Written question asked by Bob Laxton (Labour) on Friday, 29 October 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 18 November 2004. It was answered by Tony McNulty (Labour) on Thursday, 18 November 2004 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Dept for Transport

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will invite open tenders for the Kent route high speed trains on the revised business plan and delivery timescale; when his Department first published as part of the initial tendering process details of the original (a) business case and (b) delivery timescale for the Kent route high speed trains; and how many (i) expressions of interest and (ii) actual bids they received; when his Department decided to alter the business case and delivery timescale for the Kent route high speed trains; whether they subsequently approached companies that had expressed an interest in the initial bid; and how many (a) expressions of interests and (b) bids they finally received for this revised proposal.

Answer: Mr. Laxton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if his Department will invite open tenders for the Kent route high speed trains on the revised business plan and delivery time scale; [195528] (2) when his Department first published as part of the initial tendering process details of the original (a) business case and (b) delivery time scale for the Kent route high speed trains; and how many (i) expressions of interest and (ii) actual bids they received; [195529] (3) when his Department decided to alter the business case and delivery time scale for the Kent route high speed trains; whether they subsequently approached companies that had expressed an interest in the initial bid; and how many (a) expressions of interests and (b) bids they finally received for this revised proposal. [195596] Mr. McNulty: A business case was not published as part of the tendering process. The OJEU notice placed by the Strategic Rail Authority in January 2003 was for the procurement and financing of rolling stock for delivery from January 2007 onwards. HSBC were appointed as financiers as a result of this competition. The management of the rolling stock competition was a matter for HSBC, who offered the SRA vehicles from a choice of three manufacturers. It was open to bidders to put in variant bids. Restarting a competition for the rolling stock or financier would put the planned launch date of the high- speed Kent services in 2009 under severe risk.

Secondary information