any new entrants and maybe, National Express Given that NEG has had to renegotiate a number of their franchises (which is no different to effectively 'handed in' ), I think you've just reduced the number of potential bidders to 1 plus any new entrants, of whom I would suspect there would be very, very few. Also, you wonder how serious this whole process is. Last time there was competition for the ICEC franchise, it only effectively happened because the SRA had really meant to give GNER an extension but somehow fouled up and asked for bids. Then they tried to suggest to Virgin/Stagecoach that they might like to not bid so seriously, and ultimately gave GNER the extension because, had they awarded the franchise as a result of the preceding bidding, the losing party would have started proceedings. Perhaps it will ultimately come down to a combination of whether Jim General Midwinter Sherwood wants to stay in the game, and whether the SRA wants him to.

Jubilee Line extension for onward moves...... The South Eastern lines were rationalised in 1976, when the flows through London Bridge to Charing Cross and Cannon Street were largely separated, with the sorting moved out to Lewisham, or even further out. Charing Cross trains bring close to 30,000 passengers into Waterloo East and Charing Cross in the peak hour (some of whom will have transferred from a South Central train at London Bridge), and the Jubilee Line couldn't cope with them all. The best hopes for further rationalisation rest with CTRL-DS, which might transfer enough passengers to Stratford International and St Pancras to free up the traditional SE lines a little, and, particularly, with Thames_link_ 2(3)000 if it ever happens, which will bring Thames_link_ trains under the Charing Cross lines at Blue Anchor into the middle of the formation, give them their own platforms at, and their own lines through, London Bridge, and give the Charing Cross trains new platforms at London Bridge and a new pair of tracks to Metropolitan Junction. Peter

Jubilee Line extension for onward moves...... Armchair strategy!  I doubt if you have ever travelled on the Jubilee line at rush hour.  London Bridge underground is frequently closed due to overcrowding on the platforms.  Anyway the Jubilee line would be no use to persons wanting Charing Cross as it bypasses that station.

that Sevenoaks handles more passengers than the whole of the Chiltern lines. The Chiltern line of Dick Fearn's day, possibly. The Chiltern network of today is an entirely different beast, now operating beyond Banbury to Birmingham and Kidderminster and providing a Birmingham suburban service in addition to a pseudo-InterCity service between Brum and London. Even in Chiltern's core area the volume of passengers has increased at an incredible annual rate. For example, in 1992 Chiltern were operating eleven three-car 165s and twenty-eight two-car 165s (a total of eighty-nine vehicles);  today that figure is eleven three-car 165s, twenty-three two car 165s, seven four-car 168s, seven three-car 168s,  three two-car 168s and a single car 121 (a total of one hundred and thirty-five vehicles, with more on order). Chiltern is no longer the cosy little London suburban railway of Dick Fearn's day.

SRA wants him to. Or indeed if Christopher Garnett wants to. I'm fairly impressed that in this age of bosses running from one company to another every few months, he has stuck at it from day one. He's not frightened about getting his hands-on action everytime there's disruption either, which makes a nice change. Nev

Given that NEG has had to renegotiate a number of their franchises (which is no different to effectively 'handed in' ), I think you've just reduced the number of potential bidders to 1 plus any new entrants, of whom I would suspect there would be very, very few. but 15 have expressed interst in the new Kent franchise, There's a big difference between an _expression_ of interest and actually bidding, and then you've got to get from being a bidder to being a preferred bidder. There have been plenty of _expression_s of interest in franchises from organisations (SBB being possibly the most interesting p_layer_) which have since pulled out. I think _expression_s of interest are a bit of a red herring. No, it is the present (new) process. The SRA asks for _expression_s of interest, and then whittles them down to 3 or 4 qualified bidders, because that is the most it can sensibly handle. These companies then bid, and usually re-bid, and then the SRA declares a preferred bidder, with whom it negotiates further. As I say, the issue, an issue, with ICEC will be the large number of interested parties who will not qualify to bid, just as First did not qualify to bid for Greater Anglia etc. Sb