Abellio is
owned by Nederlandse Spoorwegen which
is a state owned company in the Netherlands and run by the government. Despite
Britain voting to leave the EU, no changes have been made to Britain’s
railways.
From Gov UK press release
Better
journeys for rail passengers and boost for Derby train industry as new East
Anglia franchise announced
Enhanced services and faster trains across
East Anglia franchise including new trains from Bombardier.
·
Abellio
East Anglia will run the franchise from October 2016, delivering faster, more
frequent journeys along the route
·
Abellio
East Anglia will oversee a massive £1.4
billion boost to rail services with more
than 1,040 new carriages
·
90-minute services to run between Norwich
and London each weekday with
journey times cut by 10% on average across the region
·
around £1 billion contract for Derby train
manufacturer Bombardier to supply new trains
A fully modernised rail service with British-built
carriages providing faster trains, more seats, free Wi-Fi for all users and
tough new performance targets is unveiled by the government today (10 August
2016).
The new service for rail passengers across
East Anglia promises to deliver more than 1,040 new state of the art carriages
and cut journey times by an average of 10%.
It will also deliver one of the biggest orders for British-built trains –
almost £1 billion for 660 carriages from the Bombardier factory in Derby –
as part of a contract that will secure 1,000 jobs into the next decade.
The government today announced it has
awarded the franchise to Abellio East Anglia, who will oversee this £1.4 billion investment to local rail
services.
Key
benefits of the new franchise include:
·
at least 4
90-minute services (2 in each direction) between London and Norwich each
weekday and 2 60-minute services per day between London and Ipswich
·
free Wi-Fi
for all passengers on trains and at stations
·
1,043 new,
state of the art carriages between January 2019 and September 2020 to support
the faster timetable, with a full programme of refurbishment for the current
fleet in the meantime
·
automatic
‘delay repay’ for season and advance purchase tickets
·
tough new
targets for operational performance
levels at 93% - up from 89.7% currently
·
a host of new ticketing initiatives, starting in
October 2017, including new offers for part time users and those who don’t
travel every day
By 2021, there will be more than 32,000 more seats on services arriving
at London Liverpool Street in the morning peak, while the new franchise will
introduce 1,144 additional weekday services – an increase of 13% – to stations
including Cambridge, Norwich, Stansted Airport, Lowestoft, Southend and London
Liverpool Street.
Transport
Secretary Chris Grayling said:
“We are making the biggest investment in the
railways since the Victorian era. By awarding this franchise to Abellio East
Anglia we will improve journeys for people in East Anglia.”
“Abellio’s decision will ensure our train
building industry in Derby remains strong.”
“This is part of our plan to make an economy
that works for everyone – not just the privileged few – by ensuring prosperity
is spread throughout the country.”
Dominic
Booth managing director of Abellio UK said:
“This is great news not only for Abellio but
for the whole of East Anglia. We are pleased to become preferred bidder to
deliver a transformation in rail services across the region.”
“It will enable us to build on the successes
of the 2 short East Anglian franchises we have run since 2012, and we commend
the DfT in running a transparent and rigorous procurement process.”
“Our plans will greatly improve our customers’
experience with faster and more reliable journeys on new trains with higher
frequencies and reduced journey times, to support the socio-economic well-being
of East Anglia, one of the country’s most successful and fastest growing areas.”
Des
McKeon UK Commercial Director at Bombardier Transportation said:
“We’re delighted to be chosen, pending final
contract signing, as the preferred supplier for new trains for the East Anglia
franchise. We look forward to working with our customer the Abellio UK, to
support them in transforming rail services throughout the region and delivering
an enhanced customer experience through the provision of new trains.”
“It’s a great endorsement of Bombardier’s
next-generation AVENTRA train family, which offers maximum flexibility, to
serve many different market requirements from metro to intercity.”
More than 97 million journeys are made on
East Anglia’s rail network each year, with around 4,300 trains every week
serving London commuters, the regional hubs of Cambridge, Ipswich and Norwich,
leisure travellers to Stansted Airport and coastal and rural resorts around the
region.
The new franchise will run from October 2016
until 2025.
Taking a
look at the East Anglia franchise improvements page:
The new operator of the East Anglia
franchise will invest heavily to improve services for passengers. This includes:
·
replacing
the entire fleet with new trains within 4 years of the start of the franchise
·
increasing
operational performance levels from 89.2% to 92.9% Public Performance Measure
·
32,000
more seats on services arriving at London Liverpool Street in the morning peak
·
1,144
additional weekday services
·
Norwich in
90 and Ipswich in 60 services
·
£9,795,000
of stations enhancements
·
smart
ticketing on the entire network by 2019
·
controlled
emission toilets by 1 January 2020
·
free Wi-Fi
at stations and on trains
Here’s a
press release from Abellio UK
ABELLIO
SELECTED AS PREFERRED BIDDER FOR EAST ANGLIAN RAIL FRANCHISE
We welcome the decision of the Department
for Transport (DfT) to select Abellio as Preferred Bidder to run the next East
Anglia rail franchise from 16th October 2016.
Abellio’s bid for the East Anglia franchise
will deliver a transformation for the passenger. We will replace every one of
the current vehicles with new, modern, high performing trains. This coupled
with significant journey time improvements, a 55% increase in seats into London
in the morning peak and more than a thousand additional train services each
week will deliver a step change in what our passengers experience day to day.
Dominic Booth, Managing Director of Abellio
UK, said: “This is great news not only for Abellio but for the whole of East
Anglia. We are pleased to become preferred bidder to deliver a transformation
in rail services across the region. It will enable us to build on the successes
of the two short East Anglian franchises we have run since 2012, and we commend
the DfT on running a transparent and rigorous procurement process.
Our plans will greatly improve our
customers’ experience with faster and more reliable journeys on new trains with
higher frequencies and reduced journey times, to support the socio-economic
well-being of East Anglia, one of the country’s most successful and fastest
growing areas.”
Our
plans include:
·
£1.5bn investment to replace one of the oldest train fleets
in the country with 1,043 completely new
electric and bi-mode vehicles by 2020, with additional capacity added and many existing trains refurbished before
then
·
32k more
seats into London in the morning peak – up from 58k to 91k (a 55% increase)
·
More
trains to more places – 1,144 additional
weekday services (an increase of 13%)
·
Improved
journey times, including some trains achieving Norwich in 90 minutes and
Ipswich in less than 60 minutes
·
Free high
quality WiFi on all new and refurbished
trains, and at every station
·
Improved
punctuality, with PPM improving from
89.7% to 92.9%. Delivered through a more robust timetable, investment in
infrastructure, people and process and through an Alliance with Network Rail
·
Investment
in the local economy and jobs with £120m
spend on depots, including a new
maintenance facility at Manningtree
·
We will
take on 20 trainees per year, with a minimum of 30 apprenticeships by 2019
·
An
investment programme to improve our customers’ journey experience, including:
nearly £60m on improving stations, with major schemes at Broxbourne, Cambridge,
Cheshunt, Harlow and Southend Victoria; digital customer information screens at
all 131 stations; improved ticket offices and more ticket vending machines; and
nearly 1,800 additional car parking spaces and 4,000 additional cycle parking
spaces.
The other shortlisted bidders were First East Anglia
and National Express East Anglia.
Interestingly enough,First
operated the Great Eastern franchise
from 5 January 1997 to 31 March 2004 and National Express operated the East Anglia
franchise from 1 April 2004 to 4 February 2012.
Abellio also
operate bus services in Surrey and London. On top of that they operate rail
franchises of ScotRail and they have a 50% joint shareholding with Serco for
Merseyrail.
In other
news, I’m well aware of the Govia Southern Rail strike held by the RMT union
conductors which is taking place over a five-day period from Monday 8 to Friday
12 August 2016.
As always,
you can follow me on Twitter, Tumblr,
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is @CLondoner92