GoVia wins West Midlands with London Midland"

[Z12XE]

And they have a website already:

http://www.londonmidland.com/index.html

I like the way they are going to replace Class 50s[sic] with Turbostars!

At least the DfT get it right on their release:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/franchises/wmfranchise

 

[Mintona]

Well congratulations to them I guess, I did really hope they'd win.
I'm guessing that the 37 new Desiro trains will be more Class 350s?

 

[Jordy]

Sounds all good to me, and the name seems sensible too! Pleased to hear they are to reintroduce "The operation of the Parry People Mover on the Stourbridge Town line"

Jordy

 

[87015]

No mention of Euston-Birmingham semi's though? Used to be a busy half-hourly service, such is progress... Hopefully they will sort out some decent connections at Northampton if not.
Would have thought ordering all 3-car 172s would have been more sensible given the huge passenger growth in the West Mids and that 2-car 150s currently wedge out on peak Walsalls and the like.

 

[Guinness]

http://therailwaycentre.com/UK News June 07/210607_LondonM.html

Seems a decent brand to me. Also good to see 150s finally leaving West Midlands, so I presume they'll go to Northern or FGW? Class 172s to be a normal Turbostar but with 3+2 High Density Seating?

 

[TomThePlonker]

So what will this mean to the Cross-City line?

 

[westcoaster]

my new employer rumours for the last couple of weeks said govia got it.
ian 4 car 321's are on walsall services now also i think the half hourly euston- brum was part of ther franchide deal

 

[Mojo]

Good to see GoVia get it. Although I don't agree with it, I've always found 1 of their their parent companies to be very good when it comes to responsibility and their bus operations are certaintly better than another organisation who begins with the letter 'F.'

Also, I like the way Go-Ahead brands their bus division, and the London Midland branding I've seen so far looks excellent.

 

[plikma]

Two points;

1) Is this the same Govia who have a poor cycle policy reputation?
2) If they're doing London - Birmingham will VWC not be? I'd hate to see Pendos replaced by turbostars there.

 

[Z12XE]

This franchise replaces Silverlink not VWC. Silverlink upto a few years ago operated to Birmingham New Street from Euston.

Since they will be building these 172s for West Mids and London Overground, surely its the right time (economies of scale etc) to do a mass order to replace all 14x and the original 150s?

 

[westcoaster]

new trains for the marston vale and abbey lines class313 wont be pleased. i take it a 172 will be the same as the the 17xxxx type trains, after years of neglect the mv line is going to be a nice little branch, new track , new trains, services extending to milton keynes, and part of community rail things can only get better

 

[332 > 444]

It says on their new website that them new Desiros would eventually replace the 321s (best trains befor the 332s came!) If thats the case could we see these strengthen services on ONE?

I hope this 172 has a different front to a 170, just for variety..

 

[westcoaster]

the rumour was some were to go to northern but that was a while ago.

 

[332 > 444]

They have that much electric services, how many 321s are in Centrals/Silverlinks fleet?

Im thinking a black livery for these trains with a green stripe, any good photoshoppers about?

 

[87015]

They have that much electric services, how many 321s are in Centrals/Silverlinks fleet??

37x321/4 at Silverlink, no coincidence there. Some units rumoured to be wanted in Scotland with their mooted electrification of Glasgow-Edinburgh plus dispersals across London operators to cater for peak growth out of Liverpool St and the Cross. Like to see some kept to cater for increased growth out of Euston and all these new Euston-Crewe Trent Valley jobs, but doesn't look that way.

Surely no financial case for 172s for Bedford-Bletchley, wouldn't cascaded 153s or refurbished 150/156s make more sense on this lightly loaded lines? Wouldn't like to see its financial future made more dubious by heavier, fuel thirsty DMUs which are more expensive to run, both through fuel and track access charges.

313s for Abbey would seem logical to me but would such a small fleet(for one diagram a day) be viable? Perhaps a 172 will be used...not as though we always use the wires in this country

 

[Z12XE]

Surely no financial case for 172s for Bedford-Bletchley, wouldn't cascaded 153s or refurbished 150/156s make more sense on this lightly loaded lines?

Suppose it depends on where the DMUs will be maintained from and what other DMUs they will keep in the fleet, plus dont they want this service to go on to Milton Keynes? Quicker units will get that done better

313s for Abbey would seem logical to me but would such a small fleet(for one diagram a day) be viable? Perhaps a 172 will be used...not as though we always use the wires in this country

May as well use a Desiro (or 321 until they are built) to eliminate non standard stock

 

[David]

Since they will be building these 172s for West Mids and London Overground, surely its the right time (economies of scale etc) to do a mass order to replace all 14x and the original 150s?

Replace the Pacers yes, 150s, no. With a decent refurb program, the 150s can go on for a few years yet, as they can carry quite a few passengers. The logical places for them to go is to ATW for use on the Valleys, Northern to replace their pacers, and FGW to use around Bristol.

 

[Z12XE]

The problem is though once everything must be made DDA compliant over the next however many years, a lot of the DMUs will be too expensive (or even impossible) to make compliant.

 

[Ascot]

Yayy we have a change

EDIT: The website looks nice and modern. Things are looking good.

 

[devon_metro]

http://therailwaycentre.com/UK News June 07/210607_LondonM.html

Seems a decent brand to me. Also good to see 150s finally leaving West Midlands, so I presume they'll go to Northern or FGW? Class 172s to be a normal Turbostar but with 3+2 High Density Seating?

Doubt it, FGWs "State of the art maintenance facilites" mean that and average 2 car 158 hold 200% more passengers due to removal of un-necesary toilets and luggage space which will soon be banned.

On a more serious note the website looks very promising!

 

[Techniquest]

Looks far too much like MML's website to me. Their company name, originality doesn't feature...

I doubt that Govia will be any better than National Express Group were in the Midlands...Give it a year after they take over and see if I'm proved right.

 

[87015]

Anyone know what this means for Bletchley depot with the 321 withdrawal? Would imagine the 172s would be Tyseley based, although presumably stabled/fuelled at BY will the depot stay open, either with this lot or another operator?

 

[ChrisCooper]

I presume the 172s, aswell as having 3+2 seating, will also be 75mph geared. The 170's don't perform aswell on stop start work as 150s due to worse low end acceleration and longer dwell times. 75mph gearing though will give better acceleration which would compensate for the increased dwell time. On the Birmingham Suburban network, 100mph won't be an advantage (especially since even when line speeds are higher, 170s can't usually reach them between stops). Actually, I wonder if the 172s will be like diesel versions of the 376s, with no air conditioning and sliding (rarther than plug) doors. I'm fairly certain they will only have one toilet aswell. Hopefully they will all be 3 or even 4 car, or if 2 cars are bought there will be enough to double up on busy services, both to cover for loss of capacity (particularly due to the need for a disabled toilet and wheelchair space), and for future growth.

 

[Ascot]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/6225170.stm

Looks tits up already

 

[Mojo]

The fares in what used to be the West Midlands County set by Centro I believe at the moment, are already quite reasonable for the excellent train services (in comparison to the rest of the country) even some fares on the Severn Beach Line (hourly or worse - with unstaffed stations) are now higher than these after over 100% increases. The £1.80 CDR for journeys like Kings Norton or Yardley Wood is exceedingly good value.

I was wondering though about how these barriers at Moor St will work? Will they close the entrance direct onto platform 1 which has only just reopened? Will London Midland take over the station management from Chiltern, or will they just pay for barrier installation? I can imagine they'll use the awful new type of barrier by Cubic, (they have installed them at Kings X St P LU, Aylesbury, Liverpool Central, London Padd & I'm sure loads of other places.) Incase anyone doesn't know what I mean, they're the really slow and cheap looking ones with the LEDs.

 

[compsci]

Those barriers are terrible. The old air operated ones at KX Thameslink suck your ticket in like a vacuum cleaner and shake the earth as they burst open. The new barriers at City Thameslink (the offending cubic ones) need to have tickets paractically rammed into them (not good for the health of a season ticket) and take a month to open. The processing is so slow that the paddles can still be open as you remove your ticket, but they will still close on you a bit as you walk through.

Are there any competing manufacturers of appropriate gates. Apart from the slightly crazy ones at Romford I don't think that I've seen anything else modern in this country.

 

[Mojo]

Don't think so. I don't know why Cubic changed their design from the original, as seen at http://www.railwaysonline.co.uk/media/stations/bristolcts.jpg.

I've also seen those crazy slidey gates at Southampton Ctl and Portsmouth & Southsea, and I've noticed that they open as soon as your ticket is inserted, unlike the others which open once you've removed your ticket. I've witnessed many people leave their tickets in the gate and walk off.

 

[Tom C]

Having worked for Thameslink I can say that Go-Via are quite a nice company to work for. There is an article on the front page of the Times about SWT sending out memos to guards/RPI's to show no discression whatsoever to make up for the hidious subsidy they have to pay and Keith Luderman (head honcho at Go-Via) went on record saying that it was wrong to do so and certainly under Thameslink there was no undue pressure on staff to grip needlessly unlike some other companies which will remain nameless on top of SWT!

Good luck to Go-Via, come back and take Thameslink, all is forgiven!!

 

[thefab444]

Commenting on the announcement, Richard Bowker, Chief Executive, said: “We are very disappointed with today’s announcement. We look forward to the DfT explaining the reasons for their decision.“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our employees at Midland Mainline and Central Trains. Midland Mainline?s record of constant improvement has resulted in the company being top of industry league tables for operational performance as well as customer satisfaction, a record of which we are truly proud.The team at Central Trains have shown what can be achieved in a difficult franchise with the right people and the right focus.”

Someone's got sour grapes... I thought Central Trains were a bit "poor" anyway?

 

[Mintona]

Someone's got sour grapes... I thought Central Trains were a bit "poor" anyway?

You can see where he's coming from - I think both franchises were run very well. Central were always going to be struggling with operational problems around Birmingham New Street, but I think they did a very good job with what they had.

And MML, well I think they were fantastic.