DaFT has announced the contenders from two new rail franchises, namely the "HS2 cobble-it-together with the West Coast main line", and South Eastern. What is significant about the short list is how many non-UK companies are involved. It looks as if bidding for rail franchises is becoming too risky (and too expensive) even for our home-bred giants. The challenging question for DaFT and the grey suits of government is to ask what damage this will ultimately do to the UK economy (N.B. Brexit!!) in the long term let alone the future of our railways.
For the record, here's the list
HS2 West Coast
First Trenitalia West Coast Ltd
First Rail Holdings Ltd and Trenitalia SpA.
Trenitalia is the primary train operator in Italy. Trenitalia is owned by Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, itself owned by the Italian Government.
MTR West Coast Partnership Ltd
MTRCorporation (UK) Ltd
MTR Corporation Limited is a company listed on the Hong Kong Exchange, and a component of Hang Seng Index. MTR runs Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway (MTR), and is also a major property developer and landlord in Hong Kong. It also invests in railways in different parts in the world, and has obtained contracts to operate rapid transit systems in London, Stockholm, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Melbourne, and Sydney.
Guangshen Railway Company,
Guangshen Railway Co., Ltd. (GSRC) is the operator of Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway (Guang-shen Railway), the 152-kilometre railway link between Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong, China. The company is engaged in railway passenger and freight transportation between Shenzhen and Pingshi.
with addition support from; Deloitte MCS Ltd, Panasonic Systems Europe, Snowfall AB, Trainline.com Ltd, WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff.
West Coast Partnership Ltd
Stagecoach Group plc
Virgin Holdings Ltd
SNCF C3
fbb does not know (nor could he find out) what SNCF "C3" is. SCNF is, of course, the French state-owned railway system.
South Eastern
South Eastern Holdings Ltd
Abellio Transport Group Ltd (Dutch state railways)
East Japan Railway Company
East Japan Railway Company (Higashi-Nihon Ryokaku Tetsudo Kabushiki-gaisha) is a major passenger railway company in Japan and one of the seven Japan Railways Group companies.
Mitsui & Co Ltd
Mitsui Group (Mitsui Gurupu) is one of the largest keiretsu in Japan and one of the largest corporate groups in the world. The major companies of the group include Mitsui & Co. (general trading company), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Sapporo Breweries, Toray Industries, Mitsui Chemicals, Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings, Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and Mitsui Fudosan.
London & South East Passenger Rail Services Ltd
wholly owned subsidiary of Govia Ltd
Govia is a joint venture by GoAead and Keolis. Keolis is 70%-owned by the SNCF (French National Railways Corporation) and 30%-owned by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (Quebec Deposit and Investment Fund; public pension plans in the province of Quebec).
Stagecoach South Eastern Trains Ltd
wholly owned subsidiary of Stagecoach Group plc
Trenitalia UK Ltd
wholly owned by Trenitalia SpA (see above)
Buy From The Machines!
But not yesterday morning.
People Often Ask ...
How does Mrs fbb cope with fbb's passion for public transport? The answer is that the good lady is a use of fbb's knowledge and skills when she needs it, but she has other interests day to day. The extensive grounds of fbb mansions are a challenge horticulturally; making two patches of gravel into attractive gardens is not easy.
But here is part of the north facing estates adorned by pots of nice blue flowers.
The displays featured on the fence bordering Harbour Road are bright yellow flowers ...
... and here fbb can be a little more knowledgeable. They are marigolds. The sunflower display is developing well and the richness of Van Gogh's passion will doubtless be repeated on Harbour Road in a few weeks.
TT3 On Offer?
fbb keeps an eye on second-hand model railway offers on-line. Hattons of Widnes post a new least each day Monday to Friday. This item appeared on offer recently.
It is a Triang TT horsbox. Although TT (3mm to the foot) was produced for the mass market in the past, i.e. by Triang ...
... it succumbed relatively quickly to N gauge (2mm to the foot).Production ended in 1967.
TT retains a comparatively small niche in the United States and in the United Kingdom, but growing popularity in the former East Germany; it is the second most popular scale in Eastern Europe and Russia.
Just because it is smaller than OO doesn't man that it is cheaper. The larger locos above from the Piko range will cost over £100 each.
Whoops!
Not the best bus news from Cambridge.
The prang which only cause superficial injuries is reputed to have happened when the bus swerved to avoid a cyclist.
The bus, operated by Whippet was on route "U" ...
... which only uses part of the busway. Here is a vehicle un-pranged.
South Eastern
South Eastern Holdings Ltd
Abellio Transport Group Ltd (Dutch state railways)
East Japan Railway Company
Mitsui & Co Ltd
London & South East Passenger Rail Services Ltd
wholly owned subsidiary of Govia Ltd
Stagecoach South Eastern Trains Ltd
wholly owned subsidiary of Stagecoach Group plc
Trenitalia UK Ltd
wholly owned by Trenitalia SpA (see above)
Buy From The Machines!
But not yesterday morning.
People Often Ask ...
How does Mrs fbb cope with fbb's passion for public transport? The answer is that the good lady is a use of fbb's knowledge and skills when she needs it, but she has other interests day to day. The extensive grounds of fbb mansions are a challenge horticulturally; making two patches of gravel into attractive gardens is not easy.
But here is part of the north facing estates adorned by pots of nice blue flowers.
TT3 On Offer?
fbb keeps an eye on second-hand model railway offers on-line. Hattons of Widnes post a new least each day Monday to Friday. This item appeared on offer recently.
TT retains a comparatively small niche in the United States and in the United Kingdom, but growing popularity in the former East Germany; it is the second most popular scale in Eastern Europe and Russia.
Just because it is smaller than OO doesn't man that it is cheaper. The larger locos above from the Piko range will cost over £100 each.
Whoops!
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The Dorset Damory Doom blog planned for today has been postponed. fbb is awaiting some more information.
Next USA blog : Saturday 24th June
The aerial busway view shows a problem - shared with trains and trams: other vehicles stuck behind the pranged one. On a ordinary road they could have just driven past!
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