Virgin in talks to run West Coast Mainline after franchise ends
Last updated at 12:15, Friday, 05 October 2012
Virgin is in high-level talks about running the West Coast Mainline after its franchise expires in December.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin this week scrapped plans to hand over the London-Glasgow route to FirstGroup because of mistakes made by his department during tendering.
He must now ask Virgin to carry on, or get the state-owned company Directly Operated Railways to run trains, while the franchising process starts again from scratch.
The News & Star has learned that Mr McLoughlin held talks on Wednesday night with Tony Collins, chief executive of Virgin Rail Group, over a temporary extension to Virgin’s franchise.
Carlisle MP John Stevenson, who chairs the all-party West Coast Main Line Parliamentary group, said: “It would be logical and sensible for Virgin to continue to run the railway.
“It is in the interests of the wider public and the Department for Transport.
“It maintains Virgin as an option to compete for a future franchise.”
The all-party group is due to discuss the franchise on October 16. It has invited a senior minister and a representative of Virgin to attend.
Cumbria County Council is pressing for an early announcement on what will happen after Virgin’s franchise ends on December 9.
Tim Knowles, the cabinet member responsible for transport, said: “It is incredibly frustrating to see so much doubt and uncertainty around what is effectively the backbone of rail services in Cumbria.
“I am seeking urgent clarity from Government on what their short, medium and long-term intentions are for rail services on this line.”
The decision in August to award the franchise to First was hugely controversial.
More than 170,000 people signed a petition asking the Government to think again.
And Virgin launched a legal challenge, claiming that civil servants’ assessment of financial risk in the tendering process was flawed – an argument that turned out to be right.
Three Department for Transport (DfT) officials have been suspended while MrMcLoughlin has ordered two inquiries into what went wrong and put bidding for three other franchises on hold.
First published at 11:29, Friday, 05 October 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
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