I feel that today's page should have black borders, because today is the very last day in the life of the Virgin Cross Country franchise. I have made my feelings clear about the stupidity and pointless expense of the present franchise renewal system, so if you missed me 'having a rant' you will need to go back to the entry for 10th July 2007. All I will say today about the re franchise process is that the biggest losers in all this are the staff and the passengers. The staff because they are robbed of choice and they have a new employer imposed upon them. Massive amounts of time and money have to be squandered on renegotiating contractual issues, pensions and working arrangements that were perfectly satisfactory under the old regime. It is considered an achievement to end up with the status quo, and when disputes arise we end up with strikes - as in the case Silverlink. Some individuals are massively disadvantaged and others endure months of worry until there concerns are addressed. The passengers lose out because while all this is going on it is diverting time, attention and resources away from the service. Sure, they are promised 'jam tomorrow' but tomorrow never comes! Look at the 'Worst Great Western' debacle not so long ago. They took over perfectly adequate companies and in the name of efficiency, provided a service so inferior that passengers were treated worse than cattle, causing many to permanently abandon the railways. Slowly the headlines subsided and the service struggled back to something that passed for normality, possibly the service is still worse than before FGW got hold of it, but has 'improved' because it is not quite as bad as when they hit the headlines!
Since the franchise announcement it has been like Lemming Year at Cross Country. Virgin made sure that they found posts at WestCoast for their best managers and other railway companies have got in on the act and snapped up some capable employees. Even Network Rail has enticed away some capable and knowledgeable employees - I'm not sure what good that will do but you can't blame them for trying!!! Even Robbie toyed with the possibility of a move to WestCoast, but he has been pleasantly surprised by top team at Arriva - so far, and after all WestCoast didn't become known as 'The Dark Side' for nothing!! So Monday will see a much changed team at Cross Country to mark the start of the Arriva era. No doubt there will be many frustrations and challenges ahead and there are bound to be teething problems, but there are still people who are passionate about their jobs and about Cross Country. However just to be on the safe side I think I ought to send Robbie to work with some 'happy pills' on Monday!
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