Management of Reading and Bristol Temple Meads stations - FGW to Network Rail

[whole diary]

[Network SouthEast]

As far as I can tell, only one of the six mentioned is currently an SSP brand/franchise (Upper Crust). Possibly two if The Cornish Pasty Co is actually 'The Pasty Shop'.

Of course SSP could become the franchisees for the other units. Although I'm not sure that Boots, Cards Galore or Oliver Bonas offer franchises.

That was the point of my post further up. All* of the retailers mentioned offer franchise opportunities, and I expect SSP to run all of the retailers on the transfer deck. * Except Oliver Bonas - I'm not aware of any Oliver Bonas franchises, although there is always a first time for everything.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From Railnews:

Bristol, Reading may join Network Rail station portfolio


So far it's only Starbucks, but more retailers are set to open on the new overbridge at Reading in the spring

Plans to transfer the management of Reading and Bristol Temple Meads stations from First Great Western to Network Rail are being developed, but no decisions have yet been made.

Network Rail has moved to deny reports that the deal is already done, but even so it has taken over the letting of retail units at Reading, which is being modernised and enlarged by the addition of five more platforms. The company is letting the space because it says there is an 'aspiration' at the Department for Transport for both Reading and Bristol Temple Meads to become Network Rail-managed stations from next April.

A major overbridge with room for retail space was opened at Reading earlier this year as one phase of the station's development was completed, and all the signs at the modernised station already follow the standard Network Rail style.

Network Rail said that Hotel Chocolat, Boots, The Cornish Pasty Co, Upper Crust, Cards Galore and Oliver Bonas 'are all primed to start work on units in the newly constructed part of the station'. The new retailers will join a small Starbucks unit which has been on the overbridge since it opened in April this year.

Hamish Kiernan, Network Rail^s interim commercial director, said: "Reading station is bigger and better than ever, but we know passengers want more retail choices in the new part of the station. We are pleased to be able to announce that the new stores will be ready to welcome customers from April 2014."

Retail sales in Network Rail stations have continued to defy trends in the high street. The company said in September there was 6.4 per cent growth in like-for-like sales from April to June 2013, while high street sales for the same period were just 0.4 per cent.

The work at Reading should be complete by 2015, when a 2km flyover will be opened west of the station to reduce conflicting movements on the Great Western Main Line.

Network Rail inherited the management of a number of major stations from Railtrack in 2001-2. Stations like London Euston, Leeds, Manchester Piccadilly and Glasgow Central were never managed by franchises because at privatisation it was envisaged that stations like these would be sold and become independent, like airports. However, the plans for the creation of 'independent station operators' were later dropped.

[SDS]

Transfer of Reading and Bristol Temple Meads to Network Rail

Dear colleagues,
One of the commitments made at the start of new franchise in October was to transfer formal ownership of Reading and Bristol Temple Meads stations from First Great Western to Network Rail.

We have reached agreement on how this will work, and Network Rail will assume responsibility for the overall management of Bristol Temple Meads and Reading stations from 0200 on Tuesday 1 April. 

Network Rail's focus will be on facilities management, third-party retail, maintenance and cleaning. First Great Western and our station teams will remain responsible for all customer-facing activity ^ including dispatch, gateline and ticket office sales ^ just as we do today. 

The changes are designed to streamline upcoming improvement projects and the management and development of third-party retail outlets, while allowing First Great Western to concentrate our efforts on our core business ^ looking after the needs of our customers.

We are pleased we have been able to make such quick progress with Network Rail to agree how these stations will be managed in future. We look forward to working with their station teams on a day-to-day basis to deliver the best possible customer experience.

Mark Hopwood
Managing Director

And I wonder just how much revenue FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are loosing from not having the retail rents anymore. I did hear rumours that the SSP run starbucks on the overbridge at RDG^‡(resolve) guaranteed a huge amount of rent to have exclusivity for coffee.

[JayMac]

Could we have the source for the quoted text please. There have, to my knowledge, been no public announcements regarding the handover. Network Rail, as yet, have not updated their website.

[insider]

Could we have the source for the quoted text please. There have, to my knowledge, been no public announcements regarding the handover. Network Rail, as yet, have not updated their website.

Was an internal FGW^▸ (First Great Western) email sent to all email inboxes and displayed on notice boards.

Also can confirm from a friend who works @RDG^‡(resolve) that Network Rail were touring all areas of the station today with their various maintenance staff as they are now responsible for the old areas of the station and not just the new build...This included all behind the scenes areas and staff accom..

[stuving]

Reading and Bristol are now included in the structure of NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s site, though not in the list on the "Our Stations" page yet.

I was puzzled by this:

Dear colleagues,
One of the commitments made at the start of new franchise in October was to transfer formal ownership of Reading and Bristol Temple Meads stations from First Great Western to Network Rail.

I thought TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) ran stations, but don't own them. Whether that's formally a lease or some kind of management agreement I'm not sure, nor who or what is the ground landlord.

[grahame]

Does this mean that lost property handed in at Bristol and Reading will get sent to Paddington, and will lost property handed in over the rest of the GW^▸ (Great Western) network still get sent to Bristol?

[ChrisB]

Good Question!.....

[the void]

Does this mean that lost property handed in at Bristol and Reading will get sent to Paddington, and will lost property handed in over the rest of the GW^▸ (Great Western) network still get sent to Bristol?

Lost Property is remaining in-house with FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and will continue to be situated at Temple Meads. The last few remaining lost property offices in other locations across the network (Westbury, Weston, Cheltenham & Gloucester) will soon close down with operations transferring to Bristol in the very near future.

There will be very little material difference at BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) and RDG^‡(resolve), the management of these stations is being done in a very different way to other Network Rail managed stations, with FGW retaining much more of a management presence.

[stuving]

Isn't it about time someone came up with a new internal station plan for Reading to put on the National Rail site? It doesn't really matter who does it, but maybe thinking about who's responsible for what will prompt some action. Currently there isn't even a warning that the one one show is wrong. It was updated with the interim platform renumbering when P4-6 opened, which was well over a year ago and before P12-15 were in use.

[paul7575]

This doesn't affect the public much if at all - they won't notice any day to day difference because as the note above says all public facing roles remain with FGW^▸ (First Great Western).   In the overall scheme of things it is not that significant - even in my experience of Paddington any normal person passing through would probably just assume FGW ran it, this is the same at Waterloo with SWT^▸ (South West Trains).

Paul

[grahame]

Does this mean that lost property handed in at Bristol and Reading will get sent to Paddington, and will lost property handed in over the rest of the GW^▸ (Great Western) network still get sent to Bristol?

Lost Property is remaining in-house with FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and will continue to be situated at Temple Meads.

Many thanks (and some relief!) for that clarification ... I had a concern that a logical move at a "high" level to manage huge multi-TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) stations through Network Rail might have resulted in some lower level sillies!

[paul7575]

Isn't it about time someone came up with a new internal station plan for Reading to put on the National Rail site?

This is a regular criticism of the National Rail site - nearly all recently altered stations are not being updated.   I suspect the contractor who did all the original "Stations made easy" drawings was never given a retainer to deal with maintenance and updates.   

I've also seen criticism that the photos showing access routes etc, mainly provided for those with mobility issues, have no update procedure either...

Paul

[paul7575]

On a similar vein, (and to avoid starting a short new thread), is there any news on transferring Dean and Mottisfont & Dunbridge to SWT^▸ (South West Trains)?    IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) that was in the original (now lapsed) franchise ITT^▸ (Invitation to Tender) as well?

Paul

[stuving]

This is a regular criticism of the National Rail site - nearly all recently altered stations are not being updated.   I suspect the contractor who did all the original "Stations made easy" drawings was never given a retainer to deal with maintenance and updates.   

I've also seen criticism that the photos showing access routes etc, mainly provided for those with mobility issues, have no update procedure either...

Well, fancy this! If you go to this page of the Zero Project web site you will find that ATOC^» (Association of Train Operating Companies See - here) put ^Stations Made Easy" in for an award this year. At the Zero Project Conference 2014 in Vienna in February, it was selected as one of 54 "Innovative Practices on Accessibility".

ATOC's submission says, inter alia, this:

CURRENT SITUATION & OUTLOOK

The Stations Made Easy pages are updated on a regular basis to ensure all accessibility-related information is up to date. The online information is much more detailed than anything that existed previously. In order to ensure regular updates and the interactive engagement of disabled passengers, ATOC is currently exploring whether the implementation of a community-based comment and recommendation facility can be developed for each individual station. The set-up of such an interactive community tool would be a starting point for a social media travel network for railway passengers with disabilities in the United Kingdom.

There's a contact named, to whom I have sent a mildly sarcastic e-mail.