Written question asked by Gwyneth Dunwoody (Labour) on Friday, 16 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 20 December 2005. It was answered by Derek Twigg (Labour) on Tuesday, 17 January 2006 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Railways

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 14 November 2005, Official Report, column 895W, on railways, how much his Department (a) was legally entitled to recover and (b) recovered from the Connex South Eastern franchise in 2003 when it discharged its duty under section 30 of the Railways Act 1993.

Answer: A performance bond had been put in place to cover losses, liabilities, costs or expenses that the SRA, DfT or successor operator had suffered or was likely to incur as a result of the termination of the franchise agreement. The bond had a value of £19.5 million.The NAO report into the South Eastern Passenger Rail Franchise published 2 December 2005 provides details of the amount recovered from Connex South Eastern of £2.6 million. It also states that additional recoverable costs of £3.8 million were incurred by the SRA but that it was decided not to recover these costs from Connex South Eastern.In order for Connex to exit from the franchise earlier than the contract required them to, a negotiated solution had to be put in place that was outside the strict terms of the contract. The concession for Connex exiting the franchise (which the SRA considered of overriding importance) was relaxation of the amount that could have been claimed had the franchise run its full term and the claim made in accordance with the strict terms of the performance bond.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 39380; 441 c1187-8W
Session: 2005-06
Related items: Railways
Monday, 14 November 2005
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects: Compensation Recovery of costs Connex Rail
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk