HL Deb 11 January 2005 vol 668 cc58-9WA
Lord Berkeley

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Following their invitation on 17 December for expressions of interest in the Greater Western and Thameslink franchises which stated that past performance would be taken into account when letting new rail franchises, whether they have instructed the Strategic Rail Authority to apply the same criterion in evaluating bids for the new Great North Eastern franchise. [HL570]

Lord Davies of Oldham

In future, greater weight will be given to past performance at the pre-qualification stage. The InterCity East Coast (ICEC) competition was launched in advance of this decision. The ICEC franchise bids will be evaluated using the standard Stratetic Rail Authority (SRA) method, a full copy of which is available on the SRA website atwww.sra.gov.uk. This weights the various factors important for delivering a successful franchise. Performance (punctuality and reliability) of the train services and the robustness of the bidders' plans to deliver it are highly weighted in the evaluation.