Hello all you train geeks out there!
I've created this thread because Virgin are to lose their Cross Country franchise in 2007 - alot sooner than originally planned.
The other train companies losing their franchises are Midland Mainline, Central Trains (both serve my local station near Nottingham), and Silverlink.
Apparantly the main routes from Central Trains' franchise will be combined into the Cross Country one, and two new franchises set up: East Midlands and West Midlands.
Now where does this leave everything?? Midland Mainline have invested heavily in new trains and new technology - what happens to it all? Does it all get taken over by the new company?
And will this result in cheaper fares or more expensive fares? It already costs nigh on £800 for a month Travelcard from my station to London - surely it can't get much higher?!
Also does this give Virgin the opportunity to bid for everything?? Once the High Speed rail link from St Pancras to Folkestone is up and running, does it mean Branson could run train services from the East Midlands direct to Paris and beyond on his tilting trains?
I'm confused!!
Train Geeks - Virgin loses franchise...
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Anonymous
Not true. The franchise will be relet. That only means if they re-bid - which they will - and are unsuccessful, they will lose the franchise. If they rebid and they keep it - which, again they probably will - they will carry on running short trains which are aload of s h i t e.jay wrote:Hello all you train geeks out there!
I've created this thread because Virgin are to lose their Cross Country franchise in 2007 - alot sooner than originally planned.
The other train companies losing their franchises are Midland Mainline, Central Trains (both serve my local station near Nottingham), and Silverlink.
Apparantly the main routes from Central Trains' franchise will be combined into the Cross Country one, and two new franchises set up: East Midlands and West Midlands.
Now where does this leave everything?? Midland Mainline have invested heavily in new trains and new technology - what happens to it all? Does it all get taken over by the new company?
And will this result in cheaper fares or more expensive fares? It already costs nigh on £800 for a month Travelcard from my station to London - surely it can't get much higher?!
Also does this give Virgin the opportunity to bid for everything?? Once the High Speed rail link from St Pancras to Folkestone is up and running, does it mean Branson could run train services from the East Midlands direct to Paris and beyond on his tilting trains?
I'm confused!!
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Anonymous
[email protected]......Sput wrote:Not for the first time, Virgin and Train Geeks are in the same sentence
Good, coz Midland Mainline are fucking ace!SCOTLAND TODAY ADDICT wrote:Not true. The franchise will be relet. That only means if they re-bid - which they will - and are unsuccessful, they will lose the franchise. If they rebid and they keep it - which, again they probably will - they will carry on running short trains which are aload of s h i t e.jay wrote:Hello all you train geeks out there!
I've created this thread because Virgin are to lose their Cross Country franchise in 2007 - alot sooner than originally planned.
The other train companies losing their franchises are Midland Mainline, Central Trains (both serve my local station near Nottingham), and Silverlink.
Apparantly the main routes from Central Trains' franchise will be combined into the Cross Country one, and two new franchises set up: East Midlands and West Midlands.
Now where does this leave everything?? Midland Mainline have invested heavily in new trains and new technology - what happens to it all? Does it all get taken over by the new company?
And will this result in cheaper fares or more expensive fares? It already costs nigh on £800 for a month Travelcard from my station to London - surely it can't get much higher?!
Also does this give Virgin the opportunity to bid for everything?? Once the High Speed rail link from St Pancras to Folkestone is up and running, does it mean Branson could run train services from the East Midlands direct to Paris and beyond on his tilting trains?
I'm confused!!
Had a bit of a scare when I first read your post Jay...
I can see why the Regulator would want to revoke such franchises, but it is becoming a nusiance that once every five minutes the franchises keep getting awarded to new companies, whilst the present owners have barely had chance to settle down and to make their mark. Virgin has invested alot of money (was public money also used?) to upgrade the West Coast Mainline which has just about finished, so meaning that a full service could be up and running as soon as they could. I've only ever used Virgin Trains once and was quite pleased with the service, I was also pleased with their punctuality.
Kinda sorry to see Central Trains going, I always preferred their service to Arriva Transpennine/First Transpenninexpress.
No matter what these new franchises promise, trains are still going to be late and prices are still having to increase.
Kinda sorry to see Central Trains going, I always preferred their service to Arriva Transpennine/First Transpenninexpress.
No matter what these new franchises promise, trains are still going to be late and prices are still having to increase.
steve
Don't forget Virgin have two train franchises and operate as two separate companies so Virgin West Coast between Manchester and London will still be there.nwtv2003 wrote:I can see why the Regulator would want to revoke such franchises, but it is becoming a nusiance that once every five minutes the franchises keep getting awarded to new companies, whilst the present owners have barely had chance to settle down and to make their mark. Virgin has invested alot of money (was public money also used?) to upgrade the West Coast Mainline which has just about finished, so meaning that a full service could be up and running as soon as they could. I've only ever used Virgin Trains once and was quite pleased with the service, I was also pleased with their punctuality.
Kinda sorry to see Central Trains going, I always preferred their service to Arriva Transpennine/First Transpenninexpress.
No matter what these new franchises promise, trains are still going to be late and prices are still having to increase.
Regarding the actual rolling stock (Geek Alert) all the trains are owned by separate companies and hired to the operators. Two ROSCOs were formed to take on BR's trains and are now Angel Trains and HSBCRail
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DVB Cornwall
- Posts: 519
- Joined: Fri 24 Jun, 2005 21.42
Sorry to clash but I believe all the new Virgin stock is owned by Virgin and not by a ROSCO.
My interpretation of the reorg -
The New Cross Country franchise from the documents at the Dept. of Transport site seems actually to be bigger than the existing one. There is nothing to stop Virgin re-applying. This latest reorganisation (or meddling - dependent on your political stance) is to create two Midland franchises - one covering the West and the other the East of the area. Any 'longer' routes from the exisiting franchises move into X Country.
My interpretation of the reorg -
The New Cross Country franchise from the documents at the Dept. of Transport site seems actually to be bigger than the existing one. There is nothing to stop Virgin re-applying. This latest reorganisation (or meddling - dependent on your political stance) is to create two Midland franchises - one covering the West and the other the East of the area. Any 'longer' routes from the exisiting franchises move into X Country.
Not being that up on privatised train companies (I still miss British Rail), but as someone who uses the trains 3 times a week to do a 50 mile commute, I can't see how Virgin could loose a franchise considering the investiment they have made. The journey I do could be served by one of 4 operators. At the bottom end of my opinion scale is Wessex Trains, which run horrible, noisy 2 carriage diesels which make you feel like you're travelling on a bus (who I have to deal with at some point, since they are the only trains on the Barnstaple-Exmouth line which I have to change at Exeter St Davids for), South West trains which run slightly newer versions of the same, First Great Western who run 1970's Intercity 125's...and Virgin, who run almost brand new Voyagers with a mains point at every seat for my laptop and phone charger to plug in to, provide at-seat entertainment for every passenger, a buffet car which doesn't close for ridiculously long periods of time, and toilets which don't bring back memories of primary school camps.
Given that I pay the same ticket price regardless of the quality of accomodation I am provided (something I wholey disagree with incidentically, different train companies provide different standards of rolling stock and so should be priced accordingly - Wessex trains do not provide the same service as Virgin and therefore should not cost as much), and given also that Virgin do own their new trains, there is nothing to be gained to the travelling public by ditching Virgin - at present Virgin seem to be the only train company serving my neck of the woods which makes any investment at all in new trains, as opposed to the other companies who rely entirely on ex-BR rolling stock.
Given that I pay the same ticket price regardless of the quality of accomodation I am provided (something I wholey disagree with incidentically, different train companies provide different standards of rolling stock and so should be priced accordingly - Wessex trains do not provide the same service as Virgin and therefore should not cost as much), and given also that Virgin do own their new trains, there is nothing to be gained to the travelling public by ditching Virgin - at present Virgin seem to be the only train company serving my neck of the woods which makes any investment at all in new trains, as opposed to the other companies who rely entirely on ex-BR rolling stock.
They were ace, until they discontinued services from Manchester. And yet they still send me (someone who lives inAston wrote: Good, coz Midland Mainline are fucking ace!
northwest Manchester) offers of lo-cost train fares to London. I'd signed up for their More Business service, which
entitled me to get First Class return fares to London for (IIRC) £19, which was an absolute bargain, and also
included free drinks and (IIRC) light refreshments if I showed my "More" membership card at the buffet car.
The only caveat with it, was that it took about an hour or so longer, than an equivalent journey on a West Coast
train. But seeing as I had First Class comfort, and free drinks and snacks, there was no real reason to complain!
If MM resume services from Manchester, I'll renew my "More" membership, assuming they still offer that service!