MP: I am
pleased to inform the House that this morning the
Department for Transport published the
invitation to tender (ITT) for the East Midlands
rail franchise and the consultation document for the Cross
Country franchisesignalling the start of a 12 week
public consultation.
East Midlands rail franchise
The ITT for the East
Midlands franchise sets out an exciting future
that will deliver a brand-new fleet of trains, more seats
for passengers, reduced peak journey times between
Nottingham, Sheffield and London and a dedicated, high
quality, express service between Corby and London. These
improvements will mean more comfortable journeys for both
long distance and commuting passengers at the busiest times
of the day.
We have listened to what
improvements passengers want to see and will be
requiring the next operator to deliver a wide range of
improvements across the network including improved
compensation for delays, smart ticketing, high-quality
wi-fi connection, more frequent and increased capacity on
local services and services that start earlier and finish
later.
As the Secretary of State set out in the
government’s Strategic vision for
railin November 2017, we are now fixing the operational
divide between track and train so that both Network Rail
and train companies share one imperative: putting the
passenger first. Better performance and reliability on the
East Midlands franchise will be delivered through a new
collaborative partnership between the next operator and
Network Rail.
Cross Country rail franchise
The current Cross Country franchise, operated by Arriva
Cross Country is due to end late 2019 (though it can be
extended by up to a year). I am therefore pleased to launch
today a public
consultation which will run for 12 weeks and will
help to inform and develop the franchise specification for
inclusion in the ITT. We will encourage
responses to the consultation through: meetings around the
network with formal stakeholders; promoting it directly to
passengers on Cross Country trains; and one or more
webinars to reach out to people across this extensive
franchise
