GWR - A Trenitalia Company?

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

Reports today suggesting that Trenitalia are interested in buying FirstGroup's rail division.

Some new blood and new thinking could be just the thing. Here's hoping Hapless Hopwood isn't in Trenitalia's plans if they do takeover.

From The Sunday Telegraph:

Rivals circle FirstGroup's assets amid break-up rumours

Rivals of transport giant FirstGroup are circling the struggling bus and rail operator amid hopes that a break-up is on the cards.

Senior insiders have told The Sunday Telegraph that FirstGroup has held talks with state-backed Italian train titan Trenitalia over a sale of its UK^▸ (United Kingdom) rail arm.

It comes just days after Dean Finch, the National Express boss, admitted to an interest in some of FirstGroup’s UK bus operations.

Meanwhile, the company has appointed a crack squad of consultants to assess options for US bus subsidiary Greyhound.

Wolfhart Hauser took over as executive chairman in May after under-fire chief executive Tim O’Toole quit amid full-year losses of £327m.

A top-10 investor said: “I am pleased that Wolfhart has a twinkle in his eye and is getting stuck in to an executive-type role.

He wants all the businesses to be run separately and nothing is ruled out … This isn’t empire building, this is how you extract value for shareholders.”

FirstStudent and FirstTransit are widely considered the company’s most valuable divisions. The former is the largest school bus operator in the US.

FirstGroup’s stock market valuation is just over £1bn. Another large investor said other recent deals in the sector suggested the two divisions were worth more than that, “even if you assume UK rail and bus are worthless”.

FirstGroup and Trenitalia declined to comment.

[martyjon]

.... Here's hoping Hapless Hopwood isn't in Trenitalia's plans if they do takeover.

Don't forget TUPE^▸ (The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006.).

[Timmer]

I would only be too delighted to see First finally relinquish the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) franchise after all these years. What was a good franchise turned bad in 2006 when the new three in one franchise began. However, they’ve had a lot of help from Network Rail and Dft over the years to get it into the mess it’s in today.

The first thing the new company should do is get rid of that awful fantasy and patronising Famous Five advertising campaign.

[JayMac]

Yes, all staff from the bottom to the MD would TUPE^▸ (The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006.) to a new owner.

Nothing prevents that new owner reorganising the top table and making the MD redundant. As long as redundancy isn't solely because of TUPE then a parent company has wide scope to make changes. For instance Trenitalia could decide to have just one MD for their UK^▸ (United Kingdom) rail franchises.

[chuffed]

Having used a lot of Italian trains over the last 10 years, I have been impressed with the range and efficiency of the rail network, unlike the bus services and many other aspects of Italian life. In many instances Il Duce Benito still does seem to make the trains run on time. Highlights for me have been the new Coradia Meridian  built Jazz trains for rural routes, the Freccia high speed network, Aosta, Milan Centrale, and droplight windows in carriages. Lowlights have been the suburban network around the bay of Naples, and those heavy plastic swing doors in between the ubiquitous bright blue seats. And did I mention the cheap  fares from machines which were always happy to accept my credit card. And the need to validate ones ticket in the invisible 'sinistra' validators often hidden away in the opposite direction to where you happen to be walking.
I am sure GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) could learn a thing or two from Trenitalia. Not so sure about the other way round !

[broadgage]

A new operator might well bring some improvements, but I fear that these will be very limited.

They cant do much about network rail infrastructure failures.
They cant do much about the rolling stock downgrades.

They could recruit enough staff.
They could cancel the silly advertising , and use the money saved to buy a train ! And yes just one additional spare local DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) would help, looking at the number of short formations for the last couple of years.
They could answer the phone and reply to letters or emails promptly.

[Timmer]

I would imagine if another company were to take over GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) they would want a new MD to lead the company.

Mark Hopwood would easily find a new management role in the rail industry as there’s plenty of companies that make up the running of the railway and make plenty of money in doing so.

[TaplowGreen]

I would imagine if another company were to take over GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) they would want a new MD to lead the company.

Mark Hopwood would easily find a new management role in the rail industry as there’s plenty of companies that make up the running of the railway and make plenty of money in doing so.

Probably a merry go round, like much of the public sector at senior levels - you've got to something spectacularly bad to get sacked, the rest just move around from job to job, get found out, trouser a chunky pay off, and move on to the next one....

[SandTEngineer]

Be careful what you wish for......https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/policy/single-view/view/fs-group-board-replaced.html

[devonexpress]

In honesty id rather a British company took it over, not some italian firm who has no idea what the british public want.  What is really needed is a Co-operative style railway,  money from tickets going back directly into the railway, Maximum of only 1% profit being allowed.  And considering the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) franchise made a billion pounds last year before paying out anything even that is probably too much.

[JayMac]

TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) have to be British owned do they? FirstGroup's largest shareholder is an Austin, Texas based investment fund. Other major shareholders are Norwegian, Australian, Canadian...

To go with your British made clothes, consumer goods, food, car...

[Bmblbzzz]

I've never been to Italy but I understand their trains have a good reputation, as has been mentioned already. But I have read about the cultural background to their trains and it would seem from this, that Italian society is rail-dependent (and generally commute-dependent) in a way that Britain isn't. It's all to do with Italian love of home, of mama's cooking, of childhood friends, coupled with an economy that means people commute on a Monday morning and Friday evening basis between home towns and villages where the heart and family are to the big cities where the jobs are. Therefore the rail infrastructure gets much more support than is the case in Britain or indeed most of Europe. Here's a link to the article, in the admittedly unlikely case you have a Granta subscription (I don't, I simply picked up an old copy from a secondhand book shop). https://granta.com/trenitalia/ Note that it is from 2006, so a lot could have changed since then.

[TaplowGreen]

……..and on top of all that, how many people would want to work for a company that is uncomfortably close to Genitalia?

[chuffed]

When you use the ticket machines anywhere in Italy a heavily accented Mickey Mouse squeak comes out of the machines saying 'Be-ware of Peekpockets' followed by 'Ask Tren-it-tally-ya staff for in-for mash-eon'. So TG's supposition is all balls anyway.

[devonexpress]

TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) have to be British owned do they? FirstGroup's largest shareholder is an Austin, Texas based investment fund. Other major shareholders are Norwegian, Australian, Canadian...

To go with your British made clothes, consumer goods, food, car...

Did I say they have to be British owned BigMac, NO! Please don't put words in my mouth, I said i'd prefer it, please read what I put before hitting your keyboard.    What I said is and the point was, it doesn't matter how good the reputation is of a foreign company, the british system is so screwed up and misunderstood that it leads to empty promises.   Hence why I suggested a co-operative railway idea.

The standard commuter doesn't want a fancy ideas, such as fancy names for trains, fancy liveries, big promises to change the way of the travel experience etc, because its all a load of garbage, and funny enough the biggest and best one of those is the British company Virgin.   There has also been similar situations with German, French and Chinese railways companies promising to make a big difference, and yet nothing changes!

All most passengers want, is a comfortable journey, in a train that departs on time, and arrives on time, with good food and drink on board at moderate prices in a train that is fully functional, clean and well presented.  To be honest its not that hard, yet for some reason we still have the same problems in our railway system as we did back in the 1930s.