So rail frachises are in the news.
This is obviously big news for me. Because the west coast mainline is what I use whenever I go to London or see my family in Stafford.

First Groups bid was over £1 billion more than anyone else. So they've got to make £1 billion more Virgin have to just break even.

All sounds like another terrible government fuck up. Who cares?
(PsychoChomp, Wed 15 Aug 2012, 12:18, 13 replies, latest was 12 years ago)

not me, that's for sure.
Like it matters a fuck who's running it. They use the same stock, paint it a different colour, and put the price up as much as they can without getting stopped, and then lose the frachise anyway because they are fucktards.

It does, I grant you, seem odd that Virgin - one of the few to actually make a success of a long-distance franchise - are being kicked out though.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 15 Aug 2012, 12:20, Reply)

They're redoing the pendalino stock to put more seats in.
So it'll be ryanair on tracks at a guess.
(PsychoChomp, Wed 15 Aug 2012, 12:24, Reply)

It's a fucking shambles
Their chief executive was on teh radio saying that the West COast mainline had the most spare capacity of any train line in the country and it was therefore perfectly possible to deliver 10% year on year growth until 2026. At which point the line will be totally saturated with no excess capacity.

THe fucking retarded thing is that it's such an obvious lie to say there is spare capacity since you're talking about the bits in the middle of teh day when nobody wants to catch a fucking train.

That isn't spare capacity, it's just useless capacity.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 15 Aug 2012, 12:25, Reply)

He had THE most annoying voice I've ever heard

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 15 Aug 2012, 12:26, Reply)

They all seem to be as bad as each other

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 15 Aug 2012, 12:26, Reply)

They're really not.
Some are just averagely bad and some are downright fucking useless.
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Wed 15 Aug 2012, 12:32, Reply)

Actually whenever I've used great Eastern, they've been ok
the trains are a bit old and musty though
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 15 Aug 2012, 12:33, Reply)

Holdup...
"As part of its contract, First West Coast would have to pay £265m in penalties if it were to terminate the contract early or fail to make scheduled payments to the government."

OK, cancel it in a year's time and pocket the rest.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Wed 15 Aug 2012, 12:27, Reply)

This has really pissed me off. I use that line a lot to go to The Lake District and for all its faults, Virgin has done a better job than most rail operators do. C2C is the only other one with a comparably good service and clean trains. Depending on whether I got to Oxenholme, where I stay on Virgin, or Ulverstonm where I pick up a First train from Preston or Lancaster, the difference in the reliability, frequency and comfort is immense. First trains are filthy and overcrowded. And they've overbid. There isn't enough spare capacity, it's just that midweek midday trains aren't needed as much, so they are either misrepresenting this or misunderstanding it due to incompetnce. They will fuck this up, run out of money and they won't see out the franchise.
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Wed 15 Aug 2012, 12:31, Reply)

Then the government will give them another one

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 15 Aug 2012, 12:32, Reply)

I don’t really have an opinion
I’m assuming that it means a huge price increase for you?
( hartley hare Just some prick who thinks it doesn't apply to him, Wed 15 Aug 2012, 12:32, Reply)

I drive everywhere.

( Kroney, Wed 15 Aug 2012, 12:53, Reply)

I liked this explanation on BBC News
Two kids have £10 each to bid for a hamster. One bids £3 knowing they'll need £7 for food, etc. The other bids £10 and gets the hamster. The hamster dies within a week.
(localboy purveyor of pisspoor puns, Wed 15 Aug 2012, 13:40, Reply)