West Coast to remain with Virgin
15 October 2012
The West Coast mainline rail route is likely to remain with current provider Virgin after the government announced it was in negotiations with the firm.
The route’s future has been in doubt after the Department for Transport was forced to scrap its plans to award a 15-year franchise to First Group, when it emerged that the department’s officials had failed to assess the contract properly.Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has now said the government is negotiating with Virgin for the firm to remain operating the line for “a short period, of around nine to 13 months while we run a competition for an interim franchise agreement”.
This interim agreement will “run until a new long-term West Coast franchise is ready to commence”, McLoughlin added.
The move suggests the government may now push the longer franchise deal to the end of the current round of franchise bidding across the rail network.
It is believed the collapse of the original deal will cost the government around £40m in paying back bidders’ costs and other expenses.
