Upcoming Events :
Housing Seminar: Partnerships with the Public Sector – Avoiding the pitfalls
Thu 31 May 2012
Minerva House, 5 Montague Close, London, SE1 9BB
Government to offer longer rail franchises
Thu 21 Jan 2010
The government is to offer companies who hold rail franchises in Britain the chance to retain a contract for up to 22 years.
Rail franchises in the UK are currently let for about eight years, but the government has said it wants to extend this to a minimum of a full decade.
This could be increased to 22 years if bidders are willing to invest more heavily in the network and meet tougher performance standards.
According to transport secretary Lord Adonis, the changes should prompt bidders to make sensible and affordable proposals.
This, he said, would also allow operators to put more money into the rail network and suggest new innovations.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Virgin Trains has described this as a "big step" for the Department for Transport, as it previously ruled out the idea of introducing longer rail franchises.
Speaking to the Times, he suggested that the recent decision to bring the East Coast Main Line franchise into public hands could be partly behind the move.
