Greater Western Franchise

Background

The privatisation of the railways in the nineties created 25 franchises. As part of the planned reduction to 17, a new ‘Greater Western’ franchise was formed by the grouping of Great Western, Great Western Link and Wessex into one large operator.

Current Franchise

First Group were awarded the current franchise on December 13 2005 which started on April 1 2006, and runs for 7 years. This means they run the buses and the trains thus having a monopoly. However, theoretically they should be able to integrate the services.

New Franchise coming

The current Greater Western franchise period will come to an end in 2013, so there will be a new Invitation To Tender in May 2012 with a brand new specification, which may include the Portishead line. The winning bidder will be chosen in December 2012. The new franchise will start in April 2013.