Written by Keith Barrow, International Railway Journal; November 29, 2017
BRITAIN’s Department for Transport (DfT) announced on November 29 that it will exercise an option to extend FirstGroup’s current Great Western Railway (GWR) franchise by one year, to April 1 2020, and negotiate a direct award for the GWR franchise for two years to April 2022, with an option for a two-year extension. The DfT also launched a public consultation on the future of the GWR franchise, including proposals to split it into two separate units.
Under the proposals, a new franchise would be created which would encompass inter-city services from London to Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance, together with regional services in Wiltshire, Devon and Cornwall, the Cardiff – Portsmouth route, and commuter services from London Paddington to Newbury and Bedwyn. The remaining services currently operated by GWR would become part of the other franchise (see map below).