Metropol

This is quickly turning the same way every railway related discussion eventually seems to end. Next you'll be arguing over whether HSTs are loco and stock or a Unit.

WillPS wrote:I thought that SPT just acted like any of the English PTE's does... in which case they certainly do have a hand in rail.

Nope. SPT no longer stands for "Strathclyde Passenger Transport". In 2005 it ceased to be a PTE and is now "Strathclyde Partnership for Transport" - one of 7 rather toothless Regional Transport Partnerships across Scotland. It is still a member of PTEG, but is an associate member as it's not a PTE.

Tavish Scott also stripped SPT of rail powers and took it in house when he was Transport Minister in a previous Scottish Executive - so the Scottish rail frachise is now awarded by the Government agency Transport Scotland, with the operator taking over the whole franchise (inc suburban Strathclyde), and SPT having no say in the awarding or operation of the franchise.

SPT do still own and run the Glasgow Subway, and it's integrated ZoneCard ticket can be used on rail services.

Speaking of trains...

That means there's going to be some more tasty hybrid branding going on, don't forget that half or more of East Coast's fleet is still in the GNER colours that National Express received them in. The UK's only profitable train operation will be running with a hybrid of 3 or potentially 4 operators colours and branding.

I doubt ECML will bother with a complete new colour scheme, it will be enough to remove the national express lettering and grey lines, slap the new logo on the white strip of the GNER blue trains. If it's govt run, they won't bother spending more than they have to will they?

Yes, IIRC, the last government owned/run franchise - SouthEastern stuck pretty much with the colour scheme left behind by Connex including new trains introduced during their time. It was fairly neutral though - white and yellow

I'm not sure if it's the case here but outgoing train companies are supposed to remove all traces of their name when they hand over a franchise. I remember when WAGN gave way to First they had to go as far as cutting off the bottom of the maps in the carriages

Due to the circumstances surrounding the stripping of the franchise, I believe National Express have been given until mid December to ensure all trains and stations are debranded. The government, or rather 'Directly Operated Railways' will do very little to rebrand at this stage and don't intend to make any sweeping changes - apart from the things that NX introduced like the £2.50 seat reservation charge. They're also not persuing the plan to gate York station which had proved fairly unpopular

Of course, it's a balancing act - they want to make the franchise work - but not too well else there will be too many calls to keep it in public hands. But this is probably best left for another thread where my train geek side can flourish!!

Perhaps a high quality moderator could split the train stuff from the rest of this thread, what with it supposedly being about shops.

As you wish.

Now, you go first.