| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Rail replacement bus services - 210/509 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 12th April 2006 I understand from a phone converstion last night with a usually reliable source that First are in discussion with the DfT on running rail replacement bus services on the following routes: a) Par to Newquay b) Liskeard to Looe c) Totnes and Ivybridge to Plymouth d) Chippenham to Frome e) to Severn Beach It now costs 630,000 to hire a sprinter train for a year and 200,000 to run it ... as opposed to around 100,000 to run a bus. There are suggestions that the roscos (rolling stock companies) are making large profits. And in Wiltshire, pensioners now get free bus travel but have to pay for the train .... Re: Rail replacement bus services - 210/511 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 12th April 2006 A follow up ... information confirmed via a further reliable source, who also reminds me that the trains that are being hired out at 630k a pop were fully paid for "in BR days" and so the charges made bear little or no resemblence to the cost of actually provideing them ... Re: Rail replacement bus services - 210/607 Written by Lee on Wednesday, 17th May 2006 FirstGroup said today that full-year pretax profit rose 6 percent after stronger UK rail earnings offset higher bus fuel costs. http://today.reuters.com/business/newsArticle.aspx?type=basicIndustries&storyID=nWLB9328 Here is another article on this. http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/05/16/1650911.htm Some quotes from the article above : "Moir Lockhead, First's chief executive, is expected this week to reveal a rise in rail profits but a sharp dip in earnings from the bus division. Profits from trains are due to show a 10 per cent lift to GBP 70m, while UK bus profits are down 9 per cent to GBP 97m." "FirstGroup won the Thameslink Great Northern and Great Western franchises earlier this year, although it did not start running them until April. The wins boosted its share of UK rail passenger revenue from 15.3 per cent to a market-leading 23.2 per cent, according to company estimates." "Some sceptics have questioned the value of the new franchises, suggesting that First overpaid when it bid GBP 2bn for them. But the company is confident it can squeeze additional profits from them." "Some of FirstGroup's worst- performing bus companies are coming under scrutiny in the City. Damian Brewer, an analyst at JP Morgan, said: "Operations in the Scottish Borders and in Devon and Cornwall... lose GBP 5m-GBP 7m per year. With ScotRail and Great Western rail contract hurdles now cleared, FirstGroup can now move on and rationalise these operations, either to ensure break even or possibly to exit." I would assume that First would recieve funding from the DfT , were it to begin operating the bus services described in the first post of this topic. Re: Rail replacement bus services - 210/608 Written by Lee on Wednesday, 17th May 2006 Andrew Griffiths from First is quoted as saying that the cost of hiring a typical Southampton - Swindon service train is 150k per 153, plus 300k per annum to crew it and for all the ancilliary costs. The costs quoted in the first post of this topic are based on Government figures regarding the cost of hiring a three - coach Sprinter train for a year. Re: Rail replacement bus services - 210/609 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 17th May 2006 [quote author=Lee link=topic=210.msg608#msg608 date=1147857060] Andrew Griffiths from First is quoted as saying that the cost of hiring a typical Southampton - Swindon service train is 150k per 153, plus 300k per annum to crew it and for all the ancilliary costs. The costs quoted in the first post of this topic are based on Government figures regarding the cost of hiring a three - coach Sprinter train for a year. [/quote] Yep, and that much higher price was quoted by another GW manager a couple of months back, knowing that he was talking a 153 one coach train. Seems that the price quoted sometimes gets muddled or smudged to tell the story they want, rather than to be relevant to the service they're taking about at the time. Re: Rail replacement bus services - 210/615 Written by Lee on Thursday, 18th May 2006 Here is another article. http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article485979.ece Re: Rail replacement bus services - 210/719 Written by Lee on Wednesday, 28th June 2006 [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=210.msg509#msg509 date=1144818659] I understand from a phone converstion last night with a usually reliable source that First are in discussion with the DfT on running rail replacement bus services on the following routes: a) Par to Newquay b) Liskeard to Looe c) Totnes and Ivybridge to Plymouth d) Chippenham to Frome e) to Severn Beach It now costs 630,000 to hire a sprinter train for a year and 200,000 to run it ... as opposed to around 100,000 to run a bus. There are suggestions that the roscos (rolling stock companies) are making large profits. Re: Rail replacement bus services - 210/723 Written by Lee on Thursday, 29th June 2006 Here are some more links that highlight areas of interest regarding this issue. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5123898.stm http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1808340,00.html link to index of articles |
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Save the Train was the campaign to bring an approriate train service back to and through Melksham. Most big contributors are still around writing at the Coffee shop forum where new members are very welcome. The train has been saved - sort of - we have stepped back up from an unusable service to a poorish one but it's doing very well. We did that through setting up the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership. That fulfilled its early objectives; it has been taken over by local and regional government types who are now doing medium and long term work. The team from this forun can also be found at the Melksham Rail User Group (which was the Melksham Rail Development Group at the time these articles were written and we had no users. We mustn't loose sight, though, that the train service remains poor and needs our community support in marketing and campaigning to keep it going in a positive direction ... and all the more so when we're expecting to find a different normallity once we get out of the Coronavirus Pandemic and head for zero carbon via the climate crisis. Yes, it's saved ... it's now a key community facility ... the need for enhancement and the strong and near-universal local support remain, and the rail industry and goverment remain slow to move and provide the enhancements even to level us up with other towns. Please support the Melksham Rail User Group - now very much in partnership rather than protest with the rail industry and local government, including GWR, TransWilts and unitary and town councils. And please use the trains and buses, and cycle and walk when you can. -- Graham Ellis, (webmaster), February 2021 | |||
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