New Rail Franchise - The bidders

[silverknight]

Today the Dft has published the short listed bidders for two of the revised Rail franchises which serve Sheffield/South Yorkshire.These commence in November 2007 until 2016.

The NEW Cross Country....bidders are Virgin/National Express/Arriva/First

This franchise covers the present Virgin services plus a couple of long distance routes from the disbanded Central Trains

The New East Midlands.... Arriva/First/National Express/Stagecoach

This franchise the current London - East Midlands - Sheffield service plus most of the current Central Trains local services based around Lincoln/Notts/Derby and includes the Long distance Liverpool - East Midlands -Norwich services.

The Central Trains local services around Birmingham form part of a New West Midlands Franchise.

Will be interesting to see who wins .....NOT Announced until Summer 2007!

[craigmason]

I am not botherd who wins so long as more trains stop at dronfield station

[Otto]

Who wins might affect that last point. In their franchise applications each company will try to "score" points over their competitors - more stopping services at somewhere like Dronfield may be a point (for example) that First Group have raised as part of their bid, but something (again, for example) that National Express haven't included. In this example, should First (or any bidder) make this part of their bid, they would be expected to provide said service.

 

(Altho I take your point - I'm not overly fussed who wins what!)

[azucarmoreno]

National express/MML must be in a strong position having been the most punctual operator for the last 25 months,passenger operator of the year 2006, and just topped the customer service table.

 

they've really turned a corner compared to a couple of years ago.

[dosxuk]

But on the other side of the coin NX run the One services in East Anglia which to say their service is abysmal is putting it lightly. Being from Norfolk, I can't understand why the Stansted to Birmingham Central trains route is to become a cross country route, but the Norwich to Liverpool one is not. At least the DFT seem to have changed their minds about splitting it into a Norwich to Nottingham and a Nottingham to Liverpool service, with different operators.

With regards to Dronfield, I'd be surprised if it sees a service increase. It's on the mainline, with no way of trains passing, so any extra stops will hold up other services.

[coretext]

keep the trains running on time

[Andy C]

The DfT are talking about extending the Northern Rail Leeds to Sheffield via Barnsley express through to Nottingham calling Dronfield, Chesterfield, Alfreton and Langley Mill at the same time as the East Mids franchise starts.

 

This would give Dronfield an hourly service.

[BasilRathbon]

The DfT are talking about extending the Northern Rail Leeds to Sheffield via Barnsley express through to Nottingham calling Dronfield, Chesterfield, Alfreton and Langley Mill at the same time as the East Mids franchise starts.

 

This would give Dronfield an hourly service.

 

Isn't that why Midland Mainline bought a fleet of 5-car Meridians which are now rusting in a siding somewhere?

[DOA1982]

has midland mainline lost its franchise then?

 

Its a shame because they seemed to be the best of the bunch.

 

I hate travelling on virgin trains. they never seem to have enough carraiges or seats. I have had to stand up all the way from york - sheffield on several occasions

[Heyesey]

has midland mainline lost its franchise then?

 

Its a shame because they seemed to be the best of the bunch.

 

Not exactly lost.

 

 

The new franchises don't cover exactly the same collection of routes as the old ones, so new bids will be taken. MML is, in fact, National Express-owned (I believe) and N.Ex. are one of the bidders for the new franchise which includes the lines currently run by MML.

 

The fact that MML *have* been such a great operator for the last couple of years (at least) must stand them in good stead for the new franchise. No guarantees, of course.