24.11.14
Eurostar and Keolis 'favoured to win East Coast franchise'
A joint bid from Eurostar and Keolis is understood to be the favoured choice of the Department for Transport to run the new East Coast Main Line.
The new franchise, whose operator is set to be announced this week, will see the line privatised as it has been operated by Directly Operated Railways (DOR), a subsidiary of the DfT, since 2009.
Eurostar and Keolis are competing against bids from FirstGroup and Virgin Trains to run services on the route, which connects London to Edinburgh via York and Newcastle. Several media outlets have cited unnamed sources close to the process who have suggested that the bids from First and Virgin will fall short.
Alistair Gordon, chief executive of Keolis UK, said last year that the tender represents an opportunity to “transform a hugely important national route, which has yet to see the same levels of investment as the West Coast Main Line”.
It is estimated that DOR has returned over £1bn to the taxpayer while in control of the line and last year alone it generated £235m for the Treasury. The move to privatise operations has been condemned by the RMT union.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “It is a national disgrace that the government is continuing with plans to bulldoze through the reprivatisation despite figures showing it is handing massive sums back to the British people.”
Channel Tunnel rail operator Eurostar International Ltd and sister company Keolis are both majority-controlled by French state rail company SNCF.
Shares of Abredeen-based First Group slumped with news of yet another potential rail disappointment. In recent months it has lost its ScotRail and First Capital Connect / Thameslink franchises, and it also lost out to incumbent c2c on the Essex Thameside bid.
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