Longer franchises proposed for CP5

摘要

At an industry day held on April 23, DfT Rail gave a briefing on its approach to the next Control Period starting on April 1 2014. Those attending included representatives from the TOCs and their owning groups, as well as Network Rail, ORR, ROSCOs and banks.rnGiven DfT's uncompromising rejection of Competition Commission recommendations for longer franchises as a means of increasing competition in the rolling stock leasing market (RB1340 p1), attendees were surprised to hear from Transport Minister Lord Adonis that the department was indeed looking at longer franchise terms. These would include breakpoints at key stages in the delivery of major projects suchrnas the Thameslink Programme and High Speed 2. Reflecting experience from his recent tour of the network, Adonis also said that DfT was looking at specifying minimum standards for station amenities in the future.