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New development: Going off the rails? Rail franchising after the cancellation of the West Coast franchise competition

In August 2012, the UK's Department for Transport (DfT) announced the award of the new West Coast rail franchise to FirstGroup. The incumbent operator, Virgin Rail Group, then launched legal proceedings to challenge the decision. The DfT initially defended the award, but cancelled the franchise competition in October 2012 because it discovered serious errors in the procurement process. This article examines the key issues highlighted by this cancellation, and discusses their implications for the future of rail franchising.