Tenders for Cross Country, East, West Midlands rail franchises
AFX: 31st October 2006
LONDON - Tender invitations have been issued for the new Cross Country, East Midlands and West Midlands rail franchises, said UK junior Transport Minister Tom Harris.
He said the new franchises will start operating on Nov 11 2007 and will provide more than 2,000 services daily.
In September, the DfT revealed the parties that have qualified to bid for the new franchises.
For the New Cross Country franchise the qualifiers are Arriva PLC, FirstGroup PLC, National Express Group PLC and Virgin Rail Group. Virgin Rail Group is a 51:49 percent joint venture between Richard Branson's Virgin group and StageCoach Group PLC.
Arriva, FirstGroup, National Express and Stagecoach have also qualified to bid for the East Midlands franchise.
For the West Midlands franchise the qualifiers are Govia (Go-Ahead Group PLC's 65:35 joint venture with Keolis SA (a unit of Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais - SNCF), MTR Corp of Hong Kong, and a joint venture between Serco Group PLC and NedRailways.