Great Western Franchise Extension

[whole diary]

[Oberon]

The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) reports news that First Group are to be granted a five year extension to run Great Western.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-29489170

I wonder just exactly what they have promised to be allowed this privilege, devoid of competing interests from other operators?

[John R]

The rationale given is the the franchise area is going to see huge upheaval in the next four years that a) it won't be very attractive to others and b) it makes sense to keep the incumbent through this period. Though given the Thameslink Great Northern franchise has just switched, and you could make the same comments about that one, I'm not sure I totally buy that argument.

The reality is that the government's franchising programme was so completely cocked up by the West Coast franchise fiasco two years ago that DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) have had to make compromises. They just don't have the capacity to handle the number that were due to expire, hence the need for extensions. One could argue that they have wrongly prioritised which ones they have chosen to go ahead with a full refranchise. As an example they have prioritised East Coast, but this is purely political to get that franchise back into the private sector before the election. (Interesting point that since 1st September, the East Coast Main Line is almost fully publicly owned, both track and operator with only the rolling stock still in the private sector.)

The other point of note returning to the West Coast fiasco is that both Virgin and First bids included new stock to replace Voyagers under the wires. It would have been perfectly possible for the Govt to have subsequently underwritten a similar order which by now wouldn't have been far off delivery. But did they? No, of course not. 

[ellendune]

Isn't Thameslink coming rather nearer to the end of the disruption than GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) electrification?

[paul7575]

Thameslink isn't quite a normal franchise either though.  If you bear in mind that they are going through a merger of the original Southern and FCC^▸ (First Capital Connect), all they've really done is allocate it to the owning group that was already running the larger of the two merging franchises, i.e. GoVia. It was probably a bit of a 50/50 probability it would go to First or GoVia. 

Although they did hold a competition to run the TSGN combined franchise, it is not quite a normal 'franchise' either, as it is a short term management contract with the fare box revenue going to DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), designed to be re-let once the Thameslink project is finished in 2018.  The other obvious difference between GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) and TSGN is that the TSGN franchise letting process was still runnning to the expected dates, obviously the GW has suffered from the fallout following the WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) arguments.

Although the major work in the original Thameslink core is basically finished, there is still the London Bridge rebuild, the Bermondsey dive under track changes, and the connection of the GN routes via the Canal Tunnels - the 'final' Thameslink 24 tph through London isn't running until May 2018 - probably similar timescales to GW electrification and IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project. This will offer more capacity on routes, save money, give a consistent and safe service and meet customer requirements. Intended to replace HSTs.) introduction.

TSGN is a 7 year franchise, that gives them until 2021 for the dust to settle, at which time presumably it will be re-let on a normal financial basis.

Paul

[Chris from Nailsea]

It is not yet a 'done deal', apparently.  From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

First Great Western set to get five-year contract extension


First Great Western's franchise includes services from London to South Wales and the West of England

First Great Western (FGW^▸ (First Great Western)) is set to get a five-year extension to its contract without competition against other bidders, the BBC understands.

The railway firm has already been given two extensions since the franchising programme collapsed two years ago.

This extension enables a major rail electrification programme to be completed but it has angered the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers)) union.

The franchise includes services from London Paddington to South Wales. It also passes through the Cotswolds and the West of England.

Brendon Kelly, from the RMT, said: "All the investment at current is coming from the government, nothing is coming from the private operators, they're literally just managing it and sharing out the dividends to their shareholders. That's money we could be spending on the railways."

Some ^5bn is being invested to electrify the track between Bristol and Cardiff, which involves major work such as raising road bridges.

The BBC understands the plan is to complete the electrification project, get the trains running and then put out a new franchise for the railway open to all bidders.

Chris Irwin, from passenger lobby group Travel Watch South West, said: "One of the worries was that before the government decided to look at the possibility of the five-year franchise extension, we'd get a new franchise entrant coming in. That new franchise entrant would lack the inside knowledge of how this particular bit of railway works and that would be a real disaster."

A Department for Transport spokesman said: "We are committed to providing better services, more seats and more trains across the rail network in the South West as part of our long-term economic plan. As part of that process we are currently negotiating a directly awarded contract for First Great Western to continue running services. We have not yet decided how long that contract will be."

[ellendune]

TSGN is a 7 year franchise, that gives them until 2021 for the dust to settle, at which time presumably it will be re-let on a normal financial basis.

There are two general elections before then so who knows what might happen.

[ChrisB]

Franchises take close to a tear fo complete the process, so likely to be comlete before the May 2020 election

[Timmer]

More on this as part of this morning's Sunday Politics 11.15 BBC1 during the regional segment of the program for viewers in the Points West region.

[Ingleborough]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page), how many times

It is NOT a franchise extension.    It is a direct award on completely new terms.

and yes, it is legal under EU^» (European Union - about) rules.

The details will be made public once negotiations are completed, and as yet, they have not been. The BBC jumped the gun having learned of a meeting that took place 48 hours ago. There are still some things to sort.

[NickB]

Will we get delay-repay conditions with this new agreement?

[ChrisB]

I think it's quite likely - we'll have to wait & see.

[Ingleborough]

Delay / Repay on a line that will become one very long building site?  That will be some hard negotiating.

[ChrisB]

Good point! - we'll just have to wait & see....

[TonyK]

I think we are looking at the least worse option here, until the new electric railway is up and running.

[Oberon]

The question remains, what are First Group going to give, in addition to what they provide now, for the privilege of running Great Western for an extra five years?