London Northwestern Railway has confirmed that it has suspended Marston Vale Line services between Bedford and Bletchley until further notice.
The announcement comes because of the recent announcement that Vivarail, the company that maintains the Class 230 trains that operate services on the line, has filed a ‘Notice Of Intention To Appoint Administrators'.
LNR says this therefore means that there is no guarantee of maintenance for the trains on the route.
A rail replacement bus service will operate from tomorrow (Friday 2nd December) until further notice.
John Doughty, LNR engineering director, said: “I apologise to our customers who will be impacted by the temporary suspension of the train service on the Marston Vale Line.
“Following the news that Vivarail is to enter administration, we have been left with no alternative but to pause the service as we can no longer guarantee the required level of maintenance for the trains on the route will be available.
“We are working hard to find a solution which will enable us to return a train service to the line as soon as possible and we will keep our passengers updated.”
As Vivarail only posted a notice that it may have to enter administration and is still negotiating financial deals, this seems like a complete knee-jerk reaction. Presumably it will weaken their negotiating position and you would surely stop paying the contract when the maintenance actually fails??
This predictable disaster shows the utter foolishness of outsourcing maintenance to ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ train manufacturers.
There needs to be an urgent return to the ‘full service’ railway in which all maintenance is done in-house by train operators. That will mean recruiting and training engineering professionals.
But of course TOCs themselves are as ephemeral as the start-up and foreign-based train-makers. So the only logic is to have a NATIONAL train manufacturing, engineering, maintenance and training capability – just as there used to be, most successfully, under British Rail.
We had better not re-join the EU then as they now make even the French put services out to tender nowadays!
How does your comment fit with freight and such as West Coast and LSL? All back under the stifling day to day control of government?
Surely LNR could enter into an agreement with the Vivarail administrators to keep the maintenance work going? This would be a continuing source of income, assuming LNR continues to pay for this service.
Awful news. I can only wish the best for the staff at Bletchley, and hope that LNR can come to a resolution as quickly as possible, for taking over the maintenance of these units from Vivarail.
I can’t say that I am sad to see Vivarail go. Repurposed LUL stock has never sat well with me.
They were completely re-engineered and refitted trains. It’s not as if they laid 3rd and 4th rails betwixt Bedford and Bletchley and used them straight out of TfL service.
Perhaps it should have of had a streamlined nose to make it look more swish.
They are a gimmick.
Enough ‘proper’ trains exist; use them.
What will have to the island line?
Probably no problem, as the Island Line fitters have looked after ex-London Tube stock for years ?
Such a shame on what is happening with Vivarail. I also do think that Island Line (South Western Railway) who have the Class 484 could also be affected and the Class 484 to not run and to be replaced by replacement buses. Very sad.
Think you’ll find the Island Line fitters are well qualified in looking after ex-London Tube stock ??
Whilst I would not disagree with this you have to consider getting hold of any necessary spare parts. Most of UK is not quite so adept at making spares in the same way as Cuba for example has done for years but I do accept that some of the technology on the 484s may be in advance of what is used in Cuba to partially counter that point.
Island Line do their own maintenance – spare parts could be a problem in future, but they have five units for two workings, so there will be scope for stripping something for spares.
Not for the bus company. Island line is already performing well below par with random cancellations for lack of signal staff, early ticket office closures and train defects
We’re forgetting they are still a load of D stock carriages in storage on the mainland which can be used as spares. Not infinite amount of spares but will still buy us time