News today that National Express has won the East Coast mainline franchise after GNER owner Sea Containers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Some “vox-pops” contained thoughts about a bus company running a rail company, as they did when Arriva won the cross country mainline, and even Look North trailed it that way tonight. Truth is, both companies have experience with the railways.

Arriva has bus and rail experience in the UK, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands and other European countries. In the UK alone National Express group runs ‘one’ (a ‘one’derful name for a train company) in the East of England, Stanstead Express and Silverlink.

To go to Harwich last week I used a ‘one’ service and can’t complain. All journeys were on time and the prices weren’t too bad. Apart from updating the livery (some of which is two franchises out of date) and some refurbishment, it’s hard to see what real improvements have been made over First Group. The newest trains were put there by First and still carry the purple Great Eastern livery. Some of the older stock has been refurbished, but not yet the majority.

Travelling back on a GNER Mallard service always leaves me satisfied, like I’ve got what I paid for. I never think “wow, that was an amazing and comfortable journey”, but equally I never feel hard done by as I have done with other services, even on older British Rail trains. A post on a Guardian blog sums it up perfectly, as do all of the comments at time of posting. GNER … is the dream over?.

Yesterday I was sitting across from an American who joked about the luxury travel at our table seats, someone listening to the radio on a Sony Ericsson phone (like me) and reading the Guardian (like me), and next to a 20-something eating food from the buffet and reading a celebrity/style magazine. It didn’t feel spacious, but wasn’t crampt. It wasn’t hot considering the weather, but equally wasn’t being air conditioned to the extreme. It didn’t glide in silence, but wasn’t rattling and noisy. I’ll miss GNER not because they’re fantastic, but because they were good and you knew what you were getting. Not “no frills travel” nor a luxury service, but pretty good for a rail journey in the UK.

It’s not just trains, but stations too. Someone commented on BBC Tees this evening that Darlington station could do with tidying up; I couldn’t agree more. Whenever I find myself there I start reflecting on life with that cold wind that blows harshly through the station and the tens of leaks in the roof which let rain fall down on you like a fine mist. Tickets could be expensive on the day and I don’t bother with the Wi-Fi any more, but I think they generally did a good job.

National Express have promised to improve punctuality, which is good, but in my experience it’s normally out of anyones control. On all the GNER services I’ve used it’s always been other companies or conditions causing issues around the timing of a service. Safety checks in Edinburgh station, a broken train in St. Neots and overhead powerlines down in Peterborough come to mind this year.

National Express also promise a better way of booking a journey in March 2009, as do Arriva, and free Wi-Fi in standard class. I’m less keen on the above inflation fare increase which will end the availability of a sub £13 fare booked a month in advance from London to Durham.

The Department for Transport have today announced that the Cross Country franchise will go to Arriva in around four months. It includes Cardiff to Stanstead and Aberdeen to Penzance, and Virgin currently run the franchise.

The new service will be run as CrossCountry, with a different name and logo to other Arriva services. Most people I know have been happy with Virgin, so it’ll be especially interesting to see how Arriva can improve. The Pendolino and Voyager trains are comfortable enough, even if they do seem to vibrate more than those on the East Coast Mainline. Annoyances might include those automatic doors between carriages that close on you…

The highlights outlined by Arriva are both encouraging and interesting for the huge number of people taking to the train year on year.

Providing 35% more seats on peak services, extra seats through Birmingham and some reconfiguration for more luggage all sound good. Sometimes you have to be built like a Peperami to avoid the sleepy student in the seat next to you and the big suitcases on wheels being dragged down the aisles. The addition of longer trains in the form of High Speed Trains on the longest routes sounds interesting, but they’ve not been built for 23 years. I was on one yesterday which didn’t look like it’d ever been refurbished, and it did feel surprisingly comfortable.

Arriva also promise to introduce at seat catering for all passengers. Wi-Fi is also mentioned, although this could do with being cheaper and more stable. The service on GNER costs £7.95 for 2 hours, and once you’ve paid up doesn’t feel tremendous value for money.

Booking tickets online is long overdue some improvements, in my opinion. Being able to print tickets at home would be quite cool, but being guided to cheaper routes is also quite important. More information on board in general would be a nice improvement.

The rail network in the UK is a topic which always solicits an opinion. The franchises, privatisation, crowding, prices and the railways themselves are fairly complicated and can be confusing. With the improvements to the Tube, the Crossrail project and ongoing changes to franchises hopefully it’ll make the rest of the UK more accessible to tourists, visitors and business users, especially around events like London 2012.

To Birmingham today for a book signing at Waterstones. Never been to Birmingham before - with only a few hours I wondered around the centre and the shops for a while. (The book signing was with Johnnie Walker who has an Autobiography out).

Back of the Mailbox, Birmingham. Home of BBC WM, BBC Asian Network and BBC Radio 2, as well as the Archers and some nice shops.

Birmingham Council House

Bull Ring, Birmingham. Someone told me in the queue that this area used to be quite run down. I have to say it looks fantastic and there’s plenty of nice views over the city and the canal.

There’s a few cities I like (Newcastle, London, Southampton) and those not so much (Manchester and Cambridge). Birmingham seems a really vibrant place, there’s plenty going on and the people were all very nice. Could definately see myself living there. The only downside is the rail transport, of which many, many trains were delayed in and out of the city. The train from Newcastle is a Virgin Voyager which I still find really uncomfortable in comparison to the GNER ones on the East Coast Mainline.