'British' TOCs

[Simon11]

Several thoughts:

Existing Private British Companies will only bid for contracts where it is worth bidding for. They aren't going to invest heavily in a country if there isn't any returns. Its also worth remembering that building together an experienced bid team in a separate country is very experience and very hard to source this talent.

Why are people wishing for our operators to run businesses abroad and getting distracted from our transport system? Isn't it most important that the directors are focused on UK businesses and ensuring we get the best service?

As for the comment on "They prefer to waste their energies on running bus services in the USA.", have a look at this http://www.nationalexpressgroup.com/media/2293/ar2014-full.pdf and look for page 15 with headline of Measuring our progress. You can see why they have the North America business with the strongest growth of all businesses, high margins and high operating cash conversion. If anything you wonder why they bother with rail!

 

[al.currie93]

Would that be the same TfL who contact out their bus services to the likes of Abellio, Arriva et al?

And the same TfL who have let LOROL operate the overground for the past few years, LOROL being half owned by Arriva, and the other half owned by MTR. I note that LOROL have been left out of that list, which could probably be redone quite a bit better.

Lump together the sub-franchises:
Stanstead Express+Greater Anglia
Thameslink, Southern, and Great Northern
South West Trains and Island Line

I would also add in LOROL, who have been missed out.

I can't find the article for the life of me, but it was in one of the London newspapers about a year ago. I was rather surprised myself for that reason, but I definitely read it! I'll try and find an Internet link.

 

[matchmaker]

Of course, although the ScotRail franchisee is Dutch, the ScotRail brand is owned by Transport Scotland/The Scottish Government.