As many as half of the GB-wide total of 18 franchises and concessions are ending by the end of 2014. A key element of the franchising procurement process will be for bidders to assess whether rolling stock requirements are best addressed through new builds or continued operation of existing vehicles, with or without refurbishment and re-engineering. Their assessments will take into account a number of factors, including costs, reliability, maintenance arrangements, the strategy for the implementation of ETCS4 , as well as financial and commercial issues. Bidders will be best placed to determine how they can.
