3 Throughout planning, procurement and operation the Department has set specific objectives which reflect its overall priorities to control costs, live within the public funding available and improve railway performance. Although the Department's wider objective of improving the environmental impact of transport was not explicitly stated as an objective in any of the franchises examined, the Department has begun to include environmental issues in its assessment criteria and has added an explicit objective for the South Central franchise (to be let in 2009).
4 The Department's service specifications are generally well thought through, reflecting the objectives set. The Department assesses changes from the previously specified level of service in consultation with stakeholders. These changes are clearly linked to the specific objectives for each franchise and alterations are subject to cost benefit and affordability analysis.
5 Local bodies are consulted on specification but are not involved in bid evaluation and negotiation. The Department asks relevant local bodies, such as Passenger Transport Executives (PTE), for their views on the service specifications for each franchise. PTEs are not, however, closely involved during subsequent bid evaluation and negotiation.
1 | Rail Franchises and concessions in England and Wales in June 2008 | |||||||||||||
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Train operator | Franchise area or name | Parent(s) | Start Date | Expiry year | ||||||||||
c2c | London, Tilbury and Southend | National Express Group plc | May 1996 | 2011 | ||||||||||
Virgin Trains | West coast Main Line | Virgin Group and Stagecoach Group | March 1997 | 2012 | ||||||||||
chiltern | chiltern | Deutsche Bahn | March 2002 | 2021 | ||||||||||
Southern | South central | Govia Ltd | May 2003 | 2009 | ||||||||||
Merseyrail3 | Merseyside Region | Serco Group & NED Railways | July 2003 | 2028 | ||||||||||
Arriva Trains Wales | Wales | Arriva plc | December 2003 | 2018 | ||||||||||
TransPennine Express | TransPennine | First/Keolis Transpennine Holding Ltd | February 2004 | 2012/ | ||||||||||
National Express East Anglia | Greater Anglia | National Express Group plc | April 2004 | 2014 | ||||||||||
Northern Rail | Northern | Serco Group & Ned Railways | December 2004 | 2013 | ||||||||||
Southeastern | Integrated Kent Franchise | Govia Ltd | April 20062 | 2014 | ||||||||||
First capital connect | Thameslink/Great Northern | FirstGroup plc | April 20062 | 2015 | ||||||||||
First Great Western | Greater Western | FirstGroup plc | April 20062 | 2016 | ||||||||||
Stagecoach South West Trains | South Western | Stagecoach Group plc | February 2007 | 2017 | ||||||||||
London Midland | West Midlands | Govia Ltd | November 2007 | 2015 | ||||||||||
East Midlands Trains | East Midlands | Stagecoach Group plc | November 2007 | 2015 | ||||||||||
crosscountry | New cross country | Arriva plc | November 2007 | 2016 | ||||||||||
National Express East coast (NX East coast) | Inter city East coast | National Express Group plc | December 2007 | 2015 | ||||||||||
London Overground3 | London Region | MTR and Deutsche Bahn | November 20073 | 2016 | ||||||||||
Source: National Audit Office analysis - the eight franchises in the outlined box were let by the Department. The table is dated June 2008 as the date when the Gatwick Express became part of the Southern franchise. | ||||||||||||||
NOTES 1 Extension option. The other franchise expiry dates assume that any relevant extension is earned. 2 Franchises specifed by SRA. 3 Merseytravel and Transport for London concessions. | ||||||||||||||
6 The Department has been successful in stimulating keen competition for franchises. There were three or more bidders on seven out of the eight franchises awarded by the Department and two on the West Midlands franchise. All the winners of the franchises were established UK companies and there was limited interest from overseas companies. There is no sign that incumbency bestows any clear advantage when bidding for franchises.
7 The Department has been successful in letting franchises to the timescales initially established. The Department did not incur any delays, and all four franchises awarded in 2007 were procured by the dates initially envisaged.