Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 20:55 28 Mar 2024
* Bus plunges off South Africa bridge, killing 45
- Easter getaways hit by travel disruption
- Where Baltimore bridge investigation goes now
- How do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?
- Passengers pleaded with knifeman during attack
- Family anger at sentence on fatal crash driver, 19
- Easter travel warning as millions set to hit roads
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
28th Mar (1988)
Woman found murdered on Orpington to London train (*)

Train RunningCancelled
18:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
18:36 London Paddington to Plymouth
19:23 Reading to Gatwick Airport
19:33 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill
19:35 Exeter St Davids to London Paddington
19:59 Gatwick Airport to Reading
20:13 Swindon to Westbury
20:20 Reading to Shalford
20:49 Newbury to Bedwyn
20:54 Reading to Gatwick Airport
20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington
21:16 Bedwyn to Newbury
21:30 Shalford to Reading
21:53 Newbury to Bedwyn
22:25 Bedwyn to Newbury
22:30 Gatwick Airport to Reading
22:47 Newbury to Bedwyn
Short Run
16:03 London Paddington to Penzance
17:03 London Paddington to Penzance
17:30 London Paddington to Taunton
17:36 London Paddington to Plymouth
18:03 London Paddington to Penzance
19:04 Paignton to London Paddington
19:29 Gatwick Airport to Reading
20:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
20:11 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
20:42 Bedwyn to London Paddington
21:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
Delayed
16:15 Penzance to London Paddington
Additional 17:17 Exeter St Davids to Penzance
Additional 17:26 Castle Cary to Penzance
19:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
An additional train service has been planned to operate as shown 19:40 Redhill to Reading
23:04 Reading to Bedwyn
23:45 London Paddington to Penzance
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 28, 2024, 21:02:00 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[118] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[116] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[89] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[46] Return of the BRUTE?
[38] If not HS2 to Manchester, how will traffic be carried?
[28] Reversing Beeching - bring heritage and freight lines into the...
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Scotrail  (Read 2070 times)
Sixty3Closure
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 501


View Profile
« on: December 18, 2019, 16:08:37 »

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-50841814

Franchise to end early. Be interesting to see what the Scottish Government does (I think Transport is a devolved function) as seems to have a different view on many things from the UK (United Kingdom) government.
Logged
Zoe
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 746


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2019, 16:16:45 »

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-50841814

Franchise to end early. Be interesting to see what the Scottish Government does (I think Transport is a devolved function) as seems to have a different view on many things from the UK (United Kingdom) government.
Transport is devolved but the overall structure of the railways set by the Railways Act 1993 is a reserved matter.  As part of the Scotland Act 2016 however, section 25 of the 1993 Act was amended so that the prohibition on a public sector operator being a franchisee no longer applies to Scotland.
« Last Edit: December 18, 2019, 16:24:31 by Zoë » Logged
TonyK
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6435


The artist formerly known as Four Track, Now!


View Profile
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2019, 00:41:50 »

Transport is indeed devolved - it was the Scottish transport minister who cut the length of the franchise. It will be interesting to see what happens next. Scotrail has a monopoly on all Scottish services other than those which cross the border into England. The track and infrastructure is run by our old friend Notwork Rail. Scotland will still need an internal railway, so the minister will have to choose between asking for tenders for a new franchise, or taking Scotrail into public ownership, which he can do.  If he does that with the same rolling stock, then we can watch the experiment from England and see if a train driven by a civil servant is better or worse han one driven by the same person, but wearing an Abelio uniform. If he buys lots of new trains to augment the service, Abelio will cry "Foul!" if he starts saying his service is better than theirs.

Interesting, to say the least.
Logged

Now, please!
Zoe
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 746


View Profile
« Reply #3 on: December 19, 2019, 11:55:12 »

so the minister will have to choose between asking for tenders for a new franchise, or taking Scotrail into public ownership, which he can do
Can that be done without it going to tender first though (as per the Railways Act 1993 which is a reserved matter)?  The amendments made by the Scotland Act 2016 would of course allow a company in public ownership to bid.

EDIT:  Just gone through the relevant legislation and can see section 26(4B) regarding a statement of policy says:

Quote
(4B)The statement must in particular include the policy of the Secretary of State. the Welsh Ministers or the Scottish Ministers about—

(a)when his or their selection of the person to be a franchisee under a franchise agreement is likely to be from those submitting tenders in response to an invitation to do so;

(b)when it is likely such an invitation will not be issued; and

(c)the means by which he is, or they are, proposing that the selection will be made in cases where there is no such invitation.

So there does seem to be some scope for a direct award.
« Last Edit: December 19, 2019, 14:11:57 by Zoë » Logged
Sixty3Closure
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 501


View Profile
« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2019, 14:00:44 »

Presumably the advantage of a Scottish Government bid is that it would allow direct management of Scotrail rather than a one step removed process and having to nudge and influence the franchise holder?

Or does it still have to be an independent entity?

I guess you'd also save a small amount on dividends to shareholders although ideally the Scottish Assembly might want a Network Rail Scotland under their influence as well.
Logged
TonyK
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6435


The artist formerly known as Four Track, Now!


View Profile
« Reply #5 on: December 19, 2019, 21:56:30 »

I guess you'd also save a small amount on dividends to shareholders although ideally the Scottish Assembly might want a Network Rail Scotland under their influence as well.

I don't think Scotland could afford its own Network Rail, even if it did do a grand job of reinstating the Borders line. The current national system across the current nation does allow for all of the railway to be catered for out of one pot of cash, no matter how vast the distances involved might be.
Logged

Now, please!
eightonedee
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1532



View Profile
« Reply #6 on: December 19, 2019, 22:14:43 »

The nearest equivalent celtic fringe country's experience (Ireland) is not encouraging.....
Logged
ellendune
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4452


View Profile
« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2019, 22:49:16 »

I guess you'd also save a small amount on dividends to shareholders although ideally the Scottish Assembly might want a Network Rail Scotland under their influence as well.

I don't think Scotland could afford its own Network Rail, even if it did do a grand job of reinstating the Borders line. The current national system across the current nation does allow for all of the railway to be catered for out of one pot of cash, no matter how vast the distances involved might be.

I thought the Scottish Government separately funded Network Rail for Scotland.
Logged
TonyK
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6435


The artist formerly known as Four Track, Now!


View Profile
« Reply #8 on: December 20, 2019, 15:03:07 »


I thought the Scottish Government separately funded Network Rail for Scotland.

It does, but at a discount and without some of the costs facing the rest of NR» (Network Rail - home page). The Statement of Funds Available has a footnote to the paragraph on funding:

Quote
1 Any obligations which Network Rail may have in relation to Corporation Tax, financial indemnity mechanism fee, cash
collateral obligations, interest payments and repayments related to the DfT» (Department for Transport - about) Loan or other third party debt and other intragovernment costs will be dealt with by the UK (United Kingdom) Government.
Logged

Now, please!
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page