East Coast franchise - ongoing discussion, merged topic

[whole diary]

[SDS]

The trout.
I still remember the days when in bath you had, Badgerline, City-Line (X35 ?? To Bristol?), streamline, Bath Bus and the UniBus. How many of them are now First Somerset & Avon? Streamline had some okay routes and undercut Badgerline, so first paid midland red west to take over streamline. The UniBus now first operated.
Ultimately if they are a pain to first and profitable first will just take them over.

Regards EC it should stay in public ownership, but of course the Brussels EU^» (European Union - about) rules dictate it can't be owned (directly) by a public company. And of course we all know that DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) is owned by DB AG which in turn is the equiv of a ltd company which is wholly owned by the German state. Oh and also remember the Tory governments friends have got to let their chums get a payout.

[Network SouthEast]

The government would be within EU^» (European Union - about) rules if East Coast remained publicly owned.

The track and operator must be seperate. That's all.

By the way the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) has NEVER complied with the EU ruling because in Northern Ireland the state owned Translink operates both trains and track!

[Southern Stag]

I'm pretty sure Northern Ireland obtained a derogation because of the small size of the network and with one obvious exception, the near impossibility of cross-border services.

[ellendune]

Regards EC it should stay in public ownership, but of course the Brussels EU^» (European Union - about) rules dictate it can't be owned (directly) by a public company. And of course we all know that DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) is owned by DB AG which in turn is the equiv of a ltd company which is wholly owned by the German state. Oh and also remember the Tory governments friends have got to let their chums get a payout.

The track and operator must be seperate. That's all.

Network SE is right.  The rule is that there has to be a separation.  IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) DB have been in trouble because, although they have separation, the infrastructure company appeared to be favoring the DB operating company. I think France has a similar separation, and they had similar complaints. 

This all gives grist to the mill who require the complete separation we have (except that we don't have it in Northern Ireland and the Isle of Wight, and possibly SW Trains).

[Lee]

East Coast Invitation to Tender has been issued, and confirms an 8 year term from March 2015 with a possible 1 year extension - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/east-coast-on-course-for-improved-rail-services

[John R]

^the potential for improved services to destinations such as Lincoln

Ah, now where have we heard that before....

^an opportunity for bidders to serve five new routes including Huddersfield, Scarborough, Harrogate (via York), Middlesbrough and Sunderland (via Newcastle)

Let's drive Grand Central central out of business.

[thetrout]

Let's drive Grand Central central out of business.

I really don't buy the concept that the idea behind privatisation was to encourage competition. I believe from memory that the SRA^» (Strategic Rail Authority - about)/ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) or whatever they were called at the time refused a track access request to Grand Central for operation of services Euston - Blackpool. The reasons were that it would drive passengers off existing services along the route?



Isn't that example just an excellent idea of competition and passenger choice?! Yet it was rejected?!! Or am I missing something there?

As it seems to me the only competition you then have is between the times of trains you use and not different companies. I really wonder how the pricing would change if say another Private Operator started running trains from Minehead - London Paddington (as an example) stopping at intermediate Somerset and Wiltshire stations. Give passengers are real choice of service they want to use and see what happens...?

Of course reverse the shareholder payouts and reinvestment figures around and things could be very different. Government do not learn...

[Brucey]

Just spotted this is on Pick TV (Freeview channel 11) now, Sunday 8pm, for those who do not subscribe to Sky TV.

[Red Squirrel]

Thanks for the tip!

[eightf48544]

Just spotted this is on Pick TV (Freeview channel 11) now, Sunday 8pm, for those who do not subscribe to Sky TV.

Watched it last night. Not sure what to make of it.

Seemed to mostly Hen and Stag parties!

[eightf48544]

Watched again last night seemed to be mostly how good and well trained the staff are!

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

East Coast rail franchise increases return to taxpayer


East Coast increased passenger numbers and its return to the taxpayer last year

The publicly-owned railway company East Coast returned almost ^220m to the taxpayer last year, according to its annual results.

Directly Operated Railways - which was set up by the government in July 2009 to run the East Coast franchise - has announced a post-tax profit of ^6.2m.

Its profit before tax and fees to the Department for Transport was ^225m, an increase of 8% on the year before.

The franchise is due to be re-privatised in March next year.

East Coast 2013-14
^720m turnover
^6.2m post-tax profit
^217m in payments to Department for Transport

Labour has said it would allow public-sector operators to challenge private firms for rail contracts, if it wins the general election in 2015.

DOR took over the East Coast franchise when National Express's contract was terminated in November 2009, because of financial difficulties.

East Coast runs railway services along the 936-mile line, which runs from London to the north of Scotland.

Turnover for 2013-14 was ^720m, with ^654m of that coming from passenger income. In total, 19.9m journeys were made, an increase of 4.5% on 2012-13.

The chairman of DOR, Doug Sutherland, said: "Our financial performance has been good throughout the year, with ^216.8m provided to the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) in premium and dividend payments, up from ^202.8m the year before. The business plan for the remainder of the franchise will see the good work continuing, with the twin aims of ensuring a successful transfer of the business back to the private sector in good condition, and maximising the value of the franchise achieved by the government and the taxpayer."

The acting general secretary of the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) union, Mick Cash, said the franchise shouldn't return to the private sector next year. "Despite the continued stunning financial and operational success of the publicly-owned East Coast service, this right-wing Government are hell bent on smashing it up and taking another gamble on a private operator," he said.

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents Network Rail and the rail operators, said private firms also returned large sums to the taxpayer. "It remains the case that East Coast is just one of a number of operators making payments to government," he said. "Latest figures for 2013-14 show the biggest payment was made by private operator South West Trains, which paid over ^300m."

[ChrisB]

Closed at Kings Cross tomorrow & very limited on Sunday.

Over-run Engineering Works!

[grahame]

From the Press and Journal

More than ^2.4 million has been spent on external advisers for legal and financial expertise in the East Coast mainline railway franchise competition.

Transport minister Baroness Kramer told peers ^1,196,957.24 had been spent to the end of last month on legal advice.

A further ^1,250,538 went on financial advice over the same period, she said in a Lords written reply.

^As the Intercity East Coast franchise competition was the first competition to be run in full since the launch of the franchising programme in March 2013 some of these costs include advice on developing new policies and processes that will be of benefit in future franchise competitions,^ Lady Kramer added.