Those saying the rolling stock "isn't their fault" - why is it then, that Scotrail have just been able to find 5 Class 153s?
Again, these bi/tri mode trains, (769 is it?), Great Western seem to have just ordered a large batch. What stopped EMT from doing this?
As Hoover says, the problem now is that Stagecoach won't want to do anything.
The last couple of years of a franchise usually sees nothing exciting, no investment, nothing particularly great for passengers.
The parent company won't see a return so who would give away millions of pounds to (potentially) another company? It also means they have a lot more to put in their bid.
Virgin did this with the West Coast. They were given the franchise back through whatever back door clause enabled them to do so, so all the stuff they put in their bid, they carried out, knowing they would see the return. Some good, some not so good, like the rushed interim uniform, that has now been replaced yet again.
If Arriva were to run EMT in the same way that they run XC, we could see HSTs parked in the sidings whilst services are run by 4 car Merideans - with no doubled up trains at all. 2 x 5 car Merideans would be a thing of the past.
It sounds like you think XC "park up HSTs" for no reason.
Or run short formed trains leaving Voyagers just hanging around for fun?
There
will be reasons for this, even if you can't see them.
I wonder if it should be split between "express" and "local" routes, sort of like on East and West Coast, although not so much on GWR.
Wild to think XC core routes and EM express routes could be merged leaving the local EM and Nots-Cardiff/Stansted-Birmingham to a local operator.
I wonder if the new franchisee would consider doing this anyway like ex-London Midland's LNW and WMR (although I am aware that was stipulated in the ITT).
Further thoughts is that if that did happen, could Arriva brand the express London - Midlands services as Grand Central?