Fiasco ‘raises concern for high-speed rail link’

KEY rail projects such as the planned high-speed rail link to Yorkshire could be jeopardised by the blundering of transport officials in Whitehall, MPs have warned as details of the £50m West Coast mainline fiasco are laid bare.
Major rail projects like HS2 'could be jeopardised by bungling transport officials'Major rail projects like HS2 'could be jeopardised by bungling transport officials'
Major rail projects like HS2 'could be jeopardised by bungling transport officials'

A report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee today blames a lack of leadership at the Department for Transport (DfT) and a failure to “get basic processes right” for the botched tendering of the West Coast contract.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin was forced to dramatically scrap the bidding process last autumn after major errors were found in the decision to hand the new 13-year contract to FirstGroup ahead of Virgin Trains. The fiasco will cost taxpayers at least £50m.

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Today’s report said senior managers at the DfT had failed to apply common sense throughout the bidding process and “missed clear warning signs” of the errors that were being made. The committee said the DfT had failed to learn from mistakes made in previous projects, such as the disastrous part-privatisation of the London Underground, and expressed concern these basic errors could be repeated again with projects such as HS2.

The committee’s chairwoman, Margaret Hodge, said: “Given the department got it so wrong over this competition, we must feel concern over how properly it will handle future projects, including HS2. The Department needs to get its house in order and put basic principles and practices at the heart of what it does.”