175s to GWR

[whole diary]

[grahame]

As readers of the Coffee Shop forum will have seen, I've got some serious 'previous' for moving topics - but purely in the interests of housekeeping and ease of future reference.

However, in this case, if grahame is happy to do it, I'll leave this one to him.  That way, if it even possibly turns out to be the wrong call, he'll get the blame, not me.

CfN 

I have given 24 hours notice - purely because it's a move from a restricted to a private area to a public one and so everyone who's posted needs an opportunity to object.    Whichever of us wakes first in the morning, Chris.

Topic moved

Personal view - to me the age of a train does not matter.

If it is reliable to run an appropriate advertised timetable, safe, clean, comfortable and affordable that suits me.

I have tried to put an algorithm to measure those factors and how they interact at

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=29118.0

[Richard Fairhurst]

Reported elsewhere that the 175s are indeed on their way and will be in service from May:

https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/027591-2024

[ChrisB]

That's notice of an intention to sign, not actually contracting for it, and has been known about for a while. We are hoping to find notice of actual contract signing.

[TonyK]

It's a notice to explain why the contract hasn't been put out to tender, as is normally required for new kit, rather than "I'll get back to you when I find my pen". I'm not aware that it caused any cries of "Foul!", so hopefully it will happen soon.

[grahame]

If I may clarify.   The notice referred to on the find-tender service was issued in August and as I read it takes the form of a request to tender.  In the public finance sphere, you can't just go out and buy something without asking around for a best price to get good / best value.  I personally became aware of this August document a week or two ago, but did not report it here on the forum - yes, it was reported elsewhere in the rail / social media, but my view when I saw it was that it did no more than confirm that HMG and GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) were looking at the option and asking prices, which we knew anyway.

[stuving]

It's a notice to explain why the contract hasn't been put out to tender, as is normally required for new kit, rather than "I'll get back to you when I find my pen". I'm not aware that it caused any cries of "Foul!", so hopefully it will happen soon.

It contains several things at once, since it also reports that the terms of a contract have been agreed between the parties (date of conclusion 29 August 2024) and that this is (was) followed by a standstill period to wait for objections and:

Subject to internal governance approvals and receiving no notice of any intention to legally challenge the award of this contract, First Greater Western Limited intends to award the Contract on a date following conclusion of the voluntary standstill period (i.e. no earlier than 10th September 2024).

Now those "internal governance approvals" will, I presume, include checking for compatibility with their other contracts - and most importantly the current NRC with DfT^» (Department for Transport - about). Assuming no news means that process hasn't yet finished, I guess that DfT are being difficult - for example there's still an industry-wide review of the financials going on so it has to wait for that.

(This did come up on the Churchward thread earlier, but really belongs here.)

[Richard Fairhurst]

It also starts with the phrase "Awarded contract", right at the top of the page, and goes on to include the fairly unambiguous Section V ("Section V. Award of contract/concession"):

A contract/lot is awarded: Yes

which I take, perhaps daringly, to mean "yes, a contract has been awarded". Compare, for example, to this one which begins "Opportunity" and doesn't yet have a Section V.

But parsing this contract notice is probably a bit moot given that the First Rail high-up who posts over on RailUK spoke a couple of days ago of "when the 175 units arrive", not "if".

[stuving]

It's all legalese, of course, so words are not chosen to convey meaning (not to us outsiders, anyway). But "award" of a contract is choosing one of the competing suppliers for the contract. In this case there was only one supplier, but the steps in the process and the terminology don't reflect that. The Cabinet Office has a guide to this stuff, which says:

1. A contract award notice informs interested parties that the contracting authority intends to enter into a public contract with a specified supplier (or, where relevant, multiple suppliers).

2. The standstill period is the period between the contracting authority announcing its intention to enter into a contract (by publishing the contract award notice) and actually entering into that contract; the contracting authority cannot enter into the contract during the standstill period. The standstill period provides an opportunity for suppliers to raise any concerns about, or formally challenge, the award decision before the contract is entered into. It must be at least eight working days beginning with the day on which the contract award notice is published.

[REVUpminster]

175002 arrived a Laira yesterday.

175002 left Ely Tuesday at 1306 (2hours late) hauled between two diesel locos maximum speed 30mph did a tour of England and arrived at Laira  Wednesday at 0735 on time. I suppose the long route was for the speed restriction.

[bradshaw]

Video of it on the Cornwall Railway Society website

http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/latest-input--news--old-pictures-etc

[TonyK]

175002 arrived a Laira yesterday.

175002 left Ely Tuesday at 1306 (2hours late) hauled between two diesel locos maximum speed 30mph did a tour of England and arrived at Laira  Wednesday at 0735 on time. I suppose the long route was for the speed restriction.

It certainly was a bit of a mystery tour! I guess it was the best route for keeping out of the way of everybody else.

[REVUpminster]

Three car 175 arrived today at Laira 97 minutes early so missed a chance to see it on Dawlish cams.