On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 16:42:19 +0100, Sam Holloway
wrote:


Does that mean, then, that the other Eastern franchises making up
'One' have been merged? I didn't think that was the case. I'm well
aware of how the same parent company operating many franchises has to
have some degree of separation between them, but I thought that was
still the case *within* One?

Depends on your definition of "merged". There is now only one franchise
and one contract to cover 2½ former franchises - therefore there has
been a merger in that sense. There have been route directors appointed
that I assume follow the sub branding with the "One" brand.

Whether the organisation has been merged yet I very much doubt and we
will have the fun and games brigade from RMT and ASLEF seeking to merge
the staff's Ts and Cs to the highest common level pretty soon.

National Express have a monumental task ahead of them if they are to
wring out enough efficiency / savings / extra revenue to pay the premium
back to the SRA that is required from their bid. Expect an interesting
version of typical National Express staffing levels being applied to
former Anglia and First Greater Eastern areas along with cutbacks in
"competing" services e.g. Ipswich.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...
National Express have a monumental task ahead of them if they are to
wring out enough efficiency / savings / extra revenue to pay the premium
back to the SRA that is required from their bid. Expect an interesting
version of typical National Express staffing levels being applied to
former Anglia and First Greater Eastern areas along with cutbacks in
"competing" services e.g. Ipswich.

Its not going to be a good six months or so for Staff, with cuts looming to
save money in an attempt to pay the SRA what they have promosed, which I
believe is just short of £1 Million Per week.

I'm not sure on how the SRA works exactly, but isnt the advise that if you
are putting a job out to contract (for anything), its advisable not to just
go for the one which can promise the most for the least amount of money,
which accoding to GB Railways at the time, is what the SRA have done with
NX.
I think the GB Railways would have been the best option, whatever the cost,
they seem to have the best attitude towards things, customers and staff, as
their record with Anglia proved, plus with the backing of First Group it
could have been good. Oh well.....

"Darren" ] wrote in message
...

I'm not sure on how the SRA works exactly, but isnt the advise that if you
are putting a job out to contract (for anything), its advisable not to
just
go for the one which can promise the most for the least amount of money,
which accoding to GB Railways at the time, is what the SRA have done with
NX.

Sadly that appears to be the only criterion that the SRA are currently
using. Therefore it looks as though we can expect some further surprises,
possibly with the imminent reallocation of the Inter City East Coast (ICEC)
franchise, currently held by Sea Containers and operated as Great North
Eastern Railway.

In article , ]
(Darren) wrote:

In the letter can you ask him if it was him, or one of his staff (with
no design sense what so ever) was given a packet of crayons for
Christmas, and if their drawings somehow made it into the paint shop

The latest is the Cambridge station signs which say "Cambridge one". Is
that as in "Free the cambridge one"?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article ,
(Dave Arquati) wrote:

Jack Taylor wrote:

"Colin Rosenstiel" wrote in message
...

The GN of WAGN will have a connection to Thameslink from 2007.

A physical connection, that is.

Yes... so will they actually be able to run trains across it or would
that require TL2K's signalling upgrade?

Not to traverse the connection but to go anywhere useful beyond St Pancras
I suspect.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

"Graeme Wall" wrote in message
...
In message
"Brian Watson" wrote:

[snip]

And how much did they pay for this masterpiece of rebranding, I wonder?



About one.million

Thanks.

I always wondered what "money going down a plughole" sounded like.

--
Brian
"Happy St George's Day. It either is, just was, or soon will be."

"Colin Rosenstiel" wrote in message
...

The latest is the Cambridge station signs which say
"Cambridge one". Is that as in "Free the cambridge one"?

Somebody's painted over the middle two words - it is supposed to read
"Cambridge nil, Bureaucracy one"

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes

On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 20:07:59 +0100, Paul Corfield
wrote:
On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 16:42:19 +0100, Sam Holloway
wrote:
Does that mean, then, that the other Eastern franchises making up
'One' have been merged? I didn't think that was the case. I'm well
aware of how the same parent company operating many franchises has to
have some degree of separation between them, but I thought that was
still the case *within* One?

Depends on your definition of "merged". There is now only one franchise
and one contract to cover 2½ former franchises - therefore there has
been a merger in that sense.

Thanks, Paul - that was the question I didn't have the answer to. I
wasn't sure whether this was a group rebranding or whether the
franchises really had merged (as in one contract). I suppose that
gives them an excuse to keep the GN out of One. But still, from the
passengers' point of view, it's not a good way to go about. :-(

Sam
--
Sam Holloway, Cambridge

"Sam Holloway" wrote in message
...

Thanks, Paul - that was the question I didn't have the answer to. I
wasn't sure whether this was a group rebranding or whether the
franchises really had merged (as in one contract). I suppose that
gives them an excuse to keep the GN out of One. But still, from the
passengers' point of view, it's not a good way to go about. :-(

To be entirely accurate (and a *little* pedantic) the former Anglia
franchise and the Great Eastern franchise reached their expiry dates at 31st
March 2004. From 1st April the West Anglia Great Northern franchise had a
contract variation issued that removed West Anglia (Liverpool Street)
services from it - but otherwise the WAGN franchise continues to the
existing expiry date. From that date the previous franchise boundaries
disappeared from the SRA's franchise map.

From 1st April an *entirely new* Greater Anglia franchise was let, covering
the areas formerly operated as the Anglia, GE franchises and the WA portion
of WAGN. National Express won the bidding (who happen to be the incumbent
operators of the WAGN franchise). So, strictly speaking, any use of the word
'merge' is not accurate. The old contracts died at expiry and this is a
completely new franchise contract covering a redefined area.

I just feel that it's important to clarify these points (not specifically to
you, Sam) as many people still get confused by the difference between the
franchise and the franchise operator and, as this is a general transport
newsgroup, rather than a specific railway newsgroup, there may be more
readers here that are unclear about the structure.

HTH

In message ,
Colin Rosenstiel writes
to go anywhere useful beyond St Pancras

Surely that will also require the rebuilding at Blackfriars and London
Bridge. Are either of those expected to be done by 2007?
--
Roland Perry