THE Government has pledged to stick with its timetable for returning the East Coast rail route to the private sector, despite the fiasco over the awarding of a West Coast contract.

A spokesman for the Department for Transport (DfT) said its plans for East Coast were unaffected by the decision to cancel the West Coast competition and order two independent inquiries into what went wrong with the process.

Yesterday, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin conceded there had been unacceptable mistakes in the way the DfT had managed bids from First Group, Virgin – which is taking legal action – and two other companies for the West Coast route.

The minister, who also oversaw the suspension of three civil servants in the department, ordered two reviews, including a review into the wider DfT rail franchise programme.

But while three other outstanding franchise competitions have been paused by Mr McLoughlin, the DfT did not make any specific pronouncement over East Coast, which it wants to hand over to a private operator from December next year.

Despite this, The Northern Echo understands at least one planned bidder for the route is already working on the basis the process will be delayed.

Maria Eagle, Labour’s transport spokeswoman, said the transport secretary should think again, adding: “He should be clear that he is not going ahead with that franchise competition.”

York Central Labour MP Hugh Bayley said: “What has happened shows the franchise system is flawed and I will be putting forward questions in Parliament to find out what it means for the timetable to return the East Coast to the private sector.”

Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the TSSA rail union, said: “This fiasco shows that the whole bidding process for private franchises is not fit for purpose. The DfT seems to be making it up as they go along.”

Mr Cortes said publiclyowned franchises such as East Coast were cheaper for passengers and taxpayers and pointed out that East Coast had paid 15 times more in refunds to passengers – £6.6m – in 2011-12 than the average for private operators, which was only £400,000.

The Government decision will cost taxpayers £40m as the DfT will be paying back the money the four firms spent on West Coast franchise bids.

Northern TUC regional secretary Kevin Rowan said: “The disruption and embarrassment over this failed franchising effort is further clear evidence for the case for renationalising rail services.”

East Coast has been operated by state-run Directly Operated Railways since November 2009. Last week, it recorded a seven per cent rose in annual operating profits to £7.1m.