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Transport
Railways: InterCity East Coast Franchise Replacement
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Tom Harris):
The Department for Transport announced to the London Stock Exchange on 14 August 2007 the award of the InterCity East Coast rail franchise to NXEC Trains Ltd., a subsidiary of National Express group. The franchise will commence on 9 December 2007, and will continue until 31 March
2015 with the last 17 months conditional on set performance levels being reached. NXEC Trains Ltd. has undertaken to pay the Department for Transport a premium of £1,414 million net present value over the life of the franchise that will be reinvested in the railways.
The franchise offers value for money to passengers and taxpayers, and provides for more capacity, performance improvements and investment at stations and in on-board services.
Bidders were required to reflect the emerging recommendations of the east coast route utilisation strategy, a draft consultation document published by Network Rail in June 2007. The contract with NXEC Trains Ltd. makes provision from December 2010 for up to 25 extra train services—around 14,000 seats—each weekday and up to 40 more carriages to deliver increased capacity. Until then, the current timetable will continue to be operated in the new franchise, including Leeds half-hourly service improvements introduced in May 2007.
The additional capacity from 2010 would enable a new London—Lincoln service to operate at two-hourly intervals, and an additional London—York service to operate at two-hourly intervals. Faster journeys will also be possible between London and Leeds, York and Edinburgh. NXEC Trains Ltd. will reduce delays for which it is responsible by 29 per cent. by March 2015. It will work closely with Network Rail to raise the public performance measure to over 90 per cent. by January 2010.
NXEC will invest £7.4 million to upgrade station facilities. Up to 2000 more car parking spaces will be
provided by the end of the franchise with half of these expected within the first two years.
Environmental improvements have also been secured. Fuel consumption per passenger-kilometre will be reduced by 28 per cent. and four stations will be designated as “green stations”. Pre-series inter-city express trains, which will replace the current fleet of high speed trains, will be trialled on the east coast main line from summer 2012.
On-board improvements include CCTV on all trains and free wi-fi for all passengers. A full restaurant service on 87 weekday services will be offered. A hot food at seat service will be available to standard class passengers.
The Government will continue to limit annual rises of regulated fares—which include season tickets and saver fares—in line with national policy, which is currently RPI+1%. Unregulated fares will be, as with all franchises, the responsibility of the operator.
NXEC have indicated that they may wish to raise unregulated fares by an average of 2.1 per cent. above inflation each year over the course of the franchise. Overall, regulated and unregulated fares together are likely to rise by RPI+1.6% each year throughout the course of the franchise. Annual rises in regulated fares will continue to be capped at RPI+1%.
An improved website will be introduced that will highlight the cheapest tickets available and the expected seat availability on each train. Smartcards will be introduced by 2010.
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