MINISTERS be in actual possession of asked train companies for ideas to cut the cost of running the railways — and require told them they can keep half the savings. The idea is to bestow the firms an incentive to agree to changes in their contracts.
“Rail exemption agreements are extremely detailed, right down to how many carriages are adhering individual services,” said one train company chief executive. “The shared savings are in that place to help cut through the contracts.”
More radical options are in the pipeline. Industry sources anticipate the Department for Transport to back a trial of “vertical integration”, with trains and tracks being run by one association as they were under British Rail. Merseyrail, in Liverpool, is tipped as the likely guinea pig.
The drive for savings is expected to tend to big fare increases in January, train bosses said.
Meanwhile, companies chasing regulation IT contracts have been warned they face extra scrutiny before at all more work is awarded.