ScotRail

[First Class]

RE: ScotRail

(23/06/2014 18:09)wirralbus Wrote:  I think everybody is now waiting to see who will get the Scotrail franchise , now that the Scotrail sleeper franchise has been let to Serco.

Seems that Serco and the Scottish Government have a working relationship , don't forget they also operate the Northern Isles (Orkney and Shetland ) Ferry services as well.

Arriva, Abellio, MTR, National Express and current holders First Group are all shortlisted for the franchise.

My cynical side is telling me that First Group will retain because of a political bias towards a Scottish based (Aberdeen) company, especially when Scottish Independence is a very hot potato...

"A Scottish company creating Scottish jobs" etc etc.

Not sure about Arriva/Abellio purely because of their size and presence in Europe, and again, there's a lot of anti-EU feelings at the moment. It would be headlined "German/Dutch running Scottish railways".

In the rest of the UK it isn't really a problem, because the DfT couldn't care less, but this Independence referendum could be a major headache for the bidders in my opinion.

Still think that National Express is still in the dog house over East Coast and that they'll have to practically offer a close to zero profit bid to win.