Post by snoggle on Oct 15, 2014 17:44:02 GMT
There was a London Assembly meeting today to review the success, and the reasons behind it, of the London Overground services.
A lot of the discussion was about why concessions are better than franchises. For those who don't know the difference the fundamental point is that under a concession TfL take all the revenue and pay the contractor a fee. If revenue varies (e.g. the economy does better or worse) then that is down to TfL to manage rather than the rail operator.
In terms of headlines there was some interesting news for the future and about West Anglia.
- no money will change hands between TfL and the DfT for the takeover of West Anglia services. In essence the operation breaks even and TfL won't receive any grant or subsidy from the DfT. TfL said the revenue projections post take over were an "even keel" but this was said with a massive grin on the face of the TfL rep. I think they may be expecting to earn some more money.
- TfL will spend £25m on the stations on the West Anglia lines to smarten them up and fix a lot of premises faults / defects. Lots of water leaks apparently!
- TfL plan to run the Saturday level of service on Sundays given an improvement to Enfield and Cheshunt. No change to Chingford line services.
- TfL hope to introduce a Sunday service on the Romford - Upminster route.
- TfL are looking at improving the Enfield Town service at off peak times. Work is ongoing.
- No extra peak trains will run into Liverpool St as Network Rail are insistent there is no spare capacity.
- TfL are considering improving late evening frequencies on existing Overground routes. Late services were removed from the original spec to save money when LOROL took over. Now they believe the services could be reinstated.
- Looks like there will be a full line blockade on the GOBLIN route for an undefined time period to faciliate electrification works.
- There won't be dedicated Overground platforms at Liverpool Street station. They'll be shared with Abellio services that will still run via Tottenham Hale.
- TfL planning to increase North London Line peak services to 10 tph. Still working with Network Rail as to how services split west of Willesden Junc to Richmond / Clapham Junction. Option included in future rolling stock contract for GOBLIN / WA trains to buy extra stock for more NLL services.
- TfL considering how to increase East London Line services to 18 or 20 tph from the current 16 tph.
- TfL are actively reviewing how to rescope and re-present the case for taking over South Eastern services when the current franchise expires in 2018. They have noted that some of their plans have been "stolen" by the DfT for the recent Direct Award to South Eastern.
- TfL are also planning to take over all inner suburban services run by South Eastern, Southern and South West Trains. Strategy work being done now.
A lot of the discussion was about why concessions are better than franchises. For those who don't know the difference the fundamental point is that under a concession TfL take all the revenue and pay the contractor a fee. If revenue varies (e.g. the economy does better or worse) then that is down to TfL to manage rather than the rail operator.
In terms of headlines there was some interesting news for the future and about West Anglia.
- no money will change hands between TfL and the DfT for the takeover of West Anglia services. In essence the operation breaks even and TfL won't receive any grant or subsidy from the DfT. TfL said the revenue projections post take over were an "even keel" but this was said with a massive grin on the face of the TfL rep. I think they may be expecting to earn some more money.
- TfL will spend £25m on the stations on the West Anglia lines to smarten them up and fix a lot of premises faults / defects. Lots of water leaks apparently!
- TfL plan to run the Saturday level of service on Sundays given an improvement to Enfield and Cheshunt. No change to Chingford line services.
- TfL hope to introduce a Sunday service on the Romford - Upminster route.
- TfL are looking at improving the Enfield Town service at off peak times. Work is ongoing.
- No extra peak trains will run into Liverpool St as Network Rail are insistent there is no spare capacity.
- TfL are considering improving late evening frequencies on existing Overground routes. Late services were removed from the original spec to save money when LOROL took over. Now they believe the services could be reinstated.
- Looks like there will be a full line blockade on the GOBLIN route for an undefined time period to faciliate electrification works.
- There won't be dedicated Overground platforms at Liverpool Street station. They'll be shared with Abellio services that will still run via Tottenham Hale.
- TfL planning to increase North London Line peak services to 10 tph. Still working with Network Rail as to how services split west of Willesden Junc to Richmond / Clapham Junction. Option included in future rolling stock contract for GOBLIN / WA trains to buy extra stock for more NLL services.
- TfL considering how to increase East London Line services to 18 or 20 tph from the current 16 tph.
- TfL are actively reviewing how to rescope and re-present the case for taking over South Eastern services when the current franchise expires in 2018. They have noted that some of their plans have been "stolen" by the DfT for the recent Direct Award to South Eastern.
- TfL are also planning to take over all inner suburban services run by South Eastern, Southern and South West Trains. Strategy work being done now.