Partner Article

West coast rail franchise to introduce 28,000 seats

An extra 28,000 seats a day could be available to rail passengers traveling across the UK, Rail Minister Theresa Villiers has announced.

A new flexible franchise agreement will allow more services to be scheduled around busy periods, and in addition, a long franchise of up to 15 years for the West Coast Main Line will encourage investment in stations.

As well as hoping to drive down excessive costs, the new franchise, which runs from December 2012 to March 2026, will include the introduction of smart ticketing technology.

Mrs Villiers said: “Passengers will welcome the 28,000 additional seats this new franchise will deliver everyday on what is becoming one of the UK’s busiest rail lines.

“A longer, more flexible franchise will encourage private sector investment, for example in improving stations.

“It will also promote greater efficiency to enable improvements to be made whilst driving down costs.

“The introduction of new requirements on passenger satisfaction will mean the operator has to focus strongly on the issues that matter most to passengers; and the roll out of smart ticketing will provide many more passengers with greater convenience and the sort of advantages already enjoyed in the capital.”

A total of 106 new ‘Pendolino’ carriages will be added to the West Coast route, enabling four new train sets to be introduced and 31 existing trains to be lengthened from nine to 11 carriages.

Bidders on the franchise will be given the flexibility to vary timetables and cater towards shift in demand, for passengers travelling between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .