Section one: Competent authority
one.1) Name and addresses
THE DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT
Great Minster House,33 Horseferry Road
LONDON
SW1P 4DR
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UKI32 - Westminster
Justification for not providing organisation identifier
Not on any register
one.3) Communication
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
one.4) Type of the competent authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
Contract for South Western rail passenger services. Currently operated by First MTR South Western Trains Limited (Ltd).
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 60200000 - Railway transport services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
Areas covered by the public transport services:
Rail transport services
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 60210000 - Public transport services by railways
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKI - London
- UKJ - South East (England)
- UKK - South West (England)
Main site or place of performance
South Western rail passenger services operate between London Waterloo, South West London, and counties in South and South West England including the Isle of Wight.
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Contract for provision of commuter and regional rail passenger services on the UK conventional mainline rail system. These serve the key cities of London, Portsmouth, Southampton and Reading, and extend as far as Bristol, Exeter and Weymouth.
Services also operate between Ryde and Shanklin on the Isle of Wight. It is envisaged the services would run between:
(a) Ascot to Guildford
(b) Brockenhurst to Lymington Pier
(c) Portsmouth Harbour to Southampton Central
(d) Salisbury to Southampton Central
(e) Salisbury to Yeovil Junction (via Westbury and Castle Cary)
(f) Eastleigh to Romsey
(g) Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin
(h) London Waterloo to Weymouth
(i) London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour (via Haslemere and Botley)
U) London Waterloo to Exeter St Davids
(k) London Waterloo to Guildford (via Cobham, Esher, and Bookham)
(I) London Waterloo to Alton
(m) London Waterloo to Basingstoke
(n) London Waterloo to Hampton Court
(o) London Waterloo to Shepperton (via Twickenham and Kingston)
(p) London Waterloo to London Waterloo via Kingston
(q) London Waterloo to Darking (via Bookham)
(r) London Waterloo to Chessington South
(s) London Waterloo to Reading
(t) London Waterloo to Windsor and Eton Riversde
(u) London Waterloo to London Waterloo via Hounslow
(v) London Waterloo to London Waterloo via Richmond
(w) London Waterloo to Weybridge and Woking (via Brentford and Chertsey)
There is a mixture of leisure, business and commuter travel. These services would be similar to those currently operated under the South Western National Rail contract.
A direct award is now envisaged, in line with the Public Service Obligations in Transport Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023 No.1369).
two.2.7) Envisaged start date and the duration of the contract
Start date
25 May 2025
Duration in months
96
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Type of procedure
Direct award for railway transport
Section six. Complementary information
six.1) Additional information
It is anticipated that the contract will include a core period of at least 3 years with discretion for the Secretary of State to determine whether, and if so to what extent, the contract will continue beyond that core term, subject to a maximum contract period of between 6 and 8 years in total.
The competent authority reserves the right not to proceed with the direct award as envisaged or to use an alternative method to procure an operator for the contract.
This pre-award publication is published by the competent authority under Regulation 22 of the Public Service Obligations in Transport Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023 No. 1369), and relates to a direct award of a public service contract concerning transport by rail under Regulation 17(1) of those Regulations. The competent authority reserves the right to amend this notice at any point before the relevant day (as defined in Regulation 22(2) of those Regulations), and to publish a rectification where required to do so.