Profit share despite rail line problems

May 17 2008 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

RAILWAY bosses at Grand Central are making money from East Coast Main Line services despite a spate of mechanical problems leaving them with just one working train, it emerged last night.

An electrical fire on a train at York on Wednesday left bosses at Grand Central struggling to maintain services, with one recently repaired train brought back into service to ensure minimum standards are met.

Yet despite having to revert back to their original one-train timetable, the rail bosses will still receive a share of ticket profits from passengers travelling on the East Coast Main Line, even if those customers have never set foot on a Grand Central train.

Under a Government-agreed funding system, every company running a service along key routes is entitled to a share of the total amount spent on tickets.

Known as Orcats, the system hands out cash not based on the number of passengers carried but the number of seats offered.

In theory, an operator could run a train which no one boarded and still stand to gain from their share of the overall non-operator specific tickets sold on that route.

And because the Orcats system is not updated regularly Grand Central bosses can have two of their three trains out-of-order and still receive money redirected by the Government.

The Sunderland to London route has been the centre of controversy since it was first planned, with many rail enthusiasts speculating that Grand Central is only a viable business because of the Orcats system.

Operations director Sean English last night said the train company would not lose out on its payments and insisted there was no need for a rethink over Orcats payments. “Obviously we will sell fewer tickets while we are without the other trains, and other operators will take on more businesses.

“Any operator can challenge the Orcats system but it is not revised so often as to make immediate changes to payments.

“Everyone has cancellations, they can happen fairly regularly and you can’t just change the system every time a train hasn’t run. We are still running to a timetable, although obviously with some changes, so we will still receive our Orcats payments.”

After the latest setback Grand Central is now operating one direct train to London from Sunderland in the morning, and one direct service back. Other planned services are either cancelled or calling at a limited number of stations.

The train company is hoping it will be back to full strength in just over a week.

Tom Clift, managing director of the company, said: “The train broke down in York and could go no further south. We sorted out the passengers who were on the way down and issued them with appropriate tickets on other services so they could continue their journey.

“There is a temporary new timetable in the meantime and we hope to have an improved timetable up and running soon.”

North East rail passenger group Coastliners said a little patience was need for the struggling train group.

A spokesman said: “I think passengers aren’t going to be very happy, but I just hope they will have patience.”

A history of hitches

GRAND CENTRAL has been beset by problems since a train direct from London to Sunderland was first suggested back in 2005.

The service was originally to begin in December of that year but the plans were opposed by train operator GNER. Eventually, after rail regulators gave approval for the route, the GNER legal challenge was thrown out.

Further dates for the beginning of the service came and went.

The first train on the line finally ran in December last year, but just days after the service started, it had to be suspended when the company’s only train broke down.