Head on over to the Ticket Collector to see the list of TOC's who will be tendering for the ECML:-

http://www.theticketcollector.co.uk/wordpress/

I don't know where they get their information and I'm damn sure they won't tell you (I wouldn't) if you ask. Just be glad that they do.

On another subject I've been reading the desciptions of experiences of the French TGV and German ICE trains with interest. Like Diesel I've had the pleasure of traveling on the TGV from Paris down to the south of France and caught a Couchette back up north and apart from the fact that I'm nopt a UK TOC employee and the TGV crew didn't treat me like royalty, my experience was much the same.

In addition I hoverheard a german lady just yesterday morning comparing the German rail experience against the UK's and a GNER 225 with the ICE. Needless to say her conclusion was that the only railway the UK were capable running efficiently ran on a 00 guage track with plasic people, landscape and buildings.

This weeks early morning experiences seem to back this up. Mondays 07.00 was late, yesterday FCC 07.13 didn't turn up at Peterborough station where it starts! and this mornings 07.20 was nearly 7 mins late (the guard said this was because we followed a local service into KX but that wasn't the full story as we were running slow from about 2 miles notrth of Steveange.