NEWS
he Department for Transport has announced that the next Inter City West Coast franchise will begin on December 9, 2012, and run until 2026.
T
It has confirmed that the state-run Directly Operated Railways (DOR) could step in to run the franchise from April next year, when Vir- gin is due to hand back the fran- chise, unless it agrees “satisfactory terms” with the Government.
DOR already runs East Coast ser- vices, after National Express pulled out of the franchise 18 months ago.
Virgin Rail Group chief executive officer Tony Collins said: “We are pleased to have been invited by the Government to discuss an ex- tension to the current West Coast franchise. This would mean we
ment has now been published, will “align” with the proposed opening of the first phase of HS2, the Gov- ernment said.
The DfT said it would have a more relaxed approach to timetabling when considering bids for the new franchise, while “retaining obliga- tions that protect the key elements of service, such as principal first and last trains and minimum num- bers of station stops per week and per day”.
would continue to run services for passengers for an additional eight months at an exciting and chal- lenging time for the country with the Olympic Games next year.
“We look forward to continuing our discussions with the Depart-
ment for Transport with a view to concluding a commercial agree- ment that will be in the interests of passengers and deliver value for money to taxpayers.”
The new franchise, for which the delayed Invitation to Tender docu-
It said this would mean signifi- cantly less “micro-management”. More flexible franchises was a key demand of the McNulty review.
The shortlist of bidders for the new, extended franchise includes Virgin as well as First, SNCF and Abellio.
R
ailway punctuality hit 92.9% during April – one of the
best results on record, though still down on last year’s 94%.
Using the Moving Annual Average metric, London Overground has become the country’s joint most reliable rail network, with both it and Merseyrail on 94.9%, just ahead of c2c on 94.7%, while East Coast is last on 83.3%.
Network Rail director of operations and customer services, Robin Gisby, said: “A good start to the year sees train performance continue to deliver consistently high levels of punctuality. Our
focus remains as we, and the train operators, endeavour to deliver a high performing and reliable railway for almost four million daily users.”
East Coast had earlier criticised Network’s Rail’s
after a number of disruptions affected its figures.
During one incident in April, technical issues caused the closure of the East Coast Main Line between York and Northallerton for several hours, for example.
But Network Rail argued: “East Coast saw punctuality improve for
performance,
the fourth period in a row and beat last year’s period one result.
“If three big external events were excluded from the statistics East Coast would have reported train performance of almost 90%, as the underlying reliability of the infrastructure and the train fleet continues to improve.”
For our interview with Transport for London’s chief operating officer for London Rail, Howard Smith, discussing the
improvements in London
Overground’s performance and the extension of the network, see page 42.
N
etwork Rail has been fined £3m for failings by its predecessor Railtrack over the Potters Bar crash in which seven people died.
The company had already admitted breaching safety regulations, which led to the London to King’s Lynn service derailing outside Potters Bar station in Hertfordshire in May 2002.
Network Rail admitted criminal guilt under the Safety at Work Act for faulty points on the tracks, the responsibility for which it inherited from Railtrack when it took it over in 2002.
The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) dropped its pursuit of a linked case against engineering contractor Jarvis after it went into administration last year.
12 | rail technology magazine Apr/May 11
Nicholas Hilliard QC, for ORR, told the court that the poor state of one set of points on the track had made the crash “inevitable”.
In a statement, Network Rail said the railway was now safer than it has ever been.
It said: “This week marks the ninth anniversary of the terrible, tragic event at Potters Bar. We recognise
for many that the sorrow remains and we should all pause and reflect as we remember those who lost their lives.
“Network Rail has today been sentenced for failings that contributed to this accident and we accept the fine as we accept the liabilities inherited from Railtrack. We say again today that we are truly sorry.”
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