£75 MILLION OF ADDITIONAL PASSENGER
BENEFITS AGREED WITH FIRSTGROUP PLC (PAC 97-98/359)
Press Notice by (Office of Passenger Rail
Franchising (OPRAF))
The Franchising Director John O'Brien today
announced that he had secured an estimated £75 million package
of passenger benefits and investments covering the Great Western,
North Western Trains and Great Eastern Railways franchises. This
follows today's offer by FirstGroup PLC to buy out other shareholders
of Great Western Holdings Ltd (GWHL).
The improvements OPRAF has agreed with FirstGroup
include:
Great Western
- An order will be placed for 32 new vehicles,
to be delivered and in service by 30 June 2002, to provide additional
rolling stock in order to increase capacity (likely cost in the
order of £32 million).
- A week's free travel for all season ticket holders
(monthly and longer term) who currently hold such tickets.
- The introduction of a performance regime under
which the operator will pay financial penalties of: £250
in the event of a train being 20 minutes late; £500 if 30
minutes late or partially cancelled; £1,000 if cancelled
altogether.
- Bus/rail through ticketing will be introduced
additionally serving Newport, Bridgend, Port Talbot, Neath, Chippenham,
Weston Super Mare, Trowbridge, Frome and Shepton Mallet.
- First Class lounges will be provided at Bristol
Temple Meads and Swindon by 31 March 2000.
- The Great Western Trains sleeper fleet (14 vehicles)
will be fully refurbished by 31 March 2000.
North Western Trains
- million will be made available to be spent on
additional passenger benefits as agreed with the local Passenger
Transport Executives, passengers' representatives and other interested
bodies.
- On the 70 new vehicles to be provided under the
franchise plan, CCTV cameras will be fitted to the interior, and
forward facing security cameras will be fitted to the fronts of
trains. Video recording will be of prosecution standard.
- in total will be spent on providing wheelchair
access at core stations by the time that the new trains are introduced.
Great Eastern
- All 96 slam door vehicles to be phased out of
service by no later than 31 December 2002 and replaced by modern
high quality rolling stock (estimated cost in the order of £35
million).
- Additional bus/rail through ticketing to be introduced
serving all main rail head stations.
- Modern rolling stock to be introduced on the
Marks Tey to Sudbury Branch by no later than October 1998.
Across all three franchises
- All three franchise operators will commit to
an annual review of their Passenger's Charters.
- The purchase of tickets will be made available
on the Internet, first in North Western Trains as an experiment
and then, if successful, rolled out across the other franchises.
- £50,000 in total to be spent by 31 March
1999 to improve bicycle facilities at stations across the three
franchises.
Any change of control of a franchised passenger
operator requires the approval of the Franchising Director. He
makes his decisions in the light of the Objectives, Instructions
and Guidance issued by the Secretary of State last November, which
require him to put the interests of passengers first.
Mr O'Brien said today:
"There are benefits for passengers on all
three franchises as a result of this deal. In particular, I have
been concerned about the performance of Great Western Trains,
where punctuality has been poor. I have therefore made it a condition
of today's deal that a performance regime, whereby the operator
will be penalised financially for poor service, should form a
key element of the package.
"Combined with the other improvements to
which FirstGroup have committed themselves, I consider that this
deal is in the best interests of passengers across all three franchises.
OPRAF will therefore be working with FirstGroup to finalise the
legal agreements that will give effect to these commitments and
enable me to approve the change of control."
Notes to Editors
1. Once legal documents are completed they
will be placed on the Franchising Director's public register in
the normal way.
2. The Great Western franchise was awarded
to GWHL in December 1995. It was for ten years, conditional on
an increased service pattern being committed to within the first
two years of the franchise; otherwise it would revert to seven
years. The total subsidy for the ten year franchise was £438
million; the subsidy for seven years would have been £348
million.
In August 1997 OPRAF confirmed the franchise
at ten years. At this point the Franchising Director negotiated
a reduction in the total subsidy of £93 million, so that
the total subsidy for ten years became £345 million (i.e.
the same figure as for seven years under the original deal). Additional
rolling stock commitments were also negotiated-see OPRAF briefing
note of 10 October 1997.
3. The North Western Trains franchise was
awarded to GWHL on 5 February 1997. The franchise was for seven
years and one month.
4. The Great Eastern Railways franchise was
awarded to FirstGroup PLC on 4 December 1996. The franchise was
for seven years and three months.
6 March 1998
|
