REG-FirstGroup PLC: Statement re Great Western Railway franchise <Origin Href="QuoteRef">FGP.L</Origin>

FirstgroupAnnouncement

29/11/2017 07:20

FIRSTGROUP PLC

STATEMENT RE: GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY FRANCHISE

FirstGroup welcomes the publication by the Department for Transport
(‘DfT’) of a new strategic vision for the railways which sets out a number
of proposals to increase capacity and improve service for customers.

Accompanying this, the DfT has announced plans for the future of the Great
Western rail network.  The DfT has confirmed it will exercise its option to
extend the current Great Western Railway (‘GWR’) franchise contract by one
year, to 1 April 2020.  The DfT has also announced that it intends to
negotiate a direct award for the GWR franchise for a duration of two years to
April 2022, with an option for an extension of up to two further years at the
DfT’s discretion.

In addition, the DfT also begins a public consultation today on how rail
services are delivered across the Great Western network in any future new
franchise and as the current operator, we will work with the DfT to support
this.

Our extensive experience of managing the Great Western route, in partnership
with Network Rail, will be critical to the success of the £7.5bn Great
Western Mainline modernisation programme and the continued delivery of
passenger improvements.

Commenting, Tim O’Toole, FirstGroup’s Chief Executive, said:

“We welcome the publication of the DfT’s new strategic vision for the
railways and look forward to progressing this with the Government.

“We are pleased that our strong track record at GWR is recognised, and that
the DfT intend to extend the franchise and negotiate a further direct award
lasting at least two years. A period of detailed negotiation will now follow,
but this opportunity will create further stability on the Great Western route
as our experienced team continue their work with our partners to transform a
key part of the country’s transport infrastructure.

“GWR was recently awarded Rail Operator of the Year, and our passengers are
already seeing the benefits of significant investment. We have introduced new
suburban and long distance trains with more seats, and going forward the
upgrade work will enable us to offer more frequent and faster services. These
will help keep people moving and communities prospering across the network for
generations to come.”

Notes to Editors

About FirstGroup plc

FirstGroup plc (LSE: FGP.L) is a leading transport operator in the UK and
North America. With £5.7 billion in revenue and more than 100,000 employees,
we transported around two billion passengers last year. Each of our five
divisions is a leader in its field: In North America, First Student is the
largest provider of student transportation with a fleet of more than 40,000
yellow school buses, First Transit is one of the largest providers of
outsourced transit management and contracting services, while Greyhound is the
only nationwide operator of scheduled intercity coaches. In the UK, First Bus
is one of Britain's largest bus operators, transporting 1.6 million passengers
a day.

About First Rail

FirstGroup is one of the most experienced rail operators in the UK and the
only one to run every sort of railway - long distance, regional, commuter and
sleeper operations. We carried around 130 million passengers in 2016/17.

o     We operate three passenger franchises – Great Western Railway
(GWR), South Western Railway (SWR) and TransPennine Express – and one open
access service, Hull Trains.

o     We operate the Tramlink network on behalf of Transport for London
carrying around 30 million passengers a year and the Heathrow Connect service
in partnership with Heathrow Airport.

Our vision is to provide solutions for an increasingly congested world...
keeping people moving and communities prospering.

Visit our website at www.firstgroupplc.com and follow us @firstgroupplc on
Twitter.

Contacts at FirstGroup:

Faisal Tabbah, Group Investor Relations Manager

Stuart Butchers, Group Head of Media

Tel: +44 20 7725 3354

Contacts at Brunswick PR: 

Andrew Porter, Tel: +44 20 7404 5959



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