Competition cancelled for next South Eastern rail franchise
The Department for Transport says it wants to take into account a review which is to be published in autumn this year.
Wednesday 7 August 2019 10:23, UK
The competition for the next South Eastern rail franchise has been cancelled, the Department for Transport has confirmed.
Southeastern currently operates the services between London, Kent and parts of East Sussex under a contract that was due to expire in November.
It has instead been extended until 1 April next year.
The Department for Transport said the franchise competition had been cancelled due to concerns that it would not deliver enough benefits to passengers.
The department also wanted to take into account the recommendations of the government-commissioned Williams Review, which is due to be published in autumn.
A DfT spokesman said: "We have taken the decision to cancel the South Eastern franchise competition.
"This follows significant concerns that continuing the competition process would lead to additional costs incurred to the taxpayer, with no certainty that this would deliver envisaged benefits for passengers in a timely fashion.
"The department will use this period to develop a solution that delivers the capacity and performance benefits that passengers are expecting, and ensure that the recommendations of the Williams Review can be implemented."
Mick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said: "The only viable alternative to this nonsense is public ownership and that is exactly the model that the Williams Review has explicitly ruled out."
David Brown, chief executive of Go-Ahead, which won the franchise in 2006, said he was "disappointed" that their original bid was not being taken forward but would "engage with the DfT on next steps".
"A lot of hard work was put into a strong bid that would have built upon the achievements of Southeastern in recent years in improving performance and customer satisfaction, delivering more capacity and investment," he added.
Southeastern managing director David Statham said: "We're proud to have delivered more than £80 million of improvements for passengers since we began a new Direct Award contract in 2014.
"Punctuality has improved by nearly 10% in two years, we've introduced free wi-fi on our trains, and boosted capacity on board with 5,000 extra seats.
"Over this next extension period, our focus remains squarely on our passengers, delivering more improvements and continuing to improve the punctuality and reliability of our services."