Over 28,000 Extra Train Seats Agreed

An extra 28,000 train seats between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow could be made available daily, according to the Government's latest tender.

The additional seats will be made available under a new "flexible franchise agreement" contained within the forthcoming contract agreements with the line's new operator and made available during peak times.

In addition, a long franchise of up to 15 years for the West Coast Main Line is claimed to encourage the operator to invest in improvements at stations and help "drive down excessive costs".

Launching the invitation to tender on Friday, Rail Minister Theresa 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.”

The new franchise will run from December 2012 to March 2026, with an option for the Department to extend for up to 20 months.

A total of 106 new ‘Pendolino’ carriages are being 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.

A new flexible franchise agreement gives bidders the flexibility to vary timetables on individual days of the week to cater for changes in demand, enabling the future operator to provide better services for passengers, whilst protecting existing services by specifying a minimum number of stops at each station.

(DW)