Go-Ahead won't be losing the GTR franchise

[Surreytraveller]

Looks like the Government have begged Go-Ahead not to hand the keys of the GTR franchise back

https://www.go-ahead.com/en/media/news/2018/GTR-DfT-agreement-2018.html

The Go-Ahead Group plc (“Go-Ahead”) is pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached with the Department for Transport (“DfT”) regarding contractual matters in relation to the GTR franchise. This agreement resolves matters relating to the industry-wide failures concerning the introduction of the May timetable, as well as bringing to a close discussions around other outstanding contractual variations.

As part of the agreement, a plan for the remainder of the franchise term to 2021 has been agreed, aimed at building on recent performance improvement and improving customer journeys. GTR will provide £15m of funding this year for passenger enhancements.

The agreement reduces uncertainty around the future of the GTR franchise and its financial performance. A profit-sharing mechanism with the DfT will also be introduced for the remainder of the franchise. As a result, the margin over the franchise term is now expected to be between 0.75 to 1 per cent (previously 0.75 to 1.5 per cent), with no profit expected in the current financial year. The Group’s full year expectations for the current financial year remain unchanged, in line with the trading update published on 29 November 2018.

Go-Ahead Chief Executive, David Brown, said:

“We recognise that the industry-wide failures in delivering the May timetable created huge difficulties for our customers, and we are sorry for the poor service they received. Since the introduction of the interim timetable in July, performance has greatly improved, and now includes over 200 new services for customers, with further additional services to be introduced this month. This agreement will deliver additional benefits to passengers to be agreed in consultation with our customers.”

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Should have been stripped of Franchise. Not surprised at all, though.

 

[hwl]

Should have been stripped of Franchise. Not surprised at all, though.

Who else is going to do a better job from now onwards?

 

[OxtedSignaller]

What people don't see is that changing the franchise operator, would just put everything back further, it's a big money spending exercise changing everything over to a new company and politically the government don't want the hassle of being responsible for it through DOR. May as well let them see out the last two and a half years or so of the contract, then it can be relet on better terms and as traditional separate franchises that are focused on running a reliable train service day in and day out not transformation like this one is.

 

[swt_passenger]

Should have been stripped of Franchise. Not surprised at all, though.

Wouldn’t change a thing. 99% of staff would stay the same, following exactly the same DFT policies.

 

[Darandio]

Seems the RMT don't understand that stripping them of the franchise would be pointless either. Their typical response below with the usual 'basket case' garbage. They really need to sort out these press releases, they embarrass themselves.

https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/rmt-on-grayling-punishment-of-govia-thameslink/

RMT says Grayling "punishment" of Govia Thameslink "a pathetic insult to the thousands of passengers who have suffered daily misery at the hands of this basket case franchise."

Rail union RMT said today that Chris Grayling's "punishment" of Govia Thameslink is "a pathetic insult to the many thousands of passengers who have suffered daily misery at the hands of this basket case franchise."

Grayling has also ruled out stripping GTR of the franchise and bringing it into public ownership despite a history of total and utter failure.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said;

"Chris Grayling's half-hearted slap on the wrists for GTR is a pat‎hetic insult to the many thousands of passengers who have suffered daily misery at the hands of this basket case franchise. By refusing to strip them of the contract they are being given yet another licence to carry on with chaos by the man who is Britain's leading specialist in failure.

"Chris Grayling should resign and he should take his bankrupt private franchising operation with him and give the public sector a chance to clean up the mess he has left behind."

 

[tbtc]

Should have been stripped of Franchise. Not surprised at all, though.

1. They are only following Government instructions (DOO etc) and dependent on the Public Sector infrastructure (i.e. Network Rail's tracks)
2. Any replacement would have to follow the same Government instructions (DOO etc) and at the mercy of aforementioned Public Sector infrastructure
3. The knee-jerk RMT solution to everything would just put the services directly in the hands of the Government that have mandated the things that have caused (DOO etc) and no magic wand to resolve the Network Rail problems

At the moment the Government have a fall-guy who take the blame when things go wrong - why would they want to take it back in house?

 

[whoosh]

Not a surprise from the government.

RMT's "basket case" comment. Not a surprise.
Think my 'Railway Bingo' card is full - "House!"

All predictable really.

 

[dk1]

I was more surprised with the £15m they've been 'forced to spend' (That's how tbe BBC worded it) as for a company that size with the income that's comes in they must be laughing & jolly relieved it's so miniscule an amount.

 

[Dr Hoo]

I was more surprised with the £15m they've been 'forced to spend' (That's how tbe BBC worded it) as for a company that size with the income that's comes in they must be laughing & jolly relieved it's so miniscule an amount.

Does anybody know how much ‘income’ GTR actually receive?
As I understand it all the fares income actually passes straight to the DfT.
Most of the ‘fee’ income will go on staff, to Network Rail, to rolling stock leasing companies, traction current, BTP, etc. without touching the sides.
What is GTR really left with?

 

[dk1]

Does anybody know how much ‘income’ GTR actually receive?
As I understand it all the fares income actually passes straight to the DfT.
Most of the ‘fee’ income will go on staff, to Network Rail, to rolling stock leasing companies, traction current, BTP, etc. without touching the sides.
What is GTR really left with?

Nothing this year apparently. Profit will be zero. I don't feel too sorry for them though as they do nothing for nothing. I'm sure it will all be worth it in the end.

 

[FOH]

They should’ve been stripped and banned from future bidding.

 

[dk1]

They should’ve been stripped and banned from future bidding.

I don't think the DfT can be too picky anymore & let's not forget that they are the ones who have called the tune for many of this (sort of) franchises failings.

 

[Robertj21a]

They should’ve been stripped and banned from future bidding.

What, for complying with DfT directives ?

 

[FOH]

What, for complying with DfT directives ?

For acting in contempt of their customers’ interests and following this with complete lack of empathy

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

For acting in contempt of their customers’ interests and following this with complete lack of empathy

Trouble is you could just as easily say that about the DfT...

 

[HH]

When I was bidding for this franchise the Revenue was £1.3bn a year. If the 1% profit relates to that figure then that is £13m a year. IF the £15m were all coming out of their pocket then that's next year's profits gone, but often these promises are usually part smoke and mirrors. I'll bet engineers are running around trying to find things to "fix" on trains (that don't need fixing) that will be spread to the end of the franchise, and the figure will include staff time that DfT already effectively pay for. It's probably the main reason why the profit figure has been dialled back, so they're sort of double counting it as well.

Sir Humphrey is at it, as usual.

 

[DelW]

Seems the RMT don't understand that stripping them of the franchise would be pointless either. Their typical response below with the usual 'basket case' garbage. They really need to sort out these press releases, they embarrass themselves.

Not to mention that a significant part of that 'daily misery' was inflicted on passengers by the RMT with its pointless and unsuccessful strike campaign.

Having found that it doesn't work there, RMT is now inflicting the same misery on SWR passengers. It seems passenger service is not something the RMT have any concern about at all.

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Not to mention that a significant part of that 'daily misery' was inflicted on passengers by the RMT with its pointless and unsuccessful strike campaign.

Having found that it doesn't work there, RMT is now inflicting the same misery on SWR passengers. It seems passenger service is not something the RMT have any concern about at all.

That’s the biggest issue with many franchises. The Unions have too much control.

 

[FOH]

But GTR's performance had already gone south way before the strikes. The strikes however allowed the management to cover up their own failings.

 

[Failed Unit]

To be honest both GTR and DfT have got away with this unpunished.

They needed to fund £15 Million. Pocket change,

No profit? Again if they had the risk of the farebox they would have a large deficit.

We will watch the share price of go-ahead with interest but I bet it goes up because of this.

Meanwhile us passengers still have no clue when the 2018 timetable will be fully implemented. (Including weekends before someone says next week)

 

[hwl]

When I was bidding for this franchise the Revenue was £1.3bn a year. If the 1% profit relates to that figure then that is £13m a year. IF the £15m were all coming out of their pocket then that's next year's profits gone, but often these promises are usually part smoke and mirrors. I'll bet engineers are running around trying to find things to "fix" on trains (that don't need fixing) that will be spread to the end of the franchise, and the figure will include staff time that DfT already effectively pay for. It's probably the main reason why the profit figure has been dialled back, so they're sort of double counting it as well.

Sir Humphrey is at it, as usual.

377 mid life overhauls? (already in progress)

 

[hwl]

For acting in contempt of their customers’ interests and following this with complete lack of empathy

Remember DfT is their customer

 

[HH]

377 mid life overhauls? (already in progress)

Possibly; they can add something that's not needed and then they have an excuse to extend the programme (which was probably already behind).

 

[hwl]

Possibly; they can add something that's not needed and then they have an excuse to extend the programme (which was probably already behind).

Like replacing halogen reading lights with LEDs?

Presumably some more station refreshes with gating etc. too.

It should be easy enough to do overall over the next few years.

 

[03_179]

I'll bet engineers are running around trying to find things to "fix" on trains (that don't need fixing) that will be spread to the end of the franchise,

Where on earth do you get this from ?

The 377s are going through Mid-life overhaul
313 going through C4 overhaul
171 going through A6 overhaul.
Day to day repairs.
UATs.
Lathe work.

Trust me the engineers have more than enough work to do to and are not "trying to find things to "fix" on trains (that don't need fixing)".

 

[jon0844]

I am not sure Govia is going to commit fraud and then expect to ever run a franchise/contract again.

 

[Aictos]

What interests me is what exactly do they as in both GTR and the DfT have in mind as "GTR will provide £15m of funding this year for passenger enhancements"?

So what kind of passenger enhancements are we looking at?

Could we see wifi rolled out to stations which don't currently have it such as:

Great Northern

Arlesey
Biggleswade
Cuffley
Downham Market
Grange Park
Hadley Wood
Knebworth
New Southgate
Sandy
Welwyn North

As according to GTR Great Northern, they don't have wifi at these stations - see here for the list.

Equally if you look at GTR Southern, they advertise wifi at 58 of their stations as you can see here yet actually operate 156 stations.

So although I have no idea what form these improvements will take, it surely can't take much of that money to bring wifi to all their stations can it?

 

[jon0844]

Does Knebworth need Wi-Fi? It's swimming with fast 4G and besides the peak/school hours is hardly busy. The same for most of the others listed.

Personally, the O2 Wi-Fi offered is nearly always slower than 4G. Sure I have to use my allowance but that's fine. Only a station underground would benefit from Wi-Fi I think.

So that still leaves £15m to spend!

 

[bramling]

Does Knebworth need Wi-Fi? It's swimming with fast 4G and besides the peak/school hours is hardly busy. The same for most of the others listed.

Personally, the O2 Wi-Fi offered is nearly always slower than 4G. Sure I have to use my allowance but that's fine. Only a station underground would benefit from Wi-Fi I think.

So that still leaves £15m to spend!

The miserable side of me kind of objects to subsidising WiFi for people who can’t be bothered to pay for their own data allowance!

Further compensation to regular users for the previous and continuing dismal performance wouldn’t go amiss in my view.