Watchdog eases fears about lack of competition on West Cost rail network

The competition watchdog has eased fears about lack of competition on the new West Coast rail franchise.

There were fears that a franchise operated by FirstGroup and its Italian partner Trenitalia may lead to a lack of competition on parts of the network.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had raised concerns about ticket prices on a number of routes between Lancashire and Scotland.

The CMA said that on 21 routes, passengers would have little or no option but to choose a service run by FirstGroup.

FirstGroup and Trenitalia won the contract to run the West Coast Rail franchise following a process that saw Stagecoach banned from bidding in a row over pensions.

But in a statement this morning the CMA said it had considered the undertakings offered by the partners.

The statement said: “On 7 November 2019, the CMA announced that it is or may be the case that the above merger has resulted or may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within a market or markets in the United Kingdom.

“On 12 November 2019, FirstGroup and Trenitalia SpA offered undertakings to the CMA.

“The CMA has considered the undertakings offered and today announced that it considers that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the undertaking offered, or a modified version of it, might be accepted by the CMA to remedy the substantial lessening of competition identified by the CMA.

“The CMA now has until 21 January 2020 to decide whether to accept the undertaking, with the possibility to extend this timeframe to 17 March 2020 if it considers there are special reasons for doing so.”