T-61 – Musical Interlude

Currently listening to the Kiss105 live stream, and some ‘old school’ stuff that I’ve not heard in AGES! Chicane’s Offshore 97 took me back – ten years, believe it or not! CHOON! Quite a few others I’ve not heard of for ages – but there is also a new mix of Rianna’s Umberella – this time it’s the Carnival Mix. Just in time for the Notting Hill carnival weekend. [makes noise of till chinging].

Stagecoach unveils new train company

After losing out on GNER and the Virgin Cross Country (where yes, Arriva plan on removing the on-train facilites to be replaced with more seats!), Stagecoach has been successful in its gain of Midland Mainline, which is expanded to cover parts of what was Central Trains. That new logo looks familiar, as does the 'Connect' brand name... the EMT staff briefing can be found further down this post!

Stagecoach unveils new train company

13/08/2007

A new train company for the East Midlands and South Yorkshire area has unveiled its name, logo and the look of its train livery.

East Midlands Trains, run by Stagecoach Group’s rail division, starts its seven-year-and-four-month franchise on Sunday November 11 at 2am.

A brand-new franchise map has been drawn up to encompass all of the existing main line train services running to London St Pancras and the regional rail services in the East Midlands area.

Highlights of the company’s plans include millions of pounds of investment in station and train improvements including refurbishments, more CCTV cameras, more ticket machines and improved journey times.

There will also be closer partnership with Network Rail to improve train performance, and the creation of a new integrated control centre where colleagues from each organisation will sit alongside each other to run the train service.

David Horne, Mobilisation Director for East Midlands Trains, said: “We are really excited about creating this brand new train company for the East Midlands and the wider region.

“It will bring better harmony between the regional and mainline train services, and link into the revamped St Pancras station, which will also be home to Eurostar from November.

“We have lots of plans to improve the travelling experience for passengers, and will bring the expertise we have in running our other train company South West Trains to this new rail business.”

ENDS


EMT Staff Briefing

Who is Stagecoach?

Stagecoach Group started its life running coach services between Scotland and London in 1980.

In the late 1980s, Stagecoach bought a number of bus companies and floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1993. Today it operates 19 bus companies in the UK covering over 100 towns and cities.

Stagecoach entered the rail industry in 1992 when it ran experimental train services between London and Scotland. It took over the South West Trains franchise on privatisation in February 1996. It was also successful in winning the Island Line franchise.

Stagecoach became a 49% shareholder of Virgin Trains in 1999 and launched the UK’s first low-cost coach services under the megabus.com brand in 2003.

Over the past 25 years, Stagecoach has had a number of overseas transport businesses including in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Portugal and Africa. Today its only overseas businesses is Coach USA, which operates bus and coach services in the US and Canada.

Today the focus is firmly on growing passenger use of its public transport operations in the UK and North America. Excluding the East Midlands franchise, Stagecoach employs around 27,000 employees, operates 12,000 vehicles and carries around 2.5 million passengers every day.


When do they takeover?

At 02.00 on Sunday 11 November 2007.


What are we going to be called?

East Midlands Trains.

In our communications to passengers, we will also distinguish the high speed mainline services to/from St Pancras from the regional services through the use of sub-brands. The mainline sub-brand will be called “East Midlands Mainline”. The regional sub-brand will be called “East Midlands Connect”


What will happen to my job?

Most employees will not be immediately affected by the change of franchise.

Your employment (and your terms and conditions) will transfer to East Midlands Trains if you work:

    * For Midland Mainline (including Neville Hill and Etches Park depots)
    * For Central Trains at a location which has been designated for transfer to the East Midlands franchise

People who work in a HQ or similar role at Central Trains will transfer to either East Midlands Trains, London Midland or Arriva Cross Country Trains.

National Express Group will hold discussions about Central Maintrain separately with the new franchise owners.


What will happen to my pension?

The Midland Mainline section of the Railway Pension Scheme will be renamed as the East Midlands Franchise Section.

If you are a member of the Midland Mainline section of the Railway Pension Scheme, you will remain a member of same section but the name of the section will change.

If you are a member of the Central Trains section or Maintrain section of the Railway Pension Scheme and you become an employee of East Midlands Trains, you will become a member of the East Midlands Franchise section of the Railway Pension Scheme.


Where will I/everyone be based?

Most employees will remain based in their current location.

Central Trains staff will either transfer to the East Midlands Trains Head Office in Derby or remain based at their current location on Day One.

Control managers will transfer to the new Derby Integrated Control Centre, a new combined control with Network Rail and East Midlands Trains controllers sitting together in the same office.


Where will the Head Office be?

We are planning to keep the Head Office in Derby. At present, we are discussing lease terms for a number of potential Head Offices with the relevant landlords.


Is anyone going to talk to my Staff and Union representatives?

Yes, Margaret Kay, HR Leader for Stagecoach’s mobilisation team will be making contact with all the Union representatives and will be meeting with them soon.


What is TUPE?

TUPE stands for Transfer of Undertaking (Protection of Employment) Regulations.  These regulations are designed to preserve employees’ terms and conditions when a business is transferred to a new employer.


What will happen on the 11th November 2007?

Business as usual. Trains will run as normal. Employees will transfer to East Midlands Trains.


Who will I report to on day one?

Virtually all employees will report to the same manager on day one. A small number of employees may report to a different manager and we will advise each employee individually where this applies.


Who will be paying me and will my pay date change?

Employees (whether formerly employed by Midland Mainline, Central Trains or Maintrain) who transfer to East Midlands Trains will be paid by East Midlands Trains from 11 November 2007.

There will be no changes to pay dates as a result of the change of franchise.


Will I have to wear a new uniform?

We will be introducing a new East Midlands Trains uniforms to those employees in roles who currently wear a uniform.

As you will be the ones wearing the new uniform, we want your input into the design and style of it. We plan to start this process as soon as the new franchise begins.


Will I have to wear a new name badge?

We will provide new name badges to all employees who currently wear name badges before, or as soon as possible after, the start of the franchise.


Who will be the Managing Director?

David Horne, Stagecoach’s Mobilisation Director will be in the role of Interim Managing Director until a permanent appointment is made.


What does the logo look like?




Will everything be re-branded and when?

Yes, although it will take time to re-brand everything. We are planning to re-brand passenger leaflets etc by the end of 2007.

We will roll out new signage at stations and re-livery the trains steadily after the start of the franchise. This programme will have to take account of the need to take rolling stock out of service in order to do this.


What big investments will there be?

There will be:

    * Significant investment in a purpose-built shed at Etches Park Depot for maintenance of the Meridian trains
    * Over £5m invested in station improvements
    * £26.5m fleet interior and performance improvement programme
    * £15m investment in Smartcard technology to make ticket purchasing state-of-the-art
    * £5m Corby new station and re-introduction of passenger services
    * £20m+ investment in new East Midlands Parkway station


What customer improvements will there be?

    * A new hourly service between Kettering and London, increasing the number of off peak services on the midland main line to five trains per hour. It has also been agreed in principle to extend this service to a new station at Corby from December 2008. This removes the need to split and join trains at Leicester.
    * A 9% increase in peak capacity into and out of London St. Pancras by 2010, and more carriages on the busiest trains between Nottingham and Liverpool.
    * The new station at East Midlands Parkway will be served by two trains an hour from December 2008, and a daily direct service between Lincoln and London will be introduced.
    * Journey times between Sheffield, Derby and London will be reduced, saving up to 12 minutes on an average journey between London and Sheffield.
    * Improved performance, with a forecast 90.4% of trains on time by the end of the franchise.
    * The Community Rail service between Matlock and Derby will be increased to every hour and extended directly to Nottingham.
    * More investment including more than £5m on improvements to stations, at least 1250 extra car parking spaces and the introduction of smart card technology by 2010.


What are your plans for the train fleet?

Main line services will continue to be provided using HSTs and Class 222 Meridians.

Regional services will be operated using Class 158s, Class 156s and Class 153s. It is not planned to use any Class 170 trains in the new franchise.

We are planning a £26.5m fleet interior and performance improvement programme, including décor, seats, on-train CCTV and reliability modifications.


What are your plans for train maintenance depots?

We will construct a new train maintenance shed for the Class 222 Meridians at Etches Park depot in Derby. This will provide additional capacity at Etches Park so that we can maintain the regional DMU fleet in the existing depot facility. The new maintenance shed will supplement the current investment being undertaken at the depot for National Express Group.

We will continue to undertake DMU maintenance and servicing at Nottingham Eastcroft depot.

The HSTs will continue to be maintained at Neville Hill depot in Leeds.

We will also buy in DMU maintenance services from the West Midlands franchise at Tyseley depot (Birmingham) until the new depot facility at Etches Park is completed.


What happens between now and 11th November?

Stagecoach is undertaking a programme of activity to ensure there is continuity in the delivery of services to passengers.

Much of this activity is “behind the scenes” and relates to:

    * Obtaining a new Licence under the Railways Act from the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR);
    * Obtaining a new Railway Safety Certificate from ORR;
    * The renewal or transfer of around 450 contracts including new rolling stock leases and a new combined track access agreement;
    * Ensuring that all business critical IT systems will be up and running and software licenses are in place;
    * Consulting Passenger Focus and others on the new East Midlands Trains Passengers’ Charter;
    * Ensuring that suppliers know to continue to provide essential materials or services to East Midlands Trains after the end of the existing franchises.

We are liaising closely with Midland Mainline and Central Trains on these and all other arrangements.

We also have regular meetings with Govia and Arriva on the new West Midlands and Cross Country franchises which start on 11 November too.

Weekly joint meetings take place with the Department for Transport to monitor progress and resolve any issues of difficulty.[cut]

Hertfordshire bus service changes

The details of the September service changes are now online here, with a few notable highlights -

NEW SERVICE 323 Broxbourne Station - Essex Road New route provided by Arriva The Shires, from 17th September. Mon-Fri via High Road, Industrial Area, Hoddesdon, Dinant Link Rd and Pindar Rd. Every 35-40 mins peaks.

NEW SERVICE 359 London Colney Sainsbury’s - St Albans, St Peters Street New route provided by Centrebus from 3rd September. Operates via Shenley Lane, Kings Rd, London Rd, St Albans Station Interchange (Mon-Fri peaks only) and Victoria Street. Hourly Mon-Sat. Will be diverted to Napsbury Park when bus access is available.

NEW SERVICE C5 Hertford - Waltham Cross New route provided by Trustline Buses from 10th September, via Ware, St Margarets, Hundred Acre Estate, Hoddesdon, Broxbourne, Wormley, Brookfield Centre and Cheshunt. Generally one bus per hour Hundred Acre Estate - Waltham Cross, every one or two hours from/to Hertford Mon-Fri. Some early/late journeys operate direct from Ware to Hoddesdon and omit Brookfield Centre.

Changes to existing services from 3rd September (uno changes are from 17th September unless stated otherwise)

Centrebus 88 Hitchin - Luton New timetable. Service reduced to 5 return journeys Mon-Sat departing from Hitchin at 0900, 1100, 1300, 1600 (from Priory School on school-days) and 1800; from Luton Station at 0730 Mon-Fri (extended to Priory School on schooldays)/0800 Sat, 1000, 1200, 1430 and 1705. Rerouted between Luton, Wigmore Lane ASDA Store and Town Centre via Crawley Green Rd, no longer serving Luton International Airport. One journey on Service 17 is revised to operate from Breachwood Green to Luton at 0745 (Mon-Sat) in partial replacement for a journey on service 88.

Centrebus 320 Hemel Hempstead - Watford Most journeys 0900-1700 extended to/from Hemel Hempstead Station. Journeys serving Roundwood Park School will operate to normal routeing through Harpenden. (See also new school route 866, which will cover the gap).

uno 602 Hatfield Business Park - Watford/Borehamwood Mon-Sat eve journeys (term days only) revised from 2050 to operate a one-way loop via UH Campus, Bishop’s Rise and Galleria. Extra Sat journey at 2025 from St Albans but 1841 Hatfield Business Park - London Colney withdrawn. Sat am journeys towards Watford Retimed. Sunday daytime service increased to hourly Hatfield Station - Watford with additional evening journeys Hatfield Station - UH deHavillandCampus.

uno 614 Hatfield Business Park - Queensbury Timing adjustments (very minor on Sat). Morning peak short-workings Mill Hill - Queensbury withdrawn. Two afternoon peak journeys curtailed.

uno 615 Rayners Lane/Stanmore - Hatfield Business Park (FROM 28th AUGUST) New off-peak service Stanmore - Hatfield Town Centre, hourly 0910 - 1610 from Stanmore/0911-1511 from Hatfield. 0715 Rayners Lane - Hatfield Business Park runs 10 mins earlier.

uno 636 Hatfield Business Park - Luton/Leagrave Revised timetable with additional journeys.

uno 690 UH Shuttle Bus Improved frequency on University of Hertfordshire term days. UH holiday service will be every 12 minutes all day.

Centrebus X31 Hemel Hempstead - Hitchin Peak period adjustments, Withdrawn between Luton & Hitchin.

Long awaited post! The state of the Suzy

( Cut for hormones, surgery, chest, love, trans related stuff )