THE Department for Transport remains locked in talks with Govia over another extension to the Southeastern franchise, barely two weeks before the present contract is due to end.
It was in June 2017 that the DfT announced that four bidders had been shortlisted for South Eastern. They were Govia, Stagecoach, Trenitalia and a consortium of Abellio, East Japan Railway and Mitsui. However, Trenitalia withdrew from the competition two months later to concentrate on East Midlands and West Coast Partnership. In November 2017, the DfT issued the Invitation to Tender to the three surviving bidders.
The DfT has paused the competition since then, partly because of the uncertainty over the future of franchising which has already been made clear by Keith Williams, who is conducting a ‘root and branch’ review of the railway industry.
Transport secretary Chris Grayling announced on 10 April that ‘my department is negotiating a short-term extension to the current franchise agreement with Govia while we make a decision on the competition’.