Virgin extension until 2017

[Hellfire]

The new West Coast franchise will run until March 20171
Wow, super long franchise, they've done well :roll:

That's the same year the last Pacer will leave Northern.

 

[Redonian]

I'd be intrigued as to how they'll manage with gating Rugby. I'd imagine there'd be barriers in the ticket hall area, but what about the far end of the tunnel? Is there much room down there?

Fitting gates at Rugby is going to be very difficult. The other end of the tunnel is the route from the car park and a whole area of the town to the ticket office. Pretty much impossible to gate it there. The only way I can see would be to gate all the ramps, stairs and lifts individually which would be just about impossible to manage.

 

[387star]

Few more details from the Dft.

Free Wi-Fi onboard and at stations too.
£2.5m on Pendolino refurbishment
£2.75m on improving catering
Increased parking spaces at Carlisle, Lancaster and Stafford
2 trains per day to Shrewsbury (1 on Sundays)
1 train per day to Blackpool
Joint planning to be undertaken to remodel Carstairs and improve London-Scotland travel times.

100% Cap and Collar regime.
58% increase in franchise premiums.

Mods' note: replies to to this post regarding Carstairs have been moved to: Carstairs remodelling thread

Ah thanks for this very interesting re refurbishment wonder what this will involve?? The toilets have recently seen work to remove the stench etc with other more minor changes...

PS the voyagers with the first/standard seating with tables and great window alignment make the trains feel great!

 

[Hadders]

The thing with Milton Keynes is it's growing hugely and that's only going to continue, at least in the short to medium term.

Milton Keynes will also become busier when the E-W line opens. It's also an important station where people making long distance journeys from the likes of Watford, Hemel, Leighton Buzzard and Northampton change.

I only see a situation where more trains stop at Milton Keynes. Once HS2 is built then this would be an extremely sensible thing to do anyway as long distance services won't go via Milton Keynes anyway.

 

[northwichcat]

I hope they a programmed to spit out any Greater Manchester ticket, passengers can retain them to use on the Metrolink inside the city zone.

They need to spit out any tickets to Manchester CTLZ or Metrolink City not just tickets from within Greater Manchester.

 

[Emyr]

Passengers changing need to be able to access retail outlets within the station.

 

[Hazlehead]

2.75 million isn't going to go far. Won't be an interior refresh or new seats. Will be spent on the new led lights needed as part of eco commitments, new designed quiet zones and new auto announcements system.

 

[jon0844]

The new West Coast franchise will run until March 20171
Wow, super long franchise, they've done well :roll:

They can hand their keys back in 15600 if they want though.

That's the same year the last Pacer will leave Northern.

Rubbish. They'll be getting new seat covers that year.

 

[Class 170101]

I still think ICWC franchise should get the Scotland to Manchester services when it comes up for renewal in 2017

No, should go to Cross Country as they should be running some of the services on the West Coast between Birmingham and Scotland.

 

[Class83]

Won't the £2.75million just be the cost of replacing the 1st class seats with standard class seats?

 

[Bill Stanier]

No end in sight for Northern's Pacers, unfortunately. Even their disability non-compliance will be got around by running them coupled to units that do comply.

 

[northwichcat]

No end in sight for Northern's Pacers, unfortunately. Even their disability non-compliance will be got around by running them coupled to units that do comply.

The next Northern franchise will be required to replace Pacers - see the consultation document.

 

[WatcherZero]

Won't the £2.75million just be the cost of replacing the 1st class seats with standard class seats?

That was my thinking too.

 

[Starmill]

Interesting that they don't seem to be gating Wolverhampton and Coventry!

Indeed; and Macclesfield but not Wilmslow!

My prediction is that Manchester Piccadilly is the most likely to be ruined by ticket gates.
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More stops at Milton Keynes sounds a good idea - though enthusiasts seem more interested in stopping 390s at Trent Valley stations than the busy/growing market of MK.

Ahem, what's all this about the Trent Valley? I personally am only interested in fast/more trains to Manchester and MK stops are a block on that.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Not being a city is irrelevant. How many tph should St Davids have to London?

Just like St Asaph! They should definitely have more than they get now, although I'm not sure having them to London would really be that important!

 

[WatcherZero]

Virgin now signed deal with Bombardier to extend their maintenence contract.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-27943470

 

[SkinnyDave]

No, should go to Cross Country as they should be running some of the services on the West Coast between Birmingham and Scotland.

Using what stock?

 

[Starmill]

Almost all VT services should stop to pick up and set down at Milton Keynes, like almost all FGW services stop at Reading, not a city, population 155,300

Nope, the comparison with Reading is valid but FGW just shouldn't all stop there.

*hides*
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

However the main reason for complaint seems to be that these awful oiks (who pay a substantial sum for their tickets) should not be allowed to board MY train ( for which I am clutching a cheap mega super advance) and make it crowded thus lowering my journey enjoyment for that crucial first/last half hour! How dare they join my super express train when they can easily use a slower service taking up to twice the time for the same journey! :roll:

Nobody wants or deserves a crowded train, MK has other options, Manchester doesn't (that aren't more crowded). And so what if it takes longer? Unfortuantely that's the luck of the draw with these places. I went to Maidenhead from London recently and really struggled to find any fast services at all. Got an Oxford stopper worked by a Turbo. I know there are some but not many.
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Your view seems to be that people paying for an expensive ticket should not travel on the fastest train so that longer distance passengers can have a more comfortable ride, even when, potentially, paying less!

Surely you agree with the principle though? Nobody can argue that a Pendo is designed as a commuter train and as for people who go to Manchester/Birmingham/Scotland - have you seen the prices of the Anytime tickets? They make the MK - London seasons look like a bargain.

 

[Lampshade]

Fitting gates at Rugby is going to be very difficult. The other end of the tunnel is the route from the car park and a whole area of the town to the ticket office. Pretty much impossible to gate it there. The only way I can see would be to gate all the ramps, stairs and lifts individually which would be just about impossible to manage.

Oh mark my words they'll find a way, nothing stands in the way of the barrier barrage.

 

[Starmill]

<IRONY ALERT> I live in Blackpool and often get a train out of Manchester.
It's a real pain that every time I board a TPE service in Manchester the train's packed, then most of them get off at Bolton.

It's just like Milton Keynes, but on a smaller scale! Why can't these commuters use the Northern stoppers intended for them so that I can sit in comfort? <END IRONY>

Exactly the same thing happens in Cardiff with people using the very limited West Wales services and Bridgend commuters (look how many trains to Fishguard there are compared to Blackpool).

Interesting stuff about ticket gates. I'm not at all familiar with the layout of Rugby but Stockport would need 3 gatelines I think; P0, the main entrance via the subway and the Edgeley entrance.

Stoke has the entrances to the car park on the northbound which might be tricky and as for Piccadilly well... Stand-out issues include the lift from the mezzanine to the street at the entrance on P1.

 

[Hadders]

I hope they don't fit gates at Stockport in the 'Finsbury Park' style where they are at the top of the stairs.

It's so congested in the peak that they usually have to be left open.

 

[Starmill]

I hope they don't fit gates at Stockport in the 'Finsbury Park' style where they are at the top of the stairs.

It's so congested in the peak that they usually have to be left open.

Finsbury Park is the perfect example of how not to do it, I agree.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Virgin now signed deal with Bombardier to extend their maintenence contract.

That seems to mean that all the XC and VT Voyagers will be leased until March 2019 (the XC rebid date) and operate on current routes.
There is no plan for VT to replace its Voyagers in the current franchise ending in 2017, and it gives the next ICWC operator two years to acquire replacements.

 

[jon0844]

Finsbury Park is the perfect example of how not to do it, I agree.

To be fair, at Finsbury Park there's not much of an alternative.

Welwyn Garden City is perhaps even worse. They too are often left open, or opened and people let through without proper checking.

In fact, the only people who might get checked when the gates are opened at WGC would be those waiting until the end. Fare evaders would be better off being near the front.

 

[dannypye9999]

I think you should note that the posting was made by the same user who made this posting about northern:

so I think its best to take some of the stuff they say with a pinch or two of salt.

I think you'll find I made this post around a year ago! Although my opinions of such a disasterous TOC haven't changed much since infact I could add a few more into that list but not going to bother writing them as they will cause offence and upset amongst northern lovers.

 

[Harryn9000]

People moaning about lack of trains to MK ur lucky Liverpool gets one train per hour to london and it not likely to change

 

[Manchester77]

I think you'll find I made this post around a year ago!

No you didn't you made it in March, hardly a year ago it's roughly 100 days ago.

 

[petersi]

To be fair, at Finsbury Park there's not much of an alternative.

Welwyn Garden City is perhaps even worse. They too are often left open, or opened and people let through without proper checking.

In fact, the only people who might get checked when the gates are opened at WGC would be those waiting until the end. Fare evaders would be better off being near the front.

or using the lift

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[Starmill]

To be fair, at Finsbury Park there's not much of an alternative.

Another perfectly simple solution; don't barrier them then?

Welwyn Garden City is perhaps even worse. They too are often left open, or opened and people let through without proper checking.

This is the case at a large number of gatelines countrywide - Leeds most significantly!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I think you'll find I made this post around a year ago! Although my opinions of such a disasterous TOC haven't changed much since infact I could add a few more into that list but not going to bother writing them as they will cause offence and upset amongst northern lovers.

I'll be the first to criticise Northern as a TOC (just as I would any TOC) for not doing things / doing things differently to how they could that would help passengers. But we all need to be reasonable about what is actually Northern's fault. Sure, you can be angry at the unreasonable continued service of pacers; at the DfT! It's their fault!

 

[northwichcat]

Regarding ticket barriers TPE are claiming the reason ticket barriers they installed at Huddersfield don't support the M-Card is because DfT didn't fund it: http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/new-huddersfield-train-station-barriers-7302404 They also don't support TPE's own Print@Home tickets.

I wonder how many types of tickets the new ticket barriers Virgin will install won't support.

 

[Class 170101]

Using what stock?

The 221s Virgin are currently using between London and Scotland via Birmingham. Remember West Coast only just started (in December 2013) running the services in this fashion. Split at Birmingham as it was previously.

Some HSTs should also be available for Plymouth - Edinburgh via the ECML to make up any shortfall.

New Pendolinos will also be needed anyway especially if the DfT do not want Open Access Operator to run services into Euston using the new paths apparently created by Stafford remodelling.