Greater Western franchise

Greater Western

The current holder of the Greater Western passenger franchise is Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western)
Current operator Great Western Railway
Main Route(s) Great Western Main Line
Franchise dates 1 April 2006 – April 2019
Website dft.gov.uk/greater-western
Route map

Greater Western is a railway franchise for the provision of passenger services from London Paddington to the Cotswolds, West of England, South West England and South Wales. The current holder is Great Western Railway.

History

In 2003 as part of a franchise reorganisation by the Strategic Rail Authority, it was announced that the Great Western, Thames Trains and Wessex Trains franchises would be combined to form the Greater Western Franchise. This was part of a Strategic Rail Authority strategy to reduce the number of train operating companies providing services from a single London terminal. This was expected to improve efficiency and reliability.

In April 2005 the Strategic Rail Authority announced that FirstGroup, National Express and Stagecoach had been shortlisted to bid for the new franchise.[1]

In December 2005 the Department for Transport awarded the franchise to First with the services operated by First Great Western, First Great Western Link and Wessex Trains transferred to First Great Western on 1 April 2006.[2]

The franchise was for ten years with the last three years being optional. Unusually this option could be actioned by either party, normally these are at the sole discretion of the Department for Transport. On 14 May 2011 First announced it would not be taking up the option, with the franchise to end on 31 March 2013, citing a desire for a longer-term contract due to the impending upgrade to the Great Western Main Line.[3]

In January 2013 the government announced the franchise competition had been cancelled with the existing franchise extended until 12 October 2013 when it would be terminated. Negotiations took place with FirstGroup in January 2013 for it to run the franchise on a management contract basis for two years.[4] In January 2013, the government announced that the current competition for the franchise had been terminated, and that FirstGroup's contract had been extended until October 2013.[4] A two-year franchise extension until September 2015 was agreed in October 2013,[5][6] and subsequently extended until March 2019.[7][8][9] A further extension to April 2019 was granted in March 2015.[10]

Cancelled 2013 franchise competition

Four bidders pre-qualified for the 2013 Great Western passenger franchise: clockwise from top left, Arriva, Stagecoach, First and National Express

Expressions of interest in bidding for the new franchise were called for in December 2011[11] and in March 2012 it was announced that Arriva UK Trains, FirstGroup, National Express and Stagecoach had been shortlisted to bid. The winner was to be announced in December 2012, with the new franchisee taking over in April 2013,[12][13] however, it was announced in July 2012 that the franchise would be extended due to the late issue of the Invitation to Tender (ITT).[14]

The ITT was released at the end of July 2012,[15] with bids to be submitted in October 2012, the winner announced in March 2013, and operations commence on 21 July 2013.[16] However, in the wake of the InterCity West Coast refranchising process collapsing, the government announced in October 2012 that the process would be put on hold pending the results of a review.[17]

The new franchise was to have run for 15 years and seen the introduction of new InterCity Express Trains, capacity enhancements and smart ticketing.[18]

References

  1. ↑ "Internet Archive Wayback Machine". Web.archive.org. 2005-04-07. Archived from the original on 2005-04-07. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
  2. ↑ "Greater Western Franchise - Publications - Department for Transport". Dft.gov.uk. 2006-02-02. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
  3. ↑ "First Great Western bids for longer rail franchise deal". BBC News. 11 May 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  4. 1 2 Rail franchising future programme Department for Transport 31 January 2013
  5. ↑ "First celebrates last-minute Great Western deal". Railnews. 3 October 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013. External link in |work= (help)
  6. ↑ "First Great Western retains Wales and west rail franchise". BBC News (BBC). 3 October 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  7. ↑ "First Great Western offered new franchise deal". BBC News. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  8. ↑ "FirstGroup wins Great Western contract extension". The Guardian (Guardian Media Group). 10 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  9. ↑ "Updated franchise schedule signals GW extension". Railnews. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014. External link in |work= (help)
  10. ↑ "FirstGroup's Great Western rail deal extended to 2019". BBC News. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  11. ↑ "UK-London: Great Western rail passenger franchise letting". Tendersdirect.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
  12. ↑ Haigh, Philip (18 April 2012). "First leads a field of seven bidding for rail franchises". RAIL magazine (Peterborough: Bauer Media) (694): 8–9.
  13. ↑ "Bidders to oversee improvements on rail franchises announced - News - Department for Transport". Dft.gov.uk. 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
  14. ↑ "Great Western franchise to be extended". Railnews. 19 July 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2012. External link in |work= (help)
  15. ↑ "New Great Western franchise to deliver new express trains - News - Department for Transport". Dft.gov.uk. 2012-07-27. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
  16. ↑ "New Great Western franchise to deliver new express trains" (Press release). Department for Transport. 27 July 2012. Retrieved July 29, 2012.
  17. ↑ "West Coast Main Line franchise competition cancelled - News - Department for Transport". Dft.gov.uk. 2012-10-03. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
  18. ↑ "Weston-super-Mare to London rail re-franchise concerns". BBC News (BBC). 10 August 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
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