Bid teams beefed up for franchising restart

This from Arriva's HR director...

Senior management changes within Arriva Trains Wales

We are pleased to announce that Arriva Trains Wales’ Managing Director Tim Bell has been appointed to a new role within the Trains Division of ‘Managing Director Franchise Bidding’.
Tim will assume this position from Monday 10 December 2012 and will be based in London.

The Bid Team face a challenging and exciting period over the next 12 months and Tim will give added focus to Arriva’s ambitious programme for growth.

This is initially a 12 month secondment for Tim from his role at Arriva Trains Wales.

In the immediate interim, Ian Bullock, Arriva Trains Wales’ Customer Services Director, will replace Tim as Managing Director while the secondment opportunity at Arriva Trains Wales is advertised within the Group.

I am sure you will offer your full support to Tim and Ian going forward.

- ENDS -

Movers, shakers and old friends

A busy weekend of people news.

According to Passenger Transport magazine, Elaine Holt, has left the National Express bid team after less than a year in post.

Meanwhile Eye understands that congratulations are due to Bob Holland who is taking on the role of Arriva's MD UK Rail and Bus.

With Bob's elevation Steve Murphy, MD of LOROL, will step up to become Arriva's Chief Operating Officer UK Rail. No news yet on who will take the helm at Loo Roll.

It is also good to hear that industry favourite Jonson Cox continues to go from strength to strength. The former Railtrack Chief Operating Officer is currently trying to turn around UK Coal which is in danger of falling into the hands of administrators. 

Good luck.

And in happier news Iain Coucher has resurfaced as MD of restructuring specialists Alvarez & Marshal. Iain will be looking to grow A&M's client base in transport and infrastructure.

Perhaps offering to restructure Great Minster House would be a good starting point?

Arriva snaps up Grand Central

This from Arriva...

ARRIVA ACQUIRES OPEN ACCESS OPERATOR GRAND CENTRAL RAILWAY

Arriva plc has confirmed it has acquired UK open access operator Grand Central Railway which runs passenger train services between Sunderland and London, and between Bradford/Halifax and London.

The acquisition, for an undisclosed amount, adds to Arriva’s UK Trains portfolio of the CrossCountry, Arriva Trains Wales and Chiltern Railways franchises, and concessions to operate the Tyne and Wear Metro and (as a joint venture) London Overground operations.

Grand Central is an open access operator, it does not receive subsidy from, or pay any premium to the Department for Transport. It operates four direct services between Sunderland and London Kings Cross daily, and three direct services between Bradford/Halifax and London Kings Cross. It provides approximately 700,000 passenger journeys a year.

Bob Holland, Arriva UK Trains managing director, said: “We firmly believe open access will play a valuable part of a balanced portfolio for our UK Trains division alongside our three franchises and concessions operated on London Overground and the Tyne and Wear Metro.

“Bringing Grand Central on board means we have a live open access operation up and running, one which is popular with customers and which we believe we can develop to become a key commercial part of our UK rail operations.”

- Ends -

Hmmm!

Go on then... but in the original version of course!



Well, even Her Majesty is part German!

Reichsbahn anschluss of Arriva approved

The European Commission has approved Deutsche Bahn's takeover of Arriva.

Eye welcomes the renationalisation of Cross Country and Arriva Trains Wales.

A shame of course that any profit will now go to Berlin, rather than London or Cardiff.

Arriva internal briefing on DB offer

Thursday 22 April 2010

Dear Colleague

Today it has been announced that Deutsche Bahn, the largest German public transport operator, has made an offer to buy Arriva at 775p per share. Over a period of weeks we have negotiated hard with Deutsche Bahn, and the Board is unanimous in recommending the offer to shareholders. The full announcement can be read at www.arriva.co.uk.

In the mid 1990s Arriva took the decision to develop a pan-European business which would position the company well to benefit from the liberalisation of passenger transport markets. We are now in 12 countries and one of the leading private operators in most of those territories, helping passengers to make over 2.5 million journeys a day. Even though we are one of the leading private operators we still only have a tiny proportion of the market and therefore the potential for growth is significant.

The chief executive of Deutsche Bahn, Dr Ruediger Grube, also sees this opportunity, and the potential to build a strong international business. He and I both recognise the value of Arriva's senior management team and employees.

The plan is for Deutsche Bahn to build on Arriva's international platform and for Arriva's current management team to lead the enlarged group's regional and urban transportation business outside Germany.

Deutsche Bahn intends to ensure Arriva's continuity of top management, and high employee motivation. Its plans include maintaining our head office in Sunderland, under the existing management team, and keeping the Arriva brand.

For our shareholders who have invested in us and supported us over the years, this is an opportunity to receive a cash offer which fully recognises the current and future benefits of our strategy, and of the business we have built up.

For Arriva this is a great opportunity for our employees and management team to work with Deutsche Bahn and accelerate expansion in Europe, building on our leading position.

For our customers and passengers, it is business as usual and we look forward to continuing to serve them.

There are several stages to go through and conditions to be met before the offer can be implemented and the process is expected to take a period of some months. Our management team across all our divisions will be briefed over the next few days and will be in position to hold further briefings and start answering questions shortly. We will do our best to answer questions as they come up, though it may not be possible to provide an immediate and definitive answer for every question.

If you are asked questions by the media or other external stakeholders, please continue to refer them to Corporate Communications where they will be channelled to the most appropriate point.

David Martin, Chief Executive

CymruBahn - ve have vays of making you vait!

This from one of Eye's more erudite readers...

As it is almost certain that Arriva Trains Wales will form part of a ‘Greater Deutsche Bahn’ we can surely expect our Teutonic friends to insist that station announcements are also made in German, as well as Welsh and English.

Picture yourself as the humble passenger, weighed down with luggage.

You are standing on the concourse at Cardiff Central, the time is 17.15 and you are awaiting the announcement of your through train to Holyhead.

The following announcement is then made:

‘’Y trên nesaf i wyro oddi Platfform Dau yn y 17.20 Trenau Arriva Cymru gwasanaeth i Gaergybi. Galw yng Casnewydd, Cwmbran, Pont-ypŵl a New Inn, Y Fenni, Henffordd, Leominster, Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Gobowen, Y Waun, Rhiwabon, Wrecsam Cyffredinol, Caer, Shotton, Fflint, Prestatyn, Rhyl, Bae Colwyn, Cyffordd Llandudno, Bangor, Llanfairpwll, Bodorgan, Ty Croes, Rhosneigr, Cwm a Chaergybi. Llwyfan Dau am y 17.20 Trenau Arriva Cymru yn wasanaeth i Gaergybi. Pan fydd mynd ar y trên, os gwelwch yn dda meddwl y bwlch rhwng y trên ac ymyl y platfform. Llanfairpwll, Bodorgan, Ty Croes, Rhosneigr a Cymoedd yn cael eu stopio cais, a rhaid i deithwyr gwybod ir arweinydd ar y trên i drefnu ar gyfer y trên i atal, i ganiatáu iddynt i dân.

Der nächste Zug von Platform Zwei abzuweichen ist die 17,20 Arriva Trains Wales Service nach Holyhead. Calling in Newport, Cwmbran, Pontypool & New Inn, Abergavenny, Hereford, Leominster, Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Gobowen, Chirk, Ruabon, General Wrexham, Chester, Shotton, Fflint, Prestatyn, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction, Bangor, Llanfairpwll, Bodorgan, Ty Croes, Rhosneigr, Valley und Holyhead. Zwei Plattform für die 17,20 Arriva Trains Wales Service nach Holyhead. Beim Einsteigen in den Zug, Bitte beachten Sie die Lücke zwischen Zug und Bahnsteigkante. Llanfairpwll, Bodorgan, Ty Croes, Rhosneigr und Tal sind, beantragen stoppt, und Fluggäste müssen die Schaffner im Zug zu informieren, um den Zug zu stoppen ordnen, damit sie zum Aussteigen.’’

The next train to depart from Platform Two is the 17.20 Arriva Trains Wales service to Holyhead. Calling at Newport, Cwmbran, Pontypool & New Inn, Abergavenny, Hereford, Leominster, Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Gobowen, Chirk, Ruabon, Wrexham General, Chester, Shotton, Fflint, Prestatyn, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction, Bangor, Llanfairpwll, Bodorgan, Ty Croes, Rhosneigr, Valley and Holyhead. Platform Two for the 17.20 Arriva Trains Wales service to Holyhead. When boarding the train, please mind the gap between the train and the platform edge. Llanfairpwll, Bodorgan, Ty Croes, Rhosneigr and Valley are request stops, and passengers must inform the conductor on the train to arrange for the train to stop, to allow them to alight.’’

By the time that lot has finished, the train will be long gone!

UPDATE: This from Eastwestdivide...

Was the Arriva announcement translated by someone who can use a dictionary but doesn't know the language, or by a translation robot?

Fluggäste = "airline passengers" for one thing, and the rest of it is either gibberish, ungrammatical or Welsh (possibly all three).

"Gibberish, ungrammatical or Welsh" - is this not tautological? Eye suspects German announcements at Cardiff Central would be every bit as useful as those in Welsh.

UPDATE: This from Bulldog Drummond...

No doubt the Hun will get up to his old tricks and insist on the Germanisation of place names.

How about:

Holyhead as Heilgkopf
Newport as Neuhafen
Cwmbran as Cwmkleie
or
Shrewsbury as Spitzmausebestattend (a place where shrews are buried).

I'm sure our willing cooperation would hasten the rapid recreation of a vertically integrated railway, albeit one run from Potsdamer Platz.

UPDATE: This from Jens...

As a German and a nitpicker (ok, there's a tautology for you...) I'd like to correct the German version of your announcement.

A direct translation of the English announcement would be:

Der nächste Zug, der von Bahnsteig 2 abfährt, ist der 17:20 Arriva-Trains-Wales-Dienst nach Holyhead. Mit Halt in Newport, Cwmbran, Pontypool & New Inn, Abergavenny, Hereford, Leominster, Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Gobowen, Chirk, Ruabon, Wrexham General, Chester, Shotton, Fflint, Prestatyn, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction, Bangor, Llanfairpwll, Bodorgan, Ty Croes, Rhosneigr, Valles und Holyhead. Bahnsteig 2 für den 17:20 Arriva-Trains-Wales-Dienst nach Holyhead. Beim Einsteigen achten Sie bitte auf die Lücke zwischen dem Zug und der Bahnsteigkante. Llanfairpwll, Bodorgan, Ty Croes, Rhosneigr und Valley sind Bedarfshalte und Fahrgäste müssen den Schaffner im Zug informieren, damit der Zug anhält und sie aussteigen können.

But that's not how the Deutsche Bahn announces trains - it's just a translation of the English one.

Here's how a German one would look:

Auf Gleis 2 fährt ein die 17:20 Arriva-Trains-Wales-Bahn nach Holyhead mit Halt in Newport, Shrewsbury, Wrexham General, Chester und Holyhead. Auf Gleis 2 steht abfahrbereit die Arriva-Trains-Wales-Bahn nach Holyhead. Bitte Vorsicht an der Bahnsteigkante. Bitte beachten Sie, dass Llanfairpwll, Bodorgan, Ty Croes, Rhosneigr und Valley Bedarfshaltestellen sind; Fahrgäste die dort aussteigen möchten, müssen die Haltetaste betätigen.

A literal translation would be:

On track 2...

(because on platform 2 the people are waiting for the train - don't want to squish them)

...is pulling in...

(because the train is not walking or flying. We don't want to confuse the passengers)

...the 17:20 Arriva-Trains-Wales train...

(Service... if you insist. But it's a train pulling in. Not a service. The service is that the train is running and pulling in right now. As I said. We Germans like it precise. If you talked about service in Germany, people would get confused, especially if that service is apparently pulling into a station right now)

...to Holyhead with stops in Newport, Shrewsbury, Wrexham General, Chester and Holyhead.

(They don't mention every little village on the way, they just give some of the major ones. You know. Because it's more efficient.)

On track 2...

(again, no squishy noises and no panic amongst the waiting passengers)

...is standing ready for departure...

(yes, "ready for departure" is one word in German. And we have another one for human beings ready for departure. We're awesome)

...the 17:20 Arriva-Trains-Wales train to Holyhead. Please display caution at the edge of the platform.

(We Germans are smart enough to know that there's a train involved and that is the reason you should be cautious)

Please observe that Llanfairpwll, Bodorgan, Ty Croes, Rhosneigr and Valley are request stops; passengers who wish to alight here, should press the STOP button.

Seriously. "TELL THE CONDUCTOR"?

Hellooo!

Britain!!

This is the 21st century!!!

All services in Germany which have request stops have STOP buttons like those on buses which you can press to request a stop.

No wonder the Deutsche Bahn is entering the British train market. I guess the main motivation was pity.

Arriva - Don't mention the war!

Evidently the sale of Arriva to Deutsche Bahn has been well received.

This from thisismoney.co.uk...

The successor company to Deutsche Reichsbahn, which ran the trains to Germany's Second World War death camps, won control of Sunderland-based transport group Arriva after a £1.6bn bid.

Gosh!

UPDATE: This from Captain Mainwaring...

Reichsplan phase 2 - in which the railways of Wales are taken over and the Cross-Country web brings a 5th Column penetration to all corners of the British mainland...

UPDATE: This from Billy Connections....

Confirmation that DB has been successful in its bid to take over Arriva is expected to result in a new system of seat reservation for CrossCountry Trains, which regularly suffer from overcrowding.

In response to complaints from passengers that the current miniature reservation displays, set into the overhead luggage racks at head height, are often wrong, or impossible to read - and on advice that these displays are not DDA compliant because of the small size of the lettering - a simplified system - TMS - is to be rolled out by the
end of 2011.

TMS or Towel Management System will, as the name implies, involve the laying out of a towel on any seats which have been reserved in advance.

This will be the duty of the Train Manager, although resistance is expected from RMT who consider this to be outside the current agreement for the "role of the guard".

Clearly the choice of TMS as the acronym is controversial as it is currently the designation for the onboard Train Management System, but with the German word for towel results on the phrase "Tuch-Management-System", which also results in the TMS acronym, DB has decided that the Train Management System will, in future, be known as the ZMS, based on the German "Zug-Management-System".

As a senior DB insider explained "The Towel, or Tuch, is such an important icon in German life we feel that the less important use of TMS for the onboard computer system will have to give way.

"We are also delighted to be introducing a new fully DDA compliant and environmentally friendly system for seat reservations."

The towels will be 100% Fairtrade cotton and, with careful handling, should give us many years of useful service.

Arriva in SNCF tie-up?

This from Reuters...

Transport group Arriva has held talks with France's state railway group SNCF, about a possible equity link-up with its transport unit Keolis.

Interesting.