RAIL BY DAVE RICHARDSON
MARCH 2015 MARKS A MILESTONE for Britain’s rail industry for two reasons: the start of a new franchise operator on the key East Coast business route, and the delivery of the first of a major fleet of new Super Express trains that will transform the travelling experience on routes where they operate. The two developments are linked, as Inter City Railways – the new East Coast franchise operator, which is a joint venture between Stagecoach and Virgin – will be one of the operators of the new trains. These will start serving the East Coast route in 2018 and on the Great Western route a year earlier, with manufacturer Hitachi building a new factory in County Durham to produce them (the first trains, which will undergo extensive testing in the UK before the proposed launch, are being imported from Japan). The new trains promise shorter journey times and increased capacity on these busy routes, and increased energy ef- ficiency. The Great Western routes from London to Bristol and South Wales are being electrified before their introduction, and some of the trains will be bimodal, meaning that diesel engines will take over on non-electrified routes. At present East Coast has to operate ageing diesel high-speed trains on electrified track all the way from London to Edinburgh, so that it can provide direct services on non- electrified routes onwards to Aberdeen and Inverness. The new bimodal trains will also allow it to introduce direct trains to London from cities including Lincoln and Middlesbrough, which lie beyond the electrified network.
PARTY POLITICS The new East Coast franchise – with the Virgin/Stagecoach partnership chosen in preference to First Group, and a consor- tium of Eurostar and French company Keolis – has caused huge controversy. For
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The Labour Party argued that East Coast should remain in the public sector, but now the two main business routes are served by the same private companies
several years it has been operated success- fully by Directly Operated Railways, part of the public sector, after previous operator National Express defaulted on the fran- chise. The Labour Party argued that East Coast should remain in the public sector, but now the two main business routes are served by the same private companies. Virgin and Stagecoach (trading under the name Virgin Trains) already operate the Intercity West Coast franchise, with routes from London to the West Midlands, North West, North Wales and Scotland; now, as Inter City Railways, they will operate routes to the East of England, the East Midlands, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland. Virgin has a 51 per cent share of the West Coast operation and Stagecoach 49 per cent; on East Coast, Stagecoach holds a 90 per cent stake to Virgin’s 10 per cent, but trains will carry Virgin branding. The new East Coast regime will be wel- comed by many business travellers familiar with Virgin Trains, voted rail operator of the year at the Business Travel Awards 2015 and widely seen as setting the bar high in first class with a good working environ- ment, and meals and drinks included. But it is Stagecoach – which also operates East
Midlands Trains and South West Trains using its own corporate identity – that takes on most of the commercial risk.
FASTER JOURNEY TIMES The new franchise will run until March 2023 and includes a commitment to deliver £2.3 billion in payments to the UK government. Faster journey times will mean regular services from London to Edinburgh in only four hours, and a 50 per cent increase in capacity by 2020 with 12,200 extra seats. While the 65 new Super Express trains would have been delivered whoever won the franchise, the new operator has made other commit- ments, including a 10 per cent reduction in Anytime fares to London or Stevenage from all stations. While the Guild of Travel Management
Companies (GTMC) queries whether having the two Anglo-Scottish routes in the same hands is healthy, Capita Business Travel and Events feels there could be advantages. Leigh Cowlishaw, its director of supplier partnerships, says: “The ownership mix of Stagecoach and Virgin Rail Group is very different on the two routes but, in terms of customer experience, then the same brand may offer more consistency. “The new Hitachi trains are most welcome and should offer greater capac- ity for the changing social profile of the traveller. In mainline Europe, business class facilities are in abundance, and Chiltern Trains’ Business Zone is proof that this approach could be welcomed as an alternative to first class.” GTMC chief executive Paul Wait adds:
“Our recent Voice of the Business Rail Traveller survey revealed that making rail journeys more productive is a priority for business travellers. It’s clear from research findings that the rail industry has changes to make to keep up with the demands of future big spenders. When looking at
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