Stagecoach in franchise track offer

STAGECOACH has tried to put a brake on Government plans to change the ownership of Railtrack by offering to run the track as well as the trains on its South West Trains franchise out of Waterloo.

Chairman Brian Souter said his offer to run Europe's busiest commuter network as a vertically-integrated rail company was 'a railwayman's solution to the problems of our railways'.

Stagecoach said it could be ready in six months to run such a venture on a five-year trial basis. It envisages a public-private partnership in which risk for the infrastructure would not be wholly transferred to Stagecoach. National Express has said it is interested in similar plans for its ScotRail, Midland Mainline and c2c networks.