North East Buses

Which of the three bidders would you like to see win the Northern Rail franchise, and why?

I voted Arriva - because its a local company! =D

(29 Oct 2014, 2:30 pm)Michael wrote [ -> ]I voted Arriva - because its a company! =D

Owned by German state railways...???

(29 Oct 2014, 2:32 pm)eezypeazy wrote [ -> ]Owned by German state railways...???

It is isn't it... how the hell did i forget that... also its the only 1 iv'e heard of.. as i'm not really in in to trains.

(29 Oct 2014, 2:26 pm)eezypeazy wrote [ -> ]Which of the three bidders would you like to see win the Northern Rail franchise, and why?

I have attached a link, showing details of the bidders (http://www.cityam.com/1408496487/shortli...ise-picked) for those who aren't aware.

Hopefully they all fall flat on their face and it ends up back in state hands. Unfortunately, DOR aren't on the list at this stage.

Interesting to note, more than 50 Members of Parliament have signed a motion just last week, against proposed cuts to the Northern and TPE franchises (http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Ra...rn-and-tpe).

On a slightly different note, the whole idea of privatisation - was to introduce competition on the railways.
Like de-regulation on the buses, there is a distinct lack of competition/choice in a number of areas, which are seeing services increasingly dominated by a select few operators.
You would have thought the lesson would have been learned...
Imagine if Govia win the franchise and therefore end up dominating the Tyne Valley completely?! Choice? What choice?

(29 Oct 2014, 2:32 pm)eezypeazy wrote [ -> ]Owned by German state railways...???

Well you have Govia - part Go ahead Group and part Keolis.
Keolis are owned by SNCF (French Government/state railway) and Caisse de depot et de placement du Québec (who own pension plans in Canada).


You have mentioned Arriva already.


Then you have Abellio, who are essentially the Dutch Government/state railway.


So not sure what your point was about Arriva being owned by the Germans...

'cos Michael said it was a local company...

(29 Oct 2014, 4:10 pm)eezypeazy wrote [ -> ]'cos Michael said it was a local company...

Still a local company to me... 

@eezypeazy

Good, would hate to think you were implying that people couldn't vote for Arriva cos they're foreign.

(29 Oct 2014, 3:11 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Imagine if Govia win the franchise and therefore end up dominating the Tyne Valley completely?! Choice? What choice?

Would it be no different to when Arriva operated the Northern franchise back in the late 1990's....they were operating the Tyne Valley bus routes and operating the rail services from Hexham/Prudhoe etc??

I'd say Govia, but that doesn't mean I think they're the ideal operator. I just think Abellio are shocking, and Arriva's attempts with Crosscountry and the Metro aren't exactly anything to shout about.

On the subject of Northern Rail though. Anyone noticed the amount of cancellations due to the lack of staff lately? Pretty shocking even by their (lack of) standards...

https://twitter.com/search?q=crew%20from...ernrailorg&src=typd

@Citaro5284

Absolutely no difference whatsoever.
Arriva having both in the Tyne Valley in the past or potentiall Goahead in the future - didn't and doesn't give passengers the choice an open market is supposed to offer.