First / MTR win South Western franchise 2017 - 2024, and CMA raises competition concerns (merged topic)

[whole diary]

[devonexpress]

First Group & MTR have been announced as the winners of the South Western Franchise by the DFT^▸ (Department for Transport). So what can we expect.

First seems to have gone with the name "South Western Railway" linking to that of the pre-big four "London South Western Railway", is it likely we will see another green livery out, and with that what can we expect from the franchise?

Myself I would like to see the following.
*Better seats in First Class(the current ones are hard and uncomfortable compared to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)).
*Better catering options on-board
*A much more positive attitude from staff, (as I have found a few staff to have it drilled into them about checking tickets, and treating everyone as a fare evader.)
*The possibility of extending Exeter services to Okehampton(unlikely, but maybe could work early morning departure, late return?)
*Return of named services(maybe First will axe the ACE from GWR and return it to SWR^» (South Western Railway - about))
*More seats on the Class 158/159, such as in use by Arriva Wales(I think this is highly likely given how busy the Exeter to Waterloo route is)

[ChrisB]

Was reading on aPC minitor and obviously these differ, BNM.

However, yes easily read on an iphone, although left/right scrolling required

I don't tell lies for the sake of it, BNM, if I found it hard to read, I found it very difficult. Your view may (& obviously does, vary

[grahame]

You could click the hyperlink, ChrisB, and read the original in all its glory. I like what grahame has done here, which preserves the original for posterity.

No idea what it's like on Apple products.

I was eating one while I read. Apart from the bits about "core", it added little to the experience.

Thank you.

The point of asking "how is this for you" to people was to find how it is for them, as I've not done a major quote like this before.  It worked for me and for others, but clearly not for everyone.   There are times I find it very hard to read big blocks of text - be it because of volume, font or layout - and if important I tend to copy and paste into a tool such as a LibreOffice or even a terminal window editor such as vi to then have better control over the content without distraction by the presentation. Thanks to CfN for providing the alternative.

[grahame]

It just seems odd that the longest gap of the day between services is pretty much during the rush hour peak.
For the rest of the day there  is a train at 40 minutes past the hour from Salisbury.  I can see that if you commute daily to Temple Meads, that the 7.20 gets you there in time for a 9.00 start, but a 7.40 would seem to make sense,even if it would  get into Bristol  ( just)after 9.00 and the pattern you suggest would look about right.
However,I suppose that most people commuting into Bristol in fact pick up from Westbury and beyond,where there are additional services, so perhaps it makes sense overall.

Early in the day, the Portsmouth - Cardiff service is distorted for different traffic flows, with additional stops at stations normally skipped and with arrivals into Bristol from as far out as Warminster every 20 minutes until just before 9 a.m. then (yes) a 70 minute gap.    Commutes to Trowbridge - where a lot of people work seem to be more luck that judgement, with services from Salisbury and Warminster, and from Swindon and Chippenham, having unfortunate gaps for the inbound commuter to that town.

[Bob_Blakey]

Couldn't find any specific mention in the FG/MTR statement, so I hope that the new franchise holder will reinstate proper seat reservations on the WoE services in preference to the bluddy 'train' reservations so beloved of Stagecoach SWT^▸ (South West Trains).

[ChrisB]

It's very hard to spot just what is being promised that's not required in the SLC^▸ (Service Level Commitment), as almost all of it is.

I would expect the SLC to get updated from what appears in the ITT^▸ (Invitation to Tender) to contain most if not all of what's contained in the winning bid just so that the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) can't easily go back on its word. So no surprise that the visible SLC contains what's promised in the bid

[IndustryInsider]

Couldn't find any specific mention in the FG/MTR statement, so I hope that the new franchise holder will reinstate proper seat reservations on the WoE services in preference to the bluddy 'train' reservations so beloved of Stagecoach SWT^▸ (South West Trains).

Barry Doe is a big fan of a reservation for a train, not a specific seat.  I'll be interested to hear his views as he's always been very reluctant to criticise SWT, (and usually praises GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) but quick to criticise certain operators who others generally consider do an ok job like Chiltern and SouthEastern.

[ChrisB]

Many think he's wrong on that point, as a seat is preferable to a standing space should the train be busy before your joining point....

[LiskeardRich]

Look at poor Newquay!

Indeed.  The Newquay branch is certainly not a commuter line.  First departure from Newquay on weekdays is after 10am.   In fact in Summer the first train on a Sunday is actually earlier than weekdays (but not by much)!

The Newquay branch is too slow, and Par isn't exactly where anyone wants to go, so an onward connection required.

The bus from Newquay to Truro (lets face it the destination for more commutes) takes 50 mins on the fastest route, an hour on the medium route, and 90 mins via perranporth. All quicker than the Newquay branch to par and then onwards to Truro.

Regarding First winning SWT^▸ (South West Trains) this could be good for Okehampton. First know Okehampton, take a single 158/159  off at Exeter and run through to Okehampton, with an incoming service joins up In place of the one taken off, maybe 2 or 3 hourly? No reversals required, Okehampton get their wishes fairly easy. Or even a through to Barnstaple a couple of times a day?

[LiskeardRich]

You could click the hyperlink, ChrisB, and read the original in all its glory. I like what grahame has done here, which preserves the original for posterity.

No idea what it's like on Apple products.

I was eating one while I read. Apart from the bits about "core", it added little to the experience.

Thank you.

The point of asking "how is this for you" to people was to find how it is for them, as I've not done a major quote like this before.  It worked for me and for others, but clearly not for everyone.   There are times I find it very hard to read big blocks of text - be it because of volume, font or layout - and if important I tend to copy and paste into a tool such as a LibreOffice or even a terminal window editor such as vi to then have better control over the content without distraction by the presentation. Thanks to CfN for providing the alternative.

Your way of quoting I found better on iPhone, I found it hard reading the full normal quote style.

[ChrisB]

Or even a through to Barnstaple a couple of times a day?

'Competition' won't be allowed between franchises held by the same operator, I suspect. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are the operator for Barnstaple

[stuving]

It's very hard to spot just what is being promised that's not required in the SLC^▸ (Service Level Commitment), as almost all of it is.

I would expect the SLC to get updated from what appears in the ITT^▸ (Invitation to Tender) to contain most if not all of what's contained in the winning bid just so that the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) can't easily go back on its word. So no surprise that the visible SLC contains what's promised in the bid

Presumably that's true - they have committed themselves to these extra items. But I was comparing with the SLC as issued with the ITT - and in any case that is still what's on DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)'s site. If that is revised in the same format it would certainly be easier to spot the extras.

Incidentally, the full SLC is required from December 2018, with one exception - the new faster journey times for some trains on most lines (due December 2020). That date may not apply to some extra promises, of course, and if they need new stock not yet ordered only a later date might be possible. Other than that, all stock required must exist or be due from production contracts already made.

[devonexpress]

The Newquay branch is too slow, and Par isn't exactly where anyone wants to go, so an onward connection required.

The bus from Newquay to Truro (lets face it the destination for more commutes) takes 50 mins on the fastest route, an hour on the medium route, and 90 mins via perranporth. All quicker than the Newquay branch to par and then onwards to Truro.

Regarding First winning SWT^▸ (South West Trains) this could be good for Okehampton. First know Okehampton, take a single 158/159  off at Exeter and run through to Okehampton, with an incoming service joins up In place of the one taken off, maybe 2 or 3 hourly? No reversals required, Okehampton get their wishes fairly easy. Or even a through to Barnstaple a couple of times a day?

I would expect to see some sort of thing happen around the Devon area, given that First operate the Exeter depot, it could allow for a 159 or 158 to be stationed their for Okehampton to Axminster workings?




Edit by FT, N! to correct attribution oof quote

[4064ReadingAbbey]

It's pretty hard to read.

Device dependent. Readable on a PC monitor and Android tablet. Readable with pinch and zoom on an Android smartphone.

No idea what it's like on Apple products.

Easily readable on my MacBook Pro with the Retina display.

[4064ReadingAbbey]

One subject that has not been broached is that of train reliability. Over the last few years the train fleets used by South West Trains have had exceptionally good reliability as demonstrated in the annual 'Golden Spanners' awards run by Roger Ford of Modern Railways based on internal industry statistics. Commonly SWT^▸ (South West Trains) had half or more of the ten most reliable fleets in the country - including the most reliable trains in the country, the 25 year old Class 158 and 159 diesel trains maintained by Salisbury depot.

This achievement did not happen by accident - SWT identified the issues that would happen if trains regularly sat down across the Waterloo throat in the rush hours and Christian Roth drove through the changes in the maintenance departments  which made it possible. Mr Roth left SWT a few weeks ago.

The reliability of First Group's trains are, at best, average. Admittedly GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) has some quite old stock but Roth has shown what can be done. For example, the Class 165 and 166 trains are newer than SWT's diesels, the maintenance depot is similarly located close to a major traffic node, yet their published miles per technical incident is a factor 10 or more lower.

I hope that First Group can maintain SWT's standards - but it is a hard act to follow.