GW franchise

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

I have no idea yet - I won't know until I get there!

[Electric train]

The hiccup with the GW^▸ (Great Western) franchise is the TV services between Maidenhead and Paddington Crossrail does not start to run until Dec 2017 but the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) franchise runs out in 2013.  Will First (or who ever) be willing to run the service for a few years? First are already playing hardball over all the possessions being asked for up to May 2013

[ChrisB]

3 years extension will take it to May 2016.

THere's an 'odd' 18 months after that till Crossrail starts. My bet is that HMG will announce a delay in the re-franchise and agree a further 18 month extension to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) to make a seamless re-franchise, with the CRossrail services removed.

[Zoe]

http://londonreconnections.blogspot.com/2008/10/tfl-board-meeting-summary-dlr.html

The plan is to let the Crossrail franchise for 7 years from 2014.  This would initialy take over NXEA^▸ (National Express East Anglia) services from Shenfield to Liverpool Street and then FGW^▸ (First Great Western) services from Paddington to Heathrow and Maidenhead from 2016 before Crossrail itself opens.

[dog box]

http://londonreconnections.blogspot.com/2008/10/tfl-board-meeting-summary-dlr.html

The plan is to let the Crossrail franchise for 7 years from 2014.  This would initialy take over NXEA^▸ (National Express East Anglia) services from Shenfield to Liverpool Street and then FGW^▸ (First Great Western) services from Paddington to Heathrow and Maidenhead from 2016 before Crossrail itself opens.

FGW services Paddington to Heathrow

[Zoe]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) services Paddington to Heathrow

Jointly run with BAA at this time.

_{Edited to sort out quote. i_b}

[XPT]

XPT, on what basis do you think First will have the franchise forever and why would that disappoint you? Do you really think that any of the other big companies like National Express or Stagecoach would be better in charge? Whoever ends up running the franchise can only work with the cards they are dealt by the government under the current system, which for FGW^▸ (First Great Western) weren't that great - an ageing fleet that's not really big enough for the job, and the promise of new trains snatched away from them.

Well I just get the feeling that FGW are going to be going for a loooong loooong time yet.  Maybe not forever, but another 20 years or so at least. They've been going since 1998 now, and in that time some of the other regions have had changes of franchise every few years.  FGW just seems to be going on and on and on.....

I've nothing really against FGW.  But It would be very interesting if another operator (ever!!!) took over.  To see how they'd change things from FGW, including perhaps a complete revamp of the timetables and even bringing back the London-Bristol(or beyond) express services(which FGW scrapped!), and perhaps introducing some brand new services(i.e. Bristol TM^‡(resolve)-London Paddington via Westbury and Newbury).  And it would be a change to see former FGW trains with different/new liveries.

But we'll have just to see what happens in May 2013.  Only another 29 months to wait!

[inspector_blakey]

Make that May 2016. I think the extension of the franchise to its full 10 years is a safe bet. So it's 65 months in all probability

[XPT]

May 2016.  65 months wait yet.   Zzzzz somebody wake me up when we get to May 2016!

Even if it really will be that long, would be interesting if at least during that time FGW^▸ (First Great Western) made some interesting changes to their timetables like I mentioned in my previous posting.

[Zoe]

Even if it really will be that long, would be interesting if at least during that time FGW^▸ (First Great Western) made some interesting changes to their timetables like I mentioned in my previous posting.

We are still basically using the December 2006 timetable with a few variations.  This may well turn out to be one of the longest running timetables.  Thinking back I can remember major changes in 1995 or 1996, 1999, 2004 and 2006.

[Super Guard]

Press articles at the time of their last published results.

Was it specific to GW^▸ (Great Western) or just First Group Rail Division?  Whenever results come out I haven't specifically seen GW franchise figures, just the doom and gloom cap & collar comments "Tax dollars bailing out FG" etc.

[ChrisB]

Odd you ask - First released this today....

"FirstGroup plc ("FirstGroup" or `the Group') reports the
following update on
    trading for the six months ended 30 September 2010 ahead of its
half-yearly
    results to be announced on 3 November 2010."

......

" UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Rail
     
    We are pleased with the performance of our UK Rail business
which has seen a
    continued strengthening in passenger volumes across all of our
rail franchises.
    Like-for-like passenger revenues grew by 4.4% in the period,
despite the
    reduction in regulated fares from January 2010. First Class
ticket sales are
    showing encouraging signs of improvement particularly with
Advance purchase
    fares, and we are seeing growth across all of our franchises on
Anytime, full
    flexible tickets. Across all of our franchises we continue to
focus on lowering
    the addressable cost base which has achieved substantial savings
in direct
    costs and reduced overheads."

So, nothing specific to FGW^▸ (First Great Western), but all positive. If FGW was dragging results down significantly, they would have to let shareholders know.

[eightf48544]

Grahame has posted earlier that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are due to pay ^1.1 billion to DaFT^» (Department for Transport - critical sounding abbreviation I discourage - about), in the next few years.

It will be interesting to see if DaFT does a GNER^▸ (Great North Eastern Railways) on them if they don't cough up. We are told that the govenment needs every penny it can get so if FGW don't cough up then DaFT just may take back the keys and keep any profit for the Treasury.

[ChrisB]

There's no inkling that they'll default that I've heard....

[ChrisB]

Would be interesting to hear some of the detail from that meeting, assuming it's not confidential!

It doesn't seem to be confidential - consultation is here
http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/2010-28/