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West Coast Main Line deal ditched West Coast Main Line deal ditched
(35 minutes later)
The bidding process for the West Coast Main Line rail franchise is to be re-run after the government admitted getting its figures seriously wrong. Ministers have scrapped the decision to award the West Coast Main Line rail franchise to FirstGroup saying the bidding process was flawed.
The contract to run services on the line - one of Britain's busiest - was awarded to FirstGroup in August. The contract - awarded in August - was immediately challenged in the courts by Virgin Trains, which lost out.
That decision was challenged in the courts by Virgin Trains, which lost out. Ministers say there were "significant technical flaws" in the way the risks for each bid were calculated and say the bidding process must be rerun.
Now civil servants have found significant mistakes in the way they calculated the risks for each bid. They have also ordered two independent reviews into what happened.
One will examine how the West Coast franchise competition went wrong, and what lessons can be learned.
'Deeply regrettable'
The other review will look into the wider Department for Transport rail franchise programme.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin described the mistakes made by his department as "deeply regrettable and completely unacceptable".
He said: "A detailed examination by my officials into what happened has revealed these flaws, and means it is no longer acceptable to award a new franchise on the basis of the competition that was held.
"West Coast passengers can rest assured that while we seek urgently to resolve the future arrangements the trains that run now will continue to run with the same drivers, the same staff and timetables as planned."
FirstGroup was due to take over train services on the line - one of Britain's busiest - in December.
The Department for Transport said because of the decision to rerun the bidding process it would no longer be contesting the judicial review launched by Virgin Trains in the High Court.
And it said an announcement would be made about the suspension of staff while the investigation into the mistakes is carried out.