Thursday 26 November 2009

NatEx counts its blessings as East Anglia franchise ends 'early'.

Much excitement from the Chatterati over the 'news' that National Express is to lose its remaining rail franchises.

This, for instance, from The Times...

National Express is to be stripped of its remaining rail franchise three years early, leaving the troubled transport company with just its bus business.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said today that it was terminating National Express’s East Anglia franchise after a decision to nationalise its East Coast main line rail service this year.

First point to make - this is not the application of Cross Default as promised by the Noble Lord during his slightly excitable interview with the Today Programme on the 1st July.

As pointed out by The Archer on Tuesday...

Sources suggest that the late change in the handback date of NXEC, from December 09 to November 09, means that NXEA will now fail the good behavior test so DfT can appoint a new franchised operator on this route in 2011 rather than 2014, so a sort of cross default half-way house.

However, as the franchise payments agreed between NXEA and SRA were very back-end loaded, what the lack of extension of the franchise could actually mean is upwards of £200m that NX won’t now have to pay to DfT so I can’t image NX would be too disappointed to lose the extension.

And to further complicate matters, there’s the small matter of 120 new EMU vehicles that are due to be delivered to the Greater Anglia franchise “between March and May 2011”.

So we have a manufacturer (Bombardier) that has developed something of a reputation for late delivery, a ROSCO - Lloyds TSB General Leasing (No. 8) Limited - that has never procured new trains before and a TOC (National Express) that is about to lose its franchise and be expelled from the railway industry.


A recipe for success this does not make.

Eye wonders if DafT has really thought this out?

UPDATE: This from our man at 222 Marylebone Road...

Send in the clowns!

The theme of this year's Railway Children Ball is Circus Acts.


Should be a walk over for DfT Rail then.