrossCountry are a problem. But their staff are second to none and their fleet reliability is amongst the best in the industry.

I don't particularly like Voyagers, but for many of my journeys they are the only option, unless I go for a FGW^▸ (First Great Western) DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) stopper. If my journey isn't time critical I will choose other options, such as Bristol - Taunton via Westbury, but when I need to be somewhere at a certain time I'll use CrossCountry.

Their on-train staff are also, in my experience, very accommodating to people like me, who will often have a series of split tickets, or be using routeing loopholes, to avoid fares priced by CrossCountry. I've only ever once had a ticket withdrawn for further investigation. That was done by a TM^‡(resolve) who wasn't sure but with whom I had a polite exchange and accepted the zero fare replacement to allow me to complete my journey. In that case I received an apology and goodwill gesture when it was found that I was travelling with a valid ticket.

Now, back to the successor franchisee on Greater Western. I'm still backing National Express. If they re-bid.....

[IndustryInsider]

Catering on CrossCountry is a problem (I often board with coffee and scran in hand), the fares policies of CrossCountry are a problem. But their staff are second to none and their fleet reliability is amongst the best in the industry.

I agree with all of that - I don't even mind the trains too much, though the biggest bug bear for me continues to be the lack of seating.  A trip I made on one last Sunday, a Manchester to Bournemouth afternoon service, was horrendous.  The totally inadequate 4-car Class 220 Voyager was absolutely packed solid all the way from Birmingham to Reading.  No service disruption, so I can only assume it's like that every Sunday.

[ChrisB]

It is.....

[thetrout]

I agree with you PoV. Staff are excellent, moral certainly has improved over the years.

Fares are a problem, Catering is a problem and Cell Phone Reception on a Voyager is a problem and certainly agree that capacity is a problem. Hence why Catering is a further problem

As FTN said in the other thread, Unintended Consequences will bite you every single time

Now, back to the successor franchisee on Greater Western. I'm still backing National Express. If they re-bid.....

Please, BNM, Please... No.

But may I ask why? or am I detecting high levels of sarcasm? I'm minded to take into account National Express East Anglia. Who unfortunately left things in such a state, that I feel sympathetic towards their Successor GreaterAnglia. To be honest whoever picked up that franchise was on a hiding to nothing. There were some comments in Saturdays Meeting that since the NXEA^▸ (National Express East Anglia) take over they've got worse. I disagree in parts.

• The majority of the Class 321 Fleet has been deep cleaned and the worst units have had a refresh which does make travelling with them more attractive
• They now offer complimentary refreshments to First Class Passengers.
• A refurbishment of the First Class Lounge at London Liverpool Street has recently commenced
• The Revenue Team seem to be a much more common occurrence onboard the trains and they are always pleasant to speak too
• The new TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) in my opinion seems much more customer friendly, In particular I had a gripe at them on Twitter when they couldn't issue me with a particular ticket. This was resolved within a week or two and buying said ticket is no longer an issue. (Apparently I've become a bit of a celebrity as I am the only one who asks for that ticket )
  
• Their twitter service has improved since the days of NXEA

That being said... I am also looking over the border at c2c who seem to get very high levels of punctuality. Have excellent reliability and also have a good presence on twitter. They also receive very high passenger satisfaction ratings AIUI^▸ (as I understand it). However I am not so sure they're quite so customer friendly. In particular, starting a journey at a station where ticket office is closed and the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine)'s have failed (Has happened to me at Chalkwell 4 times). Trying to get a ticket or collect a booked one is like getting blood out of a stone...! We also know what I could say about the Class 357's Comfort Reliability Features... Hmmm perhaps I'd better not

*edit* Managed to spell threat thread correctly

[anthony215]

I have to agree a definate no to National Exprsss & Arriva running the GW^▸ (Great Western) franchise.

First seem to be doing an ok job so far so why change something that isnt really broken  especially with all the upcoming disruption to the gw region with Crossrail and electrification.

[grahame]

Any train operating company that's been around a while will have its supporters and people who really dislike it, and much of that dislike will come from people who's services have been less that reasonable under one of that TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s franchises.  But whether that comes from the TOC own business approach, conditions laid down on it by the franchise awarder, or decisions it took in order to win the franchise in the first place is an interesting question.

Would I favour a company that provide me with a very unreliable service indeed, with trains "held together with glass fibre", a company that has a fearsome reputation for altering services with little apparent thought to the inconvenience this may case, a company that changed its definition of "offpeak" to dramatically increase its fare take, or a company that cut back from five trains at a variety of good times to just two which cater for little but their saving hiring an extra train?

Or another question - would I favour a company who have provided help in putting forward an excellent case for a better future service an who I feel I can work with, a company that's got the backing of a major parent and has shown by example it would invest in a longer franchise, a company which has already shown faith in upping service levels, or a company that has trains it somehow manages to keep cleaner than everyone else's and has a strong reputation for revenue protection - vital in areas where loss of money and passenger counts effects the viability of services?

I'm intentionally not expressing any view as to the weight of factors - but I have quoted what are essentially well know good and bad points for all four of the companies that were bidders.  The company's own business approach is important ... as everyone will be in the same boat against invitations to bid (or should be - lack of this equallity may have been a WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) issue), as is a company's willingness to stand up for what it believes in.  Problem is - if it stands up too much for what it believes in against flaws in the ITT^▸ (Invitation to Tender), it may find itself putting in a less well received bid and being rules out.   It's a complex balance!

[Rhydgaled]

Why would Arriva Great Western necessarily be a bad thing? The parent company, Deutsche Bahn, knows a thing or two about passenger railways and sister company Chiltern are often lauded as one of the better TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company). Their joint venture at London Overground is also winning many plaudits.

I'm afraid Arriva are in my bad books. Here in Wales, WAG^» (Welsh Assembly Government - about) (Welsh Assembly Government) ordered a fleet of 6 new Optare Tempo buses for the Carmarthen - Aberystwyth bus service, a core route of the fledgling TrawsCambria network, now being re-branded as TrawsCymru. The service was to be known as TC1 and operate hourly from 6am to 8pm.

However, Arriva decided to rip a whole in the TrawsCambria network by running their own commertial service 40 between Aberystwyth and Carmarthen. Operating out of their Aberystwyth depot the service is hourly, but with much shorter operating hours and the new WAG-funded buses have not materialised.

Their Welsh rail operation has also anoyed me. They purchase a fleet of mark2 coaches, but rather than use them to improve capacity I am told they sacked the manager who was in charge when the stock was purchased and left the mark2s to rot in sidings.