New ‘Devon and Cornwall’ operator as part of proposal to split GWR

Passengers for South West England are set for a new operator, with the Department for Transport planning to split Great Western Railway’s rural, inter-urban and sleeping car services from London-South Wales and Thames Valley trains.

The new ‘Devon and Cornwall’ operator could include services to London over the Berks & Hants Line via Westbury, making it different from the old Wessex Trains operation that was rolled into Great Western in 2006.

The move came as the DfT launched its strategic vision for rail on November 29. It has also extended GWR’s current franchise by one year to April 1 2020 and, according to operator First Group, has said it intends to negotiate a further ‘Direct Award’ deal to 2022, with an option to extend to 2024. The DfT said it would not rule out running a competition for the next operator to start in 2020 “if we cannot negotiate substantial benefits for passengers with the existing operator at an acceptable price for taxpayers”.

DfT’s proposal to split GWR forms part of a consultation into the future of the franchise. If its ideas receive backing, then GWR could be required to prepare for the split, although to date there has been little local backing. Luke Pollard, Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said the day before DfT’s announcement: “I hope they bury once and for all the hopeless idea of a Devon and Cornwall-only franchise. Would be bad for the far South West and lock us out of investment.”

GWR said: “At this stage, this is simply an option the DfT is exploring with stakeholders, and no decisions have been taken. Even if a decision is taken to take the proposals forward, it would not actually take place until 2022 at the earliest.”

The Government admits there are advantages and disadvantages to splitting GWR. It suggests that creating a separate West Country franchise could allow its operator to tailor services to individual routes to make them more attractive, and would create competition on some routes. However, it also says that a single franchise gives more chance to run integrated and coherent services that are more efficient.

A new West Country franchise might contain services between Paddington and Newbury and Bedwyn, suggests DfT. It admits they might also fit well with Thames Valley services in the other half of the split with trains between London and Bristol, South Wales, the Cotswolds, outersuburban and branch lines in the Thames Valley and airport services, including on the potential western rail link to Heathrow.

Further changes could come from DfT suggestions that the Greenford branch shifts to Chiltern’s franchise and GWR’s inter-urban trains to Brighton from Bristol, Salisbury and Southampton move to whichever operator replaces Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) when that operation is split. DfT argues that electric trains could replace diesels between Southampton and Brighton, releasing diesel units for