WAG Express contract extended

[Gareth Marston]

According to Wales Online today the WAG Express contract has been rolled over for another 12 months.

 

[route:oxford]

According to Wales Online today the WAG Express contract has been rolled over for another 12 months.

There should really be a WAG-RoSCo. After 3 years and almost £6m there are no assets to show for all the "investment" in operating the service.

Take a ten-year view and they'll be spending around £25M to operate the service. With that budget, could have had 2 brand new Inter-City style 7-car DMU/DEMU with full catering kitchen/restaurant and still have enough funds to pay for the operating costs.

 

[train bore]

Nice one? Is this a new tv reality show?

Will Colleen be in it?

 

[Gareth Marston]

There should really be a WAG-RoSCo. After 3 years and almost £6m there are no assets to show for all the "investment" in operating the service.

Take a ten-year view and they'll be spending around £25M to operate the service. With that budget, could have had 2 brand new Inter-City style 7-car DMU/DEMU with full catering kitchen/restaurant and still have enough funds to pay for the operating costs.

Artificial splitting of money into "capital" and "revenue" headings within public spend accounts for this. The moneys come from the revenue pot hence cant actually own anything tangible.

 

[merlodlliw]

Artificial splitting of money into "capital" and "revenue" headings within public spend accounts for this. The moneys come from the revenue pot hence cant actually own anything tangible.

We had Ben Davies stakeholder Manager for ATW giving us a talk at Wrexham last evening "ATW the way forward" interesting presentation from a real railwayman.

He covered refurbishment of 158s, we all agreed with his comment CRAP,he also touched on the Cambrian, but would not be drawn on the hourly service, he mentioned WAG are looking into a P&R for their 600 odd Aber staff,however as it turns out less than 10% would use the train when asked. He said. ATW & the Univ are involved in talks about chronic overcrowding of rail services, this is at weekends only, weekdays are quiet with Uni travellers.
He mentioned other stops between Aber & Shrewsbury are in WAGS mind for the future.

Anyhow back to the point Looks like WAG may well have coughed up £2M for the next 12 months Wagexpress,last year it was £1.7M of taxpayers money.

M

 

[4SRKT]

Well, it's nice for us English bashers to get something back from the subventions given by Westminster to the WAG Long may it continue! May I suggest hiring in a 37/4 next year?

 

[asylumxl]

Ah. The WAG. They like spending public money on luxuries. Margaret Moran should see if she can become part of the WAG...

 

[fairlie]

He [...] also touched on the Cambrian, but would not be drawn on the hourly service, he mentioned WAG are looking into a P&R for their 600 odd Aber staff,however as it turns out less than 10% would use the train when asked.

Hardly surprising given that I would expect many of them will be commuting from places where there aren't railway stations! Surely WAG don't expect their entire workforce to live in Borth?

 

[tbtc]

Ah. The WAG. They like spending public money on luxuries. Margaret Moran should see if she can become part of the WAG...

Its lucky the WAG have no real powers, otherwise they'd be making the Irish Government look like economic experts

 

[yorkie]

...for their 600 odd Aber staff...

Do you mean Aber? Or do you mean one of the many places that begins Aber? How are we meant to tell which one you mean? By looking at the rest of your post, I can figure out you are referring to Aberystwyth. Yes, I know people local to Aberystwyth understandably shorten their place name, but so do other places, and this could get confusing. Aber is actually closer to the route of the train in question than Aberystwyth, and also the train goes through places like Abergavenny, so when someone mentions "Aber" when talking about this service I would think perhaps they mean Abergavenny, I wouldn't think they meant a place nowhere near the route in question.

 

[merlodlliw]

Do you mean Aber? Or do you mean one of the many places that begins Aber? How are we meant to tell which one you mean? By looking at the rest of your post, I can figure out you are referring to Aberystwyth. Yes, I know people local to Aberystwyth understandably shorten their place name, but so do other places, and this could get confusing. Aber is actually closer to the route of the train in question than Aberystwyth, and also the train goes through places like Abergavenny, so when someone mentions "Aber" when talking about this service I would think perhaps they mean Abergavenny, I wouldn't think they meant a place nowhere near the route in question.

Yes Yorkie I must agree, Aber can mean a number of places within WAG Wales, Cardiff have sliced it into four areas, it is Aberystwyth I meant.
However this does show the down side of devolution, where a Minister is appointed and can make what appears self gain for his Constituency,Anglesey spending another £3M plus on luxuary trains & light aircraft without reference, yet the rest of North East Wales have a cut of 7% this coming year on rail infrastructure,

I agree with TBTC, this Wag Minister is like a few in Ireland, spend what you have not got and then blame everyone else.

To even consider a park & ride for its staff at Aberystwyth , shows how unreal is the world they live in at Cardiff.

 

[TDK]

Anyhow back to the point Looks like WAG may well have coughed up £2M for the next 12 months Wagexpress,last year it was £1.7M of taxpayers money.

M

That works out at £7700 per day to run the service, what a joke.

 

[merlodlliw]

That works out at £7700 per day to run the service, what a joke.

Now lets see if he gets away with the light aircraft,out to tender, only one bidder applied,current contract ends 10th December, no bookings taken after that date. The joke continues at our expense. Another £1M Plus will do nicely.

Oh I forget most of the A.Ms take a Xmas holiday for a month on the 9th Dec, its so hard working a three day week, so little call for flights from Anglesey to Cardiff for a month.

Welcome to devolution Ieuan Wyn Jones style.

 

[4SRKT]

Seriously, would a 37/4 be any cheaper than a 'snatcher? You could sve on cost and get more basher revenue (although maybe they don't want a load of dirty, torn-T shirt-and-windcheater-wearing, my lords-shouting bashers polluting the rarified atmosphere of the WAG Express.

 

[tbtc]

Does this mean the plans for WAG2 have been shelved?

 

[Gareth Marston]

Hardly surprising given that I would expect many of them will be commuting from places where there aren't railway stations! Surely WAG don't expect their entire workforce to live in Borth?

To many in North Ceredigion and southern Gwynedd/ western Montgomeryshire the office was a golden opportunity to be a catalyst for some improvements to transport in the area involving joined up thinking. The reality has been that the office went up divorced from any transport improvements. With the office not being anywhere near capacity and there being parking space free and WAG staff relocating from other offices being compensated with mileage allowances the net effect has been to increase the volume of road traffic into/out of the town.

The Mid Wales Transport Consortia TraCC have put forward a reopened station at Bow St as an idea in there latest strategy with car parking. The problems to getting more people to rail into Aberystwyth is more to do with car parking as anything else. Borth and Dovey Junction have no car parking whatsoever and in Machynlleth its not unknown for the car park to be full by 0800 before the 0810 commuter train.

 

[tbtc]

in Machynlleth its not unknown for the car park to be full by 0800 before the 0810 commuter train.

There's a lot of stations in the UK where all (free) parking is taken by 08.00 though

 

[Gareth Marston]

There's a lot of stations in the UK where all (free) parking is taken by 08.00 though

absolutely its a huge barrier to rail usage- though getting a seat on board would then be an even bigger problem if there was more car parking! Wrexham and Shropshire think its an issue with their patronage as well. Some more enlightened elements in Shropshire CC have been trying to push a Shrewsbury Park and Ride stations for years. I'm a 15 minute walk from my station most people aren't.

 

[Greenback]

It is a huge barrier in rural areas such as Ceredigion and Gwynedd where population density is not high, and a railhead attracts people from surrounding areas who will normally need to travel in by car. (I'm lucky, I only live five minutes from my station, and there doesn't seem to be a shortage of parking there either).

 

[merlodlliw]

Does this mean the plans for WAG2 have been shelved?

Ben Davies of ATW also told us on Monday, that changes to the May 2011 timetable are little more than Dec 2011 timetable except.

1.better connections for Holyhead shipping services,Up trains(ATW) to arrive some few minutes earlier & downs to depart similar,

2.Improved timings North/South services from Holyhead & Manchester. but bottlenecks between Cardiff & Newport,block workings Shrewsbury to Wrexham & the limit of only 3 trains an hour Wrexham to Chester are areas that cause most problems,

3.Improved connections at Shrewsbury from Cardiff & Holyhead.

4.More trains to stop at Nantwich on the Manchester/Cardiff's.

I questioned him on WAG2, the path is still available but nothing further,certainly not for 2011, by then the Current Minister will be gone.

Later, see the thread Wrexham Double track thread, good news from my A.M.

M

 

[merlodlliw]

Just to add on to Gareth's thread starter, it transpires Wales Rail Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones, also A.M for Anglesey, only agreed the increased subsidy for Gerald
for one year as a sop to WAG A.Ms, this was also left to the last minute,now we know why.

This cash strapped Govts Deputy First Minister, the said Ieuan Wyn Jones have just awarded what is known as Wagair £4.8M taxpayers subsidy up 50% to run the Mon/Fri flight Anglesey to Cardiff for another four years.

Note the rail service is only subsidised for one year at £2M, priority's come to mind,as this Minister (hopefully to go next May) as guaranteed his favourite mode of travel for 4 years. Under a new Govt Gerald can be axed in 11 months and probably will be.

So much for devolution & self interest. One of many comments below.

North Wales Lib Dem AM Eleanor Burnham said she would never use it.

“Instead of running this service for a few elite passengers from North West Wales, it would be far better value for money to improve our rail service, with a business class train running North to South. This air link has little attraction east of Llandudno Junction.”

 

[matt]

Why does the WAG cost so much to run? I thought ATW own the mark 2s so they only need to pay for hire of the 57.

 

[anthony263]

Why does the WAG cost so much to run? I thought ATW own the mark 2s so they only need to pay for hire of the 57.

Dont they have to pay track acess charges and also a shunter if they need to run the locomotive round the train?

 

[matt]

Dont they have to pay track acess charges and also a shunter if they need to run the locomotive round the train?

Is the track access charge significantly more than for a 175? At Cardiff Canton there would be shunters anyway. I am not sure whether the ATW guard would be trained to do it at Holyhead.

 

[The Planner]

Say bye bye to your double tracking then if the WAG bin it....

 

[merlodlliw]

Say bye bye to your double tracking then if the WAG bin it....

Where have you been planner, WAG have confirmed the funding last month after
extensive lobbying. The question now is,why is Net Rail ten months behind with grip 3 costings,someone on maternity leave.

anyhow have a look at this, as its about Gerald , BTW subsidy is now £2M up from £1.7last year

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/w...r-attack-over-elitist-service-91466-27768753/

 

[Gareth Marston]

It is a huge barrier in rural areas such as Ceredigion and Gwynedd where population density is not high, and a railhead attracts people from surrounding areas who will normally need to travel in by car. (I'm lucky, I only live five minutes from my station, and there doesn't seem to be a shortage of parking there either).

I used Abercynon on Friday and the new car park there was being tarmaced. Can't be long before its open easily 100 plus spaces have been created, along with new bridge over River Taff to access it. 4 tph to Cardiff, will boost usage even further on Aberdare/Merthyr services.

 

[Greenback]

Indeed. Facilities at Abercynon have been greatly improved and this will hopefully help to make rail services more attractive than the A470!

 

[The Planner]

Where have you been planner, WAG have confirmed the funding last month after extensive lobbying. The question now is,why is Net Rail ten months behind with grip 3 costings,someone on maternity leave.

Thats an incredibly petty comment to make about NR, the WAG are far from squeaky clean in this one. Look it at this way, as you know, all of this scheme is built on the fact the WAG want their glorified taxi to run via Wrexham and not the great un-washed of Crewe. If Gezza wasnt running the scheme wouldnt have even been dreamt up. The situation has been the same for decades so why hasnt someone done something about it before ??. If Gezza goes to the great train path in the sky, whats the point of doing it ?? The next problem is that if it does get built and Gezza is no longer there, who pays for it ?? will the WAG be chucking NR a few bob to maintain it ??

 

[tsubaki]

Thats an incredibly petty comment to make about NR, the WAG are far from squeaky clean in this one. Look it at this way, as you know, all of this scheme is built on the fact the WAG want their glorified taxi to run via Wrexham and not the great un-washed of Crewe. If Gezza wasnt running the scheme wouldnt have even been dreamt up. The situation has been the same for decades so why hasnt someone done something about it before ??. If Gezza goes to the great train path in the sky, whats the point of doing it ?? The next problem is that if it does get built and Gezza is no longer there, who pays for it ?? will the WAG be chucking NR a few bob to maintain it ??

Werent Virgin and ATW complaining about the bottleneck as well? Its not just about Gerald that it is being done, though I agree that Gerald has helped to give them the kick up the arse that was needed to do it.