5th July 2013
- Essex Thamesside franchise could be delayed again
- Three shortlisted for Caledonian Sleeper franchise
- Transport for London to run 23 more stations
Main stories
Train operators fear the revised rail franchise timetable announced in the wake of the west coast fiasco is already slipping as documents for the c2c (Essex Thamesside) contest appear likely to be delayed until autumn. [The Guardian]
Three firms – Arriva, Serco and the incumbent FirstGroup – are in the running to take over the Caledonian sleeper train service, the Scottish government has announced. [BBC News]
Transport for London is to take over the running of 23 West Anglia railway stations. [BBC News]
New services
The [Daily Mail] said support for High Speed 2 ‘began to crumble’ after Lord Mandelson became the latest senior figure to speak out against it
- The three main Westminster parties fought back in support of the project amid criticism from former cabinet ministers across the political spectrum. [Financial Times]
- Lord Adonis, the last Labour transport secretary, launched an impassioned defence of the scheme. [The Guardian]
- Doughlas Oakerwee, HS2’s chair, wrote in the [Financial Times] why he believed Lord Mandelson is wrong.
Other news
Siemens has quit the £1 billion competition to supply trains to Crossrail, London’s new east-west train service. [The Times]
It has been 10 years since London commuters began using travel smartcards – Oyster cards. [BBC News]
Company news
National Express on Tuesday reassured investors that it was on course to hit its target of generating up to £150m of cash this year. [Financial Times]
Richard Branson raked in a £13.8m dividend from Virgin Rail last year despite a 40% dive in operating profits, equivalent to 44.5p from each of the 31m passengers who used the London to Glasgow route. [The Sunday Times]
Stagecoach reported healthy results for the year to 30 April 2013. [BusAndCoach.com]
