Craig2601
Member
- Joined
- 8 Jun 2017
- Messages
- 177
What were the other competitors to Abellio’s bid and what were there franchise commitments? I imagine first will have put in a bid but did anyone else.
Cheers, just what I’m looking for.You may find this old thread useful, it takes you through the whole story from mid 2014 onwards.
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/scotrail-franchise-abellio.103634/
Comparing one franchise that has completed and another that is still fairly new?I definitely agree that First did a much better job than Abellio at running this franchise.
Abellio Scotrail took over on the 01/04/2015 almost four years ago. That is not fairly new. That is more than enough time to know that Abellio are rubbish and that First were much better (they were still not excellent but they were a lot better than Abellio are).
It does, but they had to suspend that while they were running a mixture of 170s, 380s and then 365s ahead of the 385s arriving in quantity. But not until they tried tarting up a few seats on a 380 or two.Doesn't the franchise specify that First be provided on E-G trains?
The Head of Train Planning moved internally in First before the end of the last Franchise. I imagine he was a big loss to ScotRail; been around since BR days.And they may not have anticipated the loss of trained staff to other Operators.
I think what is becoming apparent is that Abellio have bitten off way more than they can chew in Scotland. A Dutch based rail firm whose only other franchise is in the East of England. With each passing month it is becoming clearer that they are out of their depth and have no appreciation of the diversity of the ScotRail franchise.
Actually my impression is that the franchise is almost in two parts, the way it was when operationally it was split into 'Strathclyde' (everything from Central High Level - commuter and SW rural routes - and the cross city routes through Partick) and 'Network' (Everything from Queen Street - Edinburgh northwards). These definitions were done away with around the time of the Airdrie/Bathgate line reopening - this effectively extended a Glasgow commuter service into Edinburgh - which meant that the ScotRail network as a whole was no longer in two easily defined parts.
The bulk of that former 'Strathclyde' seems to have escaped the bulk of the problems as far as I can see. The only real issue is that the class 314's have outlasted their planned 2018 withdrawal date, and this has caused a few grumbles on the Inverclyde routes, but overall reliability doesn't seem to have nosedived in the manner that it has in the former 'Network' section. There may be capacity problems starting to rear their head, both in terms of service frequency and train lengths, with their ability to meet growing demand an emerging issue. However, it is on these more intensely worked routes that they seem to have their niche.
I think the main issue is the promise of two major fleet introductions at the same time within the old 'network'. Even if both were delivered on time and without a hitch, it's still logistically a big task. To then be caught out with delays to both projects whilst units were going off franchise has left them treading water. It's almost as if their project managers live in a perfect world where everything goes to plan - or perhaps their senior management pressure the project teams into unrealistic delivery timetables.
I've always had my doubts about replacing class 170s with an almost 40 year old HST, refurbishment or not, and despite the complaints about the design and layout of class 170s for the routes that the are used on, I would have thought an internal upgrade of these units may have been more suitable, allowing them to run in multiple to deal with capacity issues. In fact, I believe this was part of the First Group bid to retain the franchise.
Instead as a result of the delays they've had scramble around for interim units, meaning last minute training of crews to work services, in the case of the HSTs has left them with traincrews without traction knowledge but not enough units for which crews do have knowledge.
There have also been suggestions that there have been changes to the maintenance regimes which have resulted in less frequent exams leading to decreased reliability.
Nor do I think they understand that they operate in some of the most sparsely populated areas of Britain, which means just cancelling trains at the drop of a hat without at least attempting to run the service with some delay is not suitable. And cutting traincrew diagrams back to the bare bones also leaves them with nowhere to go in times of disruption.
I think the Scottish Government are hoping this will all go away after a while, for that to happen they are dependent on the introduction of the refurbished HSTs to gather pace immediately, which has not at any stage looked like happening. I really don't think they're out of the woods yet, but at the same time I would be amazed if the Scottish government were to do anything unless forced under severe political pressure. Things will have to get pretty bad before they get involved.
They're making much bigger changes to the fleets in the 'East of England' (where they are also behind). It's easy to be wise after the event, but the fleet changes aren't really that big.I think what is becoming apparent is that Abellio have bitten off way more than they can chew in Scotland. A Dutch based rail firm whose only other franchise is in the East of England. With each passing month it is becoming clearer that they are out of their depth and have no appreciation of the diversity of the ScotRail franchise.
I think the main issue is the promise of two major fleet introductions at the same time within the old 'network'. Even if both were delivered on time and without a hitch, it's still logistically a big task. To then be caught out with delays to both projects whilst units were going off franchise has left them treading water. It's almost as if their project managers live in a perfect world where everything goes to plan - or perhaps their senior management pressure the project teams into unrealistic delivery timetables.
Nonsense. The Squire regime is still in operation, so they are fined if the trains aren't clean.There seems no desire to hold Abellio to account now on even fixable stuff like train cleaning.
They're making much bigger changes to the fleets in the 'East of England' (where they are also behind). It's easy to be wise after the event, but the fleet changes aren't really that big.
Equally, TS did not like the 170s being used on longer distance routes - they wanted "InterCity" trains. Are the delays to the ScotRail fleets down to Abellio?
Nonsense. The Squire regime is still in operation, so they are fined if the trains aren't clean.
Not saying Abellio are doing a great job, but some of the complaints are just a wee bit ridiculous.
Like all things railway when it comes to statistics and regime. Who checks it ? Who reports it ? What actions follow and what fine is levied. Bottom line. The trains are dirty. So whatever squire is. Who ever the The Squire is , he isn’t ever on my trains!
The aim is to clean every train on arrival at the terminal station such as Queen St. In reality this does happen most of the time. The sad fact is that by the time it reaches Edinburgh it is a midden again. Every single train. Weekend trains often resmble a war zone after one journey. Ive never left a depot in the morning with a dirty train.It is getting worse. Nobody cares anymore. There is simply no respect. Just dump your crap, it's ok someone else will clean up after you. Frustrating doesn't come close.
SQUIRE auditors are employed by and accountable to Transport Scotland. They most certainly are auditing ‘your’ trains regularly.Like all things railway when it comes to statistics and regime. Who checks it ? Who reports it ? What actions follow and what fine is levied. Bottom line. The trains are dirty. So whatever squire is. Who ever the The Squire is , he isn’t ever on my trains!
I think what is becoming apparent is that Abellio have bitten off way more than they can chew in Scotland. A Dutch based rail firm whose only other franchise is in the East of England. With each passing month it is becoming clearer that they are out of their depth and have no appreciation of the diversity of the ScotRail franchise
https://www.transport.gov.scot/public-transport/rail/service-quality-incentive-regime/#
I wonder if you have ever challenged some other passenger about the litter they are leaving behind, as well as them putting their feet on the seats. I have and I will not be doing it again... some people just do not five a f