• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

DB now run a lot of the UK rail network

Status
Not open for further replies.

All Line Rover

Established Member
Joined
17 Feb 2011
Messages
5,221
It does strike me how much of the UK rail network DB control. An awful lot! :|

I can understand why they didn't pre-qualify for the ICWC franchise. That would have been a case for the Competition Commission (in terms of controlling both Birmingham to Scotland flows and two Birmingham to London flows, plus a few more).

As from January any staff working for XC ATW or Chiltern will be able to travel free on each others services.
XC and ATW staff can at the moment but Chiltern will be added.
I can see a few trips to London on the 67s coming up :lol:


Good news for DBUK staff nonetheless! :D
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Minilad

Established Member
Joined
26 Feb 2011
Messages
4,343
Location
Anywhere B link goes
It does strike me how much of the UK rail network DB control. An awful lot! :|

I can understand why they didn't pre-qualify for the ICWC franchise. That would have been a case for the Competition Commission (in terms of controlling both Birmingham to Scotland flows and two Birmingham to London flows, plus a few more).

Good news for DBUK staff nonetheless! :D

They didn't seem to have a problem with Virgin owning both though
 

All Line Rover

Established Member
Joined
17 Feb 2011
Messages
5,221
They didn't seem to have a problem with Virgin owning both though

The only flow where Virgin controlled both routes was Birmingham to Scotland. They didn't really know what they were doing at first, did they? ;)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
It's less than First though, isn't it?

Mmm, I know. The railways are fast becoming a monopoly! :| Even if First won ICWC, though, I can't think of any competition problems they would have.
 
Last edited:

Minilad

Established Member
Joined
26 Feb 2011
Messages
4,343
Location
Anywhere B link goes
The only flow where Virgin controlled both routes was London to Scotland. They didn't really know what they were doing at first, did they? ;)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Mmm, I know. The railways are fast becoming a monopoly! :| Even if First won ICWC, though, I can't think of any competition problems they would have.

Virgin have never controlled both London to Scotland routes. But they did control both Birmingham to Scotland routes
 

WestCoast

Established Member
Joined
19 Jun 2010
Messages
5,574
Location
Glasgow
You could just as easily say that Virgin dominated at one time with ICWC and XC, those were two long-distance operators as well.
 

Michael.Y

Established Member
Joined
14 Oct 2011
Messages
1,431
Ah so it's January we get Chiltern. Cool; means us ATW staff can now go to London (admittedly via a ten minute walk interchange at Brum) for free. :lol:
 

Eagle

Established Member
Joined
20 Feb 2011
Messages
7,106
Location
Leamingrad / Blanfrancisco
Don't see why you're complaining about DB when other companies have owned and do own more franchises.

Quick question: what do the following twelve TOCs all have in common?
  • Central
  • Gatwick Express
  • LTS/c2c
  • Midland Mainline
  • NXEC
  • One/NXEA
  • Silverlink
  • ScotRail
  • Valley Lines
  • WAGN
  • Wales and West/Wales and Borders
  • Wessex
 

Eagle

Established Member
Joined
20 Feb 2011
Messages
7,106
Location
Leamingrad / Blanfrancisco
Yep. By my reckoning in 2005 they held eight franchises simultaneously (c2c, Central, GX, MML, One, Silverlink, WAGN and Wessex).

DB hold three and a bit.
 

tbtc

Veteran Member
Joined
16 Dec 2008
Messages
17,882
Location
Reston City Centre
They didn't seem to have a problem with Virgin owning both though

Agreed.

Or various other examples of companies owning two franchises that could have "competed" (National Express owning both London - Southend operators etc).

The "one company cannot own two franchises near each other" should really be added to the "myths" thread.
 

Eagle

Established Member
Joined
20 Feb 2011
Messages
7,106
Location
Leamingrad / Blanfrancisco
The "one company cannot own two franchises near each other" should really be added to the "myths" thread.

SCT and Thameslink?
Southern and Southeastern? (And ditto for Connex days?)
NXEA and c2c?
WAGN and One?
VWC and VXC (obviously)?
W&W and Valley Lines?
CT and MML?
CT and Silverlink?
Northern and Merseyrail?
Anglia and FGE? (Both were, shortly before the Greater Anglia franchise started, owned by First).
 

tbtc

Veteran Member
Joined
16 Dec 2008
Messages
17,882
Location
Reston City Centre
SCT and Thameslink?
Southern and Southeastern? (And ditto for Connex days?)
NXEA and c2c?
WAGN and One?
VWC and VXC (obviously)?
W&W and Valley Lines?
CT and MML?
CT and Silverlink?
Anglia and FGE? (Both were, shortly before the Greater Anglia franchise started, owned by First).

Yup - yet people still cling to the idea that you can't own more than one in an area...
 

Pumbaa

Established Member
Joined
19 Feb 2008
Messages
4,982
All Line Rover - could you please answer my earlier question. With regard to this statement:

I can understand why they didn't pre-qualify for the ICWC franchise. That would have been a case for the Competition Commission (in terms of controlling both Birmingham to Scotland flows and two Birmingham to London flows, plus a few more).

I asked "says who"? The Comp. Commission (to the best of my knowledge) have only investigated First group when they were to be award the Scotrail franchise, purely because they ran most of the buses too.

Competition for rail is not seen as other operators, it is usually other modes of transport. So I ask again, and would appreciate if you answered, why would it have been a case for the Comp Comm and why are you sure that that was the reason they didn't qualify? There could be plenty of other reasons including not offering each first class passenger their own carriage, or even their own table of 4.

You either possess information we don't (in which case please share) or you are bandying about empty statements (in which case please stop).
 

sprinterguy

Established Member
Joined
4 Mar 2010
Messages
11,048
Location
Macclesfield
The various franchises operated by a single company function as subsidiaries of the parent company, so I don't think that the UK rail network needs to feel threatened by an unexpected incursion from a single company. Though I would like to see more players in the industry, rather than just a few big, predictable names.
 

Nym

Established Member
Joined
2 Mar 2007
Messages
9,098
Location
Somewhere, not in London
I'd quite like to see some new names bid for franchises...

Stobart Group primeraly..

But I'm supprised we're not seeing the likes of...
Inital, Mitie, OCS etc. bidding for franchises...
 

Pumbaa

Established Member
Joined
19 Feb 2008
Messages
4,982
All Line Rover - as you didn't reply, I'll take it as a given you were talking out of your arse.

On a side note, the IIP is heavy on the persuasion that DfT should let franchisees be more creative, so maybe we will see some re-entrants (now that Elaine Holt has gone to NX) and some new entrants as well.
 

anthony263

Established Member
Joined
19 Aug 2008
Messages
6,518
Location
South Wales
Seems that DB have purchased Grand Central, if the rumours/reports on WNXX are to be believed

I guess we will have to wait and see what happens in the next couple of days
 

Aictos

Established Member
Joined
28 Apr 2009
Messages
10,403
On a side note, the IIP is heavy on the persuasion that DfT should let franchisees be more creative, so maybe we will see some re-entrants (now that Elaine Holt has gone to NX) and some new entrants as well.

Hang on a second, how do you know she's gone to National Express?

She could have gone to any of the Transport Groups, Google doesn't show which group she's now with anyway.
 

Pumbaa

Established Member
Joined
19 Feb 2008
Messages
4,982
Hang on a second, how do you know she's gone to National Express?

A reliable source informs that she has moved to NX to head up their rail bids. AFAIK no official announcement has been made yet, so I remain sceptical. However it is also confirmed on Twitter by various others so the corroboration value of the claim stands up at least to current scrutiny.
 

Minilad

Established Member
Joined
26 Feb 2011
Messages
4,343
Location
Anywhere B link goes
Seems that DB have purchased Grand Central, if the rumours/reports on WNXX are to be believed

I guess we will have to wait and see what happens in the next couple of days

And if that does turn out to be true then hopefully GC will be added to our ever expanding free pass !!8-)
 

HH

Established Member
Joined
31 Jul 2009
Messages
4,505
Location
Essex
A reliable source informs that she has moved to NX to head up their rail bids. AFAIK no official announcement has been made yet, so I remain sceptical. However it is also confirmed on Twitter by various others so the corroboration value of the claim stands up at least to current scrutiny.

Definitely true. I spoke to a TOC director that knows her well yesterday.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top