Public Transport in your particular part of the region

[Alexia]

I'm not sure what the pros are of taking a piddly 90mph unit for a 3-and-a-half-hour trundle through Wessex's glorious but boring countryside with little to no catering and being dumped out at Waterloo, vs a 8-car HST with a buffet car taking 2 and a bit hours. It even costs £20 more for a Super Off Peak on SWT.

Depot wise - you'd still need certain depots to sign certain traction - all guards and drivers won't sign HSTs and units, or both, or neither. GWR guards wouldn't sign 159s, and SWT staff wouldn't sign HSTs or IEPs or AT300s.

Service wise - the SWT calls at stops and goes along routes that GWR don't, so it'd be no different to ATW running services from Swansea to Shrewsbury, either the fast way (2.75hrs) via Newport or slow way (4 hours) via Llanwrtyd. There's already a peak-time 1707-ish service from Padd to Bristol TM that runs via the Berks & Hants line.

[WillPS]

I'm pretty sure the DfT would take a dim view of sharing staff across multiple franchises. Under Virgin, aside from a few 'loans' of staff (which continued after Arriva took on XC) they were always staffed separately I believe.

[cwathen]

I'm not sure what the pros are of taking a piddly 90mph unit for a 3-and-a-half-hour trundle through Wessex's glorious but boring countryside with little to no catering and being dumped out at Waterloo, vs a 8-car HST with a buffet car taking 2 and a bit hours. It even costs £20 more for a Super Off Peak on SWT.

Past Salisbury most of the 159's end up as 9-car units so you're out-carred there The trains are slower and the whiney alternators that sound like a tortured cat every time the driver backs off the power don't quite match the ambience of an HST, true. However with a Network Railcard you can get an off peak return valid on any off peak train for a significant saving which would be hard to beat on GWR even using advance tickets unless you are willing to travel on the most lightly loaded services imaginable. As part of Stagecoach, SWT also sell discounted tickets on Megatrain which would likely go if First took the route on (just as Crosscountry Megatrain tickets ceased to exist when Virgin lost the franchise). You are also pretty much guaranteed a seat (a comfy seat too) on a 159 to Exeter or Bristol unlike when boarding an HST out of Paddington. And whilst we're on it, I'm much happier being offloaded at Waterloo than Paddington, it's closer to most of the places in London I like to go.

Depot wise - you'd still need certain depots to sign certain traction - all guards and drivers won't sign HSTs and units, or both, or neither. GWR guards wouldn't sign 159s, and SWT staff wouldn't sign HSTs or IEPs or AT300s.

Is this not something at risk of being 'harmonised' though if Firstgroup have both franchises? From a purely logistical point of view, it is a weak argument that 158888 (SWT) and 158763 (GWR) have to be operationally separated. There could be some sort of agreement made to share yard staff (or even if each franchise had to have it's own, this is still a saving vs running a depot) and if there is an operational problem in that at present there is no route in place for, say, a 159 to be worked back to Bristol rather than Salisbury and for an 'SWT' crew to run the unit from Bristol down to Exeter to form a Waterloo service, then what actually exists to stop them just creating such a route and getting the crew signed off on it?

[WillPS]

Depot wise - you'd still need certain depots to sign certain traction - all guards and drivers won't sign HSTs and units, or both, or neither. GWR guards wouldn't sign 159s, and SWT staff wouldn't sign HSTs or IEPs or AT300s.

Is this not something at risk of being 'harmonised' though if Firstgroup have both franchises? From a purely logistical point of view, it is a weak argument that 158888 (SWT) and 158763 (GWR) have to be operationally separated. There could be some sort of agreement made to share yard staff (or even if each franchise had to have it's own, this is still a saving vs running a depot) and if there is an operational problem in that at present there is no route in place for, say, a 159 to be worked back to Bristol rather than Salisbury and for an 'SWT' crew to run the unit from Bristol down to Exeter to form a Waterloo service, then what actually exists to stop them just creating such a route and getting the crew signed off on it?

Thats entirely possible even now.

As an example TPE supply the crew (and for a couple of runs the unit) to run the Cleethorpes - Barton service, since that service is essentially cut off from the Northern map (except on Saturdays, when the parliamentary service from Sheffield via Brigg and Kirton Lindsey runs).

[thegeek]

Glasgow Subway to close for a month; staff may come into contact with actual passengers.

[cwathen]

Phil Sayer, who used to voice announcements at the HSS stations before they ditched the Amey-Datel system, and is still in use on SWT stations and on the tube, has died today aged 62.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36055761

[Alexia]

I did a few forced-RP Mind The Gap announcements today.

[scottishtv]

I see First TransPennine Express, now known as TransPennine Express, has a new logo and livery to mark the start of the new First-only franchise.

[WillPS]

So do Northern, although neither the logo nor the livery has yet made it on to a train...
https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/news/ ... april-2016

The first 158s have already been sent for refurb, presumably they'll come back with the new brand soon.

[cwathen]

I see First TransPennine Express, now known as TransPennine Express, has a new logo and livery to mark the start of the new First-only franchise.

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for that to be rolled out on a large scale if the GWR rebrand is anything to go by - after 8 months they still haven't gotten any further than marketing, (some) uniforms, 1 HST set and 3 or 4 DMUs.

[scottishtv]

Speaking of GWR, I see that the Advertising Standards Agency said, "We told Great Western Railway not to suggest in future that the railway franchise was publicly owned, if that was not the case."

BBC News