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JayMac
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« Reply #30 on: July 01, 2009, 07:34:10 » |
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AND breaking news at 0730. DfT» have taken the keys back on the East Coast......We now have a premier inter-city route back in public ownership. First job (of many) for the DfT? Remove that money-grabbing seat reservation charge.
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"Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for the rest of the day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
- Sir Terry Pratchett.
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Timmer
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« Reply #31 on: July 01, 2009, 07:39:24 » |
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Bob Crow will be pleased!
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Henry
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« Reply #32 on: July 01, 2009, 16:27:32 » |
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tramway
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« Reply #33 on: July 01, 2009, 17:08:06 » |
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I^m inclined to agree with the RMT▸ that the ECML▸ has been complete chaos, and the poor PAX deserve far better, but if it hadn^t been for treasury involvement then I^m sure they would have found a suitable operator who could have lasted the course.
Instead it went twice to companies who^s corporate governance was questionable given the payback that treasury agreed to.
The ECML is a very profitable route, just not profitable enough for Gordy.
GNER▸ were doing very well until Sea Containers screwed up, and NX have been caught in a Catch 22 situation, they had refinance available for their ^1.2B debt so long as it didn^t go to a discredited government, choice then became renegotiate or pull out.
Can the forum run sweep stakes as well as polls, would be interesting to see what figure the next franchise goes for, I^ll start things off with a premium of ^0.6M
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devon_metro
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« Reply #34 on: July 01, 2009, 17:41:38 » |
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And i'll predict that Deutsch Bahn get the franchise  |
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6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01
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« Reply #35 on: July 01, 2009, 20:30:56 » |
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am i correct in thinking 10 years ago people from manchester would travel over to the ecml to get to london as it was cheeper and more realiable than the wcml
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JayMac
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« Reply #36 on: July 02, 2009, 21:38:59 » |
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Can the forum run sweep stakes as well as polls, would be interesting to see what figure the next franchise goes for, I^ll start things off with a premium of ^0.6M
Did you really mean ^600,000? or ^0.6 Billion? |
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"Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for the rest of the day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
- Sir Terry Pratchett.
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JayMac
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« Reply #37 on: July 02, 2009, 21:40:04 » |
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And i'll predict that Deutsch Bahn get the franchise Okay.....in that case I'll go for SNCF▸  |
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"Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for the rest of the day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
- Sir Terry Pratchett.
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Btline
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« Reply #38 on: July 06, 2009, 18:41:21 » |
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being willing to invest money to improve the track At what point has Branson invested a penny piece in track improvements? We have paid for WCML▸ upgrade via Railtrack and Network Rail, not Beardie! Take a look at this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8057663.stmThey are prepared to invest "billions". That's what a profit making company that runs a TOC▸ should do - invest money. Chiltern did Evergreen 1 (ok - not on their money as such, but still investment) and got a long franchise reward. Virgin obviously want to - and on their own money. |
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« Last Edit: July 07, 2009, 14:37:12 by Btline »
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Btline
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« Reply #40 on: July 13, 2009, 00:08:04 » |
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yay more placcy pendos
Besides the windows, I can't see anything fundamentally wrong with them (i.e. anything a post lengthening refurb can't sort out). They have revolutionised the WCML▸ , which now has smart modern 125 mph tilting trains instead of an ugly mix match of aging locos and slam door carriages which was limited in speed. I would not complain if the same were done on the ECML▸ ! 3 tph to Leeds? Tilting trains on the northern/Scottish stretches of the ECML? |
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willc
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« Reply #41 on: July 13, 2009, 00:13:27 » |
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being willing to invest money to improve the track At what point has Branson invested a penny piece in track improvements? We have paid for WCML▸ upgrade via Railtrack and Network Rail, not Beardie! Take a look at this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8057663.stmThey are prepared to invest "billions". That's what a profit making company that runs a TOC▸ should do - invest money. Chiltern did Evergreen 1 (ok - not on their money as such, but still investment) and got a long franchise reward. Virgin obviously want to - and on their own money. But they haven't actually spent any of their own money yet. Branson just wants a franchise extension on the cheap without a contest and is on record god knows how many times claiming that the Pendolinos and Voyagers are investment by Virgin when they were paid for and are owned by a leasing company. And VWC is most certainly not a profit-making company - it gets a nice fat subsidy every year courtesy of you and me through our taxes. Chiltern had to spend money under the terms of their franchise. No spending means they lose franchise. |
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tramway
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« Reply #42 on: July 14, 2009, 10:27:10 » |
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Can the forum run sweep stakes as well as polls, would be interesting to see what figure the next franchise goes for, I^ll start things off with a premium of ^0.6M
Did you really mean ^600,000? or ^0.6 Billion? Oops, should have been a B not an M. I have to admit it was a bit of a stab in the dark figure as I didn't look to see what the other bidders figures had been when NX won it, IIRC▸ it was thought at the time that NX had gone in too high. I'm sure if the treasury hadn't wanted the most money then there would still be a franchise operator on the East Coast. And they wouldn't have to waste money in the re-letting process. Edited after I found this from the Telegraph. The ^1.4b figure would appear to be a bit of a red herring when discussing premium payments if the article is anything to go by, and some interesting stuff about First. |
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« Last Edit: July 14, 2009, 11:17:49 by tramway »
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smithy
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« Reply #43 on: July 14, 2009, 13:33:41 » |
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being willing to invest money to improve the track At what point has Branson invested a penny piece in track improvements? We have paid for WCML▸ upgrade via Railtrack and Network Rail, not Beardie! Take a look at this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8057663.stmThey are prepared to invest "billions". That's what a profit making company that runs a TOC▸ should do - invest money. Chiltern did Evergreen 1 (ok - not on their money as such, but still investment) and got a long franchise reward. Virgin obviously want to - and on their own money. But they haven't actually spent any of their own money yet. Branson just wants a franchise extension on the cheap without a contest and is on record god knows how many times claiming that the Pendolinos and Voyagers are investment by Virgin when they were paid for and are owned by a leasing company. And VWC is most certainly not a profit-making company - it gets a nice fat subsidy every year courtesy of you and me through our taxes. Chiltern had to spend money under the terms of their franchise. No spending means they lose franchise. whilst i agree beardie has not invested the rolling stock mat well be owned by a leasing company,but Virgin will have to pay a rather large leasing fee for each set.this leasing fee would of gone up by a lot when old stock was retired and the new pendo's bought in. |
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willc
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« Reply #44 on: July 14, 2009, 14:08:01 » |
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I'm not saying they aren't paying lease fees but Beardie has never qualified his remarks in that way. It's always we have invested blah, blah, blah in trains - which they haven't, unlike, for example, First Group, which bought a number of HSTs▸ outright for FGW▸ 's use.
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