New Devon & Cornwall Franchise?

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

I know you're not stupid...

Ah..! Lovely to see the Xmas spirit in action! 

[ChrisB]

The Peninsular Rail Task Force includes Somerset County Council who may well want a say on services to Taunton, Yeovil, Bridgwater, Crewkerne, Templecombe...

Since when has Somerset been interested in rail? :-)
Reasonable question, which I suspect only the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) & the Peninsular Rail Task Force know currently, but that's more likely to transfer services from SWT^▸ (South West Trains)?

Pray tell, what do you consider local, and why should the Greater Western franchisee (not necessarily GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) remember) keep cross border regional services, or indeed London to peninsular services? Because they are profitable? Doesn't that rather condemn a D&C franchise to heavy subsidy?

As are the local services in the summer. And shoulder summer. I said 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) franchise, not GWR Franchise. I consider those contained within those counties & possibly any that just cross the borders. Note it's termed Devon & Cornwall, so unlikely to include Somerset?

[JayMac]

I said 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) franchise, not GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Franchise.

As well as not being stupid, I can also read.

GWR retains them

Note it's termed Devon & Cornwall, so unlikely to include Somerset?

London Midland serve Liverpool. ScotRail serves Carlisle.

[ChrisB]

I said 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) franchise, not GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Franchise.

As well as not being stupid, I can also read.

touch^, my typo

[ChrisB]

London Midland serve Liverpool. ScotRail serves Carlisle.

And those are TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company), not franchise names - but I take your point, what are the franchises called....

[JayMac]

West Midlands franchise
ScotRail franchise

So the first is even worse. It dares to serve areas outside it's name in many directions. North West, East Midlands, London.

[Umberleigh]

Could be called Devon and Cornwall Railways? I understand there are a couple of locos ready and waiting 

If it gets Tavistock reopened and passenger services to Okehampton then I'm all for it (even though I'm not sure what "it" is yet)

That said, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have pretty much done quite well with what they inherited

[ellendune]

To my mind the cross border trains remain GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)/XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise))/SWT^▸ (South West Trains).  It is the trains within Devon and Cornwall that would transfer.   The logic of combining franchises was to minimise the number of operators on the busiest of sections.  Having another operator through Bristol and the Thames Valley would be adding unnecessary complexity.  Except perhaps the sleeper!

[JayMac]

Wasn't another logic of combining franchises to group lines/areas requiring subsidy with lines/areas that were profitable?

[SandTEngineer]

To my mind the cross border trains remain GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)/XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise))/SWT^▸ (South West Trains).  It is the trains within Devon and Cornwall that would transfer.   The logic of combining franchises was to minimise the number of operators on the busiest of sections.  Having another operator through Bristol and the Thames Valley would be adding unnecessary complexity.  Except perhaps the sleeper!

No.  All GWR, XC and SWT services terminate at Exeter, and from there westbound Devon and Cornwall becomes one big branch line

[Oberon]

I just wonder if the future GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) franchise, minus everything west of Exeter, would be more or less attractive to potential franchisees in future? In terms of political clout a new Devon & Cornwall setup I suppose would be a pretty viable thing given the Conservative/Lib Dem tension in many west country seats. This dynamic might even be a positive thing regarding the potential reopening of the Okehampton-Plymouth route. Who knows!

[JayMac]

The movers and shakers in Devon & Cornwall have to do business with the movers and shakers in London. Give this new franchise some paths to London, stimulate a bit of competition.

If we are to persist with this franchise model, should one operator have a monopoly on long distance travel to the far west of England and South Wales?