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20941
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Journey by Journey / South Western services / Re: First / MTR win South Western franchise 2017 - 2024, and CMA raises competition concerns (merged topic)
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on: March 27, 2017, 18:23:26
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Can anybody tell from what has been released, if the service pattern for the Salisbury /Romsey/Romsey via Southampton route will likely remain the same, IE 1 TPH▸ ? The franchise bid document requests a quotation for that current service, so from Salisbury you should have 1. An hourly Salisbury - Romsey - Southampton - Eastleigh - Romsey service calling all stations 2. An hourly Salisbury - Romsey - Southampton express (part of Cardiff to Portsmouth within the GWR▸ franchise) 3. About 5 additional GWR franchise Salisbury - Romsey - Southampton services from Westbury or beyond, one on to Brighton Suggestions of significant changes to other services at they thread their way through the congested Southampton area could lead to some retimings, and it would be nice to do something with the dwell at Salisbury which is probably much more than is really needed. You need a short reversal at Romsey to avoid blocking the through lines. |
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20944
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Journey by Journey / South Western services / Re: First / MTR win South Western franchise 2017 - 2024, and CMA raises competition concerns (merged topic)
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on: March 27, 2017, 17:15:14
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Quoting the whole statement from [here] in case it disappears in time and we want a reference back. I've tried to make this scrollable ... Statement re South Western rail franchise award
Released : 27.03.2017
FirstGroup and MTR welcome South Western rail franchise award
FirstGroup plc and MTR Corporation Limited welcome today's announcement by the
Department for Transport ('DfT» ') of its intention to award the new South
Western rail franchise to our 70:30 joint venture First MTR South Western
Trains Limited (the 'Franchise Operator'). The new franchise will operate from
20 August 2017 until at least August 2024.
Over the course of the franchise, £1.2bn will be invested to raise the quality
of every aspect of train journeys on the South Western network. We are giving
customers and community groups a say in setting priorities for that investment
by focusing on the following areas, based on their feedback:
State of the art trains: We will introduce 750 new, spacious train carriages
for the Windsor, Reading and London Suburban routes by December 2020, as well
as 18 additional, fully refurbished trains (90 carriages) on the
London-Portsmouth route from December 2018. We shall deliver 52,000 more peak
seats per day at London Waterloo compared to today's services by December 2020.
The rest of our mainland fleet will be refreshed and will have free, more
reliable Wi-Fi, at-seat charging points and free infotainment as well as real
time travel and connection information screens.
Additional and faster services: From December 2018 our plans will deliver
faster journey times to stations including Hounslow, Reading, Southampton,
Bournemouth, Weymouth, Portsmouth and Salisbury; double the service to both
Reading and Windsor throughout the day; double the off-peak service between
Southampton and Portsmouth and re-introduce through services between
Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth and Weymouth to aid regional connectivity.
We will also significantly improve weekend services with more than 400 extra
Sunday trains across the network.
Easier tickets and fares: We will introduce simpler fares with mobile and smart
ticketing. These will include flexible season tickets and new lower fares for
16-18 year olds, recognising the importance of accessible rail travel. Claiming
compensation will also be made simpler with the introduction of an easy-to-use
'delay repay' scheme for the first time on the network. Our new passenger app
will be a key gateway to all travel options throughout the region.
Station improvement: £90m will be invested in our stations, including a major
refurbishment at Southampton Central station. Car parks will be extended at key
locations with at least 1,500 extra spaces and new electric vehicle charging
points. We will use station buildings to host community projects and
independent retailers. Passengers will also benefit from this summer's London
Waterloo platform extension project that is scheduled for completion within
days of the start of the new franchise. Further capacity at Waterloo will be
introduced at the end of 2018 when the former Waterloo International platforms
are fully redeveloped and brought back into use.
People and communities: An important objective is to increase engagement with
customers, employees, local authorities and community groups to give them a
real stake in the future of rail travel in their area. We will launch a £2.6m
annual fund to support community projects across the franchise from April 2020.
Connections between other local rail and bus services will deliver genuine
joined up journeys, and we plan to introduce the biggest rail operator
apprenticeship scheme in Britain.
Commenting on today's announcement, Secretary of State for Transport Chris
Grayling said:
"This is great news for rail passengers. FirstGroup and MTR will deliver the
improvements that people tell us they want right across the South Western
franchise area, from Southampton and Portsmouth, to Bristol and Exeter, to
Reading, Windsor and London.
"We are delivering the biggest rail modernisation programme for over a century
and this franchise will deliver real changes for passengers, who can look
forward to modern trains, faster journeys and a more reliable service."
FirstGroup Chief Executive Tim O'Toole said:
"We are delighted that our partnership with MTR has been selected by the DfT to
run the South Western rail franchise, a key part of the country's railway
network which millions of people rely on every day. Our successful bid will
deliver the tangible improvements that customers and stakeholders have told us
they want from this franchise. Passengers can look forward to new and better
trains, more seats and services, quicker journey times, improved stations and
more flexible fare options."
Jeremy Long, CEO▸ - European Business, MTR Corporation said:
"MTR is known across the world for the excellent quality of its rail services,
and we look forward to working with FirstGroup to provide a best-in-class
travel experience for passengers in London and the South West. Together we will
deliver a major programme of upgrades, including improvements to both rail
services and customer experience, for passengers travelling across the South
Western network."
Key franchise terms
The new franchise will start on 20 August 2017 and is planned to run for a core
period of seven years, with an extension option of up to eleven months at the
DfT's discretion. Under the contract, the Franchise Operator will deliver £
2.6bn real NPV* in premium payments to the Government over the core period. The
JV shareholders will provide a loan of up to £30m, and £88m (of which 50% is
bonded) in subordinated contingent loan facilities to the Franchise Operator,
as well as a £15m performance bond and a season ticket bond of up to £80m. The
franchise terms include GDP and Central London Employment revenue protection
mechanisms to mitigate the financial impact of exogenous economic factors
outside the control of the Franchise Operator, and a profit sharing arrangement
whereby a proportion of profit in excess of pre-specified thresholds will be
payable to the DfT.
The franchise will benefit from investment of £1.2bn, primarily during the
first four years of the franchise, leading to enhanced customer experience and
passenger capacity. Approximately £80m of investment will be directly funded by
the Franchise Operator. Franchise passenger revenues, which were £991m in 2015/
16, are expected to increase from the additional capacity created. FirstGroup
expects to achieve margins comparable with the recent overall industry average
and to earn an appropriate return over the life of the contract, reflecting the
franchise risk profile. FirstGroup expects a working capital inflow of
approximately £100m principally relating to season ticket monies, to be treated
as restricted cash.
The franchise award is subject to the customary 'standstill period' of ten
days, after which formal contracts will be signed by the DfT. As with other UK▸
rail franchise awards, the Competition and Markets Authority is also required
by law to carry out a 'phase one review'.
* Net present value of forecast premium payments over the seven year core
franchise period, expressed in 2017/18 prices and discounted using the DfT's
'real' discount rate of 3.5%.
Key benefits of the new South Western franchise:
New trains - 750 new carriages for suburban services
* Introduce 750 carriages by December 2020, forming 90 brand new trains
primarily for London Suburban routes and Windsor/Reading lines
* Average age of the entire fleet coming down by almost half by December 2020
* New fleet will provide over 46% more peak capacity for our customers than
today's trains on the Windsor, Reading and London Suburban routes
* Enhanced travelling experience for customers - free reliable Wi-Fi, at-seat
charging points, air conditioning, toilets, wide gangways and wide doors to
improve ease of boarding and alighting
Improved carriages - 90 for Portsmouth fast services / comfortable seating
on all fast services
* 18 trains / 90 carriages refurbished to 'as new' for Portsmouth to London
services by December 2018
* Comfortable 'two plus two' seating on all Portsmouth fast trains to London
by December 2018
More seats - 22,000 extra morning peak seats into Waterloo and 30,000 in
evening peak from Waterloo
* Boosting peak seats each weekday by around 30% by December 2020
Increased frequency, better weekend services and quicker journeys from
December 2018
* Mainline journey times reduced, including Weymouth-London and Poole-London
journey times reduced by up to 14 minutes; Bournemouth-London reduced by up
to nine minutes and Southampton Central-London reduced by up to eight
minutes. Trips from Portsmouth will be quicker with an average five minutes
cut from fast journeys and up to seven minutes from slower trips
* Better connectivity on the South Coast, with four trains an hour between
London and Portsmouth, direct service along the South Coast connecting
communities from Portsmouth to Weymouth, and a second hourly semi-fast
service between Portsmouth and Southampton
* Sunday afternoon services will match weekdays on most routes for the first
time from 2018 with almost 400 more services; number of fast trains to
Portsmouth will double on Sunday afternoons. West of England will see two
trains per hour earlier on a Sunday than currently and we will speed up
Weymouth services by deploying a standard weekday stopping pattern
* Double the number of trains each hour to Reading and Windsor from two to
four - Reading will see two semi-fast and two stopping services every hour
and Windsor will receive two extra semi-fast services via Hounslow
* We will improve late evening frequencies and later last trains across the
network
Free and fast Wi-Fi on trains and stations
* Free Wi-Fi both on-board mainland trains and at stations, with up to five
times greater bandwidth than today
* Introduce free infotainment to many of our mainland trains by December
2018, making films, catch-up TV, newspapers and magazines available - and
full coverage of our mainland fleet by December 2020
Real-time information on all trains ensuring customers have a smooth and
rapid, door-to-door journey
* Live updates to passenger information screens on all our mainland trains
Charging points accessible from every seat for all our mainland trains
* Our new suburban trains, introduced by December 2020, will all have
charging points
* We will introduce charging points on all other mainland trains - Class
442s, Class 444s and 450s by December 2018, Class 158s and 159s by December
2020
New innovative customer app
* New customer app will make it the primary source of travel advice for our
customers making it easier to use our trains, pointing customers towards
less busy trains or less busy coaches within trains
Mobile ticketing and new smartcards
* Mobile phone barcode tickets will be available on the network for the first
time, covering a wide range of journeys
* We will implement our smartcard scheme across the franchise including
pay-as-you-go functionality
* We will offer flexible season products
Automatic Delay Repay
* We will bring in Delay Repay for the first time, making it simple and easy
for our customers to claim for late trains with a fully automated process
offered to those buying season and advance tickets direct on smartcards
£90m station investment
* £90m station investment programme, including the refurbishment of
Southampton Central
* At least 1,500 new car parking spaces across the network and 60 electric
vehicle charging points at stations
* New stations: we will work with stakeholders to progress plans for new
stations such as Park Barn, Merrow and Wilton Parkway and others during the
franchise
Working with the Isle of Wight community to develop proposals for Island
Line's future
* We will engage with the Isle of Wight community to develop plans to secure
a more sustainable Island Line
* Proposal to be submitted to Government with Island support
* Annual £50,000 Customer and Communities Improvement Fund for Island Line
More than 100 apprenticeships each year
* We plan to introduce the biggest rail operator apprenticeship scheme in
Britain - we will launch our apprenticeship programme from franchise start
on a wide range of courses
Customer and Communities Improvement Fund
* £2.6m annual fund for community projects across the franchise to be
launched from April 2020
Investor information
A conference call for investors and analysts will be held at 8:30am today.
Please call +44 (0) 20 7725 3354 in advance of the call to register and receive
joining details. A presentation pack together with a pdf copy of this
announcement and a playback facility will be available at www.firstgroupplc.com
/investors.
Contacts at FirstGroup:
Faisal Tabbah, Head of Investor Relations
Stuart Butchers, Group Head of Media
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7725 3354
Michael Harrison / Andrew Porter, Brunswick PR▸
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7404 5959
Contacts at MTR:
Nick Collins, MHP Communications
nick.collins@mhpc.com
+44 (0) 7824 462 091
Notes
Figures presented in this announcement are not audited. Certain statements
included or incorporated by reference within this announcement may constitute
'forward-looking statements' with respect to the business, strategy and plans
of FirstGroup and our current goals, assumptions and expectations relating to
our future financial condition, performance and results. By their nature,
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, assumptions,
uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or
achievements of FirstGroup to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. Shareholders are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the
forward-looking statements. Except as required by the UK Listing Rules and
applicable law, FirstGroup does not undertake any obligation to update or
change any forward-looking statements to reflect events occurring after the
date of this announcement.
About FirstGroup
FirstGroup plc (LSE: FGP.L) is a leading transport operator in the UK and North
America. With £5.2 billion in revenues and 110,000 employees, we transported
around 2.2 billion passengers last year. Each of our five divisions is a leader
in its field: In North America, First Student is the largest provider of
student transportation with a fleet of around 47,000 yellow school buses, First
Transit is one of the largest providers of outsourced transit management and
contracting services, while Greyhound is the only nationwide operator of
scheduled intercity coach services. In the UK, FirstGroup is one of Britain's
largest bus operators running a fleet of some 6,200 buses, and we are one of
the country's most experienced passenger rail operators, carrying around 140
million passengers last year. Our vision is to provide solutions for an
increasingly congested world... keeping people moving and communities
prospering. Visit our website at www.firstgroupplc.com and follow us
@firstgroupplc on Twitter.
About MTR Corporation
MTR Corporation is headquartered in Hong Kong and is acknowledged as one of the
world's leading operators of metro, commuter, inter-city and airport rail
systems with rail operations in Hong Kong, China, Australia, Sweden and the UK.
It is also a property developer, and manages shopping malls, retail units,
apartments and other major buildings along some of its lines.
In the UK, MTR is the operator of the Elizabeth Line concession (the name for
the Crossrail route), and currently runs TfL» Rail services between Liverpool
Street and Shenfield. MTR was a joint venture partner in London Overground Rail
Operations Ltd (LOROL▸ ) between November 2007 and November 2016.
Listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, MTR has a market capitalisation of
approximately £22.3 billion, and is included on the FTSE4Good and Dow Jones
Sustainability Indexes. It won over 50 awards in 2016 for quality, customer
service and sustainability. ... and from a preview look like I've succeed! |
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20945
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All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption elsewhere - ongoing, since Oct 2014
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on: March 26, 2017, 23:46:50
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Not enough paths Oxford-Didcot.
That's not as black and white as your comment implies. I noticed from Real Time Trains that the services used Didcot West Curve rather than into Didcot Parkway then reverse. When local (electric) trains from London terminate at Didcot and there's a shuttle from there to Oxford, might it not be logical to start that shuttle back at Bristol and reverse at Didcot - it then doubles up as the local connector and the Oxford to the West service, tapping the Oxford to Swindon market and not taking an extra paths. Should a Wantage station open at some date in the future, it's also an enabling service that would provide a useful connection to London at Didcot. |
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20947
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Journey by Journey / TransWilts line / Re: An honourable and much-appreciated retirement for Save the Train
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on: March 26, 2017, 22:54:32
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I am so pleased that it has progressed so well, and I feel honoured to have spent a little of my time a couple of years ago which may or not have helped it along. You have done a wonderful job Graham, and I hope that you can keep up the good work for many years to come!
Alan, it was / is a pleasure to have your help along. Getting the literature our door to door - with you and Lee doing the lion's share between you - gave us that vital early passenger boost as the new service started. I know how tiring door to door can be as I did a little. |
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20950
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All across the Great Western territory / Buses and other ways to travel / Bus route 49 - the TransWilts Express from Swindon to Trowbridge
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on: March 26, 2017, 10:58:31
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An enquiry in my "in box" ... data / news to pass on back would be gratefully received. I’m looking to establish the history behind the inclusion on National Rail Enquiries, and the promotion (or lack of) of the current TransWilts Route 49 bus Timetables & Fares with onwards/feeder rail services at both Swindon and Trowbridge? I’ve discovered that ‘Devizes Bus’ (XAQ) exists on the National Rail Journey Planner as an ‘originating station’ (but not as a destination), and that journeys can only be booked for travel via Swindon (not Trowbridge). Interestingly, bus only journeys to Swindon can be purchased via National Rail, which is interesting. I also found it surprising that journeys can’t be booked to/from Avebury World Heritage Site which, from my own limited experience of leisure travel on Route 49, generates quite a few journeys by tourists – but could generate many more if the service was more widely advertised.
Yet if someone wishes to travel from ‘Devizes Bus’ (XAQ) for travel via Trowbridge, NRE‡ will only offer journey options via bus to SWINDON and thence onward by rail. Even more bizarre is if you request a journey from ‘Devizes Bus’ (XAQ) to Trowbridge (for which the 49 operates an hourly direct service), NRE will only offer journeys in the opposite direction to Swindon, thence via rail, at combined bus/rail fares several times the bus only fare! This does not, to my mind, appear to be a properly Integrated Bus-Rail link!!
I also found it surprising that journeys can’t be booked to/from Avebury World Heritage Site which, from my own experience of travel on Route 49, generates quite a few journeys by tourists – but could generate many more if the service was more widely advertised. My thoughts: The 49 service (they have used the “TransWilts Express” name for many years) started off as a government supported service from Swindon to Devizes under some form of rural development scheme which (no doubt) one of my contacts will be able to fill me in with in more detail. Very much designed with Rail - Bus in mind, over the years it did / has run past the railway station to pick up / and / or to drop off, but with poor signage, a lack of advertising to train users, and a very high proportion of users travelling on the service to get to Swindon’s excellent town centre, the rail link has been a minor part of the traffic.
Tourism has been on and off the agenda for the service; some summers it was run by Thamesdown’s open top buses at weekends / on Sundays.
A logical route extension was to Trowbridge (I’m not sure what the previous service was on the Devizes -> Seend -> Trowbridge main road) and this was bolted on much later than the original service and (it would seem) road / rail link add-on stuff from the Swindon to Devizes section wasn’t extended. Techically, it’s still two routes - Swindon to Devizes and Devizes to Trowbridge, but both have the same route numbers, there are through (bus) fares for those of us too young or travelling too early in the day to be on ENCTS▸ passes, and even the vehicles go on through. The timetables show an interesting “though connection” symbol. This is done to keep the route within bus route limits rather than turn it into a long distance coach, which would require additional vehicle fitments such as tachographs and bring in a whole swathe of extra rules designed to ensure the safety of long distance lorries, but also applying to other ;long distance heavy vehicles.
I note that there are new registrations for the 49 from 30th April. My understanding is that the Sunday service (which only runs Swindon to Devizes) may be become once every 2 hours, and that some “lightly used” runs at the beginning and end of the day are being withdrawn. That has far more of a potential impact on commuters than others, though it will have a knock on effect in removing the traffic generated by the other half of return trips from people who use the lighter buses. The statement is that the saving are promoted by Wiltshire Council to make “more efficient use of resources” - in other words a subsidy cut, but I’m unsure whether the particular runs concerned are presently subsidised, or whether the operator said he would need a subsidy in the future if they were to continue as they’re no longer viable commercially.
Also from 30th April, the Sunday service from Swindon to Marlborough and Pewesy is renumbered, rerouted, and reduced to just Swindon to Marlborough. I need to check back, but I think the current Sunday service may run via Avebury, but the future one may not? Corrections of fact welcome. |
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