The Scottish Government assumed control of the Caledonian Express contract yesterday, after Transport Scotland had decided that an extension of Serco’s franchise would not offer value for money (writes Sim Harris).
The formal changeover, if usual industry practice was followed, would have been at 02.00 on Sunday morning, when legal responsibilities would have been transferred.
The nationalisation of another private sector operator was not particularly unusual. It is just under a month since FirstGroup’s National Rail Contract for Transpennine Express was transferred to a company owned by the Department for Transport’s Operator of Last Resort.
But the Sleeper changeover was slightly different. The last TPE franchise was effectively paused in March 2020 when the first Emergency Measures came into effect, and was officially abolished, along with all other English franchises, in September of the same year.
Caledonian Sleeper was still technically a franchise, although it too had been paused in April 2020 and was being administered under an Emergency Measures Agreement with the Scottish Government.
As such, it was the last of its kind, which meant the final train run by a franchised operator from London Euston departed at 23.45 on Friday night, bound for Edinburgh and Glasgow Central.
The first franchised train, incidentally, was South West Trains’ departure from Twickenham to London Waterloo at 05.10 on 4 February 1996. (Great Western Trains should have been first, with its unadvertised 01.50 service from Fishguard Harbour. This, had it departed on time, would have moved seamlessly into the new era somewhere near the site of the former Jordanston Halt. In the event the train was replaced by a bus because of engineering work further down the line, and the bus was late.)
Operators now fall into three categories. The first are owned by government, the second have National Rail Contracts, and the third have less specific Direct Awards, such as Avanti West Coast.
This does not prevent the mainstream media referring from time to time to ‘franchises’. and even some operators (who should know better) still mention their ‘franchise area’.
In theory, at least, the creation of Great British Railways should usher in new Passenger Service Contracts which, if the recommendations of Keith Williams in the 2021 Plan for Rail are followed, will be very similar to the low-risk concessions which already apply on operators like London Overground. LO is run by Arriva, but the contract with Transport for London is a tight one, and although Arriva is exposed to minimal commercial risk, it also has very little commercial freedom.
What is still unclear is just what a Passenger Service Contract will involve. Privatisation enthusiasts, both within and outside the industry, want these contracts to be as loosely framed as possible, to allow the private sector to take a significant part. On the other hand, those in favour of public ownership opt for full-strength nationalisation.
As things stand, the government is deeply engrossed in other problems –particularly how to win the next election – so GBR has been left on the platform waiting, you might say, for a train (or rail replacement bus) which has yet to turn up.