Virgin asked to continue running West Coast Mainline after franchise ends
Published at 08:14, Monday, 15 October 2012
Virgin has been asked to continue running services on the West Coast Mainline for another few months, the Government said today.
The temporary fix has been proposed by the Department for Transport following its about-turn over the award of a new franchise earlier this month.
Virgin’s existing franchise is due to end on December 9 but talks are under way about it remaining as operator for between nine and 13 months while a competition is run for an interim franchise agreement.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin scrapped plans to hand over the London-Glasgow route, which passes through Cumbria, to FirstGroup because of mistakes made by his department during tendering.
Three transport department officials have been suspended while Mr McLoughlin has ordered two inquiries into what went wrong and put bidding for three other franchises on hold.
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Have your say
- New landmark building planned for Botchergate in Carlisle (10 comments)
- Newspapers step forward and question, on behalf of those who can find no answers on their own (4 comments)
- Police called to 'out of control' birthday party (18 comments)
- Cumbrian garage owner selling up due to supermarket competition (9 comments)
- Crime panel raps 'inconsistent' Cumbria police commissioner (37 comments)
- Cumbrian MPs reveal their expenses bills (33 comments)
- Charity warns of ‘payday loans’ crisis in north Cumbria (29 comments)
- Damning report reveals distressing scenes at Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary (65 comments)
- Cumbrian beauty spot failing to pay its way (33 comments)
- Religious leaders claim Carlisle club's name offensive (72 comments)
Court & crime
Anne Pickles
- Newspapers step forward and question, on behalf of those who can find no answers on their own (4 comments)
- Has Cumbria learned nothing from the horrors of Mid Staffs? (3 comments)
- Love that £3 T-shirt now? None of us can pretend we didn’t know how Primark’s clothes were made (32 comments)
- We told you before that we didn’t want a commissioner (29 comments)
- More Anne Pickles
Search for:
| NEWS & STAR ON: | |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Quick links
- Religious leaders claim Carlisle club's name offensive (72 comments)
- Damning report reveals distressing scenes at Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary (65 comments)
- Crime panel raps 'inconsistent' Cumbria police commissioner (37 comments)
- Cumbrian beauty spot failing to pay its way (33 comments)
- Cumbrian MPs reveal their expenses bills (33 comments)
Have your say
Be the first to comment on this article!
Make your comment