Arriva Group 5 step plan to fix Britains Railways

[Snow1964]

Just published by Arriva Group, not read it yet

London, September 18, 2024. Leading passenger transport company, Arriva Group has today published its recommendations to the UK Government under a five-step plan to deliver urgent reform. The report, called ‘Accelerating the Government’s Ambition to Fix Britain’s Railways’, aims to kick-start immediate improvements which could work alongside the longer-term change the Government aims to deliver.

Amongst the proposals are recommendations such as making more effective use of the existing networks, train fleets, and other assets; making timetabling more flexible and responsive, while also empowering train operating companies to make timetable decisions which deliver passenger growth and support the public finances; and improving workforce skills to break down barriers to opportunity and tackle the skills gap.

The practical plans outlined could be implemented alongside the Government's wider rail reform agenda and start to deliver better outcomes for passengers and taxpayers, support economic growth, and take the railways out of reverse gear. The measures would first help to stabilise the railway, addressing common complaints which impact passengers on a daily basis; then build on these reforms to unlock the railway's true potential as a growth engine, such as through the approval of new ‘open access’ routes.

https://cdn.prgloo.com/media/download/da726b49c6ac4046b3f411b3a820dc54

Arriva Group publishes proposals to UK Government to help fix Britain’s railways

Arriva’s proposals build on the Government pledge to ‘move fast and fix things’, accelerating the change needed for rail to achieve its potential. The five-step plan looks to first stabilise and then build, with changes including timetable reform and new services launched across the country...

news.arriva.co.uk

 

[Bletchleyite]

Given that organisation's appalling approach to quality, I think "getting Arriva as far away from it as possible" is the best way to fix those parts of Britain's railway they are involved with, personally.

There is some sense in there, though. If we're not totally abandoning walk up travel, a "weekend return" allowing Friday evening peak travel might be a worthwhile thing. Virgin Trains had one pre-simplification, and GWR have one albeit not allowing Sunday return which I think it would need. Also references to XC needing more capacity!

 

[signed]

Having read in diagonal it's basically the arguments we all want here (like PAYG, uniform train fleets...) + give as much money as possible to Arriva

All the case studies are about either Chiltern, Arriva Train Care or Grand Central.

Some quotes :

Connect the Oxford to Cambridge arc — The Government can confirm Chiltern Railways as the operator for East West Rail’s first leg from Oxford to Milton Keynes, allowing preparations to continue apace for the introduction of services in August 2025.
Expand open access -
Working with CrossCountry, in the longer term the Government has the option to introduce a fast Cardiff-Birmingham-Nottingham route, making journey times quicker, increasing rail demand, generating significant revenue, and improving passenger satisfaction.
Connect the North — CrossCountry could plan to launch a dedicated service between Sheffield and Glasgow via Leeds, running up to four times a day and taking around four and a quarter hours between Sheffield and Glasgow. This will vastly improve connectivity between these cities.

Arriva’s UK open access train operating company, Grand Central, is seeking to extend its existing track access rights until 2038, securing its services for the communities where it already operates and unlocking intentions to invest in new, state-of-the-art bi-mode trains which can operate on electric and non-electric tracks.

Subject to approval through a procurement process, investment in the new trains would bring significant benefits to passengers and communities, support decarbonisation, and increase capacity on Grand Central services, with approximately 20% more seats than its current trains.

Also giving Chiltern credit for PAYG when it's part of Oval.

 

[317 forever]

It may be a new initiative from Arriva now that I Squared have recently bought it from DB.

 

[Djgr]

What is it to do with them?

Sounds like a cynical lobbying exercise, which you can be sure will be to further their interests.

 

[WAB]

It's a bit like the regular posts on Linkedin and similar from Rail Partners and similar - private companies advocating for their own interests by pretending to be benevolent.

 

[HerneHill]

It's a bit like the regular posts on Linkedin and similar from Rail Partners and similar - private companies advocating for their own interests by pretending to be benevolent.

If I see Andy Bagnall trot out that completely made up number of “nationalising the railway will cost the taxpayer £1bn annually due to lost efficiencies” one more time I will truly lose my ****

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Sep 2024 ==

What is it to do with them?

Sounds like a cynical lobbying exercise, which you can be sure will be to further their interests.

100%. Same stuff with TUK’s “Year In Review” they published at about the same time

 

[yorksrob]

Some things there that make sense.

The fleet capacity strategy sounds good. One would need more detail as to how this would actually work with our system of train leasing with high leasing rates for clapped out trains etc.

The Friday peak saver ticket sounds like something along the right lines, however in order to benefit properly from the growth in leisure travel without introducing another type of fare, they really ought to just ditch peak on Fridays and have done with it.