National Express Lose Franchise

The following is an extract from an announcement by the Department for Transport:

"SHORTLISTED BIDDERS FOR GREATER ANGLIA FRANCHISE

The Department for Transport has today announced the names of the companies shortlisted to bid for the new Greater Anglia franchise.

They are:

Abellio Greater Anglia Limited (NV Nederlandse Spoorwegen)
Eastern Railway Limited (Go-Ahead Group PLC)
Stagecoach Anglia Trains Limited (Stagecoach Group plc) 

Today's short listing comes after the Government published requirements for franchise, seeking expressions of interest.

The Invitation to Tender for the Greater Anglia franchise will be issued in April.

The Government has set out the following objectives for the franchise:

Delivering a quality of service for passengers for the entire rail journey.
Working with the Department and other stakeholders to ensure value for money.
Managing and delivering changes required to accommodate Crossrail.
Implementing the station responsibilities if required.
Working effectively with Network Rail to maintain performance.
Delivering the plans around the Olympics.
Managing the introduction of the Class 379 HLOS vehicles.
Controlling operational costs and maximising revenue."

The current National Express East Anglia (NXEA) franchise will run until 5th February 2012.

National Express Lose Franchise

more to follow.....

New Franchise Shortlist To Be Announced

Today will see the announcement by the DfT detailing who is on the shortlist to run the next east Anglian rail franchise currently run by National Express East Anglia (NXEA) and due to expire in February 2012.

As the government are still reviewing the whole franchise process the next franchise will be very short - 18 months to 2 years - so it will be interesting to see who will be going to the considerable expense of bidding.  It is expected that the following franchise will be 15 years so some may apply for the shorter franchise in the hope of getting their foot in the door for the real prize of the 15 year franchise.

NXEA Website Improvements

National Express East Anglia (NXEA) have made some changes to their website that will hopefully make it easier to monitor services during periods of disruption.  The MRUA has been critical of the NXEA website in the past as it has been used primarily as a marketing tool rather than a useful source of information detailing the state of services.  Hopefully these changes will make the site more useful.

Channel 4 Dispatches

A few weeks later than originally advertised but tonight's Dispatches programme (Channel 4 at 8pm) is about the state of Britain's railways. Previews suggest it will be worth watching....

Faulty Season Tickets

The MRUA is receiving a number of reports that it is now quite common to have to get season tickets replaced - sometimes 3 or 4 times a year - because they stop working at the barriers at Liverpool Street after only a few attempts.  The MRUA is also hearing about the surly attitude of certain NXEA staff members at Liverpool Street who react rudely when asked to let passengers through when their tickets don't work.  Please let us have details of your experiences at info@mrua.org

"National Express will continue to deliver superior customer service and performance"

An interesting quote attributed to John Devaney, Chairman of National Express: "National Express will continue to deliver superior customer service and performance.....while we are leading the industry's investment to reduce commuter overcrowding, in partnership with the Dft"

Perhaps not a feeling shared on the ground....