rail route has been nationalised by the Government.
I'd travelled by GNER, the company that lost the route to National
Express, and they were 100 times better, the trains were clean, smart
and the staff were friendly. NXEC was bad. The company has a
strapline to 'Make Travel Simpler' but as soon as you board a NXEC
train you are bombarded with PA messages which talk about the types of
tickets that are not valid on the service, the restrictions are far
from making travel simpler.
When the East Coast franchise on the line was up for renewal along
came National Express who bid an unrealistic figure to run the line,
their bid stood to make a huge income for the Government in comparison
to that of GNER, the existing and experienced operator.
What stinks is that right now I'm sitting on a National Express East
Anglia train. Why are National Express still allowed to run other
rail lines when:
1) They have run away from a route they made unprofitable, after
sending a viable business called GNER (who proved they could run the
route) at a profit out of business?
2) They are taking profit in other parts of their business which could
cover loss made on the East Coast.
3) They are obsessed with repainting and rebranding trains, checking
and re-checking tickets, and wasting money?
What a poor decision by Government to award the francise in the first
place, and a bad signal to other train operators who have no real
insentive to invest in routes and services through fear Government
will undo their hard work and award their route at renewal to an
inexperienced operator who promises the earth. Why should they
invest, if I owned a train company right now I'd think 'hang on, lets
not spend, lets make a bigger profit'.
A great example of another route that has gone down the toilet is the
East Anglia line. This route was operated by 'First Group'. They
refitted stations, bought brand new trains, trained staff well and
cleaned well.
After a considerable investment National Express bidded and were
awarded the route rather than First. All assets were handed over as
part of the francise, and ever since National Express has been
repainting the outside of trains and stations.
They have reduced staff, cut food services, are obsessed with ticket
inspections, installed barriers that don't work and slow passengers
down... and háve let the brand new trains bought by First get filthy
and worn.
When things go wrong on the line NX are amazingly good at hiding, and
giving out poor information. I can't think of a week where everything
has gone right for me on their service
First made a bid to take over National Express, and I hope they get
the whole company, they know how to run travel services.
Richard Branson invested heavy into His Virgin Cross Country route,
and it was amazing he did not get the route on renewal, I wonder if
NXEC is the start of a ball rolling for new and inexperienced
companies buckling under the recession and not delivering on what they
said they would.
I hope NX lose the NXEA route. They should not be allowed to run a
profitable route if they have already turned a profit making route
into a loss making route.
