West Coast rail franchise Q and A

Embarrassing franchise U-turn likely to see heads roll, but for weary rail passengers it’s just business as usual

Q. Just how embarrassing is all this for the UK government?

A. Well, it’s left ministers and Department for Transport (DfT) officials with a great deal of egg on their faces. Former transport secretary Justine Greening and the incumbent Patrick McLoughlin had been at pains to say that the West Coast bidding process had been robust. Now it transpires it was anything but.

Q. So what exactly has gone wrong?

A. It seems it was not just a matter of the difference between Virgin’s bid and that of FirstGroup, but that all the bids from all four competing companies were not properly evaluated by officials. Heads could roll at the DfT while the UK government’s general competence has been called into question.

Q. So what happens now?

A. There are two reviews to look into what happened and, until they report, the bidding process for three other rail franchises has been put on hold. A number of other franchises are due for renewal over the next few years and this lengthy process could be spun out even further now, leading to uncertainty at a time of ever-increasing passenger numbers on the network.

Q. What about the West Coast and its passengers?

A. Passengers should have nothing to worry about. Virgin could be asked to carry on running the trains after 9 December date on which FirstGroup had been set to take over. There is a legal provision for the DfT, if necessary, to take over franchises and run them. It has been doing this since 2009 on the East Coast Main Line after National Express pulled out.

Q. What other implications are there?

A. At least Mr McLoughlin comes out of the debacle relatively unscathed, even if he initially embraced the original DfT West Coast decision made under Ms Greening, who must bear the brunt of the criticism.

Q. What about government rail policy generally?

A. This fiasco will support the views of some who question what franchises are for. It also plays into the hands of those who say the UK government has too much control of what is supposed to be a privatised railway. Some might argue that in deciding on bids from companies to run franchises, the DfT is more concerned about how much money is being promised than the standard of service likely to be provided. Q. What about FirstGroup, Virgin and the two other unlucky bidders?

A. They are getting their bid costs back from the DfT, but the rail industry can ill afford to dish out money. As usual, the real losers here are taxpayers.