THE Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union has warned against job cuts after reports that Aberdeen-based FirstGroup has filed the highest bid for the West Coast Mainline train franchise.
FirstGroup's offer is thought to be 15% to 20% higher than that of incumbent Virgin Rail, a joint venture between Perth-based Stagecoach and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, and could offer the Department for Transport (DfT) a premium of between £6.5 billion and £7bn over the 14-year contract. This suggests annual payments of £500 million, against the average of £100m that Virgin paid for the London to Scotland line.
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