NXEC

[redtoon1892]

Interesting blog on the subject.

http://gnercommuter.blog.co.uk/

[silver fox]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7912580.stm

[third-rail]

[quote="silver fox"]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7912580.stm[/qu

£197 million pre tax profit!!!!,should be told to pay up or get out,and no buts
come back gner your livery is still under those stupid white stripes

[stembok]

"There are some who say that privatisation has been a great success and I agree with them".(Richard Bowker, National Express) So, who would these "some" be? The banks,shareholders,lawyers and the others who benefited from this obscene bonanza?
Remember these were our assets bought and paid for by us. So what exactly did we get out of it, I think to myself, as I pay a similarly obscene amount of money for a walk up fare and then board an overcrowded IC225 for a journey from hell.

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

More like-come back LNER!IC225 in garter blue anybody??.It could catch on!!

[CVR1865]

There is a very big article on this in Todays paper. It seems to me the problems come from the way that the franchise system works, in that essentially the assets of the railway, trains, track and buildings, remain in the hands of anybody who isn't running trains; Network rail and the leasing companies. I am not advocating a change to allowing franchise holders the keys to the sheds, this would be even worse news. This has meant that for Nat Ex they are unable to support themselves through this difficult time, how on earth are you supposed to go to a bank that has no money to ask it to lend you millions to help through a recession when you offer zero assets as security. The risk is laid wholly on the supposed ticket revenues that won't come in because the economy is in a slump, oil prices have declined making car use cheaper and fewer people are travelling.

The franchise system has proved that a lot of money can be made from rail but the recession will prove the failings of the system.

I think it is awful for all the job losses and I tread with genuine fear and trepidation to be looking for a job as I leave University in the Autumn.

[Bullhead]

More like-come back LNER!

Another company with shareholders - dividends to pay - profits to make?

[stembok]

GNER had to relinquish the ECML franchise because of the difficulties, not only of itself but also of its parent company Sea Containers. Even so its agreement to pay back £1.3 billion over the period of its franchise would -even in good times -have been extremely challenging. So GNER handed in the keys and NXEC were then awarded the franchise having agreed to pay even more back to the government. Of course the present financial conditions have made this difficult if not impossible and with some 80% of costs fixed we have the present 'slash and burn' policy of staff cuts and inevitably a poorer service. The whole model of privatisation in its present form was/is flawed. The idea of competition, which supposedly lay behind the original privatisation proposals, is exposed as a myth for despite one or two smaller operators NXEC has a virtual monopoly on the ECML. It is difficult to see how it could be otherwise. A railway is not like an airline or even a shipping service. Again the separation of track,trains ownership and operating companies has been a disaster, leading to fragmentation and the increased costs associated with it. The Roscos must have been one of the best licences to print money going, thousand of pounds in hire fees for clapped out Pacers, to say nothing of the hugely increased subsidies required by the privatised railway compared with B R. Yet the TOCS are still whining and asking for more financial featherbedding, eg changes in the financial mechanism for fares adjustment when it appears that they may, under such mechanisms, now need to cut fares, with deflation a feature of the economy. A vertically integrated railway on the lines of the 'Big Four' should have had a greater chance of success and any company is going to struggle at present, but the whole thing is a mess. Still, never fear, as with the banks, they know that the good old taxpayer is always there as lender of last resort.

[third-rail]

suppose they will want to charge a £1 to use the toilet like ryan air next

[stembok]

third-rail: They most certainly will! Watch out for areas such as seat reservations, credit and debit card fees etc where these don't already apply. In my area the first train to York on which you are allowed to use a cheap day return was recently put back by an hour, doubling the cost. The result? I use the car which is quicker and more convenient. Transport policy !!(L.O.L) in Britain, a total and unmitigated disaster and has been since Victorian times.

[hq1hitchin]

third-rail: They most certainly will! Watch out for areas such as seat reservations, credit and debit card fees etc where these don't already apply. In my area the first train to York on which you are allowed to use a cheap day return was recently put back by an hour, doubling the cost. The result? I use the car which is quicker and more convenient. Transport policy !!(L.O.L) in Britain, a total and unmitigated disaster and has been since Victorian times.

and another good one is car park charges, these are completely unregulated - from memory, I think they already had risen to 12 sovs a day in Reading a few years back. Councils, too, tend to soon latch on that they are a nice little earner as far as rail passengers go.

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

If they go ahead with "platform tickets",i expect they'll be about a fiver.Wouldn't be surprised!!

[CVR1865]

Whilst I anticipate you may be right, SWT only charge 20p.

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

Nice one SWT.No-one should have a problem with paying that.

[BringBackGNER]

I place the entire blame for the NXEC fiasco in the hands of the government. Sign the petition if you think they should do something about it.

The 2005 franchise bid was to be awarded to the highest bidder which meant that Christopher Garnett bid the maximum he believed the company could afford to retain their franchise. The government should not have looked towards the ECML as a cash cow, they should have made the bid criteria the company that can strike the best balance between quality and value. Christopher Garnett knew the only way to retain the franchise was to bid the highest, despite the fact that GNER had a good reputation and deserved a renewal on more favourable terms. After all the more money for the government the less that can be spent on improving service.

If the 2005 franchise was awarded differently and GNER won on more favourable terms I believe GNER would still exist today as a profitable entity although it would most likely have been spun off from Sea Containers who were in trouble. We'd have the excellent restaurant service, the nice livery and happy staff.

So GNER can't afford their franchise. Do the government learn? No. They award the new franchise to NXEC who have bad even more than GNER for a shorter franchise. It was fairly obvious even if the economy was still booming we'd need massive fare rises and cutbacks for them to meet these ridiculous payments to the government.

What makes matters worse is that there was no commitment in the franchise with regards to catering or staffing levels leaving NXEC free to make drastic cutbacks without breaking terms of their franchise. There's also nothing stopping them closing the excellent call centre that was set up by GNER and moving it offshore. The uncertainty is taking its toll on the staff and morale is at an all time low.

Recent reports have suggested that NXEC want to remove their kitchens from their trains to add extra seating. Once the kitchens are removed they'd be prohibitively expensive to replace and so that really would be the end of restaurants on the east coast. It may even be the end of the toastie if the whole buffet area is removed. They've already reversed two bad decisions from January after a number of complaints one was the removal of fresh milk from first class and the second was stop accepting Amex, these mistakes were easy to reverse but if they regret taking out the kitchens that's going to be much harder to fix.

Despite all this I'm still open to the idea that NXEC can re-negotiate their contract (and I'm annoyed that GNER weren't given that chance). Why? Because it gives the government a chance to rectify their mistakes. If NXEC wants to pay the government less money the government can rewrite the franchise and specify the on-board service levels that we were used to in the GNER era. If NXEC was contractually obliged to provide these services then things would improve without the need for another long drawn out bidding process.

If the government decides to strip NXEC of their franchise then I don't think anyone will be shedding any tears for them but the government needs to learn from their mistakes and make sure that the next franchisee is held to high standards and doesn't have to pay overly high premiums.

If you have not already I advise you write to your MP with your dissatisfaction with NXEC. If you live on the East Coast route it's quite possible that your MP is also not too pleased with their pathetic offering and of course NXEC themselves c.relations (at) nationalexpress.com