Abellio wins West Midlands franchise

[centraltrains]

Anyone know what Chiltern are going to do about their announcements at Moor Street? Pretty sure they use Phil Sayer on platform 2... Suppose they can stitch together West from SWT, Midlands from EMT and Railway from GRW?

 

[XCTurbostar]

Anyone know what Chiltern are going to do about their announcements at Moor Street? Pretty sure they use Phil Sayer on platform 1... Suppose they can stitch together West from SWT, Midlands from EMT and Railway from GRW?

I was wondering about this as well when I went through there this morning. It also really bothers me that the clocks on the information displays are 12HR not 24HR.

 

[CosherB]

I was wondering about this as well when I went through there this morning. It also really bothers me that the clocks on the information displays are 12HR not 24HR.

Crikey, you must have a sheltered life! There are more important things to get stressed about .....

 

[Class172]

The black tape has definitely been used at Droitwich Spa — looking around the platforms now the only mention of London Midland that remains is on the paper posters. All the signs have had the logo covered over.

 

[Bletchleyite]

None at Bletchley yet.

 

[Lrd]

Nor Leighton Buzzard

 

[XCTurbostar]

Crikey, you must have a sheltered life! There are more important things to get stressed about .....

Haha

 

[KashmireHawker]

There's still 20 days to go remember!

 

[whhistle]

Made me chuckle how their leaflet says about a "30-year strategy focused on wi-fi, extra seats, new trains..." - in 10 years time Wi-Fi will be standard on all trains. Basically, everything they've listed is for the immediate future, not looking at a 30-year plan.

 

[KashmireHawker]

WMT's full top team announced this morning, exactly at the same time of the West Midlands Rail Conference in Brum as I type this:

"Following last week’s announcement that Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde has been appointed Managing Director of West Midlands Trains (WMT), his top team for the franchise can now be announced. They are:

• Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, Managing Director;
• Adrian Thompson, HR Director;
• Neil Bamford, Engineering Director;
• Andy Camp, Commercial Director;
• Lesley Heath, Head of Safety and Environment;
• David Lindsay, Finance Director;
• Mark Steward, Operations Director;
• Richard Brooks, West Midlands Customer Service Director;
• Andrew Conroy, West Coast Customer Service Director; and
• Jane Fisher, Transition and Projects Director."

https://www.abellio.com/news/west-midlands-trains-top-team-announced

 

[KashmireHawker]

Also the full branding can be now seen, via a Staff Roadshow which kicked off at New Street, with the slogan of Making Progress Together:

https://twitter.com/MattStacey93/status/932857012530098177

 

[A0wen]

Also new stickers on the vestibule/corridor doors would be nice as last time I traveled on a 350 they still had ex silver link decals on the interior doors.

I don't think I've ever seen any Silverlink branding in the Desiros?

They were originally delivered in a generic blue / grey livery with no branding anywhere inside or out, primarily because were jointly operated by Silverlink and Central Trains - it was at a time when Silverlink didn't work to Birmingham. The other part was the franchises for both Silverlink and CT were coming to an end so the DFT specified the Desiros should come in a generic, unbranded livery and interior.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Also the full branding can be now seen, via a Staff Roadshow which kicked off at New Street, with the slogan of Making Progress Together:

https://twitter.com/MattStacey93/status/932857012530098177

That is quite possibly the most hideous colour scheme I have ever seen in my entire life. Looks like the curtains in a 1970s touring caravan. I am glad it won't actually get used anywhere other than on that silly bus, give or take letters sending me RTVs which I will tolerate.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don't think I've ever seen any Silverlink branding in the Desiros?

They were originally delivered in a generic blue / grey livery with no branding anywhere inside or out, primarily because were jointly operated by Silverlink and Central Trains - it was at a time when Silverlink didn't work to Birmingham. The other part was the franchises for both Silverlink and CT were coming to an end so the DFT specified the Desiros should come in a generic, unbranded livery and interior.

Correct, they never carried any Silverlink branding, they had a "reverse BR blue and grey" livery (which can be seen on some under peeling paint/vinyl) and interior stickers were unbranded.

 

[pt_mad]

I don't think I've ever seen any Silverlink branding in the Desiros?

They were originally delivered in a generic blue / grey livery with no branding anywhere inside or out, primarily because were jointly operated by Silverlink and Central Trains - it was at a time when Silverlink didn't work to Birmingham. The other part was the franchises for both Silverlink and CT were coming to an end so the DFT specified the Desiros should come in a generic, unbranded livery and interior.

Yeah that is the branding I am talking about. The blue decals on interior doors rather than the updated LM green and black decals that the 350/2s and 3s received.

It may not be Silverlink as per say but it's branding from that era, and blue was certainly closer matched to Silverlink than it was to Central Trains or LM. It wasn't updated since on 350/1s as far as I know.

So hopefully all 350s with be updated in the new livery especially any tired 350/1s as part of the new franchise.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Ah yes. It's indeed not LM branding, it's generic DfT "West Coast Desiro" branding.

 

[JaJaWa]

Yeah that is the branding I am talking about. The blue decals on interior doors rather than the updated LM green and black decals that the 350/2s and 3s received.

It may not be Silverlink as per say but it's branding from that era, and blue was certainly closer matched to Silverlink than it was to Central Trains or LM. It wasn't updated since on 350/1s as far as I know.

So hopefully all 350s with be updated in the new livery especially any tired 350/1s as part of the new franchise.

Ah yes. It's indeed not LM branding, it's generic DfT "West Coast Desiro" branding.

It's neither. It's Stagecoach branding as the coaches were ordered for South West Trains but entered service as Class 350s rather than Class 450s. The font is Futura.

I’m not so sure on the new liveries for the the both services. I think it’s a shame that TfWM didn’t use the opportunity to use a Network West Midlands livery for the trains, similar to the trams for the local services. Would make it look more cohesive.

Will be strange to see West Midlands services without green for sure.

Also not sure on how the London Northwestern brand ignores the fact that all the services run through the Midlands, which is an oddity for me. Northwestern does not mean Midlands and it’s unfortunate they’re ignoring the main central part of the service in the name, and indeed the franchise itself.

They are making it cohesive. By changing all of the other brands to a new Transport for West Midlands brand.

 

[KashmireHawker]

It's neither. It's Stagecoach branding as the coaches were ordered for South West Trains but entered service as Class 350s rather than Class 450s. The font is Futura.



They are making it cohesive. By changing all of the other brands to a new Transport for West Midlands brand.

Where did you find this? 1st I've seen of this and as a WM Resident, I'm intregred!

 

[JordyWM]

They are making it cohesive. By changing all of the other brands to a new Transport for West Midlands brand.

Now it makes sense. I prefer the Network WM branding, but this is good.

I wonder if there will be another new brand for the metro, or does that come under rapid transit? Be interesting to see if there’s any plans to rebrand the actual buse liveries to this too at some point.

 

[JaJaWa]

Where did you find this? 1st I've seen of this and as a WM Resident, I'm intregred!

Just found it on Google when looking for the West Midlands Railway logo.

Now it makes sense. I prefer the Network WM branding, but this is good.

I wonder if there will be another new brand for the metro, or does that come under rapid transit? Be interesting to see if there’s any plans to rebrand the actual buse liveries to this too at some point.

From what I can see Rapid Transit is the new name for Metro and future Sprint BRT services. I presume the Metro will rebrand when TfWM take over operation in October 2018. They can keep the pink base livery.

I presume the other franchised buses would be light blue with the Bus logo.

 

[Mojo]

It's neither. It's Stagecoach branding as the coaches were ordered for South West Trains but entered service as Class 350s rather than Class 450s. The font is Futura.

And the "Toilets this way" sign is also like on SWT too.

Internally, I wonder if it is some kind of generic Siemens design. The interior of the trains on the Airport Rail Link in Bangkok, Thailand, are almost identical bar a few small items, to the 350/1s, right down to the moquette and patterns on the carpet.

 

[JordyWM]

From what I can see Rapid Transit is the new name for Metro and future Sprint BRT services. I presume the Metro will rebrand when TfWM take over operation in October 2018. They can keep the pink base livery.

I presume the other franchised buses would be light blue with the Bus logo.

Very interesting, thanks for the information.

While it could be a shame to lose the platinum bus liveries, it would be nice to see some cohesive branding across the WM transport services.

Exciting times ahead!

 

[Bletchleyite]

And the "Toilets this way" sign is also like on SWT too.

Internally, I wonder if it is some kind of generic Siemens design. The interior of the trains on the Airport Rail Link in Bangkok, Thailand, are almost identical bar a few small items, to the 350/1s, right down to the moquette and patterns on the carpet.

From what I know of the typical Thai approach to things, someone probably went to the UK, was shown a Class 350/1, and said "we want that one". There's no other logical reason for that line not having been built to UIC rather than UK loading gauge. The "Class 158s" already operated by SRT (in original Provincial Express livery for a long time, though now repainted) perhaps make a UK connection.

A similar airport rail link in Malaysia (KLIA Expres/Transit) also uses Desiros but they are European gauge ones.

There are two differences, though - added luggage racks and no armrests.

 

[Mojo]

From what I know of the typical Thai approach to things, someone probably went to the UK, was shown a Class 350/1, and said "we want that one". There's no other logical reason for that line not having been built to UIC rather than UK loading gauge. The "Class 158s" already operated by SRT (in original Provincial Express livery for a long time, though now repainted) perhaps make a UK connection.

I'm not so sure about that; the units are more like the 360s, indeed a Wikipedia article refers to them as "Class 360/2" but also refers to them as "Desiro II trains." The Airport Rail link had two train types from new, the Blue ones for the City Line trains which have longitudinal seats that are different and the Express trains which are the ones in the photo above (the Express has been "temporarily suspended" since 2014).

There are two differences, though - added luggage racks and no armrests.

There's a lot more than that, no tables, etc.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I suppose it's more likely for someone travelling from Thailand to have seen a Heathrow Connect 360. As Thailand has no 3+2 seated trains, that might explain the different configuration, and the moquette is possibly just the Siemens default.

That's another possibility anyway

 

[pt_mad]

So does anyone know whether they're planning to totally rebrand a 350 for launch day and if so any idea which one,?

350 110? The LM faster journey times liveried one?

 

[Domh245]

The logical option would be to go for one of the 350/2s that have gone to Long Marston (350237-350239 at the moment), as they aren't in traffic and so there wouldn't be as large a penalty for the time taken to repaint them, but they aren't going to be staying the length of the franchise, so they'll probably only end up with new logos added to the old livery

 

[387star]

Given LM was a perfect neutral brand why the need to change it?

Could the brand LM not be used due to ownership rights? would the same happen with Southern or could that brand be retained come franchise change? regarding the latter I have seen a few 377/3 with a revised logo

At least the new WM brand keeps some of the black and green livery

 

[Bletchleyite]

Govia own it - no idea if they'd sell or what they'd charge.

 

[BucksBones]

The logical option would be to go for one of the 350/2s that have gone to Long Marston (350237-350239 at the moment), as they aren't in traffic and so there wouldn't be as large a penalty for the time taken to repaint them, but they aren't going to be staying the length of the franchise, so they'll probably only end up with new logos added to the old livery

Sorry to be dense, but 237-239 at Long Marston? Since when and why? Apologies if I've missed info in other threads.