Arriva CrossCountry contract extended through to October 2019

[Simon11]

Arriva Cross Country to continue to run trains services stretching across Britain under new contract announced today.

From https://www.gov.uk/government/news/better-journeys-for-passengers-on-the-cross-country-network

1. improvements announced for passengers in new contract that will see Arriva Cross Country continue to run services until October 2019
2. better connections with 39,000 more seats per year along the Edinburgh to Plymouth route
3. shorter journey times Birmingham to Manchester

Rail passengers across Britain are set to benefit from quicker journeys, thousands of extra seats and free Wi-Fi, after the government agreed a new deal for services for the Cross Country franchise.

Under the contract, which will deliver improved connections, a better customer experience and set tough new targets, Arriva Cross Country (AXC) will continue to run services which stretch from Aberdeen to Penzance, Bournemouth to Manchester and from Stansted to Cardiff until October 2019.

Rail Minister Paul Maynard said:

We are making the biggest investment in the railways since the Victorian era and today (29 September 2016) is a key milestone in giving passengers better journeys right across the Cross Country network.

The franchise, which spans parts of England, Scotland and Wales, serves both commuters and long distance passengers and these benefits from Arriva Cross Country will deliver extra and smoother journeys for customers using these services.


The new deal will deliver a range of new benefits for passengers including:

• 39,000 more seats at peak times along the Edinburgh to Plymouth route through Leeds, Birmingham and Bristol, by December 2017
• shorter journey times from Birmingham to Manchester – typical cut of 9 minutes on a weekday and 12 minutes at weekends
• £20 million government investment in more modern trains
• free Wi-Fi by April 2018 and 4G for faster download speeds
• extra services calling at Morpeth
• customer services now open 24/7 and a new mobile app to buy tickets and check live running times
• challenging targets on punctuality and service reliability to improve the passenger experience
• waiving the £10 ‘change of travel’ fee for advance tickets from January 2017
• £340,000 of funding for community rail partnerships across the Cross Country network per year

Arriva Cross Country Managing Director, Andy Cooper, said:

We are delighted to have the opportunity to deliver even more for our customers over the next 3 years through this new agreement. Satisfaction is the theme for the range of investments we will be making, with better, faster journeys with more seats and free Wi-Fi.

We will also be looking to our customers for feedback on how we can deliver them great journeys, and a strong focus on engaging with the many communities and stakeholders our trains serve across the country.

Arriva Cross Country will now start work on its new timetable that could introduce thousands of extra seats across the network from December 2017. It will pay the government a premium of £163 million to operate the franchise from September 2016 until October 2019.


I'd like to know how they will provided these extra seats? Will the HST be used more regularly?

In other news....
The Department for Transport also announced today that Metroline, owned by ComfortDelGro, has been awarded a new ‘Pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) passport’. The consortium joins the department’s list of passport holders who are eligible to express an interest in all upcoming rail franchise competitions until 2019.

 

[superalbs]

How are they achieving these seats, more HSTs?

 

[jamesontheroad]

How are they achieving these seats, more HSTs?

Maybe just fully utilising the ones they've already got? :roll:

I wish TOCs and government would stop wasting money on wifi; the overwhelming trend is for customers to have their own internet enabled devices. In-train wifi hardware will become obsolete as quickly as the old Virgin headphone sockets for radio channels.

No sign of any improvements on the Turbostar routes either :-/

 

[G_A_C_C_C]

39,000 per year...107 per day - that's just one extra MK3 coach on a HST rake doing one journey in each peek period. That's not exactly pushing the boat out, is it...?

 

[XCTurbostar]

Damn it. Why is there literally no mention of any Leicester or Standard Airport services.. I was hopeing to see some mention of more HSTs or Voyagers on some peak Leicester services. Will be interesting to see how they deliver these "more modern trains"
Thanks,
Ross

 

[dk1]

It's a start & let's remember it's just an extension not a whole new franchise. Wonder what the £20m investment in more modern trains is?

 

[Ash Bridge]

It's a start & let's remember it's just an extension not a whole new franchise. Wonder what the £20m investment in more modern trains is?

Could it be an internal refresh for the 220/221s? Also how is the time saving achieved between Birmingham and Manchester, would it be due to improvements at Norton Bridge?

 

[Simon11]

39,000 per year...107 per day - that's just one extra MK3 coach on a HST rake doing one journey in each peek period. That's not exactly pushing the boat out, is it...?

Didn't spot the per year! That is bad! Hardly any change there and over crowding continues for at least another 3+ years.

 

[dk1]

Could it be an internal refresh for the 220/221s? Also how is the time saving achieved between Birmingham and Manchester, would it be due to improvements at Norton Bridge?

Wondered when the Norton Bridge effect would kick in. Andy Copper did promise time savings. Why all this sudden interest in Morpeth? First Groups proposed Scottish services from Kings X, then TPx. This was followed by extra VTEC from December & now this.

 

[edwin_m]

"investment in more modern trains" - does that mean trains that are more modern or more trains that are modern? Or simply that some money will be invested in trains that are modern already (which in the case of XC is arguably all of them).

Not sure if this is just sloppy language or spin designed to give the impression a lot more is being done than actually is.

 

[ScotTrains]

No mention about the lack of XC catering in Scotland or Cornwall.

 

[Ash Bridge]

Wondered when the Norton Bridge effect would kick in. Andy Copper did promise time savings. Why all this sudden interest in Morpeth? First Groups proposed Scottish services from Kings X, then TPx. This was followed by extra VTEC from December & now this.

Yes,it doesn't seem to address XCs real problem areas does it?

"investment in more modern trains" - does that mean trains that are more modern or more trains that are modern? Or simply that some money will be invested in trains that are modern already (which in the case of XC is arguably all of them).

Not sure if this is just sloppy language or spin designed to give the impression a lot more is being done than actually is.

Agreed!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The Birmingham-Manchester journey time improvements are a result of the Norton Bridge flyover improving paths in the Stafford area, not a new initiative.
They would have happened anyway.

It's a new 3-year franchise, not an extension of the current one.
It completes the "direct awards" stemming from the revised franchising timetable after the 2012 West Coast problems.

The Arriva version of the announcement includes this phrase: http://www.arriva.co.uk/media/news/2016/29-09-2016

A £20m investment by the Government to further modernise CrossCountry’s HST fleet, including powered doors

So an HST upgrade is in prospect.
But why would you expensively upgrade the HSTs if you plan to phase them out?

So no major change in the rolling stock position.
Disappointing, but not a surprise. Stasis had been signposted for some time.

Metroline is a bus company in London.
Its parent is based in Singapore and runs trains there as well as buses.
Sounds like a smaller version of MTR.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Waiving the £10 Advance change fee? What's the point in doing that? You might as well then just book as early as possible and keep doing changes until you're happy, which isn't really all that helpful to the TOC as they don't genuinely know when you're going to travel.

Actually, I suppose, considering another thread, it does make the Advance more of a tool to get people to use specific trains without complexity rather than a tool to encourage advance booking. Interesting...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Faster Birmingham-Manchester times is interesting. I wonder will we see something corresponding to that in the new LM franchise, i.e. a Manchester-<wherever> stopper taking over some of the stops, particularly Stone but possibly others? Could well be tied to the proposal to reopen Barlaston or Wedgwood, as I never saw XC serving either of those.

Highly disappointed at 3 more years of overcrowding, though, with no new rolling stock. A nice order of 6 or 7-car AT300s would have been good
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Maybe just fully utilising the ones they've already got? :roll:

I wish TOCs and government would stop wasting money on wifi; the overwhelming trend is for customers to have their own internet enabled devices. In-train wifi hardware will become obsolete as quickly as the old Virgin headphone sockets for radio channels.

Until Voyagers are modified to be less of a Faraday cage it still has value on XC...

 

[sprinterguy]

How are they achieving these seats, more HSTs?

Working the existing HST sets harder, and utilising the spare cars from 221144 to form 3 x 4-car units from 2 x 5-car ones.

As pointed out above it's not a great increase in seats on a daily basis, so my current commute home will only continue to become more crowded as time goes on if passenger numbers continue to grow.

 

[Dave1987]

Highly disappointed at 3 more years of overcrowding, though, with no new rolling stock. A nice order of 6 or 7-car AT300s would have been good

Why so the order could be sent straight to the Italian plant? :roll: In 2019 Newton Aycliffe will be coming to the end of its current order book so there would be no excuse for Hitachi not giving the orders to NA should there be an order for Hitachi stock.

 

[222007]

Damn it. Why is there literally no mention of any Leicester or Standard Airport services.. I was hopeing to see some mention of more HSTs or Voyagers on some peak Leicester services. Will be interesting to see how they deliver these "more modern trains"
Thanks,
Ross

Dont make me laugh CrossCountry have little or not interest in this line

 

[Bletchleyite]

Dont make me laugh CrossCountry have little or not interest in this line

That regional express service really is a poor fit for XC. It'd fit better in LM or EMT.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Working the existing HST sets harder, and utilising the spare cars from 221144 to form 3 x 4-car units from 2 x 5-car ones.

Ooh, that's clever. Though I wonder to what extent VT has cannibalised those two vehicles for parts. It'll also create a unit with a non-standard interior (one with no former buffet).

 

[47802]

The Birmingham-Manchester journey time improvements are a result of the Norton Bridge flyover improving paths in the Stafford area, not a new initiative.
They would have happened anyway.

It's a new 3-year franchise, not an extension of the current one.
It completes the "direct awards" stemming from the revised franchising timetable after the 2012 West Coast problems.

The Arriva version of the announcement includes this phrase: http://www.arriva.co.uk/media/news/2016/29-09-2016

So an HST upgrade is in prospect.
But why would you expensively upgrade the HSTs if you plan to phase them out?

So no major change in the rolling stock position.
Disappointing, but not a surprise. Stasis had been signposted for some time.

Metroline is a bus company in London.
Its parent is based in Singapore and runs trains there as well as buses.
Sounds like a smaller version of MTR.

20 million is naff all in railway terms, and will presumably make the HST's compliant and then future bidders can propose replacements in the early to mid 2020's which as already been said work at Hitachi's UK plant may well be tailing off by then, or of course it could end up being Meridians.


There was supposedly an option of having more HST's and sending some Voyagers to GWR instead of having 4/5 coach HST set's on GWR looks like that's not happening.

 

[Bletchleyite]

20 million is naff all in railway terms, and will presumably make the HST's compliant and then future bidders can propose replacements in the early to mid 2020's which as already been said work at Hitachi's UK plant may well be tailing off by then.

I didn't think of it that way, but in terms of ensuring the plant stays that is quite clever.

 

[47802]

I didn't think of it that way, but in terms of ensuring the plant stays that is quite clever.

It may or may not work out that way the Dft may have Meridians in mind for this route in the longer term, no doubt the ITT will give us clue when it is released, I believe that Hitachi are doing a joint bid with Bombardier for the new generation Tube stock which will would be a very large order if they and Bombardier got it.

 

[47271]

If I had the misfortune to use their horrible overcrowded trains on a regular basis I'd be really quite angry at the government's cheek in trumpeting 100 extra seats a day and £20m spent on reupholstering a few seats, or whatever they're going to do, and to say that it's part of the biggest investment in rail since the Victorians only adds insult to injury.

Thankfully I can manage to keep my use of Cross Country down to around one single journey every two years or so. With a bit of luck I'll keep my avoidance going until 2019...

 

[sprinterguy]

Ooh, that's clever. Though I wonder to what extent VT has cannibalised those two vehicles for parts. It'll also create a unit with a non-standard interior (one with no former buffet).

It's slightly frustrating that the DfT didn't have the foresight to specify at the beginning of the Crosscountry franchise that XC received the three other 4-car 221s while two extra 5-car 221s went to Virgin West Coast, instead of the subsequent chopping and changing of formations that we've seen to (eventually) achieve the same result nearly ten years down the line.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

...and £20m spent on reupholstering a few seats, or whatever they're going to do...

Fitting power doors to the HST fleet - a larger job than "reupholstering a few seats". I agree though that, in the face of ever rising passenger demand, it is worrying that we will see very little in the way of increased passenger capacity on the already overcrowded Crosscountry network before the end of the decade. Though I never expect to see "big bang" improvements from direct awards.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It may or may not work out that way the Dft may have Meridians in mind for this route in the longer term, no doubt the ITT will give us clue when it is released, I believe that Hitachi are doing a joint bid with Bombardier for the new generation Tube stock which will would be a very large order if they and Bombardier got it.

True, while Voyager derivatives are pretty rubbish and the Meridians are getting to be in a very poor state internally (nothing a gut-and-full-refurb can't fix, though), twice as many Voyager derivatives would be nice.

 

[The Ham]

39,000 per year...107 per day - that's just one extra MK3 coach on a HST rake doing one journey in each peek period. That's not exactly pushing the boat out, is it...?

The actual quote is:

39,000 more seats at peak times along the Edinburgh to Plymouth route through Leeds, Birmingham and Bristol, by December 2017

Assuming that it is per year (which it doesn't say), then yes 39,000/365 = 107 extra seats per day.

However, as far as I am aware there are no peaks on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays. As such it should be 365-52-52-8=253 days. As such 39,000/253=154 extra seats per day.

Yes that is still not a lot, however it says "through Leeds, Birmingham and Bristol" which implies that those extra seats are through those three places during peak times, as such it could well be that there are more than one service in each direction.

A bit of extra use of the HST's means more 22x's that could be used elsewhere. Even just swapping some 5 coach units (which are released by some HSTs for 4 coach units and then pairing up the 4 coach units to release more 5 coach units could have quite an impact on the number of seats over the whole network.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Unfortunately my son has just gone to uni in Birmingham, he lives in Leeds, so there is little chance of him avoiding XC completely

 

[Bletchleyite]

Unfortunately my son has just gone to uni in Birmingham, he lives in Leeds, so there is little chance of him avoiding XC completely

I'd give serious consideration to coach in that case...

 

[sprinterguy]

Assuming that it is per year (which it doesn't say)

It does: Second bullet point, at the top of the article, rather than the more detailed list further down. All your points are very much valid, though.

 

[theblackwatch]

Waiving the £10 Advance change fee? What's the point in doing that? You might as well then just book as early as possible and keep doing changes until you're happy, which isn't really all that helpful to the TOC as they don't genuinely know when you're going to travel.

It also makes it more confusing for passengers when one TOC is charging a £10 fee but another isn't. A bit like the TPE thing of 16-18 year olds being able to get half price Advances - is it any wonder people then get things wrong.

 

[47271]

Fitting power doors to the HST fleet - a larger job than "reupholstering a few seats".

Fair enough, I hadn't read about the power doors when I posted, in my minds eye £20m looked like the sort of figure that a quick tart up to the fleet would cost.