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Railways: Greater Anglia Franchise

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Chris Mole): My right hon. and noble Friend the Secretary of State for the Department for Transport has made the following ministerial statement:

The Greater Anglia franchise, currently operating as National Express East Anglia, consists of services from London Liverpool Street to north and east Greater London, Essex, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. As I announced to the House on 26 November, the current franchise will terminate on 31 March 2011. The Department will be consulting on the new franchise specification over the spring of 2010, with a view to issuing an invitation to tender in the summer of 2010 and an announcement of the successful bidder in late 2010 to start the new franchise on 1 April 2011.

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