New Commercial Terms for West Coast Franchise
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'Dinosaurs' Top honours Airport service Apprentice failing once again hitting wins top passengers in bus awards new heights UK title The newspaper of Stagecoach Group Issue 65 Winter 06/07 New commercial terms for West Coast franchise ew commercial terms that will Nrun through to March 2012 have Passengers to benefit from range of improvements been agreed for the West Coast rail franchise. The agreement has been welcomed by Stagecoach Group, which has a 49% shareholding in Virgin Rail Group (VRG), operator of the franchise since 1997. VRG has operated West Coast on a management contract since July 2002, following the collapse of Railtrack and changes to the infrastructure upgrade to the West Coast main line that prevented Virgin from running 140mph trains. The agreement with the Department for Transport (DfT) will mean passengers can benefit from a range of improvements, including: • 10 million extra seats a year from December 2008 on West Coast routes between London Euston and the West Midlands, the North West, Cumbria and Scotland • a 32% increase in daily train services from December 2008 • a new timetable and enhanced frequencies • continued management focus on improving punctuality even further. Under the deal, VRG plans to significantly increase the number of passenger journeys from the current level of 20 million a year in 2006-07. Separate proposals being discussed with the DfT would provide a further 10 million extra seats by adding two cars to each of VRG’s 53 nine-car Pendolino trains. Brian Souter, Stagecoach Group Chief Executive, said: “This new sustainable commercial franchise is an excellent deal for passengers, taxpayers and our share- holders. “It will give Virgin West Coast a strong platform for growth over the next five years, allowing us to improve Stagecoach softens blow of Farepak collapse The half-year results are in! even further Britain’s fastest growing rail franchise.” It’s official – more people are getting on board Stagecoach It follows a £1.1 billion investment in a fleet of state- Stagecoach stepped in to help its employees Steps were taken to ensure affected employees bus and train services. of-the-art Pendolino tilting trains with enhanced levels who lost money as a result of the collapse of received the cash before Christmas. The company’s half-year results show an increase in of safety and performance as well as lower emissions. Farepak. Stagecoach Head of Media and Public Affairs passenger volumes and a significant rise in profits within its Combined with improved levels of punctuality, this The Perth-based transport company pledged Steven Stewart said: “The Farepak collapse hit UK and North American bus and rail operations. has resulted in some 90% of Virgin West Coast customers to ensure those among its 22,000 UK-based many people across the country very hard and a The boost follows a highly successful year, in which now being satisfied with their travel experience. workforce affected by the crisis received payments number of companies contributed to the relief Stagecoach was renamed UK Bus Operator of the Year Virgin West Coast will receive £1.36 billion in public equalling 50% of the savings they had lost. fund that had been set up. and secured the 10-year South Western rail franchise. funding support until 31 March 2012. The support Managers drew up a list of employees at “We wanted to do something for our own And, with other potential franchises and contracts in is mainly to contribute to Network Rail track access Stagecoach’s bus, train and tram operations, employees affected by this issue, and we hope the pipeline, the future is looking very bright. charges, which will rise steeply to around £500 million from the Highlands of Scotland to south-west this gesture will, in some small way, have helped each year from 2008-09, linked to the £8.6 billion costs England, who had been hit by the problem. to save their Christmas.” Full story, see page 5 of the West Coast main line modernisation project. Nathan joins another Regional operations winning team receive £9m boost First futuristic Optare Versa midi-buses included in order for 100 new vehicles. tagecoach has placed a £9 million order Sfor 100 new state-of-the-art buses for its regional bus operations in the UK. Vroom at the top! The new vehicles will be supplied by Leeds-based manu- Christina Ratcliffe (22) has joined Stagecoach in Newcastle as facturer Optare and will be delivered from May 2007. a new graduate trainee. Fitted with hi-tech MAN exhaust gas re-circulation Christina, an avid biker, rode into town to take up the post Nathan Williams. (EGR) four-cylinder engines, the Euro 4-compliant of Assistant Operations Manager. This follows on from her buses will be among the most environmentally friendly in initial first year’s training, which she completed in South Wales Stagecoach’s Marketing Manager for South Stagecoach’s fleet. at Stagecoach in Cwbran. Wales and Gloucestershire/Wiltshire likes The order is for 75 Optare Solo vehicles, which can Originally from Sheffield, Christina applied to various nothing better than the challenge of carry 27 seated passengers, and 25 Optare Versa midi-buses, graduate schemes, but chose to follow a future on the road working for a winning team. unveiled at the recent Euro Bus Expo Show at the NEC in after completing her degree in history at Leicester University. Nathan Williams established a track Birmingham. She said: “I wanted to join a scheme that really stood out. record of achieving many goals off Featuring a curved futuristic design, the 11-metre vehicle Stagecoach offered a fabulous fast-track system that builds the pitch in his previous roles with the can carry up to 40 seated passengers and is based on the people up to be the directors of the future!” Millennium Stadium and the Welsh Rugby same technology as the Solo. Under the scheme, the next step will be promotion to Union. Les Warneford, Managing Director of Stagecoach UK Operations Manager and, eventually, Operations Director. A graduate of Swansea University, he Bus, said: “We have invested more than £150 million Nigel Winter, Operations Director at Stagecoach North said: “Schemes such as the JustGo… and over the past three years as part of our drive to make East, commented: “We are really pleased to have Christina Go2… initiatives in Caerphilly, Aberdare our operations greener and attract more people to public on board and are sure she has what it takes to help manage and Merthyr Tydfil, and Kickstart in transport. operations in Newcastle. This is a large depot and we will be Swindon and Cheltenham have already “Stagecoach has consistently grown the number of able to offer her a varied and fast-moving environment to made a big difference in persuading people people using its services for the past four years and this new train in.” to leave their cars at home and travel by fleet of high-quality, environmentally-friendly vehicles will Based in Newcastle for 12 months, she will receive bus. Stagecoach is always looking to the help our drive to encourage car users to switch to the bus.” guidance and support from colleagues at her depot in future to see how it can build on this Bob Coombes, Optare’s Group Managing Director, said: Walkergate, including shadowing Operations Manager Geoff success. “We are delighted to have received this further substantial Reed. “It's an exciting time for the company order from Stagecoach Group, which demonstrates its The scheme encourages trainees to experience every and I’m delighted to be part of it.” satisfaction both with our business approach and the aspect of working within a bus depot and, so far, Christina has John Gould, Managing Director of performance of our products. The innovative new Optare Revved up for success: Christina Ratcliffe putting her career found herself helping in the control room, organising shifts Stagecoach in South Wales, added: “We’ve Versa will add great value to Stagecoach Group’s drive to into top gear. and rotas and even driving and cleaning the buses. already achieved some impressive targets in increase further its passenger numbers.” terms of increasing the number of people using Stagecoach services and have set ourselves a hard act to follow. I’m sure that Nathan will play an active role in helping to South welcomes new Operations Director ensure we achieve our goals.” Experience and determination are two of Andrew started his career 16 years ago at Wilts & Dorset before returning to the the qualities Andrew Jarvis brings with him as a booking clerk in the summer holidays north in 2002. His last position was Area to his appointment as Stagecoach South’s for a coach operator. He gained his PCV Manager for Arriva North West following Manager Zoe new Operations Director. licence at the age of 18 and joined the Go- the acquisition of Blue Bus in Bolton. He has joined the head office team Ahead Group at Brighton & Hove in 1996 Andrew Dyer, Managing Director of at Chichester to oversee the day-to-day as a graduate trainee, and later became a Stagecoach South, said he was delighted to feels on top operational management of the seven garage staff manager. welcome Andrew to the team. depots in Chichester, Portsmouth, Following time as Business “He has the necessary experience and of the world Winchester, Basingstoke, Andover, Development Manager for Go-Ahead in determination to ensure that we can deliver Andrew Jarvis, new Operations Director at Aldershot and Worthing. Newcastle, he became a district manager our services with efficiency,” he added. Stagecoach South. Contacts Editor: Steven Stewart, On Stage, Stagecoach Group, Stagecoach South Helen Martin 01243 536161 10 Dunkeld Road, Perth PH1 5TW.