19th Sep 2006 07:38
First pre-qualifies for East Midlands and New Cross Country franchisesFirstGroup plc, the UK's largest bus and rail operator, today welcomed theannouncement by the Department for Transport (DfT) that the Group hassuccessfully pre-qualified for the East Midlands and the New Cross Countryfranchises.First is the largest operator in the UK passenger rail market and has fourlong-term UK rail franchises: First ScotRail, First TransPennine Express, FirstCapital Connect and First Great Western. First is the only operator to runInterCity, commuter, regional, sleeper, open access and freight rail services.Commenting Moir Lockhead, Chief Executive, said:"We are delighted to have pre-qualified for both the East Midlands and NewCross Country franchises."Our breadth of expertise across UK rail operations and track record inleveraging investment, integrating services and innovation will enable us tosubmit exciting and compelling bids for both the East Midlands and New CrossCountry franchises."Continuing our consultation with stakeholders across the UK will be a keyfocus of the bid phase and, if successful, beyond, to ensure that our proposalsfor delivering consistently good performance, improving all aspects ofcustomers' journeys and integration with other services are robust andworkable.""We will also pay particular attention to addressing overcrowding on many CrossCountry and certain East Midlands services."Contacts FirstGroup:Rachael Borthwick, Corporate Communications Director 07771 945432Stuart Bugg, Corporate Communications Manager 07734 577684Notes to editors 1. New East Midlands franchise The new East Midlands Franchise will be formed from the current MidlandMainline franchise and a set of services transferred from the current CentralTrains franchise. Midland Mainline is a franchise operating long distancetrains between the East Midland, Yorkshire and London. Central Trains operateda mix of regional, local and commuter services through middle England andrequired significant subsidy.The planned start date of the new franchise is November 2007, the franchise islikely to run for a duration of 7 years 4 months, the last 1 year 4 months ofwhich will be conditional upon achieving specified performance targets. TheEast Midlands franchise being created will operate services to and from LondonSt Pancras together with regional and local services in the East Midlands.Because of the varied nature of the traffic operated the franchisee will servea mix of long distance, regional, commuter and local markets.The new franchisee will carry in excess of 12m passenger journeys per year. 2. New Cross Country franchise The New Cross Country franchise will be formed from the current Cross Countryfranchise and a set of services transferred from the current Central Trainsfranchise. The current Cross Country franchise operates long distance trainsbetween the South West and South East via Birmingham to the North East andNorth West. Central Trains operated a mix of regional, local and commuterservices through middle England and required significant subsidy.The planned start date of the new franchise is November 2007; the franchise islikely to run for a duration of 8 years 4 months, the last 2 years 4 months ofwhich will be conditional upon achieving specified performance targets. The NewCross Country franchise will operate services between the South West and SouthEast via Birmingham to the North East and North West as well as servicesbetween Nottingham and Cardiff via Birmingham, Nottingham and Hereford viaBirmingham and between Cambridge and Birmingham.ENDFIRSTGROUP PLCRelated Shares:
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