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Member of Parliament for Amber Valley

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West Coast Mainline contract – implications for Bombardier?

Following the news this morning of the errors the Department for Transport have made on the tendering process for to West Coast Mainline contract I have co-ordinated a joint letter to the Secretary of State asking that he pause the Thameslink rolling stock contract process pending the review into the errors.

Given the errors on the West Coast Mainline process, most especially assessing the risks inherent in the contracts, I consider these may also have impacted the Thameslink process – for example the issue of Siemens not having a fully-tested light-weight bogie was raised repeatedly in the Thameslink process. The risk of this failing would be significant for delivering the tender specifications and if this has been mis-assessed there could be a mistake in the awarding of the contract.

While there may be no link between errors in the tendering for train operators and rolling stock, we are spending £1.4 billion of tax payer’s and passengers’ money and if there is any doubt at the process it should be paused and reviewed.

You can read the letter here.