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ECML franchise to be broucht back under Public Ownership


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Thanks for posting .

 

Looks Ok . Well at least its not the shades of grey we have been used to recently .  Not sure if too much white , but it will be interesting to see one in the flesh

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  • 2 weeks later...
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The more I see this livery the more it grows on me as has been said unfussy and I think a good statement for the train company although it would have looked good in blue and white with  a large LNER on the side .Think the Italian livery is on a line from Rome to the north but not sure.

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The LNER staff today have been excellent on Leeds to London and London Leeds. But..the trains (Mk4s and a 91) are showing signs of reduced maintenance ( and an over full 8 car set this morning compared to a full 9 car set tonight) Elsewhere cost cutting is the vogue in various ways. Great but carp for the end customers.

 

train 15 minutes late this morning due to a Network Rail problem. Perhaps they need to be on the trains to appreciate what impact that has on the LNER Staff?

Baz

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The LNER staff today have been excellent on Leeds to London and London Leeds. But..the trains (Mk4s and a 91) are showing signs of reduced maintenance ( and an over full 8 car set this morning compared to a full 9 car set tonight) Elsewhere cost cutting is the vogue in various ways. Great but carp for the end customers.

 

train 15 minutes late this morning due to a Network Rail problem. Perhaps they need to be on the trains to appreciate what impact that has on the LNER Staff?

Baz

 

We NR staff are very well aware of the impacts delays cause to TOC staff thank you.

 

We don't like failures any more than the general public - but the last time I looked ranting at on train / gateline staff doesn't magically fix infrastructure woes whoever they are employed by.

 

I spent quite a lot of time this Monday just gone in one (an IBJ issue which required an hours line block on Down fast trains from Stoats Nest to Gatwick to try* and fix) which no doubt caused lots of angry passengers to let rip at GTR staff, but there was sod all we could do about it.

 

*but its still causing grief so I'm out there again tonight

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 But..the trains (Mk4s and a 91) are showing signs of reduced maintenance ( and an over full 8 car set this morning compared to a full 9 car set tonight) Elsewhere cost cutting is the vogue in various ways. Great but carp for the end customers.

 

 

Can't have the public liking a government run train service, have to encourage them to welcome yet another attempt at privatizing it...

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Can't have the public liking a government run train service, have to encourage them to welcome yet another attempt at privatizing it...

It’s certainly a challenge, given the standard of service I’ve encountered from Cross Country over the past couple of months. It has been consistently awful, with various problems and deficiencies arising specifically from the privatised/franchised structure, highlighted at times by operational problems.

 

I made a long round trip this week, Plymouth - Peterborough - Boston - Plymouth including a meeting in Boston. I didn’t even seriously consider making the trip by rail, I just drove.

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Can't have the public liking a government run train service, have to encourage them to welcome yet another attempt at privatizing it...

I rather think that any opportunity to persuade the travelling public at large to welcome privatisation, has long since been lost. Too many of them are simply oblivious to the various brands and see no practical value from their point of view.

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Can't have the public liking a government run train service,.....

 

 

Not directed particularly at you, but that typifies the use of poor and inaccurate language around this subject and how that allows people (the press media and politicians in particular) to twist and frame discussion to their own agendas.

 

It's also not helpful for ordinary members of the public to understand the true nature of the situation and has lead to majority opinion being muddled and misinformed.

 

 

A clue..."government run train service"......what does that mean, if anything at all ?

 

 

 

.

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I hope that LNER make a success of this route as they can lay the foundation of what is to follow and maybe they could carry on for a good few years ,I agree that the public dont care who provides the train as long as its on time and they get a seat

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Not directed particularly at you, but that typifies the use of poor and inaccurate language around this subject and how that allows people (the press media and politicians in particular) to twist and frame discussion to their own agendas.

 

It's also not helpful for ordinary members of the public to understand the true nature of the situation and has lead to majority opinion being muddled and misinformed.

 

 

A clue..."government run train service"......what does that mean, if anything at all ?

 

 

 

.

 

I completely agree in general Ron.

 

But in this case (and others) I guess it is recognisable shorthand for government-owned companies set up to operate without paying a dividend to private shareholders. The argument then surrounds whether a government-owned company is sufficiently incentivised to do a better job than a privately/shareholder owned one, and whether dismembering all the checks and balances (such as regulation, contractual imperatives, profit-motive etc etc), that govern the present situation, would produce a better result.

 

The argument will rage on, politicians and commentators will continue to use misleading language, and we each have our views. But it avoids the more important argument perhaps, surrounding vertical integration (whether private, state or a mix of the two). Graything, for all his many faults, does seem to have been persuaded to head further down that road, even as he grapples with the private good / public bad ethos of his party. We shall see if there is time, and intelligence and ability, to make that work before the next "Big Idea".

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Will be interesting to see how the "cross borders" TOCs such as TPE and XC fair in such a set up. I'm not completely convinced that giving a TOC control over the infrastructure and by definition signalling/regulation will help where trains traverse other TOC's metals. We will have to wait and see as you say, Mike.

Edited by Hobby
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I completely agree in general Ron.

 

But in this case (and others) I guess it is recognisable shorthand for government-owned companies set up to operate without paying a dividend to private shareholders. 

 

I must confess I've got a bit confused now. I believe that DOR was as you describe above.

 

But is that the case for LNER? I thought that it was still a private company running things, but with more direct control from the government. (An extreme form of management contract?)

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Ah yes.

 

I was remembering things like this:

"When it is fully formed the new LNER operation will be a partnership between the public and private sectors. In all circumstances ownership of the infrastructure will remain in the public sector, but the railway is at its strongest when it is a genuine partnership between public and private."

from https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/east-coast-rail-update

 

And I've just found the following from earlier in the thread. As I said, I'm confused.

 

Not strictly accurate. DOR Ltd was originally managed directly by the DfT as a "non-departmental government organisation", when it ran East Coast Trains the last time. They basically used First Class Partnerships (FCP), a consultancy formed by John Nelson, one of the last BR General Managers of the Eastern Region, to staff and operate the senior roles.

 

Effectively DOR was "privatised" in 2016, and is now run by a partnership of Arup/Ernst&Young/SNC-Lavelin (the old Interfleet, now Canadian owned), and it is this team which will now adopt LNER and run the services on behalf of the DfT. FCP have known about this since January (according to their news feed), so it is clear that a lot of preparation has been underway before Grayling's formal announcement. It would appear therefore that all the effort put in by Stagecoach/Virgin to renegotiate the franchise had been dismissed (or at least thought improbable) some time ago.

 

 

No

 

t strictly accurate. DOR Ltd was originally managed directly by the DfT as a "non-departmental government organisation", when it ran East Coast Trains the last time. They basically used First Class Partnerships (FCP), a consultancy formed by John Nelson, one of the last BR General Managers of the Eastern Region, to staff and operate the senior roles.

 

Effectively DOR was "privatised" in 2016, and is now run by a partnership of Arup/Ernst&Young/SNC-Lavelin (the old Interfleet, now Canadian owned), and it is this team which will now adopt LNER and run the services on behalf of the DfT. FCP have known about this since January (according to their news feed), so it is clear that a lot of preparation has been underway before Grayling's formal announcement. It would appear therefore that all the effort put in by Stagecoach/Virgin to renegotiate the franchise had been dismissed (or at least thought improbable) some time ago.

 
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I'm not sure but I don't think DOR Ltd have anything to do with the current LNER set up. I think they went when Virgin/Stagecoach took over in 2015?

 

DOR no longer exists.  The Government's 'operator of last resort' (the private consortium of Arup, E & Y, Lavelin) is now running the show as a management contract.

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DOR no longer exists.  The Government's 'operator of last resort' (the private consortium of Arup, E & Y, Lavelin) is now running the show as a management contract.

 

So not in fact a government-owned company paying no dividends?

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