Certainly not today there was not.There was a 3 hour gap this afternoon between the 1255 Plymouth to Paddington and the next HST departure to Paddington at 1600.There is no 1400 departure anyway,you have to get the 1341 150 unit to Newton Abbot to connect into the 1415 Paignton/Paddington.To make matters worse the 1106 Paddington/Plymouth was terminated short at Newton Abbot due to late running so there was no 1500 Paddington service either from Plymouth today,passenger were again wedged(and I mean wedged) onto a 2 car 150 from Plymouth to Newton Abbot.As has been mentioned already things are pretty grim on Great Western these days in Devon and Cornwall west of Exeter being so far away as we are from FGWs and indeed the Dafts beloved M4 corridor. Acccording to the latest "rail" magazine FGW high speed(HSS) services are now almost at the bottom of the performance table according to latest Office of Rail Regulation figures just 0.1 points between FGW and East coast(83.0% punctually)Both EC and FGW HSS have been consistently declining since late 2009 although better performance on FGWs Thames Valley and regional services has masked the effects of HSS delays to give the operator better overall figures than EC.Many people in this forgotten corner of the Great Western Franchise will be glad to see a new broom take over in 2013.
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Greater Western Franchise post 2013?
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first should not even be allowed to re-bid for franchise. you hear mcnulty saying there is too much money wasted in the railway, well how is it right that first can hand in franchise notice, when they are supposed to start paying money back to the government, and then win the franchise and get given about 2 billion pound to run it again. surely that is the biggest waste of money ever
Because their contract included a break point which they were perfectly entitled to take? Rather than blame First I would blame whichever civil servants wrote the contract in a way that allowed them to get out of it early in the first place.
YorkshireBear
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Yeah exactly. THe government gave first a legal and perfectly fine way of leaving the contract before paying preimums. Governments fault who wouldnt of taken it?
starrymarkb
Established Member
I think the break point was more for the government.
FGWs franchise was up to 2013 - then if the government were pleased with performance they could extend it for another 2 years - FGW have declined the extension
FGWs franchise was up to 2013 - then if the government were pleased with performance they could extend it for another 2 years - FGW have declined the extension
And things are going to get better under the likes of Arriva? Or Stagecoach? Or NX?
Don't forget, how much of a pinch point the Thames Valley is...First can hardly be blammed for such problems as the signalling wires going missing in various places along the route - like the slough incident for example...and delays and problems such as last nights Incidents at Reading West! (Not that im saying you are)
And...Just be glad that you could at least get to Newton Abbot! Last saturday, down here...Buses were laid on for the reading branch passengers to get up to Reading, But those people travelling north on XC?...Apart from the diverted services...Fancy being stuck in Basingstoke?...Last week, 142001 & A 150 Even worked a HST Replacement service as far as Swindon - Sorry, would you rather have that with deccent connections being publicised en route (Paington service affected, Change for the Plymouth service behind, Change at Bristol Temple Meads for a faster service or Service up to Parkway, Change at Swindon)....Or having your service cancelled altogether?
The problem is, is that with a service like that, The train crew are likely to be the same staff working it back...So if it continues onto Plymouth, then the it eates back into the traincrews hours - Ie...Could work to Plymouth, But on the way back, may have to terminate at reading due to traincrew out of hours...As well as affecting its path back into london - It's better to terminate short and run back ontime, than running all the way through but buggering up the paths on the way back...delaying thurther services.
And it's not as if anyone else does it do they...Oh Wait, They Do!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/19/stagecoach-losses
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/03/rail-franchises-contracts-subsidies
So let me see, who else recieves money under Cap & Collar?
East Midland Trains,
Arriva's CrossCountry;
Northern Rail;
Southeastern...
Read and Remember what has been said numerous times before by ainsworth74, And considering how much change the Great Western Mainline is due to take on from this year onwards, Is it any wonder why First took the break point clause...Becuase you can either run a ending franchise through a building site designed not to take as much of the works into account, or restart the franchise with the works taken into account! Afterall, the Franchise was always a 7 Year franchise anyway - 2006 to 2013 anyway!
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LM aren't in C+C. SE are.
Where privatisation went off the railshttp://profeng.com/columns/where-privatisation-went-off-the-rails.
This article says it all in a nutshell really and I quote "I often wonder how it is that companies are allowed to take huge amounts of money out of a system that is being subsidised by the taxpayer to the tune of £5 billion a year? That is a complete scandal. It’s the laundering of public money into banks’ coffers."Say no more.
This article says it all in a nutshell really and I quote "I often wonder how it is that companies are allowed to take huge amounts of money out of a system that is being subsidised by the taxpayer to the tune of £5 billion a year? That is a complete scandal. It’s the laundering of public money into banks’ coffers."Say no more.
Err so its Lawyers, Executives and Roscos that have prospered? Whats that the Roscos are primarily owned by Infrastructure Companies and Fund Managers? Ah well lets not worry about facts.
My thoughts:
So, it's a mixed bag for them for me really. To be honest, I wouldn't mind someone else giving it a go. Although in their defence, if it isn't broke, don't fix it.
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With regard to NX, it's strange as they seem to be an okay company.
Midland Mainline seemed to run okay, C2C has won so many awards, yet when it came to EC, they fell apart. This leads me to think it is not National Express as a parent company, rather the divisional director of East Coast that let it down. National Express should have paid more attention and looked at changing some of their management.
However as always, there is far more going on behind the scenes than what we will ever know. Therefore the wild choices that some companies make are made for a reason, not just a random pull from the hat.
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However, I would say the whole franchise system is a load of rubbish anyway.
First and foremost, a company should be able to pay for itself, taking no money from the government. Rails, tunnels and stations are paid for by Network Rail and if a station operates a station, they must pay some money towards it's renovation. Rolling stock should come from a central company run by the DfT, not all these different ROSCO's.
- When it comes to getting feedback from a job interview, you'll be in for years of waiting (FGW and FCC).
- Their stock is okay. Actually I applaud them for spending the money getting all their stock in the correct livery unlike many other TOCs who don't seem to care too much about brand image.
- Their website is nice and modern.
- They surely could get on the back of the DfT and tell them about the overcrowding issues? If you need more stock, tell the DfT and keep telling them.
- I've seen much bad press for them, from TV programmes to forum posts.
- They've had the Great Western area for ages now and has anything major changed? The WCML had new stock, rebuilt line. The Midland Mainline had new stock, twice.
- First led the way with MTU conversions (despite fans of Valenta/Paxman, MTU really is the way forward).
So, it's a mixed bag for them for me really. To be honest, I wouldn't mind someone else giving it a go. Although in their defence, if it isn't broke, don't fix it.
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With regard to NX, it's strange as they seem to be an okay company.
Midland Mainline seemed to run okay, C2C has won so many awards, yet when it came to EC, they fell apart. This leads me to think it is not National Express as a parent company, rather the divisional director of East Coast that let it down. National Express should have paid more attention and looked at changing some of their management.
However as always, there is far more going on behind the scenes than what we will ever know. Therefore the wild choices that some companies make are made for a reason, not just a random pull from the hat.
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However, I would say the whole franchise system is a load of rubbish anyway.
First and foremost, a company should be able to pay for itself, taking no money from the government. Rails, tunnels and stations are paid for by Network Rail and if a station operates a station, they must pay some money towards it's renovation. Rolling stock should come from a central company run by the DfT, not all these different ROSCO's.
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I don't think it has anything to do with the divisional management of NXEC and everything to do with the fact that NX overbid massively for the ICEC franchise which meant that they were already going to struggle to make the payments and when the recession started to bite the revenue they made from the franchise was far far less than anticipated. This left NX with either ditching the franchise or propping it up using money from other operations. They chose to ditch it.
tbtc
Veteran Member
Plus, since they were following on from GNER, they were always going to have a hard time to convince enthusiasts...
I was never a massive GNER fan, and found some of the criticism of NXEC to be about the more trivial side of things (the crisps they gave out in First Class weren't as nice as the GNER ones), whereas they did have some sensible plans for increasing capacity (e.g. regular daytime Lincoln trains).
All water under the bridge now.
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