NXEC is sorry to announce that the...

[JamieLei]

... 10% discount for booking NXEC Advance Singles through their website has now been sneakily removed! They're also removing acceptance of American Express due to it costing comparatively more to process each transaction, and most restaurant cars have now dissapeared with the intention of moving towards a Virgin Trains at-seat food service. Fifty jobs are also up for cuts, with 300 more on NXEA.

Looks like the recession (is it officially one yet after 2 successive quarters of negative growth? - Kev00 will know!) is beginning to bite hard into the TOC franchises which were set during better times. A DfT spokesman has also said there will be no renegotiation of franchises, even though a few have gotten away with it in the past, namely Virgin West Coast.

[Railwaymodeler]

I can understand the American Express card issue. A friend of mine, who was one of my instructors in High School, used to work at a hobby shop in the early '90s and late '80s. He said they had to discontinue taking those cards, like some other merchants, because their fees are higher, and their dispute system for chargebacks, at least then, was a joke.

Funny, I would have thought with a name like American Express, it would not be used much outside the USA. Or is this why some call it Amex now?

[Kevo00]

Yep, hard times really are starting to bite. Infact so hard that NXEC's booking engine now often offers first class tickets almost as cheaply as standard class, which is probably why the restaurants are being removed. That and the fact that NXEC don't believe in the old GNER food ethic - even the toasted sandwiches availiable have gone right downhill, with the good old breakfast panini going.

Back to serious stuff, looks like what I've been predicting all along is slowly coming true. Like I have been arguing on here for ages, passenger growth is a side effect of economic growth. Now we have a recession passenger numbers are falling off a cliff, and the IC and former Network South East TOCs are going to be worst affected because they pay premium payments and rely on journeys to London. 130 jobs every day are being lost in London right now. Sounds small, but thats almost 2 carriages of potential passengers.

Any bets as to which TOC will need a bailout first, or be re-nationalised? The government can let TOCs fail, but it will still have to pick up the pieces.