Yup it was confirmed today that Dutch operators Abellio have won the Anglia franchise and will continue to operate rail services in East Anglia for the next 9 years. In return Abellio haven't just promised the Earth, but a fair chunk of Mars and Venus too. This is the list of pledges that happy Anglian passengers can expect.
- replacing the entire fleet with new trains within 4 years of the start of the franchise
- increasing operational performance levels from 89.2% to 92.9% Public Performance Measure
- 32,000 more seats on services arriving at London Liverpool Street in the morning peak
- 1,144 additional weekday services
- Norwich in 90 and Ipswich in 60 services
- £9,795,000 of stations enhancements
- smart ticketing on the entire network by 2019
- controlled emission toilets by 1 January 2020
- free Wi-Fi at stations and on train
Now I have been accused of being cynical in the past and I am trying my hardest to refrain from looking at these pledges in a cynical manner. I'm failing. Replacing the ENTIRE fleet within 4 years? Why? What is wrong with the 360's or 170's and indeed the very new 379's? Why do they need replacing? Granted everything else does and if we get shiny new rolling stock that can only be a good thing.
The optimum operational performance target should always be 100% as it is in Japan. Accepting that 7 in every 100 trains are going to be late just isn't good enough. More capacity is always welcome but hang on - we are told the network is at maximum use, so how on earth are another 1,144 services going to be squeezed in? Skipping down a bit the IC sets already have Wi-fi so why not make it free now? Go on AGA I dare you!
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| Sprinters to be gone within 4 years |
Great Eastern
- new trains with free Wi-Fi from February 2019
- 4 trains per hour between Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria (currently 3 trains per hour) and more frequent in peak times
- 2 new fast peak journeys in each direction between Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria
- earlier first and later late service between Liverpool Street and Southend Airport
- 4 new through services between Liverpool Street and Lowestoft via Saxmundham
- 1 additional service from Ipswich to Lowestoft allowing an hourly service to operate throughout the day
- earlier first services from Clacton and Braintree to Liverpool Street
- 1 additional evening through service from Liverpool Street to Harwich Town
- later connections from London to Southminster and Braintree
- most Sudbury branch services extended to and from Colchester and Colchester Town
- an average 10% faster journey time when new trains are rolled out
Intercity
- new trains with free Wi-Fi from March 2019
- Norwich in 90: 2 trains in each direction between London and Norwich (a maximum of 90 minutes journey time)
- Ipswich in 60: 1 train in each direction between London and Ipswich (a maximum of 60 minutes journey time)
- 3 trains per hour between Liverpool Street and Norwich all day (currently only in peak times)
Pretty self explanatory - I presume the stopping services currently terminating at Ipswich will be extended to Norwich as there simply isn't the space for an extra fast service an hour.
Regional
- new trains with free Wi-Fi from January 2019
- 4 new through services between Liverpool Street and Lowestoft via Saxmundham
- hourly services between Ipswich and Peterborough (currently every 2 hours) with most trains also extended to and from Colchester
- 1 additional morning peak round trip between Ipswich and Cambridge allowing an hourly service to operate throughout the day
- almost all hourly services between Norwich and Cambridge are to be extended in the new franchise to provide a direct service to and from Stansted Airport
- earlier first service from Cambridge to Norwich and 1 additional evening service from Norwich to Cambridge
- extended operating hours of 2 trains per hour between Norwich and Great Yarmouth
- later services from Norwich to Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Sheringham
Good news that the Ipswich - Peterborough service has been not only saved but enhanced and extended to Colchester. Direct services from Norwich to Stanstead are long overdue too and a welcome addition. Just make sure the EMT service to Liverpool continues to start at Norwich. Good to see extra trains soon the Yarmouth line and later trains are always welcome although I confess to being disappointed that there isn't a later train on the East Suffolk Line, as having to leave London by 2100 at the latest in order to make the last connection isn't good enough.
Now what about these brilliant new trains. Well it would appear that Derby based Bombardier will build a lot of them, although the models and specifications have not been announced yet. However Nigel Harris, editor of Rail Magazine has suggested that 600 vehicles could be bi-mode trains built by Swiss company Stadler. That will be a first for the UK if so.
So everything is rosy - a magic wand will be waved and the good people of East Anglia will at a stroke have a space age railway everyone has been dreaming of for decades. New trains, extra services, free wi-fi, excellent station facilities, easy to understand ticketing. Yeah ok guys.
If you are stuck in a traffic jam it makes no difference if you are sitting in a Rolls Royce or Reliant Robin, you are still stuck and not moving. Yes we can have new trains and more services but what cannot be overlooked is that they will be using the same infrastructure that is responsible for the majority of delays. There will still be the regular points and signal failures, the same leaves on the line, the same suicides, and above all the same if not more number of freight trains breaking down or delaying passenger services which will cause even more knock on effects with extra services involved.
I have seen nothing from Network Rail saying what they will do to improve the performance of their own infrastrucuture. For 18 months now midweek evening services from London have been disrupted because of the ballast cleaning going on, that has achieved absolutely nothing from what I can see. I have seen no announcement promising extra penalties for freight operators delaying passenger services and nothing from the freight operators saying what they are doing to replace unreliable locos.
So I hope you will excuse me if I regard this announcement in the same way I look at a victory speech from an election winning politician. A couple of months after the promises are made the excuses start trundling out. I'll believe it when I see it - but I repeat my challenge to Abellio to make wi-fi on the trains fitted with it free NOW - give us a sign that you actually mean business, and you ARE putting passengers first. I wish you, and all rail passengers in East Anglia good luck.
There can't be any more excuses.they have the longer franchise they wanted. Let's hope they don't waste their chance.we need this to work. Having spent years playing catch up,with this franchise,Abellio must go forward.(as far as the infrastructure will allow.) Things won't change overnight but there reasons to be positive.
ReplyDeleteMy reaction too. We are spared a rebranding hiatus, I hope. Whilst new trains and track improvements are fine and necessary, they take time; but they need to ensure they're on the ball when things don't work as they should (which will always happen). The impression that I get is that too often things fall apart when a problem occurs with passengers left in the dark, slow provision and inadequate rail replacement, and what's the excuse for filthy carriages, or lack of rolling-stock? The measure is how well they deal with the unexpected, against what they could do. And that won't change with old stock or new stock. Most rail operators, public and private, when they've been good have been very good (rather like the rest of us) and when they've been bad they've been very bad, when as Mae West used to say, we need to be better. Compensation is a measure of failure, not of success.
DeleteHi Steve. Correction to your post. Wi fi is now being added to the MKIII stock and to stations, pilot scheme been underway. Abellio got new supplier. https://www.abelliogreateranglia.co.uk/about-us/latest-news/news-articles/wi-fi-channel-latest---11th-july-2016-
DeleteThis may be of interest:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.railwaygazette.com/fileadmin/user_upload/railwaygazette.com/Pictures/passenger/tn_gb-abellio-eastanglia-fleet-table.jpg
I see that some of the units are supposed to be 10-car Intercity sets. These will bring a lot of capacity enhancement due to not having a locomotive using up platform space. That's assuming they don't have two wide sets of double doors in the middle (as per the 321s) but are more akin to something like Voyagers. There is a picture but that may only be speculative. Let's hope they have a proper IC specification with decent 2+2 seating!
DeleteThere are a lot of "suburban" sets and this troubles me a bit as presumably they will be used on main line stopping services where they are not ideally suited (says he, having travelled between Ipswich and London both ways on 321s the other day!) What is most intriguing are the dual mode electrodiesels which is just what we need for the East Suffolk etc. through services. These seem to be the coming thing - I think the new Great Western trains now under test are ED and aren't TransPennine thinking about them too? The important thing here will be for the diesel engines to have enough "guts" - the old Southern Region locos only had enough horsepower off-line for shunting or low speed work: I remember seeing the Channel Islands Boat Train coming through Soothampton in the early 70s, it was hauled by a Class 74 but this had to be replaced by a 33 at Bournemouth for the run on non-electrified track to Weymouth.
I wondered if you spotted the news, looked it up earlier. Some good news in some respects, I am looking forward to the developments that will occur. There is also the upgrading of the Wherry Lines due soon I seem to recall. There is also the ongoing upgrades to Ipswich and Norwich stations as well.
ReplyDeleteJohn D.
Ipswich overhaul looks fab, now completed pretty much. Signalling solutions apparently being arranged for 2019 when Wherry lines upgraded.
DeleteOne item that few have picked up it that the Sudbury branch service is being extended from Marks Tay to Colchester town. I would guess this could be implimented as soon as they have some spare rolling stock. Not sure at present if they plan to have new trains for it. It would be sensible to use hybrids if they do
ReplyDeleteI would guess minimal impact. Firstly only passengers living near Sudbury Station would make the switch. Secondly the train is more expensive, and crucially Colchester Station is nowhere near the Town Centre, meaning either a very long walk, a bus anyway or change of train to Colchester Town.
DeleteIgnore the above reply - got the wrong comment! No chance of that being implemented in near future as they simply haven't got the rolling stock or probably the inclination. Everything will be done in a blaze of pomp and publicity when the new trains and timetables arrive.
DeleteIT will have some impact as the train is a lot quicker and they will be serving Colchester Town. It would probably mainly be commuters 30 minutes odd as opposed to about an 1 and ten minutes is a big difference
DeleteIt sounds as if they could run into track capacity issues and thats already a major cause of delays
ReplyDeleteTrust me I've been trying to work that one out myself, and of course they want to increaae freight too. Network Rail have got their work cut out to make this work.
DeleteI think in theory at present they have enough track capacity s long as the trains keep to time which of course they don't. Another issue is TfL ant to try to increase the frequency of the services they have taken over but the capacity certainly does not exist. Some capacity will be freed up at Liverpool street when they take the Shenfield line into Crossrail but it only goes onto separate track just after Stratford
DeleteOne bottle neck on the West Anglia lines is at Cheshunt where the two branches join up. Why they have never doubled the track their I don't know. It is only the section between Cheshunt & Broxbourne and it runs along the edge of the Lee Valley Country park so would be quite easy to do
How much impact I wonder will some of this changes have on bus service. I don't think it will be major but many routes struggle and any loss of passengers could hit them. The Chambers Colchester services may be one of those that could be affected the most. The train would provided a much faster journey to Colchester
ReplyDeleteI would guess minimal impact. Firstly only passengers living near Sudbury Station would make the switch. Secondly the train is more expensive, and crucially Colchester Station is nowhere near the Town Centre, meaning either a very long walk, a bus anyway or change of train to Colchester Town.
DeleteThe Sudbury train will be serving Colchester Town
DeleteI read also that in 2 years the Wherry lines and Bittern will be upgraded to digital signalling as the test bed for future projects
ReplyDeleteBelay that comment apparently NR have changed their minds 😕
DeleteAs I recall, one problem with the old East Suffolk and Perborough through services from London is that they were formed of single 170 sets which ran a few minutes ahead of Intercity services to Norwich. Not only was this poor line and stock utilisation (i.e. a three-car train taking up a path, a diesel unit running for 70 miles on an electrified line) but the trains frequently were crowded as far as Ipswich as they effectively served as "reliefs" for the IC trains ... passengers turning up early at Liverpool Street on "open" tickets would all pile on rather than waiting for a faster and more comfortable service which only arrived a few minutes later.
ReplyDeleteMind you, I'm old enough to have travelled on the fabled 4.50 pm from Liverpool Street to Lowestoft - the only through train of the day and formed of corridor stock hauled by a Class 37. In those days the London-Ipswich-Norwich service was two-hourly with no peak time enhancement - amazing!
Just, hopefully, this time they've made progress the substitute for change. Rather than what we've become used to; the other way around.
ReplyDeleteFor today's travellers though, the usual promise of jam tomorrow, or the year after the year after next. Some of these things should have been done in the last franchise, but we've always left things late.
I wonder what's happened to Beaulieu Park (second Chelmsford) station and the associated passing loop on the Great Eastern Line? I can't keep up with the delays but I think it's now some time in to the mid 2020s, and still not committed. Still at least they're proceeding with Cambridge North after more than a decade, so there's hope yet!
Just one thing, bet the prices will go up.
Alas prices go up every year but yes,probly steeper increases this time round for the season ticket veterans....they giveth in one hand yet taketh away in the other... That I'm afraid will never change...
DeleteThe problem is the UK railways are not run as a true franchise where you have common branding and quality and standard and prices
DeleteThere is also no real group in overall control of the UK rail network. It is a strange mix of the train operators and the government which does not really work and there is a strange mix of the train operators and the government sort of responsible for rail investment
Not perhaps relevant to this discussion but wondering why they are replacing newer stock already in place: if you're going to replace all the stock (effectively) to get the benefit aren't you going to have to reduce costs, and that means changing working practices? Two sides of the same coin. From the passenger perspective, it shouldn't matter; we are interested in the result not the process.
DeleteSecond thought which occurs to me: this looks as though it's based on the pre-Brexit rosy view of the economy, with never-ending ballooning London growth. I still suspect it's "no real change"; but if things change (and there's a real risk) I suspect it doesn't need very much lower growth to send all the projections awry: and what then? We have an awful lot of our eggs in the commuter basket/second home owners/rich retirees living off their investments.
And I suppose the unmentioned question is how effective is the contract; how well does it incentivise the operator (or penalise for poor performance if you like)? Isn't the Southern franchise criticised for failing in that regard and having the taxpayer too much on the hook when things go awry? Or is that just sour grapes for the inevitable? Good publicity is inevitable at this stage, as Steve hints, and nothing wrong with that, but it pays to look between the lines (no pun intended).
DeleteAbellio are building a new maintenance depot to serve North Essex & Suffolk lines in the Manningtree area
ReplyDeleteWhich seems an excellent idea. Not only does it use some long-derelict land, it places trains at the middle of the route rather than the ends, which should be useful and more reliable. I wonder though what they will do with the Orient Way depot in Leyton, which is rather off the main line anyway - perhaps selling that will fund Manningtree?
ReplyDeletePerhaps they will keep a wheel grinder there to prevent the autumn farce of lines being closed due to leaves on the line
DeleteI would have thought fitting leaf blowers and sand boxes to the heavily affected lines would also help to reduce the problem.
I don't think Orient Way is theirs to sell - probably land is owned by Network Rail.
DeleteCould well be - I simply don't know.
ReplyDeleteApparently Soames (forget me not travel Ltd) is going to be taken over by NORSE.
ReplyDelete