EMR/WMR Cross-Branding

[Doomotron]

Both WMR and EMR are owned by Abellio and have similar names, so why not combine the two with similar liveries and logos? EMR Regional could have a livery similar to WMR's, but with different colours. EMR InterCity and Electrics could be spun off into a separate brand (Midland Mainline?).

 

[pdeaves]

For amusement's sake, here is a dispatcher at Leicester (EMR station) with a WMR orange top: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pdeaves/48632384702/

 

[swt_passenger]

Both WMR and EMR are owned by Abellio and have similar names, so why not combine the two with similar liveries and logos? EMR Regional could have a livery similar to WMR's, but with different colours. EMR InterCity and Electrics could be spun off into a separate brand (Midland Mainline?).

Why not? Because the franchising rules don’t allow it?

There have been numerous overlapping franchise areas run by the same owner before, and to the best of my knowledge none have ever been combined operationally...

 

[edwin_m]

The franchises have different contracts and durations and there are legal reasons to keep them separate. In terms of branding I believe both have franchise-specific brands that can be passed onto a future operator without re-painting everything. This wouldn't really work if neighbouring franchises shared the same branding but their franchises were re-let to different operators.

 

[pdeaves]

Both WMR and EMR are owned by Abellio

EMR is Abellio, WMR is an Abellio/East Japan Railway Company/Mitsui & Co joint venture. I doubt the Japanese partners would be happy with the proposal!

 

[option]

WMR as a brand isn't owned by Abellio, or any future franchise. It's a TfWM brand

(though I don't know why those colours were chosen, & not red for rail, blue for bus, etc )

 

[PTR 444]

Why not? Because the franchising rules don’t allow it?

There have been numerous overlapping franchise areas run by the same owner before, and to the best of my knowledge none have ever been combined operationally...

Didn’t this happen with Virgin Cross Country and Virgin West Coast (1997-2007)?

 

[Doomotron]

Didn’t this happen with Virgin Cross Country and Virgin West Coast (1997-2007)?

Yep. From what I know, both franchises were known as Virgin Trains. Also, when VTEC existed, both routes were marketed together and appeared on the timetable as one operation.

 

[pdeaves]

Yep. From what I know, both franchises were known as Virgin Trains. Also, when VTEC existed, both routes were marketed together and appeared on the timetable as one operation.

The difference there is that both franchises were owned by exactly the same group (as opposed to predominantly the same group with different shareholders for one franchise) and presumably agreed with the DfT (would it have been SRA then?) from the bidding stage.

 

[James H]

Connex used a single brand across their two franchises for a while (dropping the. South Eastern and South Central suffixes)

 

[alistairlees]

Connect used a single brand across their two franchises for a while (dropping the. South Eastern and South Central suffixes)

Connex

 

[James H]

Sorry yes - the curse of autocorrect