LNER (Formerly Virgin Trains East Coast & East Coast)

14,218

11 Aug 2016, 7:27 pm #699

(11 Aug 2016, 7:14 pm)northern156 My point regarding it being a coincidence was that I heard about this loss of money after the units had been ordered.
This may well have simply been me not hearing anything other stories about it previously mind.

Short-formed sets are a fact of the railway, it's nothing to do with how well off a company is. You're talking about HSTs and Mk4 sets which have been in service several decades now - they're bound to develop issues with the likes of maintenance! I'd rather cut a coach out than cancel a full set!

IMO, if ECML had remained under government ownership there would have been a lot less growth and improvements to service than present - ie huge refurb of rolling stock, free Wifi for advance ticket holders, advertising campaigns etc etc. - the sort of stuff Virgin excel at.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/marke...g-5-4.html
Published 14th March. Relating to events on 13th according to article.

https://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com/ne...ouncement/
Published 18th March. Relating to events on 18th March.

It is worth noting that in the weeks following the financial reports, both TSSA and RMT were predicting job losses
http://www.transport-network.co.uk/East-...tion/12837

Who knows what would have happened to the stock on the ECML. We can surmise and guess. The new stock was always going to happen though (we know it had been announced/planned prior to the handover).
What we do know, is that they're paying almost twice the contract value GNER and NX did.

Edit: Details Virgin Rail (Stagecoach) annual reports
http://www.stagecoach.com/~/media/Files/...016-v2.pdf

Joint ventures – share of (loss)/profit after tax
2016 2015
£m £m
Virgin Rail Group 24.2 22.3
Citylink 1.4 1.1
Twin America (0.8) 2.0

I can't find any specific VTEC financials in the report, but according to the report, VTEC has seen growth of 1.7% (VTWC - 2.6%. It had been 10.2% the year previous) in passenger miles.
They do say that business revenue grew by 5.2% - but they are yet to see a significant growth in revenue as a result of specific initiatives.
There are comments relating to onerous contracts

The profit of Virgin Trains East Coast has been less than that forecast by the Group at the time of its bid for the franchise. As a result, management has carried out an onerous contract review of the Virgin Trains East Coast franchise and concluded that the contract will earn a profit for the remaining term of its franchise.

Edited 11 Aug 2016, 8:20 pm by Andreos1.

'Illegitimis non carborundum'