ONE of the bidders for the Wales and Borders rail franchise has withdrawn from the process.
Abellio Rail Cymru (ARC) was originally in partnership with stricken construction and services giant Carillion.
When Carillion entered liquidation, Transport for Wales asked ARC to provide a proposal which demonstrated that ARC could still deliver the Final Tender without changing essential elements of it.
The liquidator has since been in discussion with a number of parties to sell Carillion Rail and to secure jobs, and it was possible that through this process, ARC could have secured the relevant capability.
However, ARC’s hopes to acquire the franchise were ended by the purchase of Carillion’s rail operations by a member of rival consortium bidding for the rail franchise.
Whilst this has safeguarded a number of jobs in Carillion Rail, it left ARC unable to secure the capability it would need to proceed.
As a result, on the evening of Thursday, February 22, ARC informed Transport for Wales of its intention to withdraw from the process.
Commenting on ARC’s withdrawal from the tender process, Economy Secretary Ken Skates said: “I want to express my thanks to the ARC team for their hard work during the process. It is unfortunate that, having invested significant time, effort and money into the process that they should be a further victim of the liquidation of Carillion.
“We have two strong bidders remaining in the process and remain on target to award this exciting contract in May 2018 and to transform rail services in Wales and borders from October 2018.”
Commenting, Russell George AM, Welsh Conservative Shadow Secretary for Economy and Transport, said: “It’s very concerning to see yet another major bidder pull out of the bidding at this late stage.
“We need absolute assurance from Welsh Government that the remaining two bidders are sufficiently able to deliver on the franchise’s objectives and are not also vulnerable to Carillion’s collapse.
“Any support required by the remaining bidders should be provided by Ministers so that they remain on track to awarding this contract in May.”
Of four original tenders, only two remain for the new rail franchise. Current operator Arriva Trains Wales withdrew its interest in October.
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