West CML RAIL BID DITCHED.

[Albion Dan]

Remove some logos ? Wouldnt be more than that i wouldnt have thought. Although all the promised improvements would be delayed as the government wouldnt fund them (IE new electric trains, new trains to Blackpool and Bolton).

All Station signage, information points, new website, new booking channels, mobile apps, ticket fulfilment packaging, all stationary, new brand design, train interiors, train livery, new uniforms, internal comms, timetables, station posters.

Then..... Renegotiate fleet contracts, catering contracts, retail system suppliers, marketing agency contracts, yield management systems etc etc.

Yep that's all going to be super cheap.....

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Remove some logos ? Wouldnt be more than that i wouldnt have thought. Although all the promised improvements would be delayed as the government wouldnt fund them (IE new electric trains, new trains to Blackpool and Bolton).

I regularly used to travel to Stafford on the British Rail train that ran between Euston and Blackpool. It was a brilliant service - mainly because hardly anyone used it. I wonder why that was?

 

[clapham_gull]

Richard Branson spotted the flaws in the process and he started off as a barrow boy at a market, if these Ministers all went to Eton, Oxford and Cambridge then they can't all be thick as pigsh!t, or are .

Is that the same privately educated Branson whose father was a High Court Judge ?

Sorry agree with the rest but had to point that out.

I haven't read about the market stall but I don't doubt he had one. I thought he started in publishing, selling records by mail order and progressing to opening a small record shop.

He may have been hawking 10 tangerines for a sixpence along the way but that's the first I've heard about it.

 

[Southover Street Seagull]

All Station signage, information points, new website, new booking channels, mobile apps, ticket fulfilment packaging, all stationary, new brand design, train interiors, train livery, new uniforms, internal comms, timetables, station posters.

Then..... Renegotiate fleet contracts, catering contracts, retail system suppliers, marketing agency contracts, yield management systems etc etc.

Yep that's all going to be super cheap.....

It seems from reading this thread that you work for Virgin Trains or a company linked to Virgin Trains. If Virgin won one of the franchises up for grabs next year, would you still be saying it is a "ridiculous financial waste' to re-brand the franchise?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

"one of the most shocking aspects of the whole sage has been to make Bob Crow sound reasonable."

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

All Station signage, information points, new website, new booking channels, mobile apps, ticket fulfilment packaging, all stationary, new brand design, train interiors, train livery, new uniforms, internal comms, timetables, station posters.

Then..... Renegotiate fleet contracts, catering contracts, retail system suppliers, marketing agency contracts, yield management systems etc etc.

Yep that's all going to be super cheap.....

Ok, fair enough. But its hardly fair to let Virgin keep running - whilst making money from a franchise that they are only running because of a monumental cock-up. Virgin not-for-profit does seem the best option - costs the government less money (that and if Virgin win the franchise when it eventually gets put back to tender - theres no need to put anything back).

 

[Gary Leeds]

All Station signage, information points, new website, new booking channels, mobile apps, ticket fulfilment packaging, all stationary, new brand design, train interiors, train livery, new uniforms, internal comms, timetables, station posters.

Then..... Renegotiate fleet contracts, catering contracts, retail system suppliers, marketing agency contracts, yield management systems etc etc.

Yep that's all going to be super cheap.....

And this is why on the East Coast there were trains in GNER colours with first National Express and then East Coast logos stuck on the side of them. Full repaints were only done when the trains needed repainting which kept the cost down. Website is already in place, they clone the East Coast website. Even when National Express took over from GNER all the uniforms were the old GNER ones with a badge stuck over the GNER bits. Full rebranding does not need to be done overnight. Did B&H Buses paint every ex Brighton Blue Bus in their livery overnight when they bought them out? No, they stuck a transfer over the company name. Thats all that would be done first stage

If anything it makes more sense to renationalise the West Coast as they have already done exactly that one the East Coast so they know (roughly) what's involved

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

If anything it makes more sense to renationalise the West Coast as they have already done exactly that one the East Coast so they know (roughly) what's involved

Technically not nationalising it, just a public company funded by the government - closest we could get to nationalisation at the moment. Problem is that East Coast was ran into the ground by National Express so needed massive improvement - what East Coast did. Virgin dont have such problems and are ran very well so its different.

 

[Albion Dan]

It seems from reading this thread that you work for Virgin Trains or a company linked to Virgin Trains. If Virgin won one of the franchises up for grabs next year, would you still be saying it is a "ridiculous financial waste' to re-brand the franchise?

The legitimate winner of a new Franchise builds mobilisation expenses into their cost model which is then set off against the 15 year revenue model. It is an investment which helps deliver 15 years worth of money. If the Govt take over for a year then there is no opportunity to recoup the outlay before another company comes in and has to do it all over again.

 

[yxee]

And yet again a reshuffle has prevented Cameron from having to fire one of his ministers...

 

[glasfryn]

Well,they didn't go to the same public school so both your pronouncements are wrong!

could of coarse be going on in the cabinet office

 

[Cesar Chavez]

All franchising on hold as InterCity West Coast award cancelled- Railway Gazette

Comprehensive review of franchising process instigated.