Go-Ahead loses West Midlands franchise to Dutch-Japanese consortium
Listed passenger transport operator Go-Ahead lost its bid to continue operating the West Midlands rail franchise on Thursday, as the contract was won by a consortium led by Abellio.
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The FTSE 250 firm’s Govia joint venture with Keolis had been in charge of the franchise since late 2007, operating trains between London, the Midlands and Liverpool under the London Midland brand.
But the Department for Transport announced on Thursday morning that Abellio - a subsidiary of the Dutch state railway operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen - would operate the franchise for the next nine years, in joint venture with the East Japan Railway Company and engineering firm Mitsui.
Under the new franchise, 400 new trains will be introduced and the operator will extend its refund programme for all delays of more than 15 minutes under new DfT rules.
The franchise would also involve more devolution of local services to local authorities, with West Midlands Rail - a group of 16 councils - managing local routes alongside the DfT.
In a statement on Thursday morning, the Go-Ahead Group said it was “disappointed” to be losing the franchise.
“London Midland and its people have been part of our group's rail business for ten years,” said chief executive David Brown.
“In that time we have delivered significant improvements across the entire network which have seen London Midland transformed into an award-winning franchise with high levels of employee engagement and customer satisfaction.
“I would like to thank everyone involved in London Midland for their hard work and contribution to the company's successes.”
Govia will continue to operate the franchise until it is handed over to Abellio in December.