News RAIL
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MINISTERS TO BLAME FOR WEST COAST FAILURE
THE GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN criticised for making “irresponsible decisions” which led to the collapse of the competition for the West Coast Mainline rail franchise. A report by the House of Commons’ transport committee also blamed failures by civil servants for the debacle, which saw the original decision to award the franchise to First Group instead of current operator Virgin Trains scrapped by transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin.
The transport committee said that despite the
obvious errors by civil servants – which included not taking inflation into account in the calculations – the coalition government had to take the blame for pushing through changes to the rail franchise bidding process while also cutting costs at the Department for Transport (DFT) Labour MP Louise Ellman, who chairs the transport select committee, said: “Embarking on an ambitious – perhaps unachievable – reform of franchising, in haste, on the UK’s most complex piece of railway, was an irresponsible decision for which ministers were ultimately responsible. This was compounded by major failures by civil servants, some of whom misled ministers.” Following the reversal of the decision to award
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First Group the franchise, the government extended Virgin Trains’ existing franchise to continue running the West Coast services up to November 2014, to allow time for a new bidding process to be held. The DFT commissioned its own report into the process, overseen by Sam Laidlaw and Ed Smith, both non-executive directors on the department board, which was published last month and primarily blamed civil servants for the failure of the bidding process. Ellman said: “Many of the problems with the franchise competition, detailed in the Laidlaw report, reflect very badly on civil servants at the DFT. However, ministers approved a complex franchising policy at the same time as overseeing major cuts to the department’s resources. This was a recipe for failure which the DFT must learn from urgently.”
■ Cathay Pacific is to add a fifth daily Heathrow-Hong Kong service from June 27. The new frequency will be operated by the carrier’s four-class B777-300ER aircraft, fitted with Cathay’s new premium economy seat. Fellow Oneworld member British Airways also serves the Heathrow-Hong Kong route, as does Virgin Atlantic.
RAIL
SECOND PHASE OF HS2 UNVEILED
THE GOVERNMENT HAS ANNOUNCED the second phase of its High Speed 2 rail project, which will link Birmingham with Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and the East Midlands. The Y-shaped route will
involve the building of 211 miles of new track and five stations in Manchester, Manchester Airport, Leeds, South Yorkshire and the East Midlands. The first phase of HS2 is due to be completed in 2026, and the extension is planned to be operational
AIRLINES
300 JOBS TO GO IN NEW ‘SLIMLINE’ BUSINESS
FLYBE IS TO CUT around 300 jobs from its UK operation in a bid to turn around the airline’s financial fortunes. The cuts are set to come in the Flybe UK division and represent about 10 per cent of the current workforce in the UK, including the Isle of Man and Channel Islands. Flybe added that it would also look at possible further outsourcing of some functions – it has already outsourced its call centre from December 2012. But the company’s management said it did not “currently envisage any
significant change to the number of UK bases or its route network at this stage”. Flybe said the cutbacks would result in savings of around £35 million by the 2014/15 financial year as the company looked to create “a new slimline business model for the division”.
AIRPORTS
MANCHESTER AIRPORTS GROUP WINS BATTLE FOR STANSTED
MANCHESTER AIRPORTS GROUP (MAG) has won the battle to take over Stansted airport after its £1.5 billion bid was accepted. BAA (now Heathrow Airport Holdings) had fought long and hard to keep Stansted after the Competition Commission told the company in 2009 that it had to sell off the airport due to competition concerns. But after losing a succession of appeals, BAA eventually put Stansted up for sale last year.
Charlie Cornish, chief executive
of MAG, said: “The transaction represents a significant milestone in the achievement of our previously stated strategy of adding a quality airport to the group and delivering long-term value to our shareholders.” MAG currently owns Manchester airport as well as East Midlands and Bournemouth airports, which collectively serve more than 23.9 million passengers per year.
by 2032. A proposed HS2 link to Heathrow has been put on hold until the Davies Commission into airport capacity makes its recommendations in 2015. Transport secretary
Patrick McLoughlin said: “HS2 will be integrated with the existing national railway network, allowing cities and towns in England and Scotland beyond the high-speed tracks to benefit also from new connections and dramatic time savings.”
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010MARCH/APRIL 2013
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