Taxpayer to be hit with "significant" bill over botched West Coast franchise
Taxpayers face a "significant" bill over the botched West Coast rail franchise process, a report from a Government spending watchdog has said.
The National Audit Office has released a report following the announcement that Virgin Trains will continue to run the London to Scotland line for the next 23 months.
The £5bn franchise was awarded to FirstGroup in October but that decision was contested by Richard Branson and Virgin Train.
The Government has already indicated that repaying bidding costs to the companies competing for the franchise is likely to land taxpayers with a bill of around £40 million.
Virgin Trains are to carry on running the West Coast Mainline for the next two years.The move is a temporary one and South Lakes MP says this doesn't give the company any incentive to invest in the line.
Glasgow and Cumbrian stations will gain more trains as a result of an extension along 171 miles to and from Glasgow.
Trains currently only run over the 230 miles of the route south of Lancaster.
The expansions is part of a new timetable being introduced on the West Coast Main Line.
Carlisle and Penrith North Lakes will be served by additional trains and Oxenholme, The Lake District will gain one more London train in each direction.
The new daily total of 15 Pendolino tilting trains each way represents a doubling of the number of weekday services between Glasgow Central and London Euston since 1997.
A new timetable is being introduced on the West Coast Main Line, providing almost 2,000 extra seats a day on trains for Glasgow.
From Monday 10th December, a train will run every hour with the introduction of two extra Glasgow services running in both directions.
"Overall passenger numbers have more than doubled on our routes. Demand for travel between Glasgow, Cumbria and London has grown steadily since the last big timetable improvement in 2008-9.
"The extra capacity from December will provide a great opportunity for even more passengers to enjoy the service."
– Karen Hattie, General Manager for Virgin Trains in Scotland and Cumbria
The competition to run trains on the West Coast Main Line has been cancelled following the discovery of significant technical flaws in the way the franchise process was conducted, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has announced.
The decision means the Department for Transport (DfT) will no longer be awarding a franchise contract to run the West Coast service when the current franchise expires in December.
FirstGroup was due to take over the running of the London to Scotland line after being awarded the contract by the DfT in August, but Virgin Rail, which currently runs the service, launched a High Court challenge against the decision
New West Coast Main Line franchise to be signed today
Virgin Trains have operated the West Coast Main Line since 1997. Credit: Clara Molden / PA Wire
The new contract for the West Coast main line franchise could be signed today. The Government has awarded the contract to FirstGroup after it bid more than £1 billion more than Virgin Trains.
However, the outgoing company is trying to bring about a last minute change of heart, with its boss, Sir Richard Branson, offering to run the service for free while it is scrutinised by Parliament.
Opposition MPs are calling for a debate at Westminster, which returns from its recess next week.
Despite the calls, a spokesman for the Department for Transport indicated that the agreement was set to be signed today saying, "The winning bidder was decided by a fair and established process and no reason has been advanced to convince DfT not to sign the agreement."
Unions, politicians and many rail passengers are calling on the Government to delay the signing of a new franchise for the West Coast main line. Virgin Trains is due to lose the service after FirstGroup made a bid that was more than a billion pounds higher.
Thousands of people have signed a petition opposing the move, but FirstGroup insists its service will provide the best deal for taxpayers and passengers.
RMT leaders have said that First Group have based their bid on the same kind of over-geared financial projections that lead to the collapse of the GNER and National Express contracts on the East Coast – forcing the Government to renationalise the service.
Speaking to ITV Border, RMT Leader, Craig Johnston said he believes the contract will be signed in the coming days without a delay. He said members of the RMT union have expressed concern at the decision.
