The competition watchdog has said steps proposed by FirstGroup and its Italian partner may deal with competition concerns over the West Coast rail franchise between London and Scotland.
Last month the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) raised concerns train ticket prices could rise under the FirstGroup and Trenitalia’s operation of the franchise. Aberdeen-based FirstGroup and Trenitalia won the contract to run the rail route in August.
The CMA said that on 21 routes, passengers would have little or no option but to choose a service run by FirstGroup. In a statement today, the CMA said it had considered the undertakings offered by the partners and said it “considers that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the undertaking offered, or a modified version of it, might be accepted by the CMA to remedy the substantial lessening of competition identified”.
The CMA now has until 21 January to decide whether to accept the undertaking, with the possibility to extend this timeframe to 17 March if it considers there are special reasons for doing so. First Trenitalia is due to take over from the current operator Virgin Trains on 8 December.
