One fully-British company has made the shortlist for the £2 billion contract to run services on Crossrail, it was announced today.
National Express, which in 2009 was forced to hand back the right to run the East Coast mainline due to financial difficulties, is among four companies bidding to run the service.
The others are MTR, which runs Hong Kong’s commuter rail system; Arriva, owned by Germany’s Deutsche Bahn; and a joint bid from French firm Keolis and Newcastle-based operator Go Ahead.
The Scottish firm First Group, the largest transport operator in the UK which recently pulled out of running London buses to pay off £2 billion debts, failed to make the shortlist drawn up by Transport for London. TfL said the contract would be for eight to 10 years. It insisted that whichever firm was awarded the contract, it would deliver hundreds of jobs for Londoners.
Howard Smith, Crossrail director of operations, said: “We are a step closer to appointing an operator for Crossrail.” Crossrail will operate 24 trains per hour, each carrying 1,500 passengers through the Paddington-to-Canary Wharf tunnelled central London section within a year of the service opening in late 2018.
The new east-to-west rail project, costing £15 billion, will add 10 per cent to London rail capacity and stretch from Maidenhead in Berkshire to Shenfield in Essex.
The successful bidder will be named next year.
Crossrail chiefs are under immense pressure to award the £1 billion train building contract to the firm that offers the greatest benefit to Britain.
