There will be no extra carriages on the London to Glasgow West Coast Main Line (WCML) Pendolino trains until 2012, despite passenger numbers rising sharply on the service.
The Department for Transport (DfT) is now looking for a company to manage the delivery of extra carriages after it decided against a deal in which Virgin Trains ” the incumbent operator ” would add the capacity itself in return for a two year franchise extension.
”The proposal from Virgin did not offer value for money to the taxpayer or the passenger,” a DfT spokeswoman told ABTN. ”We are taking the necessary action to provide extra carriages on the WCML, as we said in the White Paper last year.
”Capacity is being added from December this year, when a new timetable will mean 50% more long distance trains to and from London Euston, serving important areas like the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and Scotland. Furthermore, weekend services will operate at weekday frequencies and speeds and capacity will therefore be increased substantially.”
A Virgin spokesman said putting in the carriages was not part of the current franchise agreement, telling ABTN: ”Our proposal was that we”d take all the risk of managing the project to install two carriages on all 52 trains, starting in 2010 and completing in 2012 ” and the DfT”s plan is to provide carriages across only part of the fleet from April 2012.
”We believe that growing demand requires this, so we said we”d take the risk and manage the project ” which would include lengthening platforms and depots, plus various associated works. In return we asked for a two year extension to our 15 year franchise ” so a relatively limited extension for doing all that work.
”They decided that didn”t represent value for money ” if you want to know what does, you”d have to ask them, because they haven”t been clear to us.”
The spokesman added that he was unsure as to the deadline for the government”s tender, and that it would be logistically tricky to manage a fleet where some trains have 11 carriages and others nine. It is believed some longer trains might run from London to Preston, and shorter ones from Preston to Glasgow ” meaning passengers travelling between the cities would have to switch.
Most importantly, delays to any added capacity could greatly affect a line which Virgin says has seen a 10% growth in passengers every year.
”It means overcrowding,” said the spokesman. ”We believe that demand is so strong, and they'll become crowded by 2011/12 ” our plan would have dealt with that situation in one go. We don”t believe a partial extension of the fleet will really deal with it.
”We haven”t taken any decision on ticket pricing, but if there”s very high demand at peak times we do have to manage the number of people using them ” you might need to make a reservation, or ticket prices might have to go up.”