|
Invitations to
Tender (ITT) for bidders for three new rail franchises, New Cross
Country, East Midlands and West Midlands were issued by the Department
for Transport on 31 October 2006.
The ITTs set out minimum levels of service operators will deliver
when the new franchises commence on 11 November 2007. Bidders are
able to operate additional services, subject to operational constraints,
over and above the services outlined. The deadlines for completed
bids fall between late February and early March 2007, and the winners
are expected to be announced in Summer 2007.
Overall, the Government has asked bidders to find ways to operate
more capacity on the network to accommodate recent and future growth.
Operational changes will facilitate train-lengthening on some core
routes and a more regular timetable for many passengers. Bidders have
been asked to price a 30% increase in capacity on key routes in the
New Cross Country franchise.
There will be service changes in each of the new franchises to capitalise
on the improvements brought about by the West Coast Main Line modernisation,
which will put in place faster, more frequent services from 2008.
Where possible, more frequent, longer trains or new services will
operate.
The winners will accept interoperable smartcard ticketing across the
whole of each franchise during their lifetime. Each contract will
specify performance improvements. In the East and West Midlands franchises,
where the operator will be responsible for stations, they will be
required to achieve Secure Stations Accreditation for the busiest
locations.
Rail Minister Tom Harris said: "We want to build on the success
of current operators, and expect bids to demonstrate how demand will
be met. "We have asked bidders to find ways for the new franchises
to deliver for passengers. This will mean making smartcards available
to more passengers, improving performance and ensuring there is a
safer travelling environment at the busiest stations."
Pre Qualified Bidders:
New Cross Country
Arriva Trains Cross Country Limited
(Arriva plc)
First Cross Country Limited
(First Group plc)
NXC Trains Limited
(National Express Group plc)
Virgin Voyager Trains Ltd
(Virgin Rail Group)
East Midlands
Arriva Trains East Midlands Limited
(Arriva plc)
First East Midlands Limited
(First Group plc)
NXE Trains Limited
(NationalExpress Group plc)
Stagecoach Midland Rail Ltd
(Stagecoach Group plc)
West Midlands
London & Birmingham Railway Ltd
(Govia)
MTR Corporation
UK Ltd
(MTR Corporation of Hong Kong
Serco Ned Railways West Midlands Ltd
(Serco and NedRailways)
Notes
* Snow Hill services: In addition Chiltern Railways (M40 Trains Ltd)
are being invited to submit a separate proposal for the Snow Hill
services to Birmingham
* Capacity: Bidders for the New Cross Country franchise are being
asked to price a 30% increase in capacity on key routes. They have
also been asked to offer a price without the additional capacity added
to ensure that the Department has a comparison which to properly evaluate
increased capacity proposals.
* Timetable changes - New Cross Country franchise. The following changes
are planned:
* Cross Country services between Manchester and Scotland will stop
in December 2007. Separately, TransPennine Express (TPE) will extend
the existing Manchester Airport - Cumbria service to Scotland, offering
comparable journey times to today. From no later than 2008 services
between Birmingham and Scotland will be operated by Virgin West Coast.
Penzance and destinations in the South West will continue to be served
by the same number of Cross Country trains and a new contractual commitment
to operate summer services between the North East and North West of
England to Newquay.
* Timetable changes - West Midlands franchise. The timetable operated
until December 2008 will be similar to today. Bidders will be asked
to price an option for the retention of the Walsall - Wolverhampton
service from December 2007. The timetable alterations in 2008 will
mean: A broadly hourly new London - Crewe semi-fast service, serving
Trent Valley stations, Stone and Stoke on Trent. Two trains an hour
between Birmingham and Liverpool, calling at the new Liverpool South
Parkway station, and two trains per hour between Birmingham and Northampton.
Curtailment of the current hourly Birmingham - Walsall - Cannock -
Stafford service at Rugely Trent Valley, with a connection at Rugely
Trent Valley with the London - Crewe semi-fast service. Bidders are
also required to improve Rugely Trent Valley station. Operationally,
it has not been possible to introduce an hourly Birmingham - Manchester
semi-fast service.
* Timetable changes - East Midlands franchise A dedicated London and
Kettering service will be introduced from December 2008, which will
pave the way for the extension of London trains through to Corby if
a new station is given the go-ahead. A new station, East Midlands
Parkway, will be serviced by London - Nottingham services and will
get at least 2 trains per hour. No changes to the current Liverpool
- Norwich service, except a provision for the service to call at Liverpool
South Parkway. DfT has not included all off-peak services between
Market Harborough and London in the specification. More popular peak
time services will remain and will become faster at the 2008 timetable
change. Bidders are free to propose running off-peak services
* Smartcard Ticketing. In the East and West Midlands franchises, where
operators will be responsible for stations, the franchisee will provide
ITSO (Integrated Ticketing Smartcard Organisation) compliant ticketing
by 2010. Where appropritate, franchisees will be required to accept
Oyster smartcards by 2010. This will enable interoperability between
different ticketing schemes nationally. There are a number of ITSO
smartcard schemes currently under development in the UK. The winner
of the New Cross Country franchise is required to accept interoperable
smartcard ticketing where appropriate.
* Fares: All bidders have been asked to comply with current fares
regulation, where increases to regulated fares are restricted to an
overall annual increase of RPI +1%. New franchisees will, as today,
set their own unregulated fares.
* Stations/Safety: In the East and West Midlands franchises, where
operators will be responsible for stations, the franchisee will ensure
that stations with a minimum of 80% of footfall will achieve Secure
Stations Accreditation.
* Performance: Each new franchisee will be contracted to deliver performance
improvements over the duration of the franchise
* Priced Options: A priced option means that bidders must submit detailed
proposals which are then considered by DfT during bid evaluation.
A list of the priced options bidders will consider are outlined in
stakeholder briefing documents.
* Stakeholder briefing documents are available on the DfT website,
giving more detail of the content of each Invitation to Tender. The
DfT website also contains more information on the Remapping, Expressions
of Interest, the announcement of the list of Qualified Bidders and
Consultation documents http://www.dft.gov.uk
* For further details visit http://www.dft.gov.uk
|
