• UK government admits they fucked up, reverses West Coast FirstGroup decision
    7 replies, posted
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19817798[/url] [quote=BBC News][B]Sir Richard Branson has welcomed the decision to restart bidding for the West Coast Main Line franchise, saying the process had been a "fiasco".[/B] He told the BBC he was hopeful his Virgin Trains company could now keep running the route "for many years". The government has scrapped a decision to let FirstGroup take over the route from Virgin after "technical flaws" were found in the competition process. Three Department for Transport civil servants have been suspended. They face possible further disciplinary action pending an investigation. Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said the mistakes in evaluating the relative merits of the four bids received to run the route had been made by Department for Transport staff and the "fault lies wholly and squarely" with the department. Labour leader Ed Miliband said it was a "disgrace" that the estimated cost of reimbursing the companies for their bids was £40m, and demanded Prime Minister David Cameron "get a grip" on his "incompetent" cabinet. FirstGroup said it was "disappointed" with the decision to scrap the multi-billion-pound contract. The company had beaten Virgin Trains to win the 13-year franchise and was due to start operating services from December. The West Coast route serves 31 million passengers travelling between London, the West Midlands, the north-west of England, North Wales and the central belt of Scotland. Sir Richard called for a new bidding system for rail franchises, saying the current process had been flawed for some time. "We've been seeking a better system that operators can feel comfortable if they're told 'you haven't won'... and if they're told 'you have won', they can feel comfortable as well," he added. Virgin, which has run the franchise since 1997, will continue to operate the line while the situation is resolved, but when asked if the government could step in, Sir Richard said: "If they can't run a process, then it'll be even more difficult to run a railway." "If it is a proper bid process, Virgin will be there bidding alongside others. We are hopeful that if we offer a similar kind of bid [to its last one] that we will win going forward." Bids by Virgin, FirstGroup, Dutch train operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and a joint bid from French companies Keolis and SNCF were submitted 15 months ago. BBC transport correspondent Richard Westcott says there were about 15 rail franchises due to be decided before the next general election and the whole franchising process could now be thrown into doubt. The August announcement that FirstGroup would take in December had sparked a legal challenge from Virgin. Three other franchise competitions had also been "paused" in light of the West Coast Main Line situation. The DfT said the "flaws stem from the way the level of risk in the bids was evaluated. Mistakes were made in the way in which inflation and passenger numbers were taken into account, and how much money bidders were then asked to guarantee as a result". BBC business editor Robert Peston says the department made unrealistic assumptions about the growth of passenger numbers and inflation towards the back end of the franchise period. This had the effect of making First Group's bid seem significantly more attractive, he added, because the company was much more optimistic about how passengers and revenues could grow after 2021. The government has ordered two reviews. One will examine how the West Coast franchise competition went wrong, and what lessons could be learned. The other review will look into the wider Department for Transport rail franchise programme. Following the cancellation, shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said it would be difficult for FirstGroup or Virgin to take on the West coast franchise when the current franchise expires on 9 December. She said Labour would support Mr McLoughlin in allowing a "not-for-private-profit government-owned company to run the the West Coast Main Line whilst all of these reviews report". FirstGroup said it had had "no indication" of any problems until it was contacted by the Department for Transport. "We are extremely disappointed to learn this news, and await the outcome of the DfT's inquiries," the company said. Its share price fell 20%. Meanwhile, Scotland's Transport Secretary Keith Brown has called for urgent talks over the franchise scrapping, saying the West Coast Main Line was a "critically important service" to Scotland. And Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT transport union, said: "The whole sorry and expensive shambles of rail privatisation has been dragged into the spotlight and, instead of re-running this expensive circus, the West Coast route should be renationalised on a permanent basis." [img]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/62285000/gif/_62285220_west_coast_route_map_464.gif[/img][/quote]
Three hurrahs for Virgin!
Idon'tknowtheoverallimpactasanAmericanbutIlikeSirRichardBranson yaaaaay!
Why is Ed Miliband being so aggressive lately, what happened to old Ed Spiliband who can't balance a tea cup.
Anything that's not First is good. First Great Western is an expensive rip off, First buses in Bristol are expensive, and First buses in Bracknell are shockingly old to the point where I passed a 190 today with the back window smashed and it was like nothing existed. Go Virgin.
[QUOTE=carcarcargo;37896893]Why is Ed Miliband being so aggressive lately, what happened to old Ed Spiliband who can't balance a tea cup.[/QUOTE] I'm betting rabies. Labour should take advantage of it whilst they can, before he starts foaming at the mouth, loses all traces of his sanity and rips out George Osbourne's jugular with his teeth.
[QUOTE=Camundongo;37898479]I'm betting rabies. Labour should take advantage of it whilst they can, before he starts foaming at the mouth, loses all traces of his sanity and rips out George Osbourne's jugular with his teeth.[/QUOTE] Should they stop him before or after he does the last bit?
Oh, awesome. Virgin always seems to do a really good job. At least with the trains, anyway.
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