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Stephen
Average Member
United Kingdom
151 Posts |
 Posted - 25 Mar 2011 : 13:19:50
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NXEA have not been shortlisted for the new franchise (www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12853304) . We'll have a new operator from next February.
I'm not sure if this is a good thing. NXEA aren't the best operator, but neither are they the worst, and a new operator will have to carry on with the timetable introduced by NXEA this December. The new franchise will only run for 17 months and any significant changes will have to wait for the next, longer, franchise, starting in late 2013. |
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Warewolf
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1453 Posts |
Posted - 25 Mar 2011 : 15:01:06
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| What is the point, no investment on a 17 month agreement? |
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mb1
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
2138 Posts |
Posted - 25 Mar 2011 : 17:56:40
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| Just an adjustment to bring it in line with the other major franchises as NX have had EA and the East Coast mailine taken away from them. Not sure if they're worse than most, but they are bloody awful. They fail to run trains at the drop of a hat, and their alleged 'customer service' is somewhere between a joke and an insult. |
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Stephen
Average Member
United Kingdom
151 Posts |
Posted - 25 Mar 2011 : 18:02:31
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quote:
Originally posted by Warewolf
What is the point, no investment on a 17 month agreement?
The current franchise runs out and so has to be re-let. The government wants to change the way they are set up. This includes a longer franchise (15 years) and talk of greater involvement in track maintenance, etc. This will take a while to set up, hence a short franchise to bridge the gap. Also, they don't want new arrangements to be bedding in during the run-up to the Olympics. |
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EmilyO
Average Member
United Kingdom
109 Posts |
Posted - 25 Mar 2011 : 19:44:42
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| What worries me about this is whether the fares will go up again as the result of the 'new' service. May not be an issue but not sure how the pricing structures work with rail operators. |
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Scottman
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1758 Posts |
Posted - 25 Mar 2011 : 22:52:27
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| Well, on a sample of n=1, they managed to run the 0943 exactly on time this morning, and the 1512 back this afternoon to the second. Perfick. |
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mb1
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
2138 Posts |
Posted - 26 Mar 2011 : 11:15:16
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| Well, Scottman, from time to tine they just have to get something right, even if only by accident! |
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TOMTOM
New Member
United Kingdom
8 Posts |
Posted - 29 Mar 2011 : 10:01:29
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| I would not be surprised if the DFT end up running the franchise for the Olympics same set up as east coast , what i think we are seeing is vertical integration where one company runs all trains track, repairs etc. (they could call it something like Network Southeast).. so what will NX do now with the service for the remaining months ?? |
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mb1
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
2138 Posts |
Posted - 29 Mar 2011 : 11:03:03
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| Given NX' track record it seems likely that they will gradually run things down and spend as little money as possible giving as little service as possible so they can walk away with as much cash as possible. Certainly there's no reason to think they will do anything positive, especially not for our branch line. |
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