On Tue, 1 Apr 2008, Mizter T wrote:

I also note that the previous plans to transfer both the BCV and SSL
train maintenance operations and hence staff over to Bombardier have
also been ditched, and this will stay 'in-house' with Metronet.

Dare I ask the possibly blasphemous question of whether this is actually
for the best - not for some ideological reason but merely because the
model of trains getting maintained by their manufacturers seems to work
fairly well elsewhere?

I understand that the MoD has contracts like that with defence suppliers,
ie BAe, where instead of buying N aircraft (or whatever) outright and then
making separate maintenance arrangements to keep M of them flying, they
just contract with the manufacturer to make M aircraft available at all
times. The manufacturer then has flexibility as to how they do that, and
of course can coordinate manufacturing, repair, replacement, etc. Seems to
be a popular and clever model; i can't say how well it works in practice.

tom

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We don't contact anybody or seek anybody's permission for what we do. Even
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