We are committed to making the Thameslink/GN Franchise a rail network where customers are valued, welcomed and feel secure.
Great Northern - Train service improvement
In November 2003, punctuality (PPM) at Great Northern stood at 76.7%. A year later this figure stands at 85.9% – a dramatic improvement. This places Great Northern in the top three London commuter train operating companies. A similar performance picture can be seen at Midland Mainline. A year ago, the moving annual average PPM stood at 66.0%, it has now improved to 89.3%.
'one' - Amalgamating several franchises
Our newest franchise ‘one’ has a mix of commuter, inter-city, cross country, rural and airport services across the East of England. In April 2004, after being awarded the franchise, we successfully brought together three separate companies to create a single new franchise with 3,000 employees.
We completed this without any disruption and with an immediate improvement to services. We will be investing £11 million in station improvements and £25 million in refurbishing the inter-city trains during the franchise. In addition, we amalgamated our London operations to create ‘Londonlines’, which resulted in cost savings whilst at the same time retaining the identity and local responsiveness of the individual operations.
Wessex Trains - Regional responsiveness
When the previous Wales and West franchise was broken up, we were instrumental in creating the new franchises of Wessex Trains and Wales & Borders. Wessex Trains, our West Country operation, which will become part of the Greater Western franchise, has delivered significant improvements in trains, station and services by working in close partnership with local authorities and stakeholders such as the Countryside Agency.
“Great Scenic Railways” is an initiative to develop the branch lines of Cornwall and Devon in partnership with the “Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership”. Two of the five Community Rail Partnerships are part of our Wessex operation.
Midland Mainline - Delivery of inter-city quality
Our inter-city service runs between London, the East Midlands and Yorkshire. Continuous performance improvement and customer service are at the heart of Midland Mainline and over 4,000 employees have been trained at the customer service training academy.
Over the past twelve months, Midland Mainline’s performance has benefited from the ground breaking Performance Management Improvement Programme which focuses on improving performance and reliability for our customers. The company has recently announced its best performance figures in five years.
c2c - Transformation of services
With this franchise, the Group demonstrated its ability to take a service lacking years of investment (notoriously known as The ‘Misery Line’) and transform it into a reliable and customer focused organisation. Part of this transformation included a completely new fleet of trains at a cost of £300 million and new and modernised stations equipped with CCTV. Today c2c consistently tops the train performance leagues.
Central Trains - Management of complexity
One of the most complex railways in the UK, Central Trains operates over 1,300 miles of the national rail network and covers 19 million miles per annum. On a daily basis, Central Trains interfaces with 19 out of 25 train operating companies, five out of seven Network Rail regions, 5 of the 9 Rail Passenger Committees and 13 County Councils.
Silverlink - A focus on commuters
In total, we carry one third of London commuters. One of our commuter train companies Silverlink has seen passenger growth increase by 25%.We have also invested £2 million in station refurbishments and CCTV. The entire Silverlink County mainline fleet has recently been refurbished at a cost of £13 million and we are currently procuring some new trains to expand the service in response to increased customer demand.
Gatwick Express - A track record in customer service and culture change
Following privatisation, Gatwick Express was the first rail company to replace its entire fleet of trains with a £50 million investment. Gatwick Express was the first train operating company to achieve Investors In People status. In the Strategic Rail Authority’s 2004 National Passenger Survey, Gatwick Express came top in customer satisfaction and overall satisfaction categories in Autumn 2003 and Summer 2004.