ON TRACK RAIL FRANCHISES UP FOR GRABS

40 miles

ENGLAND

Peterborough

Kings Lynn

WALES
Hereford Carmarthen

Worcester

Lemington Spa

Bedford

The Greater Western route from Paddington to Penzance is also run by First Group. Last year it bought in revenues of 679m. The new franchise will run for 15 years.

BIDDERS

FirstGroup Arriva - Deutsche Bahn National Express Stagecoach

Oxford Swansea Cardiff Bristol Guildford Barnstaple Taunton Exeter Weymouth Newquay Southampton Swindon Reading Paddington

St. Pancras Liverpool St. Shoeburyness Sevenoaks Ashford

The Thameslink contract from Bedford to Luton via St Pancras is currently operated by FirstGroup. The new seven-year contract will gradually take over some services currently run by Go-Ahead, including some of the Southeastern and Southern lines. Those routes last year would have brought in ticket sales of 1bn.

BIDDERS

Abellio (Dutch) FirstGroup Govia

(Go-Ahead and France's SNCF)

MTR (Hong Kong) National Express

Brighton

Eastbourne

Falmouth Penzance

The Essex Thameside line, currently known as c2c and run by National Express. Hit sales of 118m last year. The new line will also be a 15-year contract.

BIDDERS

Abellio (Dutch) FirstGroup MTR (Hong Kong) National Express

A Kings Cross to Brighton Thameslink train