Mizter T wrote:

On 7/29/2016 6:12 PM, Recliner wrote:
[...]
The DfT ordered the TL class 700s, and did it in such an inept way that
Siemens won, not because it was offering a better or cheaper train, but
because the company had a better credit rating. Had the trains been
ordered through a ROSCO they'd certainly be cheaper, and would probably
have included features that the civil servants forgot, such as tray tables
and wifi.


I haven't followed that story closely - so Siemen's superior credit
rating is what won it?! Somewhat bizarre.

One imagines that the missing tray tables must have been bought up by
Siemens.

Missing wifi I can kinda understand - those who really need/want it will
have their own mobile data connectivity, and it's yet more electronic
kit for the train - but no tray tables is a daft omission.

From
http://www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk...-trains-QA.pdf

"It has been decided not to have tables in standard class. Passenger
research for the rail watchdog, Passenger Focus and London TravelWatch
showed that people recognised the main priority was to maximise capacity.
Seat tables are a nice to have but they also slow people down getting on
and off trains – and we’ll have just 30 seconds to get people on and off
these new trains in central London.
Our priority is to get more people from A to B as quickly and as reliably
as possible. These new trains will give us more carriages and more capacity
and much better reliability than existing trains, which is what people
want.

....

Wi-Fi was not included in the original specification laid out in 2008.
However, the trains have been designed to make it as easy as possible for
Wi-Fi (or an alternative next generation technology) to be fitted."


Of course, the actual order was confirmed in, I think, 2013, not 2008, when
discussions first started. So there's really no good reason why the spec
wasn't updated to include Wi-Fi in the intervening five years of debate,
discussion and negotiation.

The reason it all took so long was that the DfT wished to place the order
itself, as it thought it could do better than the hated ROSCOs. The
manufacturers had to finance the trains, as the Treasury wanted the
purchase to be off the government's books, and that's where Siemens (with
its much better credit rating) had the advantage over Bombardier. Of
course, the government could have borrowed the money itself much more
cheaply than either manufacturer...