There is a precedent for this!
I give you Gatwick Expeess being operated by Southern!
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Will Virgin bid on the west coast?
- Thread starter Joshrowlands
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There is a precedent for this!
I give you Gatwick Expeess being operated by Southern!
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R
RailUK Forums
But that's another company. Southern said so... [emoji6]
LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
There are some devolution scenarios which would put cross-border Anglo-Scots rail services in a different category to "domestic" services in England and Scotland.
The ICWC franchise might therefore be split into "England" and "Cross Border", however daft that may seem in rail terms.
The Scottish government would get to share decisions on cross-border services.
The "England" bit, which is the majority, would stay with the DfT and not overlap at all with ICEC.
Currently almost everything north of Lancaster ends up in Glasgow or Edinburgh, so how you would carve up WCML services I wouldn't know.
Almost nothing terminates at Carlisle these days.
Then Wales will want the same deal, where cross-border will be a nightmare.
We'll have to watch the devolution debate closely over then next year or two.
Lets hope sense (ie an integrated network) prevails.
The ICWC franchise might therefore be split into "England" and "Cross Border", however daft that may seem in rail terms.
The Scottish government would get to share decisions on cross-border services.
The "England" bit, which is the majority, would stay with the DfT and not overlap at all with ICEC.
Currently almost everything north of Lancaster ends up in Glasgow or Edinburgh, so how you would carve up WCML services I wouldn't know.
Almost nothing terminates at Carlisle these days.
Then Wales will want the same deal, where cross-border will be a nightmare.
We'll have to watch the devolution debate closely over then next year or two.
Lets hope sense (ie an integrated network) prevails.
Given a lot of train tickets are regulated, there is limited scope to increase the ticket prices.
Also given the option to use other TOC's and open access operates to get (at least partway) to many places on the ECML and WCML, it would further reduce the risk of prices raising too much.
Also, given that Virgin or any other TOC have only have limited period of franchise before they have to rebid for it in an open fight with other TOC's, it is unlikely that the competition commission will even be bothered let alone interested in TOC's almost regardless of how many franchises they hold.
Also given the option to use other TOC's and open access operates to get (at least partway) to many places on the ECML and WCML, it would further reduce the risk of prices raising too much.
Also, given that Virgin or any other TOC have only have limited period of franchise before they have to rebid for it in an open fight with other TOC's, it is unlikely that the competition commission will even be bothered let alone interested in TOC's almost regardless of how many franchises they hold.
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