LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
It seems an age since the ITT went out in January, but the four bids for the Intercity West Coast franchise were due in at noon today (extended to Friday 4 May I hear).
So the DfT now knows what goodies Virgin, First, Keolis and Abellio are offering for the next 15 years.
We have to wait till August to find out who the winner is, though we'll probably never know what the losing three suggested.
I just hope they go for something more ambitious than "as is until HS2" which seems on the face of it the likely outcome.
Just a few issues to resolve:
Will more places get a direct London service?
Will some/all the Voyagers be replaced/e-enabled?
Will the extreme fares/off-peak restrictions come down?
Will the stations get a proper upgrade?
Will the TOC fund any infrastructure upgrades (eg wiring to Chester)?
Lots of other questions.
If anybody other than Virgin wins it would usher in major changes to the wider franchise map, because (just my views):
a) if First wins they will be in pole position for practically any other franchise, especially GW and EC
b) if Keolis wins it would show DfT are quite keen on shaking up the map and allowing SNCF a big foot in the door
c) if Abellio wins it probably means cost-cutting is more important than expansion
We will soon know.
So the DfT now knows what goodies Virgin, First, Keolis and Abellio are offering for the next 15 years.
We have to wait till August to find out who the winner is, though we'll probably never know what the losing three suggested.
I just hope they go for something more ambitious than "as is until HS2" which seems on the face of it the likely outcome.
Just a few issues to resolve:
Will more places get a direct London service?
Will some/all the Voyagers be replaced/e-enabled?
Will the extreme fares/off-peak restrictions come down?
Will the stations get a proper upgrade?
Will the TOC fund any infrastructure upgrades (eg wiring to Chester)?
Lots of other questions.
If anybody other than Virgin wins it would usher in major changes to the wider franchise map, because (just my views):
a) if First wins they will be in pole position for practically any other franchise, especially GW and EC
b) if Keolis wins it would show DfT are quite keen on shaking up the map and allowing SNCF a big foot in the door
c) if Abellio wins it probably means cost-cutting is more important than expansion
We will soon know.
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