Cross Country Direct Award Consultation

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Meeting today in Taunton - for TravelWatch SouthWest members before the AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting).  Partly informed by discussions on "Frequent Posters" here

John Stock for DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) - without slides or notes distributes, so here's what I noted of the initial presentation. Please ask if you have any questions - I am not of the  "court recorder" quality for these things!

9th and last Direct Award (DA^▸ (District Attorney))
New / with Incumbent. Single Tender Action. 
EU^» (European Union - about) procumenet law; value for money. Do not overcompensate.
12 month window. Prior inforation (PIN) notice.
3 years with callable up to 13 4 week periods.
Start position is current franchise.  No lesser service. As others.
About taking what's there and improving it - not just 3 years but business cases that go ahed when we go to competiton.
Thereofr not steady state
Look at new services. Work stakholders / TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) etc.  TVMs^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine), seats, better stations, refurbs
"Always put the passenger First".
Some pain won't come back for 10 years.
On innovation - have a pot 1% of turnover.  Small to medium size enterprises encouraged
HERE ... going forward wth stakenolder
XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) odd - whole countly except London.  Going around to engage.

What's it like today?
What would you like?
What are aspirations for next 10 years?

Look at gain for UK^▸ (United Kingdom) as a whole / economy.

Midsummer next year sort it out - 6 to 8 weeks sign ahead of ...
Franchise runs out / DA in from October
WILL be in contact with stakeholders during, and will check befor signing off.
A year in (late 2017) looking at competition for next franchise - 7, 10, 15 years etc
Engaging now - these forums up and down the county.

[Oberon]

What would I like?

Electrification Bristol-Bromsgrove in CP6^▸ (Control Period 6 - The five year period between 2019 and 2024), Bristol-Plymouth in CP7. New bi-mode rolling stock to accommodate "sparks effect" and general increase in rail patronage.

Pie in the sky?

[ChrisB]

Yep, its a 3-year direct award....not an HLOS^▸ (High Level Output Specification - the DfT's High Level Output Specification, which has specified to Network Rail the outputs that need to be delivered within a Control Period (CP)) statement

[Rhydgaled]

TVMs^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine), [snip], better stations

Hmm, as you noted in frequent posters, XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) don't manage any stations.

[grahame]

TVMs^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine), [snip], better stations

Hmm, as you noted in frequent posters, XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) don't manage any stations.

I was aware of that when he said it ...

a) There as a discussion about how you might improve stations to meet requests / requirements by operators of train services at those stations which are not the main operators.

b) There are stations with TVMs operated by multiple operators

[Rapidash]

I'd say extra carriages must be up near the top of the agenda. I was on the 1007 out of Paignton today, going to Brum, and it was heaving straight out of Torbay, and looked like anyone off at Brum was instantly replaced by people Manchester bound.. This is the back end of November, mid morning, yet unless you had a seat booked like me, you were right out of luck. Utterly mad.

[ellendune]

One way to improve station management is to ensure that the station operator displays which way round the train is so that people with reserved tickets know where to stand and those without know where the unreserved coach is. That would remove a lot of confusion and people getting in each others way at Cheltenham Spa.   

[paul7575]

One way to improve station management is to ensure that the station operator displays which way round the train is so that people with reserved tickets know where to stand and those without know where the unreserved coach is. That would remove a lot of confusion and people getting in each others way at Cheltenham Spa.   

The PIS^▸ (Passenger Information System) displays in SWT^▸ (South West Trains) territory seem to manage this on behalf of XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) nearly all the time, so there must be a fairly watertight system in place already, that just needs to be copied?

Paul

[JayMac]

Indeed. Better announcements about CrossCountry ticket validities are needed at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)/Network Rail managed stations as well.

I don't think I've ever heard annoucements about operator specific tickets at Bristol Temple Meads or Reading for example. Both are served by three TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company). Each with their own Advance Purchase or route specific walk-up tickets.

I only occasionally see scrolling text on the PIS^▸ (Passenger Information System) mentioning CrossCountry's non acceptance of GroupSave. You only hear announcements on board XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) services about GroupSave. Too late then. New ticket please and argue the toss later with Customer Services. Station PA^▸ (Public Address (broadcast loudspeaker announcements) or Passenger Assist (railway staff providing physical assistance to passengers with mobility issues), depending on context) announcements would definitely help. Targeted PA to those waiting for a particular train rather than a general warning played frequently. People tend to tune out of the general announcements. Most though are listening for specific announcements about the train they intend to catch. That's when you should be warning passengers about ticket validities on their chosen service. With clear PIS as well for the hearing impaired.

[RichardB]

Was Newquay mentioned, Graham?

[grahame]

Was Newquay mentioned, Graham?

Yes - but only very briefly and it's probably fair to say there was little / no substantive comment on it. 

The statement was made that the starting point for the new direct award is the current service, and a question specifically asked was "what, if anything, that Crosscountry do at the moment should they no longer do in this period" - asked in terms of services.   Absolute silence.   So the 'thin' services of trains to the North East / Scotland / Manchester from Newquay, Bath and Cardiff ... and the much thicker (but less than hourly) from Penzance and Paignton remain as the perceived starting point, with no-one suggesting any reduction therein.  I'm going to come back on a point of wider discussion in a follow up post.

[grahame]

Some further comments ... hopefully to encourage ongoing discussion.   Much more I could say; the lack of comment in this post doesn't mean it's not on the agenda ...


"What is Cross Country for?" ... a question raise on Wednesday at the TravleWatch SouthWest meeting / briefing / discussion with DfT^» (Department for Transport - about).

Cross Country Trains provide for both long distance journeys that avoid London, and in places for more regional and even local transport and the questions were asked in the discussion (seeded by TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website)) which way / where it's going for future in strategic terms.

Are Cross Country services primarily long disctance services to take people many hundreds of miles - for example my own journeys to places like Motherwell, Leeds, Lancaster and Manchester, or are they primarily fill in servives such as giving a reasonably fast service for travellers from Taunton to Bristol?  The trains were characterised as being fast in parts (such as north of York and between Cheltenham and Birmingham) but less than would be hoped of a long distance extpress between Birminham and York, and at the outer ends of (especialy) the extended journeys.  The initial "Operation Princess" concept of a cross that interchanged at New Street was slated as being broken wit the North West leg no longer serving anywhere but Manchester, and I'm going to add personal comment (not made at meeting) that it was also broken by the removal of the Brighton and occasional Kentish services.   These days, CrossCountry seems "in places to be a fill in local service where the local TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) isn't providing a service" - not my comment, but I understand what's being said after I had to get from Wiltshire to Plymouth early one morning, and found myself on a CrossCountry train from Bath to Bristol, and the another from Bristol to Plymouth ...

The "what's this train for" is an important question.  If it's long distance, an optimum service may be Bristol Temple Meads, Parkway, Cheltenham Spa, Birmingham. If you're looking for local coverage, perhaps Bristol Temple Meads, Filton Abbey Wood, Parkway, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Ashchurch, Worchester Parkway, King's Norton, University, Five Ways and Birmingham might be more appropriate.

Following on ... major flows / travel requirements from Torbay, Bridgwater, Weston-super-Mare, Bath, Swindon, Cardiff and Gloucester were highlighted as being un- or under-provided if you're looking long distance.   And gaps where neither a local operator such as GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), nor XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) provide a service when wanted were highlighted - for example east from Plymouth in the evening.  There was a universal view that CrossCountry have not engaged with travel groups / passengers in the way that other TOCs have done - for example they have been notable by absence being their norm at TWSW meetings over the past 3 years.  We had several out-of-SW representatives at the meeting on Wednesday, and this lack of engagament appears not to be limited to our area - some rather strong things were said by those who one expects to be very diplomatic.

[RichardB]

Thanks Graham.  Sounds like it was an interesting event and I was sorry not to get to it.

Sounds too like the Newquay through Summer trains should be safe. 

[ellendune]

"What is Cross Country for?" ...

Are Cross Country services primarily long disctance services to take people many hundreds of miles - for example my own journeys to places like Motherwell, Leeds, Lancaster and Manchester, or are they primarily fill in servives such as giving a reasonably fast service for travellers from Taunton to Bristol? 

They are - without doubt - long distance trains.  If they end up stopping at every farm gate then they will be useless for that purpose.  I use them to get to Birmingham, Derby, Sheffield and Leeds - picking them up at Cheltenham Spa. 

[ChrisB]

Agreed, but this will only work if the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) sort out the Regional/local service deficit on other franchises....a point made on the day.