Serco beats FirstGroup in sleeper deal
OUTSOURCING group Serco has won its first major contract under new chief executive Rupert Soames after beating incumbent FirstGroup to manage the new 15-year franchise for the Caledonian Sleeper service.
Transport Scotland’s awarding of the service, which connects London with Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness and forms part of FirstGroup’s ScotRail franchise, relieves some of the pressure on Serco after an electronic tagging scandal.
Its shares rose 14½p to 369½p.
It will generate about £800million revenue for Serco, which will be responsible for marketing, sales, passenger services, station facilities and fleet maintenance.
The service will also benefit from a £100million-plus investment in new rolling stock, part funded by a £60million grant from the Scottish parliament.
Soames said: “We are tremendously excited to be delivering these new developments.”
It is the second setback in less than a week for FirstGroup after it lost out to a joint venture led by Go-Ahead Group to run the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern contract.