"D DB 90001" wrote
The easiest way to solve the problem would be to adopt a LOROL style
approach to ALL suburban services in London, whereby the service
frequency and operations are determined by TfL and operated under
contract by the respective TOCs.

Ken planned to do exactly that, and there is a certain logic to London
controlling its own 'metro' services (as Liverspool and many foreign cities
do). The understanding was that as each franchise came up for renewal, TfL
would negotiate for appropriate lines to be transferred and upgraded by
LOROL.

For example, there discussions with DaFT when the new 'south central'
franchise document was drawn up, eg about the South London Line. Nothing
happened, but I don't know if that was Boris' cooling on the idea, money not
being available to upgrade to LOROL standards (about half a billion, at a
guess) - or the more prosaic reason that with Thameslink wrecking London
Bridge for a few years, this was not the time (it's short franchise,
anyway!).

But watch carefully as each London Franchise comes up for grabs ...
--

Andrew

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