This franchise sprawls from London into the West Country and Wales, but also snakes along the south coast as far as Brighton:
The news pages are telling us that First Group has decided to throw in the towel because the new Government wants to let new franchises for much longer periods -- up to twenty years -- so, rather than have a three year deal (which would cover a period of mass disruption caused by electrification of their mainline and the introduction of the Hitachi Super-Crap Express Train), First are ending it now to bid for the big win.
All sounds very noble and aggressively pro-business, rah-rah.
Trouble is, I vaguely remember* that First Great Western has been so shite that it's currently getting vast quantities of additional Government hand-outs to offset its under-performance and, hang on, those hand-outs will come to an end if the franchise is extended. So it would make business sense (if not necessarily being very ethical) for First to dump the current contract with its onerous payment terms and then bid for a shiny new one where the slate is wiped clean and the money merry-go-round starts all over again (except it's a one-way bet, actually, with cash pouring from the tax-payer to the greedy fat-cats in franchiseland).
This is the company that thinks their exciting new "cram-'em-in" approach to the interior design of High Speed Trains is going to provide a good environment for their long-suffering passengers or help ensure modal shift from cars to trains...
They really are a wretchedly dreadful company.
Frankly, I can't wait to see the back of them.
Let's just hope they don't win a new franchise.
* I could be completely wrong about this because I haven't bothered to check it, so this entire post may just be evidence that my dementia is getting more advanced. Would somebody please post a comment to let me know whether or not I've got confused? Ta.
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