Rail Franchises: Govia Thameslink

Lord Bradshaw Excerpts

Tuesday 16th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg]

I agree with my noble friend. The privatisation of passenger services has helped to transform our railways, with private sector competition delivering innovation and private investment. As I said, the changes in the rail strategy that we have announced will improve the franchising process.

[Lord Bradshaw (LD)]

Would the Minister go back to the answer to the previous question that she was asked? The splitting of this franchise into two is probably not a good idea. I worked on the original Thameslink franchise, and the idea was to connect north and south London under one management with one railway. Any splitting of the franchise would waste money on management and undermine the productivity of train crews. I ask her to think very carefully about what she has just said.

[Baroness Sugg]

I reassure the noble Lord that we will be considering this very carefully. I will certainly feed his comments back to our new Rail Minister.