FirstGroup win InterCity West Coast Franchise

[whole diary]

[anthony215]

What needs to happen is that both bids, with bidder name redacted, are presented fully live on ITV1:

The programme should be called "The bids", hosted by Ant and Dec. With guest panellists: Alan Sugar, Gok Wan and Joanna Lumley.

The bids are scrutinised live on ITV, before Ant and Dec give out phone numbers "vote for the best bid", "remember, it's YOUR line".

Break for News at Ten

After the news, the phone lines close. Cheryl performs her latest single.

A button is pressed, and a chair swings round - either revealing Branson or Tim O Tool - the winner of the televote and hence the WC^▸ (Wiltshire Council (Unitary Authority)) franchise.

**Produced by Simon Cowell

This is the first time I've wished there was a 'Like' button on this forum. 

Although the panel should have at least one rail 'expert'. Perhaps Christian Wolmar or more likely, given his past involvement with shows like this - Pete Waterman.

Great post!

I agree  it bring a smile to me. and where is pete waterman it would be great for him to perhaps voice his opinion especially if he comes out in favour of First.

Hopeful;ly the deal willl be signed off quickly and this whole affair shut down so that First can just get on with things, in fact I really do hope First prove everyone wrong and run the west coast well for the next few years.

[Electric train]

Mr Branson is a victim of what he holds most dear .............. competition basically he has lost out to better competitive bid, whether the bidding process is flawed or not he did take part in the process

[Milky Bar Kid]

Louise Ellman (Chair, Transport Select Committee) just been on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) News she said "The Secretary of State has confirmed to me that she is not prepared to delay the signing of the contract". The reporter also said "The Government says the decision was entirely fair, and it is not a matter that rank and file MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) can interfere with".

[ellendune]

Louise Ellman (Chair, Transport Select Committee) just been on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) News she said "The Secretary of State has confirmed to me that she is not prepared to delay the signing of the contract". The reporter also said "The Government says the decision was entirely fair, and it is not a matter that rank and file MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) can interfere with".

Harrah for common sense! - whatever you think about First interference would have been Celebrity rule.  I suppose that only leaves beardy Branson the option of a judicial review.

Edit in in line with Industry Insiders's wishes.

[Chris from Nailsea]

At risk of labouring the point:

A DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) spokesman said: "Once a decision has been made it is in the public interest and the commercial interests of bidders for the identity of the winning bidder to be made known promptly. Our published processes and criteria do not provide for a role in a live procurement exercise for the transport committee, which has not requested any kind of dialogue on this issue before now. However, the secretary of state is due to appear in front of the select committee in early September and will be happy to talk about the business of her department."

Cough ... so there. 

[JayMac]

Lots of sabre rattling, noise, and frankly, guff, coming out of the Virgin camp. They should either put up or shut up. They have until Tuesday to request a judicial review, but I fail to see any grounds for which they could launch such an action.

It is somewhat unedifying to see Virgin and Sir Beardy stoking up the public, bringing the rigorous, complex and legal franchise tender process down to the level of some sort of tawdry reality show where opinion is formed and decisions should be taken based on what the ill-informed contributors to twitter and facebook are saying. You have people on social media saying they are going to miss the Pendolinos, folk who don't want crappy 2 car First DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) on the West Coast Main Line and so on.

Virgin Trains have said that the e-petition is a totally independent enterprise, yet they've not shied away from promoting it. A link is there on the Virgin Trains homepage. They've been misusing CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) screens at their stations to advertise the e-petition as well as handing out flyers at their stations and having frontline staff requesting customers to sign it. It's not the job of Train Managers, Customer Hosts and station staff to harangue passengers into signing a political petition. That said, kudos to them though for getting the requisite 100,000 signatories that may trigger a parliamentary debate. Shame that parliament is in recess though and any debate will happen long after the ink is dry on the ICWC^▸ (InterCity West Coast) contract. Should it trigger a wider debate on the rail franchising process then that is welcome. But under current rules First Group have won fair and square and that should be respected and defeat accepted gracefully.

I understand that losing Virgin Trains is a big blow to the bearded one, but that's the way of rail franchises. Sir Dicky B entered a fair fight and lost on points. The blind loyalty to the 'brand' by the vocal social media sheep is however harder to understand.

I note that plans are already afoot for what could be seen as a spoiler tactic by Virgin Group, with the announcement that they plan to start domestic flights between Manchester and London. Virgin need to look at history though. It was probably their increased rail service between those two cities that finally killed of the BMI service. First Great Western managed to see off any potential threat from Air South West and I doubt very much that three flights a day between Manchester and London will have any noticeable effect on First West Coast/Horizon Trains.

No doubt though if Virgin do get their slots, you can bet that they will be heavily advertised at London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly.

[IndustryInsider]

Totally agree with that post, BNM.  Spot on.  Though I wish everyone would just call him Richard Branson, Sir Richard Branson, or plain old Branson rather than 'the bearded one' or 'Sir Dicky B' or variants of them.   

[Brucey]

Writing in The Telegraph

If this process means extending the current franchise beyond December for a few months, I and my partners at Stagecoach would happily run the extended franchise on a not-for-profit basis, or donate profits to charity. We must ensure that this crucial decision is taken with all the facts correctly assessed and understood.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/9499815/Sir-Richard-Branson-an-extraordinary-week.html

[Btline]

Perhaps one good thing WILL come out of this chaos, that everyone sits down and discusses the system.
Changes do need to be made - whoever finally gets their hands on the keys to WC^▸ (Wiltshire Council (Unitary Authority)).

It is mad that the gov gives money out to TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) in subsidy and then they have to pay money back, whilst private companies pocket profits.
There should be rules in place that ensure companies invest x amount of money before they can make a profit - paid for by reducing premiums.
The Chiltern way is better for passengers and taxpayers.

To be fair to Branson (I too, don't understand the obsession with calling him other names), his article in the Telegraph is quite fair. Of course, it doesn't mean he should retain the WC!

[ellendune]

It is mad that the gov gives money out to TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) in subsidy and then they have to pay money back, whilst private companies pocket profits.

I do not beleive that the government give any subsidy to the InterCity TOCs I thought they all paid premiums. Can somone confirm?

There should be rules in place that ensure companies invest x amount of money before they can make a profit - paid for by reducing premiums.

I though First were offering to put a considerable investment in West Coast

The Chiltern way is better for passengers and taxpayers.

I didn't think Chiltern's franchise was much different to any other except that they have committed to more investment in expectation of more profit.  Again can somone correct or confirm.

[Btline]

Do Chiltern make a profit? I thought commuter railways in general lost loads, as they are only used a lot at peaks, when people are using heavily discounted season tickets.

How much did Virgin invest in the WC^▸ (Wiltshire Council (Unitary Authority))? How much profit did they make?
Perhaps less payments and more investment would be preferable.

[ellendune]

How much did Virgin invest in the WC^▸ (Wiltshire Council (Unitary Authority))? How much profit did they make?
Perhaps less payments and more investment would be preferable.

They bought new trains for both WC and Cross Country when they took over didn't they?  That was not specified in the ITT^▸ (Invitation to Tender).

[Electric train]

Writing in The Telegraph

If this process means extending the current franchise beyond December for a few months, I and my partners at Stagecoach would happily run the extended franchise on a not-for-profit basis, or donate profits to charity. We must ensure that this crucial decision is taken with all the facts correctly assessed and understood.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/9499815/Sir-Richard-Branson-an-extraordinary-week.html

Oh I hate to play snap with Branson he is soooooooo bad at losing

[JayMac]

They bought new trains for both WC^▸ (Wiltshire Council (Unitary Authority)) and Cross Country when they took over didn't they?  That was not specified in the ITT^▸ (Invitation to Tender).

They ordered new trains. They certainly didn't buy them.

[ellendune]

They bought new trains for both WC^▸ (Wiltshire Council (Unitary Authority)) and Cross Country when they took over didn't they?  That was not specified in the ITT^▸ (Invitation to Tender).

They ordered new trains. They certainly didn't buy them.

And paid the additional leasing costs!