Rail franchise procurement should be carried out by local passenger transport bodies, the review into the letting of future rail deals has concluded.

The Brown Review of the Rail Franchising Programme was set up following the collapse of the West Coast Main Line franchise competition last year. Its author Richard Brown is chairman of Eurostar.

The review said that Government support for localism and devolution should be applied to the rail industry and highlighted the success of franchises procured by Transport Scotland, Transport for London and Merseytravel among others.

‘The experience to date of all these franchises has been very positive,’ the Brown Review said. It recommended that Government should plan to devolve responsibility for further English franchises to the relevant authorities.

‘There is already active interest from the northern Passenger Transport Executives and from Centro, the West Midlands PTE, to take responsibility for services in these areas. There may also be additional inner suburban services within London that could be devolved to TfL as well as those which will pass to the new Crossrail operator,’ the review added. ‘The task of procuring and overseeing franchises should logically sit with those authorities closest to the communities and cities served.’

The review recommended that initially Department for Transport will need to jointly procure devolved franchises with the relevant transport authorities.

The franchising programme which was halted following the West Coast crisis should be restarted immediately, the review said, to maintain investment in the railways. But it stated that Department for Transport should bring in commercially experienced people to help with the franchising process including external financial, legal and technical advisers. Recent franchise deals have been let purely on price and in future more weighting should be given to quality and deliverability in bid evaluation, it said.

(Photo: © James Haynes)

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