QUOTE (pedromorgan @ 14 Oct 2006, 13:28)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>I think the grand central railroad deal has hit GNER's financial predictioons pretty hard.
It was such a blatent fiddle i really dont know how they got away with it
GNER was already aware that Grand Central (GCT) (and any other company) could launch their own services throughout this franchise period, so their excuse is pretty lame
They already lose some of their income to Hull Trains and Virgin Trains, and TransPennine and Northern to a lesser degree
As for Sea Containers, its the holding company which has suffered financial problems and not GNER
If Sea Containers does indeed go bankrupt (very unlikely given the US market), then GNER will continue under its Ltd Company status in the UK
However, the UK creditors may get wary and pull their debts in, and that is when problems could begin
On the plus side, GNER has just started on various fleet investments, and I am quite sure if there was a financial problem these would have been postponed or renegotiated, but neither has happened
As for GCT, their launch plans for December look pretty doubtful
This hinges on getting a sub-lease for three HSTs from December 2006 to May 2007
Porterbrook will then by supplying three fully refurbed HSTs, and GCT will use these until their new 140mph DMUs are delivered
GCT have just submitted plans for 5 new routes (well one is amendment of a previous application, but its pretty much the same!)
I would expect that once these applications have progressed for May 2007, then an order will be placed for these DMUs, as they will then know how many they will need