Hong Kong's MTR Corp beats UK rivals to £1.4bn Crossrail deal

18th Jul 2014 12:55

Hong Kong transport group MTR Corporation has won a £1.4bn deal to run London's new Crossrail rail link, beating off competition from rivals Go-Ahead, National Express and Arriva.MTR, which already runs the London Overground network with Arriva, will run Crossrail for up to 10 years, Transport for London (TfL) said in a statement.MTR will start running services from May 31st, 2015, between Liverpool Street and Shenfield in Essex, taking over stopping services run by Abellio Greater Anglia. They Iwill use the existing trains on the route.It will use existing trains during the early part of the contract, but will work closely with TfL, Bombardier and Crossrail on the launch of new trains due to enter service from 2017.The new underground part of the Crossrail link through Canary Wharf, the City and the West End will open in late 2018, with the full route running from late 2019.Go-Ahead, which runs the Southern, Southeastern and London Midland rail franchises and has won the new Thameslink contract, said it was disappointed not to have won Crossrail, for which it made a joint bid with Keolis, the overseas arm of French state railway SNCF.It said: "Go-Ahead's bid team continues to work on other upcoming opportunities."National Express, which has renewed its deal to run the Essex Thameside rail franchise, said: "We submitted a strong, customer-focused bid we believe would have delivered an excellent service and a fair deal for taxpayers. We are naturally disappointed and will be seeking feedback."Arriva, which is owned by German state railway Deutsche Bahn, already runs the Arriva Trains Wales and Cross Country franchises.Shares in Go-Ahead fell 37p or 1.6% to 2252p and National Express dropped 2.2p or 0.8% to 258.1p by 12:10 in London.PW