Connex

[Masbroughlad]

Connex won South Central and South.Eastern franchises, albeit short-lived.

Just wonder what other franchises they went for. Anybody got publicity and/or details please?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Connex developed into Veolia, who didn't I think go for any more TOCs after being somewhat discredited but did get into buses for a bit.

They also had some European interests (notably Germany) and I think Australia.

 

[jopsuk]

Veolia have since merged into Veolia Transdev who've then dropped the Veolia branding. There's a history of Veolia here

 

[ChiefPlanner]

There were 3 short listed bidders for North London Railways - NX , Great Western Holdings and Connex. Imagine "Connex North London" , with even lower standards on the DC and NLL. I (as Ops Manager), had a very lucky escape there I think.

There were also short listed for Trans Pennine .......

 

[Bletchleyite]

Veolia have since merged into Veolia Transdev who've then dropped the Veolia branding. There's a history of Veolia here

Cheers. Interesting that their remnant has a reputation for very high quality bus services in the UK.

 

[Class 466]

Veolia have since merged into Veolia Transdev who've then dropped the Veolia branding. There's a history of Veolia here

And Transdev have been given a Pre-Qualification Passport for future franchises. So in essence, They could (sort of) return!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

I think at a high level , Connex had some good ideas , trouble is that the terms of the 2 South of the river franchises were truly desperate, hence a race to the bottom in cost cutting , generally p++ing the staff and customers off and what appeared to be an amazing lack of empathy in terms of French / UK railway management hostility.

The lowest point seemed to be the major decline in the SE Metro services - where the pride of a cash strapped NSE (The Networkers) , were allowed to get into a desperate state of vandalism , etched glass and worse - however they (Connex) had to pay a huge sum of money on losing the franchise to get the fleet back into an "as delivered" state. All the cost cutting was a waste of time therefore.......

 

[urpert]

At around the same time they won South Eastern, they also got the TfL contracts for the 3, 315 and 322 bus routes, meaning they had a virtual monopoly on transport where I happened to live at the time...

(Their standards of bus maintenance were nothing to write home about either.)

 

[Ianigsy]

They also had some European interests (notably Germany) and I think Australia.

Yes, they ran the electrified Melbourne suburban network when I was there about 15 years ago.

 

[Busaholic]

At around the same time they won South Eastern, they also got the TfL contracts for the 3, 315 and 322 bus routes, meaning they had a virtual monopoly on transport where I happened to live at the time...

(Their standards of bus maintenance were nothing to write home about either.)

I remember that too. I used to look at my watch at Oxford Circus and work out whether I was likely to make the half-hourly train to West Dulwich from Victoria and, if not, how long to wait around at the Circus for a no.3 bus, which would actually take me to outside the house I was going to. If it didn't come along straightaway, then the following train from Victoria and a ten minute walk was preferable. If I caught the bus, I watched for buses going the other way and so many were getting cut short to Piccadilly Circus or Trafalgar Sq. It was a dire period for public transport in the area.