The UK government has announced that Virgin Trains will continue to run the West Coast main line until April 2017.
Last year the Government awarded the franchise to First but then cancelled the deal after revealing there were serious flaws in the tendering process. The government had initially confirmed a 23 month extension to 2014 until a new tender process is completed, but admitted this week that a new West Coast franchise would not start until April 2017.
A Virgin spokesperson issued a comment:
“We welcome the Government’s fresh plans to base the award of future franchises on measures such as improved customer service, innovation and planned investment,” commented a spokesperson for Virgin Trains.
“Virgin Trains has striven to deliver all of this over the last 16 years – resulting in record-breaking 92% customer satisfaction and the strongest growth of any long-distance company.
“We will continue to do this for the remainder of the West Coast franchise and look forward to bidding for the chance to deliver similar improvements on East Coast.”
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has also today announced that there will be a number of changes introduced into the bidding process for rail franchises, following a review into the process.
He said: “This programme is a major step in delivering tangible improvements to services, providing long-term certainty to the market and supporting our huge programme of rail investment.
“Above all, in future franchise competitions we are placing passengers in the driving seat by ensuring that their views and satisfaction levels are taken into account when deciding which companies run our railway services.”
To find out more about the services on the West Coast Main Line, head over to the Virgin Trains website.