South Western Franchise Stakeholder Briefing Document Moving Britain Ahead February 2016 The Department for Transport has actively considered the needs of blind and partially sighted people in accessing this document. The text will be made available in full on the Department’s website. The text may be freely downloaded and translated by individuals or organisations for conversion into other accessible formats. If you have other needs in this regard please contact the Department. Department for Transport Great Minster House 33 Horseferry Road London SW1P 4DR Telephone 0300 330 3000 General enquiries https://forms.dft.gov.uk Website www.gov.uk/dft Crown copyright 2016 Copyright in the typographical arrangement rests with the Crown. You may re-use this information (not including logos or third-party material) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0. To view this licence visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government- licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or e-mail: [email protected]. Where we have identified any third-party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Contents Foreword 5 1. Introduction 6 2. Background 7 3. Our vision for the franchise 8 Franchise objectives 8 4. Consultation overview 10 Main themes arising from the consultation 11 The Department's response to the consultation 12 5. Summary of consultation responses 13 Passenger satisfaction 13 Franchise objectives 14 Capacity 15 Future impacts on demand 19 Train Service Specification 19 Performance and reliability 22 Managing disruption 23 Partnership working and collaboration 24 Community rail and other local partnerships 25 Island Line 25 Third party funded changes 27 Stations 27 Door-to-door journeys 29 Fares and ticketing 30 Smart ticketing 31 Passenger information 31 Service quality 32 Passenger compensation 33 Security and safety 34 6. The franchise specification 35 The length of the franchise 35 3 Train services 35 Providing more space for passengers 35 Improving the customer experience 36 Delivering better trains 36 Providing better stations 37 Fares and ticketing 37 Island Line 38 Working with TfL 38 Complying with equality obligations 38 Annex A: Respondent organisations 39 Annex B: Contact details for bidders 44 4 Foreword Last year, the Government launched a competition to select an operator for the next South Western rail franchise. Whether they are commuting into central London, taking a trip to the south coast for a holiday, or travelling to one of the many special events that take place each year, passengers rely on this railway. So we started by publishing our objectives for the franchise, highlighting the role that the railway plays in supporting communities in south western and southern England, and London. We then put these objectives out for consultation, and I was pleased with the response. People and businesses took the opportunity to tell us about what they want from train services, so we have reflected their views as we've developed the final franchise specification, which is now being put out to tender. With growth in passenger journeys set to continue, our priorities for this franchise are securing the capacity to meet current and future demand, whilst also improving the overall experience for passengers. Our plans for 150 brand new train carriages, and new and longer platforms at Waterloo mean we're looking for the next franchisee to make best use of this additional capacity for passengers. But we're challenging bidders to go even further. We've asked for innovative proposals for delivering even more trains, more space, and faster journey times. And we are also looking for bidders to deliver improvements to the passenger experience, so they will set out their plans for new products and ways of buying tickets, modern facilities at stations and on trains, and better information, particularly about onward journey options and during disruption. The next step in this competition is for Bidders to respond to the Invitation to Tender. I look forward to their proposals for how to achieve the railway that passengers want. Claire Perry MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport 5 1. Introduction 1.1 Between 12 November 2015 and 9 February 2016 the Department for Transport (the Department) held a public consultation to gather views and opinions from organisations, passengers, and individuals about how services should be delivered in the next South Western franchise. Thirteen events were held across the network and in total 650 formal responses were received. 1.2 The purpose of this Stakeholder Briefing Document is to provide stakeholders with a summary of the consultation process and the responses received, to respond to the views expressed, and to summarise the franchise specification that has been included in the Invitation to Tender (ITT) documents, including the draft Franchise Agreement. It is not intended to replace the ITT, which in the case of inconsistencies takes precedence. 1.3 The Department is grateful to all the organisations and individuals who took the time and effort to respond to this consultation, and to those who attended the consultation events. The comments and views expressed have been considered and used to inform the development of the South Western franchise specification. 6 2. Background 2.1 The current South Western franchise, which is operated by Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited (SSWT), started in 2007. SSWT operates nearly 1,700 trains a day, serves more than 200 stations, and employs around 4,800 staff. 2.2 The franchise serves destinations throughout south west London and counties in southern England. Predominantly operating out of Waterloo Station in central London, the franchise has termini at Portsmouth, Weymouth, Exeter, Bristol, and Reading, and serves a diverse range of destinations in between, including Guildford, Woking, Basingstoke, Southampton, Salisbury, and Clapham Junction, the busiest interchange station in the UK. The franchise also includes the Island Line service on the Isle of Wight. 2.3 The current franchise is due to end in February 2017. Following the suspension of the franchise programme in October 2012, it was originally intended for a Direct Award franchise to be awarded to the incumbent operator for the period from 2017 to 2019. However in July 2015 the Department announced its intention to re-let the franchise through a competition. While the current franchise expires in February 2017, there is the option available to the Secretary of State to extend by up to 7 reporting periods through to August 2017. It is intended that part of this extension will be called so that the current franchise will terminate in June 2017, when the successful bidder in this competition can begin operating the new franchise. 2.4 On 15 December 2015 the Department announced the transport companies who had been successful in their pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) passport application, allowing them to submit expressions of interest in franchise competitions. 2.5 On 4 February 2016 the Department announced the two companies shortlisted for the South Western franchise competition, after successfully submitting an Expression of Interest: • First South Western Trains Limited • Stagecoach South West Limited 2.6 The shortlisted bidders have until September 2016 to submit their bids for how they would deliver the services and requirements specified by the Department. The winning bidder is expected to be announced in February 2017, and the new franchise is scheduled to commence in June 2017. 7 3. Our vision for the franchise 3.1 The Department has developed the specification for the next South Western franchise to deliver the government's vision for rail. 3.2 The government’s long-term plan is to build a stronger, more competitive economy and a fairer society. Rail is crucial to this and has an important role in the UK’s economic growth. It provides access to markets, employment, leisure and tourism, and the rail sector provides over 200,000 jobs. It will also make an important contribution to rebalancing the economy. Franchise objectives 3.3 To meet this vision, the Secretary of State and the Department have set objectives for both the rail franchising programme as a whole, and the South Western franchise in particular. The Secretary of State's objectives for rail franchising were in section 3.5 of the consultation document1. 3.4 The Department wants the next South Western franchise to deliver enhancements in the way the railway serves its markets and communities, with our next private sector partner delivering benefits for passengers, through increased capacity, a high-quality passenger experience, and improved collaboration with a range of stakeholders. At the same time it will be essential to secure further efficiencies to deliver better value for money for taxpayers and fare payers. The South Western franchise objectives are to: • Support the economy of the South Western franchise area by offering high quality rail services to, from and across the franchise with service levels that reflect the specific requirements of the different markets served including non-London flows, intra-regional and London-radial, while working within the affordability constraints on public funding • Increase capacity to meet current demand and future growth, supporting the delivery of planned infrastructure works