On Jun 22, 11:06 am, John B wrote:
On 22 Jun, 09:37, W14_Fishbourne wrote:


Did someone say "Bowker effect"?

--
To be fair, NX was losing TOCs well before Bowker turned up (Scotrail,
Wales). He's simply been unable to stop the losses.

On 22 Jun, 11:28, W14_Fishbourne wrote:

Did someone say "Bowker effect"?

To be fair, NX was losing TOCs well before Bowker turned up (Scotrail,
Wales). He's simply been unable to stop the losses.

They won One shortly before his arrival, though - that was a pretty
big win; I'd've thought it would offset W&W and Scotrail.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

On 22 Jun, 10:25, Pete Fenelon wrote:
In uk.railway Neil Williams wrote:

On Jun 22, 9:18 am, Paul Corfield wrote:

* The Community Rail service between Matlock and Derby will be increased
to every hour and extended directly to Nottingham.

Wonder how long that is guaranteed for if it becomes a big cash-
waster?

At a guess the Derby-Nottingham leg will subsidise the Matlock-Derby
end...

pete
--
"how many clever men have called the sun a fool?"

The DfT have been promising to reinstate the third Nottingham - Derby
train each hour that Central (under instruction) chopped when the
Skegness - Crewe service was split for quite a while now. I'm just a
little surprised they've decided to do it this way rather than extend
the Crewe trains back to Nottingham, although I'm sure the Matlock
line users group will be delighted to get a regular hourly service
again rather than the current irregular shuttle from Derby.

GM

In article , (Roland
Perry) wrote:

* 50% of the price paid for a single-leg journey delayed by
between 30 and 59 minutes;

* 100% of the price paid for a single-leg journey delayed by
between 60 and 119 minutes; and

* 100% of the price paid for a return journey delayed by more than
119 minutes.

So you can "tot up" the delays on a return trip, presumably.

I had two claims on a return trip from Cambridge to Manchester once, both
for over an hour's delay in the days when you got nothing for delays up
to 59 minutes.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article , (Roland
Perry) wrote:

In message .com,
at 01:37:25 on Fri, 22 Jun 2007, W14_Fishbourne
remarked:
I think you'll still see very low bargain fares available - it's
mainly the off-peak walk-up fares that'll be affected.

So Saver fares aren't regulated? Is it just the CDRs which are.

I thought Saver Fares were regulated. Cheap day returns aren't, judging
by SWT.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On 22 Jun, 11:06, John B wrote:
Did someone say "Bowker effect"?

From nationalexpressgroup.com

"NX East Midlands Rail Franchise response

22/06/2007


National Express Group PLC ('the Group') notes today's announcement
from the Department for Transport ('DfT') advising on the award of the
East Midlands rail franchise.

Commenting on the announcement, Richard Bowker, Chief Executive, said:
'We are very disappointed with today's announcement. We look forward
to the DfT explaining the reasons for their decision.

'I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our employees at
Midland Mainline and Central Trains. Midland Mainline's record of
constant improvement has resulted in the company being top of industry
league tables for operational performance as well as customer
satisfaction, a record of which we are truly proud.

'The team at Central Trains have shown what can be achieved in a
difficult franchise with the right people and the right focus.'



He should perhaps have added "and much good has it done them".

--
gordon

GMac wrote:
although I'm sure the Matlock
line users group will be delighted to get a regular hourly service
again rather than the current irregular shuttle from Derby.

Absolutely. With a new Matlock bus station currently under construction
next to the railway station (as part of a supermarket scheme), this
could sound like real joined-up thinking ... until one hears that a good
proportion of the buses will not serve the new bus station.

Why not? Because it will take too long to circumnavigate the town as a
result of the new road layout ... which is part of the scheme to build
the new bus station!

John Geddes
Derbyshire

On 22 Jun, 09:20, Chris Tolley wrote:
Once again, we see the magic of the franchise bidding system at work.
Promise a huge premium to win the bid, then get the customers to foot
the bill for it.

Presumably it will also give the competition authority wallahs an
excuse to justify their existence by proclaiming a need to look at the
implications of Stagey's local bus services and Megabus operations
within the area of the franchise. Unlikely to change very much but the
process will no doubt consume even more money from the taxpayers.

--
gordon

wrote in message
oups.com...
On 22 Jun, 09:20, Chris Tolley wrote:
Once again, we see the magic of the franchise bidding system at work.
Promise a huge premium to win the bid, then get the customers to foot
the bill for it.

Presumably it will also give the competition authority wallahs an
excuse to justify their existence by proclaiming a need to look at the
implications of Stagey's local bus services and Megabus operations
within the area of the franchise. Unlikely to change very much but the
process will no doubt consume even more money from the taxpayers.


Why? They haven't been interested in Stagecoach Hampshire Bus down here...

Paul

On 22 Jun, 08:18, Paul Corfield wrote:
http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/fu...eID=293825&New...

The Department for Transport has today announced that Stagecoach Midland
Rail Limited (a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group plc) has been awarded the
contract to run the new East Midlands franchise from 11th November 2007.
[snip]

There's a slightly different release (the Stock Market statement) on
the DfT website at http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/
franchises/emfranchise also giving the franchise subsidy/premia
details - which are GNER-esque in their ambition, IMNSHO.

The release says....

---start quote---
Stock Market statement
For immediate release: 07.00 22 June 2007

More services and extra capacity for the Midlands

The Department for Transport today announced that Stagecoach Midland
Rail Limited (a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group plc) has been awarded
the contract to run the East Midlands franchise.

The new franchise will begin on 11th November 2007and end on April 1st
2015. However the DfT has the right to terminate the franchise after
six years if the operator is failing to meet agreed performance
targets.

The franchise will deliver increased capacity, better performance and
the introduction of smartcard technology by 2010.

The East Midlands franchise brings together current Midland Mainline
services from London St Pancras and the eastern section of Central
Trains. It will receive a subsidy in the early years of the franchise
and pay a premium in the later years. Over the seven year and four
month life of the franchise a premium of £133m (NPV) will be paid to
the Department.

Benefits to passengers include:

* An extra hourly Kettering - London service, with agreement to
extend this to a new station at Corby
* A new direct daily service between Lincoln and London
* Two trains an hour between London and the new East Midlands
Parkway station from 2008
* A 9% increase in peak capacity into and out of London St
Pancras, plus more carriages on the busiest trains between Liverpool
and Nottingham.
* More than £5m of improvements at stations and more than £20m on
enhancing rolling stock;
* Provision of at least 1250 new car parking spaces and 400 more
bicycle spaces;
* Forecast 90.4% punctuality and reliability by the end of the
franchise

The Government will continue to limit annual rises of regulated fares
in line with national policy, which is currently RPI+1%.

As with all franchises, unregulated fares will be the responsibility
of the operator. In the East Midlands, Stagecoach Midland Rail Limited
is expected to increase unregulated fares by an average of RPI+3.4%
per annum.

Passengers will benefit from new arrangements to be compensated for
delays and poor performance.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

1. The premium profile for the East Midlands franchise is:
Mar-08 35,651,000*
Mar-09 64,291,000
Mar-10 36,461,000
Mar-11 424,000
Mar-12 (43,842,000)
Mar-13 (77,355,000)
Mar-14 (98,315,000)
Mar-15 (154,978,000)

(Nominal, part years indicated with asterisks, premium numbers in
brackets)

2. The parties invited to submit bids for the East Midlands franchise
were Arriva Trains East Midlands Limited (Arriva plc); First East
Midlands Limited (First Group plc); NXE Trains Limited (National
Express Group plc); Stagecoach Midland Rail Limited (Stagecoach Group
plc).

3. The new passenger refund system, Delay/Repay, will compensate
season ticket holders for delays to journeys they have actually taken,
not on the basis of overall performance. This is the same compensation
system as currently operates for single, return and weekly ticket
holders. Refunds will be on the basis of the proportional daily cost
of season tickets, with a 50% single refund for delays of 30-59
minutes, 100% single refund for delays of 60-119 minutes, and 100%
return refund for delays of 120 minutes+. This system will be rolled
out nationally during the term of each new franchise.

4. More details are available on the Department for Transport website
at www.dft.gov.uk
---end quote---

(I've reformatted the subsidy/premia table to make it easier to read,
and added the "thousands" which are not shown in the table on the
original release)

R.