■ Opportunities for ROSCOs and manufacturers
■ GBR to specify ‘ride’
■ Long-term procurement process unclear
■ Boost for Train Service Provision contracts?
When analysing documents like the Williams-Shapps Plan (WSP) on screen, the ‘find’ feature is invaluable. Thus, there are only three references to ‘rolling stock’. And when I raised the topic with Keith Williams himself, he told me the review had largely ‘left rolling stock alone’.
Trains are mentioned 75 times. However, zero-in on ‘train fleets’ and you get four mentions, one of which contains the key policy. This is emphasised in bold in the box: procurement of train fleets and maintenance by independent train leasing companies will continue.
This is an over-simplification. Historically, early on in privatisation, the franchised train operator specified the new trains and issued the invitation to tender. On some acquisitions, a Rolling Stock Company (ROSCO) formed part of the bidding team. Subsequently, particularly with the more-recent entrants to the train leasing market, the focus has been on raising the cheapest funding for the acquisition, with the train operating company (TOC) leading on procurement.
WHOSE HAND?
As remarked in last month’s ‘Blo…
