Rail Replacement Contract Changes

[DJ_K666]

When I was at Brighton & Hove Buses (Part of the Go Backwards Group, don't you know) we had a lot of rail replacement work. A mix of us, Metrobus Go-Ahead London, Stagecoach, Southdown PSV, Compass Travel, local coach firms like Crawley Luxury and Renown Travel, even Wilts & Dorset all the way from Swanage. It seemed like they just hired anyone nearby. GO Ahead London might have had thd contract but they obviously hired in all these other buses from various firms.

It worked though, and I don't think Abellio having the contract will change much on the ground as it'll mean having to find X tens of buses for each day's work.

 

[AlastairFraser]

Yeah Arriva Road Transport Services still do Northerns rail replacement. They're very good at sourcing coordinators....not so good at sourcing buses though

And the rates they pay are utterly **** - I've heard £10 an hour before from an operator.
The directions they produce are awful too - I've had to personally direct a lot of drivers on many routes.

 

[trainmananthon]

Yes but the thing is most Arriva coordinators are clueless or don't turn up. I know a number of coordinators for other operators who have had to teach Arriva staff how to do the job because they have been sent out on their second shift, on their own to stupidly big stations which are far larger than the person can safely handle. I know I can't say too much but if people heard just some of the stories with Arriva coordinator, their ability to source staff is not as good as you may think. A huge amount of jacket fillers.

Yes, I work at multiple different stations across the TPE and Northern network as part of the TransPennine Route Upgrade and I deal 1st hand with these issues. They have a high turnover of coords so most of the time I'm working with people who have only done a couple of shifts on the job. Half the others just like to sit in their car out of the way and leave us to get all the flak.

And the rates they pay are utterly **** - I've heard £10 an hour before from an operator.
The directions they produce are awful too - I've had to personally direct a lot of drivers on many routes.

Some operators are better than others - if its contracted to a bus operator (as opposed to coach operator) then they tend to go out beforehand and drive the route to get familiar with it. We give directions to them all in a brief but coaches just tend to put the postcode in the sat nav and hope for the best. It's a constant battle of ours.

 

[AlastairFraser]

Some operators are better than others - if its contracted to a bus operator (as opposed to coach operator) then they tend to go out beforehand and drive the route to get familiar with it. We give directions to them all in a brief but coaches just tend to put the postcode in the sat nav and hope for the best. It's a constant battle of ours.

Yeah, and I think that's the perils of the shortage of drivers and operators with drivers spare.
The reluctance to organise rail ticket acceptance on parallel bus services often causes issues too - buses end up serving routes where there is an alternative option, while routes with no alternatives are left with nothing.

 

[Goggles0:0]

I am surprised Abellio are still operating in Scotland as I thought the goverment up here was running things.

 

[bcarmicle]

Presumably London Overground and Elizabeth Line are handled in house by TfL’s London Buses (before outsourcing to the actual operator)?

 

[PG]

I am surprised Abellio are still operating in Scotland as I thought the goverment up here was running things.

Welcome to the forum

ScotRail (and Caledonian Sleeper) are both owned by Scottish Rail Holdings Limited (SRH) which is a Scottish government company. However, to the best of my knowledge, the government doesn't own a PSV operator so must use the services of contractors for their RRB needs.

 

[Goldfish62]

Presumably London Overground and Elizabeth Line are handled in house by TfL’s London Buses (before outsourcing to the actual operator)?

That's right.

I am surprised Abellio are still operating in Scotland as I thought the goverment up here was running things.

Abellio Rail Replacement organises rail replacement in the same way as First Transport Solutions. It's not an operator so doesn't need a base and can provide services anywhere in the country if required.

 

[cactustwirly]

Presumably London Overground and Elizabeth Line are handled in house by TfL’s London Buses (before outsourcing to the actual operator)?

How does that work if they need to source RRBs for the GWML? Do the TfL buses come all the way out to Reading?

 

[Goldfish62]

How does that work if they need to source RRBs for the GWML? Do the TfL buses come all the way out to Reading?

Really not sure how the Western end works in that respect. Maybe GWR would lead on it dependent on the extent of the procession.

However, it's not exactly unusual to find TfL liveried buses on regular rail replacement in locations such Chichester, Eastbourne and Luton. In the past TfL operators have reached Reading on SWT rail replacement.

 

[RJ]

Abellio London may have a unit for TfL work but it does not operate any duties for their TOCs.

They have done so in the past. The TfL rail replacement work they do the bulk of is their forte. The same model of operating was copied to the TOC work - use of buses limited to 30mph, drivers travelling across London to/from Newbury Park by public transport for shift changeovers to take over hybrid buses with a 320 mile fuel range covering 350+ mile running boards. These jobs haven't been covered for a few years now, the focus is now kept on rail replacement for TfL.

In addition to some service drivers doing rail replacement on rest days, they make use of an agency for drivers, consisting of a percentage of regular drivers and a percentage who come and go. They provide comprehensive training material for route learning, requiring drivers to sign a declaration saying they have studied them prior to the shift. Drivers are supported by route pilots where necessary and routes are signposted.

Some companies set up operating units using cascaded vehicles. London General Commercial Services is one. As mentioned, they have outposts around the TSGN fracnchise area.

In addition, Go-Ahead London have two panels for rail replacement - Commercial Rail Replacement and Commercial Private Hire who operate quite differently. The former consists of quite the army of dedicated rail replacement drivers who declare availability the previous month and receive duties in the post every week. It is run very well and the drivers are very well aware of what's expected of them. Drivers pick which of the London depots they are based at and the nature of the job means the routes are sometimes quite distant from the depot. Usually they're given a bus by the engineers and off they go. As a Morden Wharf (Greenwich) based driver, the majority of the time I did SE London/North Kent/Sevenoaks area stuff, the Bexleyheath and Croydon based drivers were more likely to be sent to the coast.

How does that work if they need to source RRBs for the GWML? Do the TfL buses come all the way out to Reading?

TfL usually cover the service out to Slough. In the past I've done it as far as Maidenhead under Abellio London for TfL but I'm not sure if they've ever covered as far as Reading.

Unlike most operators, emergency rail replacement is a significant part of the Ensign business. As it is very difficult for other operators to cover emergency jobs, Ensign do a lot of it - anywhere up to 100 miles away from base. I think it must be quite profitable - and, they make it quite profitable for the drivers too. To answer the question above, First Travel Solutions currently has no involvement withc2c rail replacement.

I run an operation which is specifically set up to respond to emergency rail replacement calls and I'll often take on and cover several jobs in one go.

It is of course contingent on the rate offered - my buses frequently cover e-rail jobs 250 miles away. My phone is available 24/7 and I'll happily assist if I have the resource spare. However there are times when I'm unable to accept closer e-rail jobs. The truth is, in response to dropping everything and dispatching a vehicle immediately, the emergency rates offered by some do not cover the operational costs of sending the bus out, let alone a contribution to the overheads pot or profit.

The reason some operators say yes to those rates is the bus is already out working and broken even for the day so the wage costs are marginal.

Down here in Sussex the only company that seems to run emergency rail replacements is actually Ensignbus, the 2 times i've seen E-rail replacement at East Grinstead on both occasions it has been Ensignbus vehicles that have turned out. On planned stuff Go-Ahead London seem to operate a lot of services and i'm seeing less coach operators turning out recently, although admittedly I haven't seen rail replacements around as often. I've only seen minibuses turn-up a few times, twice on East Grinstead-Oxted stoppers and once on a Three Bridges-Lewes run of all things.

I go out and do the e-rail jobs in Sussex sometimes, I have depots in South East London and Sussex I can dispatch vehicles from.

 

[OptareOlympus]

Agree with all that. In your table above Southeastern is currently GoAhead London, but I understand being retendered.

Southeastern was retendered late last year and awarded to Go Ahead London in February. The new contract commenced in April and runs for 5 years.

 

[RJ]

A lot of the issue with sourcing buses is finding reputable companies who are registered and can provide compliant coaches that meet PSVAR regulations as set by the DfT. Unfortunately, a lot of coach companies prioritise other work (such school contracts) over rail replacement work, which isn’t always reliable if you have to find a coach driver willing to turn out from home at short notice. I know someone who did once work for First Travel Solutions (FTS) and he did say they struggled with sourcing coaches at such short notice.

CJ

Generally speaking, there is some correlation between availability and rates. If the emergency rates are priced to only cover the cost of the bus driver and fuel, it's basically a proposal to the operator to do the job for no profit and no contribution to the costs of running the operation.

Drivers hours do often restrict the availability of drivers to do emergency work. So sometimes it'll be necessary to call somebody out from their home to work and not many drivers are going to do that for two or three hours wages. The driver will be paying for transport to get to and from the depot and it has to be worth their while.

If the only vehicle available to do emergency cover will trigger a Clean Air Zone or Low Emission Zone charge, the operator is expected to cover this.

Some operators will do the work for a loss, but not everyone will.

As for priority. Some operators will prioritise their bread and butter clients whose work keeps the lights on and the buses ticking over. The penalties for performance failures on such contract work mean that if anything unexpected happens like a breakdown or short notice driver availability, resource will be taken from adhoc work like rail replacement, especially if it's known there's no controller present to log the absence it or the TOC has standbys available.

I do something different and dedicate my operational divisions to rail replacement. That means it gets top priority without exception, with full availability to work during school term times, day and night. There are reasons why very few operators do this as a business model - generally the railways aren't closed all week round but a consistent revenue stream is needed to maintain healthy finances.

Another factor affecting availability is stipulations on vehicle type - Euro 6 in some places, maximum vehicle ages etc. These things all require significant outlay or incur depreciation costs. Not many operators are going to procure these vehicles specially for rail replacement unless the revenue from rail replacement pays for it. So relying on operators who have such vehicles spare from their other contracts that do pay for the vehicles will automatically limit supply and create a situation where the TOC isn’t the priority.

 

[Goggles0:0]

Someone told me Abellio are not doing RR in Scotland now, but they didn't say who is.

 

[Dfatcontroller]

Someone told me Abellio are not doing RR in Scotland now, but they didn't say who is.

Abellio are the RR bus/coach supplier. They won the recontracting recently.
They lost the taxi sourcing contract which passed back to CMAC.

 

[Snow1964]

Abellio have won £74.6m planned and unplanned rail replacement for GoVia Thameslink for 21 months to 7th November 2025

2 buyers​

• Govia Thameslink Railway London

1 supplier​

• Abellio London London

Description​

GTR has awarded a contract to provide PSVAR compliant Rail Replacement Bus Services for both planned and unplanned requirements across the GTR network. The supplier is to deliver the Rail Replacement Bus Service and to ensure: • Alignment to GTR's vision/values/strategic pillars; • Adherence to robust SLAs/KPIs to drive the right behaviours; • Bus tracking technology and real time management information to identify trends; and • Delivery of efficiencies.

Lot Division​

1	Planned Lot 1 was for PSVAR compliant planned rail replacement services.
2	Unplanned Lot 2 was for PSVAR compliant unplanned rail replacement services.
3	Planned and Unplanned Lot 3 was for PSVAR compliant planned and unplanned rail replacement services.

Award Detail​

1	Abellio London (London) The Provision of Rail Replacement Bus Services - Planned and Unplanned Reference: gtr0677 Num offers: 3 Value: £74,615,162 Subcontracting opportunities are expected.

Award Criteria​

Quality	50.0
PRICE	50.0

CPV Codes​

• 60100000 - Road transport services

Indicators​

• Award on basis of price.

Rail Replacement Bus Services - Planned and Unplanned [Award]

GTR has awarded a contract to provide PSVAR compliant Rail Replacement Bus Services for both planned... A Contract Award Notice by Govia Thameslink Railway. Value £61M-£75M.

bidstats.uk

 

[galwhv69]

Down here in Sussex the only company that seems to run emergency rail replacements is actually Ensignbus, the 2 times i've seen E-rail replacement at East Grinstead on both occasions it has been Ensignbus vehicles that have turned out. On planned stuff Go-Ahead London seem to operate a lot of services and i'm seeing less coach operators turning out recently, although admittedly I haven't seen rail replacements around as often. I've only seen minibuses turn-up a few times, twice on East Grinstead-Oxted stoppers and once on a Three Bridges-Lewes run of all things.

Ensign are one of the main e-rail suppliers, as they have a lot of casual drivers and also have staff who are happy to do overtime to cover one off trips for TOCs. Go Ahead also do some e-rail and this has increased recently, but still not a high proportion.

They have done so in the past. The TfL rail replacement work they do the bulk of is their forte. The same model of operating was copied to the TOC work - use of buses limited to 30mph, drivers travelling across London to/from Newbury Park by public transport for shift changeovers to take over hybrid buses with a 320 mile fuel range covering 350+ mile running boards. These jobs haven't been covered for a few years now, the focus is now kept on rail replacement for TfL.

In addition to some service drivers doing rail replacement on rest days, they make use of an agency for drivers, consisting of a percentage of regular drivers and a percentage who come and go. They provide comprehensive training material for route learning, requiring drivers to sign a declaration saying they have studied them prior to the shift. Drivers are supported by route pilots where necessary and routes are signposted.



In addition, Go-Ahead London have two panels for rail replacement - Commercial Rail Replacement and Commercial Private Hire who operate quite differently. The former consists of quite the army of dedicated rail replacement drivers who declare availability the previous month and receive duties in the post every week. It is run very well and the drivers are very well aware of what's expected of them. Drivers pick which of the London depots they are based at and the nature of the job means the routes are sometimes quite distant from the depot. Usually they're given a bus by the engineers and off they go. As a Morden Wharf (Greenwich) based driver, the majority of the time I did SE London/North Kent/Sevenoaks area stuff, the Bexleyheath and Croydon based drivers were more likely to be sent to the coast.



TfL usually cover the service out to Slough. In the past I've done it as far as Maidenhead under Abellio London for TfL but I'm not sure if they've ever covered as far as Reading.



I run an operation which is specifically set up to respond to emergency rail replacement calls and I'll often take on and cover several jobs in one go.

It is of course contingent on the rate offered - my buses frequently cover e-rail jobs 250 miles away. My phone is available 24/7 and I'll happily assist if I have the resource spare. However there are times when I'm unable to accept closer e-rail jobs. The truth is, in response to dropping everything and dispatching a vehicle immediately, the emergency rates offered by some do not cover the operational costs of sending the bus out, let alone a contribution to the overheads pot or profit.

The reason some operators say yes to those rates is the bus is already out working and broken even for the day so the wage costs are marginal.



I go out and do the e-rail jobs in Sussex sometimes, I have depots in South East London and Sussex I can dispatch vehicles from.

Usually First cover services on the GWML out to Reading, however there have been occasions of Elizabeth Line rail replacement services going all the way to Reading (one fairly recent example ironically contracted out to First Berkshire)