Serco takes over Caledonian Sleeper franchise from FirstGroup

28th May 2014 07:32

Serco has been selected to manage the new 15-year franchise for the Caledonian Sleeper service between London and several Scottish cities.From April 1st 2015, the company will take over from FirstGroup which currently operates the service through its ScotRail franchise.Transport Scotland announced that Serco will be responsible for operating all aspects of the Caledonian Sleeper including marketing, sales, passenger services, station facilities and fleet maintenance.Serco said it would invest over £100m to transform the service in an effort to give a "dramatically improved customer experience", part-funded by a £60m capital grant from the Scottish government.The Caledonian Sleeper service is said to be a "vital connection" between London Euston and Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Fort William, Glasgow, Inverness and many other of Scotland's main towns and cities.The contract is expected to generate £800m in revenues to Serco over the 15-year period, of which £180m will be in the form of franchise payments."Serco has a strong track record of providing high quality and efficient rail services around the world, as well as experience in managing large-scale tourism-focused transport services," said Serco's Chief Executive Rupert Soames. "I am delighted that we can use this unique blend of expertise to transform the iconic Caledonian Sleeper into a modern, high quality hospitality service to make Scotland proud."Serco was one of three companies to bid for the contract, along with Arriva Night Trains and FirstGroup, which has run the service over the past 10 years.FirstGroup Chief Executive Tim O'Toole said the company had submitted a "strong bid". However, he highlighted that FirstGroup is still shortlisted for the next generation of the ScotRail franchise due to be awarded by Transport Scotland in the coming months.BC