Branson reveals plan to bid for East Coast train service

UK Political Correspondent

Monday 29 October 2012

Just weeks after ministers asked him to continue running the West Coast main line, Sir Richard Branson has unveiled plans that could see his firm operate the East Coast service as well.

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Kate Devlin UK Political Correspondent

The Virgin Trains boss has indicated he plans to bid for the Edinburgh to London franchise when it comes up again next year. The extraordinary turn- around comes only months after it appeared as if the company might be wound up after losing its West Coast service to rivals FirstGroup.

However, last month the Department for Transport dramatically cancelled that decision and announced it had made crucial mistakes in the bid process, hours before it had been due to face Virgin Trains in court. Conservative Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin also announced two independent reports into the fiasco as he insisted lessons would be learned.Two weeks ago Virgin was asked if it could keep running the service for another year after its contract expires in December. The move will give ministers the breathing space to organise another franchise competition. However, The Coalition has already said it will initially look for an interim deal meaning passengers could see their service run by three different operators in three years. At the same time there have been increasing questions over what will happen to the East Coast line. The Government was forced to step in and effectively take over the service in 2009 after National Express admitted it could no longer afford to run it. Following the West Coast debacle, Labour has called on the Coalition Government to keep it in public hands. But Sir Richard indicated his company could also be expected to be one of the bidders. "If the process is fair, which I'm sure it will be, and open, which I'm sure it will be, then I think it's very likely we'll throw our hat in the ring on East Coast," he said. "What I would hope is that any new bidding process will take into account innovation and the quality of ideas." He also hinted his bid would be sizeable. "We know what needs to be done on East Coast, and we think we've got the team to do it. It urgently needs investment and we'd be delighted to do it," he said. He promised passengers a better experience than they currently have, saying Virgin "could transform the experience for the travelling public on the East Coast".But he added it was unlikely any plans would include a high-speed upgrade. The Government has already announced plans for a High Speed 2 network, which will run initially from London to Birmingham.Sir Richard also did not hold back from offering what appears to be a thinly veiled criticism of the Coalition over its handling of the fiasco. "The Government needs to get their process sorted out in one or two departments," he said. FirstGroup bid £5.5 billion to run the West Coast main line franchise. Virgin Trains, by contrast, put forward £4.8bn. After the initial decision was announced Sir Richard condemned it as "insane" and said it could affect passenger service and cost jobs.The review into what went wrong is expected to be published shortly, while the second, looking at the larger issue of franchising in the rail industry, is due to report in December. Labour's Shadow Transport Secretary Maria Eagle has warned there is a "very strong argument" not to return the East Coast main line to the private sector.

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Branson reveals plan to bid for East Coast train service

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