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MINISTERS put the German and Italian states on the shortlist to take over yet another chunk of Britain’s railways yesterday.
Deutsche Bahn subsidiary Arriva and a joint venture between Trenitalia and bus giant FirstGroup will vye with current operator Stagecoach for the new East Midlands franchise.
Stagecoach, which also started out in the bus trade, is chaired by homophobic SNP donor Brian Souter. Arriva already holds the Welsh national franchise and runs Northern and Chiltern Railways.
Trenitalia recently entered the British market with an unprecedented buy-up of c2c, which runs trains from east London to Essex. It boasted at the time that it would “leverage” the relationship it had built with the Department for Transport for further expansion on Britain’s privatised railways.
Rail union RMT said yesterday it was a “scandal” that other national networks could “fleece” British passengers to subsidise their own fares at home.
“Here we go again,” the union’s general secretary Mick Cash blasted. “The same old bunch of failures, chancers and overseas rip-off merchants are lined up to plunder the East Midlands franchise with the UK public ownership option ignored once again.
“This latest fiasco, showing yet again this government are quite happy to have state ownership of our railways as long as it’s not the British state, reinforces the case for renationalisation of our entire rail network.”
” Rail minister Paul Maynard smarmed: “I am delighted that all these first-class companies have demonstrated their confidence in our vision for the future of the rail industry in Great Britain by bidding for this key franchise.”
Trenitalia chief executive Barbara Morgante insisted passengers would benefit from “our track record and ability to innovate and invest across all the rail transport value chain.”
The current East Midlands franchise is due to expire in March next year, but the Transport Secretary has powers to extend it by up to 12 months.
The DfT says the new operator will take over in November 2018. Other states to hold major stakes in the British rail sector include France, Holland and China.
