Great Western franchise to be broken up?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

By combining the franchises in 2006, was the SRA^» (Strategic Rail Authority - about) (and then DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) Rail) hiding a slashing of support for nearly all the Wessex trains routes under a reorganisation smoke screen, with the First group being their paid thugs contractors to do the dirty work of reducing as they re-organised?

But then should the franchises be split again in 2019 or 2020, would that further piece of re-re-organsation be a further opportunity to provide a further redirection (in a negative or a positive direction) under another smoke screen.

A time of change is a time of opportunity ... opportunities offered to all sides.  Not all the opportunities can be realised, and to some extent the opportunities available to the most powerful and most driven will prevail.  In 2006, we were in the middle of a long Labour government, with few Labour MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) in the South West.   In 2019 / 2020 though, it's probable we'll have ... well, it's a peculiar time, but we'll probably have a narrow conservative majority and the likes of Michelle Donelan, Andrew Murrison, John Glen, James Gray and Claire Perry will have an eye on ensuring that whatever happens it's palatable to their voters.

[TonyK]

I always thought one of the advantages (if there were any) of having the former Wessex routes in the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) franchise was the feeder aspect of the smaller routes. That would be a loss overall.

[4064ReadingAbbey]

There are also some general points which can be made about franchise sizes. These are, in no particular order:

• There seems to be a general feeling that the form of organisation (and also ownership) is important. I maintain that this is not necessarily the case - but politicians like re-organisations because, essentially, that is all they can do without spending money. And it allows people to think the Government is doing something.
• The 'success' of a business - whether measured by performance, financial returns or whatever - depends more on having clear and consistent targets set by the business's Directors than on the form of the organisation or its ownership per se. The Directors then have to ensure the management is up to the job. The issue at the moment is that the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) is a poor substitute for a good Board of Directors as it is too affected by other considerations and is one step removed from the franchise, the franchisee's holding company being in the way.
• Small franchises have a potential advantage from the DfT's point of view in that the costs of making the bid and the size of the performance and season ticket bonds which have to be posted will be smaller. For example National Express may be interested in returning to the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) market if the 'up-front' costs are reduced.
• As potential bidders don't have to have such deep pockets the way is opened for the DfT to reduce its reliance on the European railway administrations bidding for franchises which is the current de facto case. This is because they are the only ones with railway experience and with deep enough pockets to bid. This will to a certain extent reduce the commotion about our railways being sold to foreigners.
• Small franchises have a problem in giving their staff a promotion ladder. The danger is the brighter ones will move elsewhere.
• Unit costs for small franchises will tend to be higher as they will need their own financial department, HR^▸ (Human Resources) department and so on rather than using the central services of a larger organisation.
• These additional costs may be nullified by the tighter and more direct management possible in a small organisation.

[chrisr_75]

I always thought one of the advantages (if there were any) of having the former Wessex routes in the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) franchise was the feeder aspect of the smaller routes. That would be a loss overall.

The other two major long distance franchises in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) - west and east coast main lines - both have multiple regional 'feeder' franchises and seem to operate ok. Do you think that would work differently on the western route?

[Kernow Otter]

I would like to see a Cornwall Devon franchise which operated the region's branchlines, AND a proportion of peak/ off peak Intercity services.

[AMLAG]

This idea of a Devon & Cornwall mini franchise has been around for a few years now and generally has not been positively received. Although at one time Devon County Council (when it had more money and several PRO Rail movers & shakers) was stirred that it might have its own train set.
I suppose the now largley redundant St Blazey Depot could be the DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) and Baby HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) hub for Cornwall.

[devonexpress]

why does it matter if a recreated Wessex franchise makes a loss?  surely the loss will be compensated for by the bigger profits of the mainline franchise.  If the subsidy/premium profile is correctly set up the overall cost to the taxpayer will be the same.   

The worry is that the "Wessex" franchise would then potentially be under pressure from government (or future governments) to reduce its subsidy.

With the new timetable from December 2018, bringing all the Intercity Journeys connecting to local branch line services, this should help, if anything since 2006 when FGW^▸ (First Great Western)/GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) took it all over, the amount of passengers has increased, ok the winter months are quieter which is why 1 carriage 153's are used but surely its better for the government to have one big franchise that makes money, rather than having two one which makes money and the other that loses it and after a few years collapses? Anyway with the way thing are we might have a new Transport Minister soon who gives up the whole idea!  I just amazes me that the government listen to these silly commuters who moan about not being able to have heated seats and a train that turns up on time, every time(which is frankly impossible, well it is possible but the money needed to do it is not worth it, its cheaper just to refund £30 to 10 passengers, then pay £10,000 to make the train 2% more efficient) anyway, as I was saying, the government listen to all these idiots who moan and groan, then they change something and guess what? they still moan!   It makes me laugh especially when they have a cheap standard class ticket but they act like a 1930's first class passenger.

But the current GWR franchise is under pressure from Government to increase the premium paid.  I don't buy the argument that by "hiding" unprofitable services in a bigger franchise the Government forgets or overlooks that they are loss making.  To DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) a change in premium from £10m to £20m is worth precisely the same as a cut in subsidy from £20m to £10m. 

There are good reasons to keep GWR together, but the fact that local journeys are cross subsidised by long distance ones is not one of them.  Remember subsidy is tax payer's money and transparency in how that is collected and spent is ALWAYS a good thing. 

[bradshaw]

Rumours on Twitter that the Devon and Cornwall TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) will include the Berks and Hants route to London
Philip Haigh yesterday on Twitter

Hearing whisper that proposed Devon & Cornwall TOC will include Berks & Hants route to London. DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) to consult very soon.

[Henry]

 Over 20 year's ago I'm sure I was advised that 'privatisation' of the railways would make
 everything so much easier ! 

[Tim]

Rumours on Twitter that the Devon and Cornwall TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) will include the Berks and Hants route to London
Philip Haigh yesterday on Twitter

Hearing whisper that proposed Devon & Cornwall TOC will include Berks & Hants route to London. DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) to consult very soon.

That has potential to introduce some competition (price and journey time) for those in Wiltshire who need to get to London and can chose between going North to Bath/Chippenham or South to Westbury.  

[Bob_Blakey]

Hearing whisper that proposed Devon & Cornwall TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) will include Berks & Hants route to London. DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) to consult very soon.

I guess the Hitachi/GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) contract for provision of IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) sets would have to be renegotiated, and presumably split into two parts thereby potentially reducing overall availability. What an absolutely brilliant idea! 

[ChrisB]

Explain that assumption please? Why would it?

[broadgage]

At present there is a complex contract between GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and Hitachi.
If the present GWR franchise is to be split into two new franchises and if each of the new franchises are to operate IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train), then two new contracts will be needed, adding more complexity.

If the two fleets are to remain identical, then that has removed an important element of competition, no chance of promoting one route over the other "come travel with us, our trains are more comfortable" or more likely "come with us, we are cheaper (higher density seating)"

On the other hand if the new operators are allowed to alter the internal fit out, then the two fleets are no longer readily interchangeable.

[IndustryInsider]

At present there is a complex contract between GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and Hitachi.

The contractual documentation, known as MARA^▸ (Master Availability and Reliability Agreement) (Master Availablitity And Reliability Agreement)and TARA^▸ (Train Availability and Reliability Agreement) (Train Availablitity And Reliability Agreement) is available here if anyone fancies some light reading...

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/intercity-express-programme-technical-specification-and-contracts

[Tim]

Hearing whisper that proposed Devon & Cornwall TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) will include Berks & Hants route to London. DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) to consult very soon.

I guess the Hitachi/GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) contract for provision of IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) sets would have to be renegotiated, and presumably split into two parts thereby potentially reducing overall availability. What an absolutely brilliant idea! 

I assume that Hitachi has already accepted that its contract for 27 1/2 years will not be with the same ToC for its whole length.  Even without the franchise being split it would likely change hands.