The recent takeover of National Express East Coast by the government threw up questions about whether they would rebrand the business (again).
Now, I’m not sure how much it costs to repaint a train, but I have a feeling it doesn’t come cheap.
Equally, traveling through some stations, you can see that the decorators have gone to town – painting anything that doesn’t move with the company colours. I must question how painting a pink band around a lamppost, or adding purple accents to the finials of a railing, really adds to the passenger’s journey?
Surely the point of a train company is to run clean, comfortable trains, on time, and at an affordable cost to the passenger?
This article isn’t a debate about whether there is true competition on the railways, because apart from a few routes there isn’t a choice for the majority of passengers, so competition clearly hasn’t worked. The reason we always give our clients for investing in their brand is competition – your brand is a chance to differentiate yourself from the competition.
With minimal competition on the railways why are the various train companies going to so much expense to paint trains and stations?
In addition to competition, a brand allows your company to portray a consistent image. Admittedly, prior to this mish-mash of private brands, the British Rail brand was hardly the benchmark of quality and reliability, but it had recognition. In a similar way to the London Underground or Royal Air Force roundels, the British Rail arrows could be a cult icon. It has recognition.
Obviously you can spot a train, it doesn’t need a logo to tell you what it is. But, if we’ve got a strong, recognisable logo (and a well-designed typeface to match) do we need every company operating trains to try and erase it? Surely, they’d all save money if they stuck to operating the trains, keeping them clean and comfortable, and making them run on time?
Why don’t we design one livery for all trains. It can have divisions for commuter and long distance services (perhaps reinstate the old InterCity brand too). If they like, the train companies can pop a small logo on a removable plate by the door so you know who is running the service. Then when the franchise changes (or National Express default on another contract) the new operator won’t spend most of their time worrying about what the trains look like.
In its usual way of sticking two fingers up at Westminster, the Scottish Government has already attempted this, and London Overground is another example. It needs to become commonplace across the UK and be implemented on the East Coast franchise whilst we still have the opportunity.