CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
“Abellio to lose ScotRail franchise three years early”
(10 posts)-
Posted 5 years ago #
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Wow. Expect STV Scotland Tonight to have more. In favour they have had to bring our rail network into the 20th century with a start on the 21st. By that I mean electric trains (dependent though on Network Rail programme). Humza went after Vester so much he changed job?
But... we expect better, having flown into EU countries with much better set ups (yes flying is bad).
Ignoring rUK, we know we can do better and Labour and Greens have been saying this move long overdue.
Scottish Conservatives feel bad for our Dutch friends though, are they pro Europe at heart? :-)
I don't think this is ethnic decision although Abellio losing may make Nederland TV news tonight. Is question that we should simply go for public ownership as we have with Scottish Water?Posted 5 years ago # -
Found it slightly odd they've only just made this decision. They seem to have been doing fairly well recently...?
Most of the issues they had were/are to do with the late arrival of trains.
Posted 5 years ago # -
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A planned new station at East Linton in East Lothian could be delayed, along with more frequent trains on the Glasgow to Dumfries and Oban/Mallaig line.
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Posted 5 years ago # -
It's a little inaccurate to refer to it as being "stripped" of the franchise. AIUI there was a break point built in to the franchise agreement in 2022. Abellio seem to have been asking for a revised deal from that point in order to avoid running at a further loss, and the government said no. Without the new deal, Abellio wouldn't have wanted to run the loss-making franchise any longer than they absolutely had to anyway.
My understanding is also that, as things stand right now, Scotrail can't simply be taken in to public ownership in perpetuity. AFAIK the law as it currently stands still requires the franchise to be put back out to competitive tender again at some point. It could be run directly for a short while, like LNER currently is, and East Coast was until VTEC was awarded the new franchise (which it then handed back).
Of course, a lot could happen between now and 2022 to change that. In the context of the current UK there's the Williams review to be taken in to account, plus the noises being made by Grant Shapps and his boss about possible other changes (such as mandatory minimum service levels in the event of industrial action, something for which legislation apparently already exists in a number of other European countries - though I've not heard of any examples of it being used, with France being a frequently cited example of industrial action still causing network shutdowns despite having such laws on its statute book).
If, between now and 2022, Scotland were to gain independence from the UK and become an EU member state in its own right, it would be subject to the EU regulations. Currently those only require member states to keep the management of infrastructure and services separate (which of course is the case in the current UK with Network Rail* and the TOCs). However, from 2023 a new set of EU regulations (the "Fourth Rail Package") will oblige member states to put subsidised routes out to open tender, albeit with existing state owned operators also allowed to participate in the tender process. Whether this still sounds like a good idea, given that there is a widespread perception that the UK's franchise-based model has been shown to be not fit for purpose, is another interesting question.
* I have no idea what would happen via a vis Network Rail if Scotland were to gain independence - but that's purely my own ignorance, I'm sure it's already been considered and a draft approach drawn up.
Posted 5 years ago # -
ejstubbs - yes, I think the media are looking at this backwards. The franchise was really seven years long, with the option to extend for a further three years.
After five years, the annual subsidy for years 6-10 of the franchise was to be subject to a "re-basing exercise". I imagine Transport Scotland didn't like the look of these numbers and thought it better to pull the plug on Abellio. Politically, it looks good - but any fall-out only happens after the next Scottish Parliament elections in May 2021.
I always find it funny how many people who argue for a fully devolved Network Rail never seem to mention the £3,000,000,000 debt that would come with it. Obviously, it's all possible - just not quite as straightforward as some make out.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Spot on, Morningsider.
There's something of an unknown about how rail operations will be run in future. It depends on what the Williams Review proposes and what the UK government decides to do about it. Whether we'll know the former is unclear as the last I heard, Williams' recommendations were not going to be published, meaning all we'd see would be the White Paper setting out what the UK government proposes to do. I couldn't see that being politically tenable, but then a lot of things that I previously thought politically untenable have happened recently.
I suspect the best case would be operating/management contracts. This would mean government takes the risk on revenues from passengers being lower than expected but doesn't have to get involved in the running the trains (and dealing with passengers and unions) bit. In a perfect world, that might mean that government focuses on growing revenues in the short term and looks at ways of increasing demand for rail services (one obvious way is to stop making it so easy and cheap to drive everywhere...) but, as we have to frequently reflect, this isn't a perfect world.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Really not asurprise, this morning signalling failure, delay, overcrowding and despite there being space for 4 bikes, none of them big enough for a 29er.
Reminds me that I only take the trains when I really have to
Posted 5 years ago # -
Fall in Fife passenger numbers sparks call for service improvements:
Perhaps also related, or at least contributing to the increase in bridge users as reported/commented on elsewhere...
Posted 5 years ago # -
this morning signalling failure
That would be Network Rail's fault, rather than Abellio's.
Posted 5 years ago #
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