Franchises put on hold after the cancellation of the West Coast competition are to be restarted.
The Essex Thameside, Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchises will resume, but the Great Western competition will be cancelled while a long-term plan is drawn up.
The independent Brown review, which was published earlier this month, said that although the franchising system wasn’t fundamentally flawed, the government needed to restart paused programmes quickly to restore public confidence in the DfT.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “These plans mark an important step on the way to restarting the franchising programme, and while I am determined this should happen as quickly as possible we do need time to get this right.
“We have had to take some tough decisions regarding franchising, and while they may provide a challenge in the short term, I believe the lessons we have learnt will help deliver a more robust system in the future benefitting fare payers and taxpayers alike.”
Essex Thameside
The competition for the Essex Thameside franchise will be resumed with a revised invitation to tender for a 15-year franchise issued to existing short-listed bidders over the summer. Negotiations will commence with current train operator c2c for an 
interim contract of up to two years.
Great Western
The Great Western franchise competition will be terminated. The current franchise will now run until October after the Department exercised its contractual right to extend the current contract with First Great Western by 28 weeks.
Negotiations for an additional two-year contract will commence with the operator, while longer-term proposals will be set out in the spring.
Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern
The Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise competition will be resumed with the Department working towards awarding a seven-year contract. The current Thameslink/Great Northern franchise operated by First Capital Connect ends in September but allows for a 28-week extension, which the Department intends to exercise.
Negotiations will commence for a further contract of up to two years as part of the finalisation of the wider franchise programme.
In today’s announcement, McLoughlin has said it wouldn’t be “appropriate” to reimburse bidders affected by the delay.
Directly Operated Railways will also be undertaking preparations to take over services in case terms cannot be agreed.
Ministers are also consulting on amending the franchising guidelines required by the Railways Act 1993.
An announcement is expected in the spring giving the timetable for future competitions.
