10th Aug 2016 09:57
LONDON (Alliance News) - The UK's Department for Transport on Wednesday said the East Anglia rail franchise has been awarded to Abellio East Anglia, which will take on the franchise from October 2016.
The franchise agreement will include a GBP1.40 billion investment in rail services on the route, covering trains from London to the East Anglia region. This will include further services between Norwich and London and a cut to average journey times.
Abellio will also add 1,040 carriages to the service, which will be built at the Derby plant of Canadian engineer Bombardier.
"We are making the biggest investment in the railways since the Victorian era. By awarding this franchise to Abellio East Anglia we will improve journeys for people in East Anglia," said UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling.
FTSE 250-listed transport operators FirstGroup PLC and National Express Group PLC both released separate statements on Wednesday that said they were "disappointed" not to win the contract.
FirstGroup said it submitted a "compelling, deliverable, and value for money bid" whilst National Express said it "delivered a disciplined bid that balanced significant customer improvement with excellent value to taxpayers and a fair return for shareholders."
National Express added it was seeking feedback from the Department for Transport about the bid.
FirstGroup shares were trading down 0.5 to 102.2 pence per share on Wednesday morning whilst National Express shares were down 0.8% to 340.70 pence.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance. Updated by Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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