Great Western Coffee Shop

The franchise to run all passenger trains in and out of Swindon is up for grabs, and a public meeting has been arranged to find out what the public want to see from the successful bidder.

Swindon Borough Council^s Scrutiny Committee, which has called the meeting, aims to feed those views into the Department for Transport^s consultation process, which will help form the specification that the new operator will be required to deliver.

The meeting will take place at 6pm on Tuesday 20 March at the Civic Offices in Euclid Street.

The franchise process has been triggered following current holder First Great Western^s decision to end its franchise three years earlier than expected. Responses to the consultation have to be delivered to the DfT by 31 March this year.

The chair of the council^s Scrutiny Committee, Cllr Kevin Small, said: ^The success of this rail franchise and its development, and the effect this will have on Swindon^s future prosperity, can^t be overstated.

^The new operator will have the franchise for up to 15 years, so it is absolutely vital that the successful bidder knows what they need to deliver. I would encourage anyone with an interest in this to give us their views at the meeting.^

The Scrutiny Committee will also be seeking the views of local groups such as the local business community and will be canvassing the opinions of commuters at Swindon rail station.

Just seven people ^ including only two representing the public ^ were present at Tuesday night^s meeting

A shortlist of bidders is expected to be announced in the next two weeks.