Possible split of the next Greater Anglia franchise

[oliMw]

Looks like the Department for Transport are looking into spitting the Greater Anglia franchise in 2016

Senior officials at the Department for Transport are working on proposals which could see the region split in a similar fashion to that before 2004 when the single franchise for all rail services operating out of Liverpool Street Station was created.

One franchise would be responsible for main line “InterCity” services from London to Norwich through Ipswich, as well as the local and regional services like Ipswich to Lowestoft, Cambridge, Peterborough, and Felixstowe.

The other franchise would run outer suburban trains from London to Ipswich and Cambridge, also running to Southend, Clacton, Walton, and Harwich.

The current “Metro” service from London to Shenfield will the transferred to the new Crosslink franchise when that opens in 2017 and inner suburban services on the Cambridge line are to be transferred to Transport for London’s “Overground” route.

The proposed split is being discussed by ministers and senior civil servants at the DTp, but is not yet official policy.

The whole article can be read here: http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/east_ang...glia_franchise_comes_up_for_renewal_1_2275103

 

[Cherry_Picker]

I wonder if they will decide to call it "Two" this time?

 

[telstarbox]

It would go against the recent trend of fewer, larger franchises combining long-distance and local services (First Great Western, Thameslink Southern GN, the proposed Northern-TPE merger).

 

[YorkshireBear]

May this be splitting off services that Crossrail will take over? Because that has been mentioned before and it seems eminently logical.

 

[dk1]

I would love to go back to the smaller Anglia franchise. Seems a little better to me as Abellio than the dark miserable days under NX but 1997-2004 was a far happier & exciting time.

 

[nxea321446]

they should bring back first great eastern and anglia railways

 

[oliMw]

they should bring back first great eastern and anglia railways

Surely it's better to have new businesses entering the franchise to bring new ideas and plans. It seems that this next franchise is important for the rail network in East anglia seen that we will be seeing improvements on the GEML

 

[Eagle]

Call me cynical, but I don't trust a rail-related news article that gets the name of Crossrail wrong...

 

[317666]

It does seem to go against the original idea of forming the London Eastern franchise, to have one common operator under the roof at Liverpool Street (limited c2c service excluded). It looks like what they're basically doing in terms of franchise areas is having Anglia Railways back (London - Norwich and Suffolk/Norfolk DMU services) and combining what was FGE/WAGN but without inner suburban.

 

[86246]

Call me cynical, but I don't trust a rail-related news article that gets the name of Crossrail wrong...

Having read far too many Paul Geater articles over the years, the appearance of the word "could" is always important.

 

[PermitToTravel]

It seems incredibly regressive that this franchise is being split (creating more TOCs and thus more administrative costs, but no real opportunities for them to compete), whereas the Southern and Thameslink franchises are being merged, ending an era of competition that has been very beneficial for passengers.

 

[43074]

Surely it's better to have new businesses entering the franchise to bring new ideas and plans. It seems that this next franchise is important for the rail network in East anglia seen that we will be seeing improvements on the GEML

Surely it makes more sense then to split Greater Anglia into separate West Anglia and Anglia/Great Eastern franchises than it does to have what is apparently being proposed.


Oh and the article dates from 12th July as well, so it's not exactly ''hot off the press''.

 

[swt_passenger]

May this be splitting off services that Crossrail will take over? Because that has been mentioned before and it seems eminently logical.

No, that's already done and dusted in the current franchise.

The current franchisee is required to split out the Shenfield services and their staff into a separate 'business unit' by some deadline or other, to be transferred lock stock and barrel into Crossrail when required.

 

[306024]

Ah good, more reorganisation. Here is a hopefully accurate quote from G.F.Fiennes excellent book 'I tried to run a railway', which serious students of railways should be familiar with.

What they do not need is to be dug up all the time and replanted. He said: "When you reorganise, you bleed. Punctuality goes to hell. Safety starts to slip. Don't reorganise. Don't. Don't. Don't"

The newspaper article also says:

However Suffolk cabinet member for Transport Graham Newman said he would be concerned about splitting the franchise.

“The franchise was brought together to create a large enough company to run services across the region.

“People look back fondly at Anglia Railways as an innovative, and quite an exciting company – which it was.

“But it was a minnow in the rail industry and it was not very secure financially.” The share price of Anglia Railways slumped before the company was bought by First Group towards the end of its franchise.

Mr Newman added: “You need the profits from the busy suburban lines near London to underpin the costs of the rural services – they may be busier and bringing in more revenue before, but they still need support.”

Yes this is old news, and all seems to be part of the Norwich in 90 campaign, with Norfolk MPs thinking by re-creating the 'good old days' their train will miraculously fly over the slower trains on the route.

Of course the DfT could well do something unusual - it wouldn't be the first time.

 

[Mojo]

Call me cynical, but I don't trust a rail-related news article that gets the name of Crossrail wrong...

And DTp as an acronym for the Department for Transport? What year is it in East Anglia?

 

[TheEdge]

And DTp as an acronym for the Department for Transport? What year is it in East Anglia?

1814.

Wait till you see these amazing iron horses. Not only do they run on iron rails but they move without the assistance of either man or horse. They'll never impact the canals and Wherry's though.