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Abellio Greater Tokyo
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pdeaves
Established Member
Interestingly, Abellio is already in partnership with Mitsui (and East Japan Railway) for the West Midlands franchise.
northwichcat
Veteran Member
Abellio did originally start the bidding process with Stagecoach as it's investment partner so Abellio probably don't have sufficient capital for the investment required for Anglia without involving another company.
It rather depends on whether Mitsui is simply putting funding into the TOC or whether they will be taking an active day-to-day role. I guess this will come out shortly and I would expect it to be the former.
The timing could add credibility to the West Midlands bid.
LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
Mitsui is largely a financial conglomerate with wide trading interests across the world.
It is not a TOC, but it is involved in the financing of rail interests including Rosco purchasing of new trains, such as the Class 385s for Scotrail.
It is partnering with Abellio for the West Midlands franchise bid.
Recent franchise bids have included greater financial backing for the operator, no doubt to strengthen its capital base and spread the risk.
It's also the kind of company that would like to be part of the HS2 project, including construction, rolling stock and operation.
I think DfT will welcome the commitment of a new investor in the industry.
Predictably, the RMT has scorned the whole thing.
It is not a TOC, but it is involved in the financing of rail interests including Rosco purchasing of new trains, such as the Class 385s for Scotrail.
It is partnering with Abellio for the West Midlands franchise bid.
Recent franchise bids have included greater financial backing for the operator, no doubt to strengthen its capital base and spread the risk.
It's also the kind of company that would like to be part of the HS2 project, including construction, rolling stock and operation.
I think DfT will welcome the commitment of a new investor in the industry.
Predictably, the RMT has scorned the whole thing.
PHILIPE
Veteran Member
Can we sell the Government off to a foreign buyer. Seems almost everything else has gone 
TheDavibob
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Can we sell the Government off to a foreign buyer. Seems almost everything else has gone
Are you complaining about a chunk of a franchise owned by a Dutch company going to a Japanese company?
Can we sell the Government off to a foreign buyer. Seems almost everything else has gone
Tried that over the past 40 years but now we have Brexit and it seems the people want them back!
northwichcat
Veteran Member
Can we sell the Government off to a foreign buyer. Seems almost everything else has gone
Talks are ongoing. The Conservative Party are likely to be bought by the Swiss, the Labour Party by the Costa Ricans, the Lib Dems by the Canadians, the Greens by New Zealand, UKIP by the American state of Texas and the SNP by San Marino. Talks to sell Plaid Cymru have failed.
LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
Can we sell the Government off to a foreign buyer. Seems almost everything else has gone
Foreigners own our national debt, so it's already happened by stealth really.
It is an interesting debate why the much-vaunted City banks take little interest in rail.
I think they regard it as boring and commodity, requiring more work than it is worth, unlike funding new industries and mega-mergers of mining companies overseas.
They also don't like the level of government interference in rail.
Essentially utilities (eg power, water, construction etc) have been left to foreign hands.
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Given how patchy the franchise system looked going into the South West franchise (with very few bidders and therefore little competition), I'm glad to see more parties interested in getting into the system to replace those that have left since privatization. I eagerly await the bidding for HS2, the desire to take that franchise by so many TOC bidders will ultimately be the best thing for it.
theageofthetra
Established Member
Struggling to see why anyone would have an issue with a TOC having a stakeholder from one of the most efficient and well run rail networks on the planet.
Now whether ASLEF will agree to the white gloves, pointing to every signal and a nice peaked cap is another matter!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Each line having its own Japanese jingle could be a thread in its own right. To those unfamiliar with the many bizarre things to be found in the land of the rising age profile is that every train line in major cities has a jingle to identify itself- it must be very helpful if blind and I personally found it great to know which lines train was coming into the many platforms at Kawasaki.
Now whether ASLEF will agree to the white gloves, pointing to every signal and a nice peaked cap is another matter!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Each line having its own Japanese jingle could be a thread in its own right. To those unfamiliar with the many bizarre things to be found in the land of the rising age profile is that every train line in major cities has a jingle to identify itself- it must be very helpful if blind and I personally found it great to know which lines train was coming into the many platforms at Kawasaki.
grumblingalong
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I could use some white gloves, your hands get filthy closing mk3 doors for a living.
Elecman
Established Member
White Coat and peaked hat, just like the original Blue Pullman drivers wore
DasLunatic
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No - that'd be the milkman!
DarloRich
Veteran Member
Aren't Mitsui a finance led conglomerate rather than a railway company? Is this just a way of Hollandia Rail injecting capital into their business?
not sure the conductors on GA will be bowing to passengers on entering a carriage as they do in Japan
not sure the conductors on GA will be bowing to passengers on entering a carriage as they do in Japan
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grumblingalong
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not sure the conductors on GA will be bowing to passengers on entering a carriage as they do in Japan
Nah mate, repetitive strain innit
The more I read on this, the more it seems to be the case, which in my opinion makes it fully compatible with the TOC award process.
What is a little curious, is the reference to new trains but I assume this is because the agreements with Bombardier and Stadler require some form of TOC funding or leasing guarantee.
Also lot so of infrastructure works and modifications* required outside the normal CP funding window arrangements to NR need to be funded to do this.
*platform lengthening in the simplest case
scott118
Member
....nobody has mentioned 'kamikaze pilots' yet..
Panupreset
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Everyone always champions railways abroad. But when foreign firms invest in U.K. rail people are like 'oh that's bad'!
LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
We welcome inward investment by Nissan, BMW and Tata, which is considered "vital to our prosperity".
We don't seem to welcome similar investment by Hitachi, EDF and DB.
Double standards.
That's a bit simplistic, but Britain having double standards is not new!
Re Nissan, BMW, Tata, and a lot more, the logic is that the jobs will otherwise go elsewhere. Re EDF, DB (Arriva UK), maybe Hitachi, and others, the logic is that the need is for the UK and such companies are "adding to the cost of provision and/or taking a profit outside the UK". All this is effectively regulated by the government (and rarely if ever by Europe).
Government could re-brand as Greater Arrogance :roll: though because of Brexit, there may not be many buyers due to uncertaintycan we sell the government off to a foreign buyer. Seems almost everything else has gone
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