Japanese bidders make West Midlands shortlist

摘要

Announced by DfT on April 7, the shortlist of bidders for the replacement West Midlands franchise includes two Japanese companies making their debut in the UK market. East Japan Railway and Mitsui Corp are minority partners in a bid led by Abellio, while incumbent (since 2007) Govia and MTR Corp of Hong Kong, now well established in the UK, have also been shortlisted (right). At the same time, DfT announced that a consortium of JR East and Mitsui had been awarded a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire Passport. Under DfT's passport scheme, holders are able to express an interest in all franchise competitions for the next four years (RB1500 p7).