Written statement to Parliament

Rail franchising: InterCity East Coast

Pre-qualified bidders for the InterCity East Coast franchise competition announced.

• From: Department for Transport and Stephen Hammond
• Published: 17 January 2014

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

• Delivered on: 17 January 2014

Today (17 January 2014) the Department for Transport has announced that the following companies have successfully pre-qualified to bid as part of the InterCity East Coast franchise competition:

• East Coast Trains Ltd (First Group plc)
• Keolis/Eurostar East Coast Limited (Keolis (UK) Limited and Eurostar International Limited)
• Inter City Railways Limited (Stagecoach Transport Holdings Limited and Virgin Holdings Limited)

In order to pass the Pre-qualification evaluation each of the bidders had to demonstrate that they have the financial strength, legal, safety and operational experience to run this premier franchise. This is a further key milestone in our franchising programme in line with our published timetable and marks the next step in securing improvements for passengers on InterCity East Coast services.

The department plans to issue the ‘Invitation to tender’ to these companies by the end of February and they will then have 3 months to consider and develop their bids that will deliver benefits for passengers and long term value for the tax payer. The government expects the new franchisee to commence services in February 2015.

Published 17 January 2014