The Government's proposal also includes giving the train operating companies more freedom to determine the frequency of trains and the stations served.
So what does this mean for our line? The current London Midland franchise is up for renewal in September 2015 so the parent company, the Go-Ahead group would undoubtedly welcome an extension. If the Government proposal went ahead and the terms & conditions of the franchise were made less prescriptive then the management would welcome this too (anyone interested in seeing how the Department of Transport have dotted every 'i' and crossed every 't' should look at DfT - current franchise agreements). But would this result in improvements? The jury has to be out on that one.
A cynic might suggest that the reason why this has cropped up now is that the Government is willing to consider any option to reduce costs, and the subsidies that they are paying out to the train operating companies offer plenty of scope for shaving tens if not hundreds of millions off the annual bill (London Midland subsidy for 2010 = £185 million - see "How much?!!).
There will apparently be consultation on this. I eagerly await the opportunity to comment :-)
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I wonder what the ratio is of government proposals that are proposed and those that actually go through. It would probably be pretty eye-opening.
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