West Coast bidders start legal action against DfT
Stagecoach Group has begun High Court action against the Department for Transport in partnership with SNCF and Virgin Trains, following the disqualification of their joint bid for West Coast Partnership. Stagecoach announced this morning that a claim has been issued alleging that the Department for Transport breached its statutory duties under EU and English law when it disqualified the bid from Stagecoach and its partners on 10 April, on the grounds that it was ‘non-compliant’. Stagecoach is already suing the Department over the simultaneous rejection of its bid for East Midlands Trains. The company was also disqualified from the South Eastern competition. In each case, the problem concerned the level of risk which operators are expected to take, particularly over railway pensions.
Delayed Aventras start running on London OvergroundNew trains whose launch on London Overground has been delayed for a year by technical problems are set to carry passengers for the first time. Class 710 Bombardier Aventra trains are expected to enter service today between Gospel Oak and Barking, and the arrival of the first two units will allow the frequency of trains on the route to be increased. Another six are expected soon. The line itself was electrified a couple of years ago, but the Class 710s were paralysed by a series of software problems. The former Class 172 diesel sets on the line were withdrawn for service with West Midlands Trains a few months ago, because Transport for London had been expecting the new trains by June 2018 at the latest and so allowed the diesel leases to expire. A skeleton service has been running since then.
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