Bidding for franchises has become extremely expensive, to the extent that there are few entrants into the competitions, and amongst those few entrants, you'll find a number of partnerships rather than individual companies. Even incumbents are not bidding in some cases.
On of the suggested benefits of splitting the GWR▸ franchise was to enable more bidders to be attracted rather than it only being available as a huge entity to the big boys, but I do wonder how much of the process of bidding is scaled in proportion to the franchise, and how much is a fixed size element of admin and paperwork no matter how big the franchise is. In a slightly different arena (Community Rail) I was noting a potential merger into a superCRP in one regions of the north of England ... and can appreciate the temptation to be able to carry out a single set of admin tasks across a bigger rather than a smaller area.
Splitting the GWR franchise is the most stupid idea I've heard for a long time, and quite a lot of people are against it. The
EMT» franchise is in the poop as someone else as said lots of non useable
HST▸ 's, and not enough 222 Meridan's to replace them, which means another costly order of new stock, although i'm suprised, as I would have thought First would add it onto their 802 orders. I do worry about them bidding for the West Coast again(deja vu), who's not to say Branson will throw his toys out of the pram again and First will be back in the red.
