For Great Western, our plan is to put to market a competed management contract in 2016

Update on FirstGroup rail franchises
Following an announcement by the Department for Transport (DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)) today, I can confirm to you the following with regard to our First Capital Connect, First Great Western and First TransPennine Express rail franchises.

The First Capital Connect franchise will continue beyond its current planned end date of 14 September 2013. As previously indicated the DfT is to exercise the option in the current contract of a 28 week extension. As well as this, we will continue our discussions in respect of an agreement for the franchise to continue for a further period of six months, to an end date of September 2014.

The First Great Western franchise will continue beyond its current end date of 31 March 2013. As previously announced, under the terms of the current franchise agreement the 28 week extension period will be activated. In addition we are in discussions with the DfT in respect of an agreement to continue the franchise for a further 33 months to July 2016.

 The First TransPennine Express franchise will continue beyond its current end date of April 2015. We will begin discussions with the DfT regarding a ten month extension to the current franchise to February 2016.

With the DfT also publishing the timetable setting out the return to rail franchising today, the extension of our three franchises provides continuity and consistency for our customers and enables us to continue to deliver considerable improvements to services. We can now look forward, reviewing the details of the upcoming franchise competitions as they are announced while continuing to provide the best service for our customers.
Vernon Barker MD ^ UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Rail

Duration: 1 hour

Ian Hislop brings his customary humour, analysis and wit to the notorious Beeching Report of 1963, which led to the closure of a third of the nation's railway lines and stations and forced tens of thousands of people into the car and onto the road.

Was author Dr Richard Beeching little more than Genghis Khan with a slide rule, ruthlessly hacking away at Britain's rail network in a misguided quest for profitability, or was he the fall guy for short-sighted government policies that favoured the car over the train?

Ian also investigates the fallout of Beeching's plan, discovering what was lost to the British landscape, communities and ways of life when the railway map shrank, and recalls the halcyon days of train travel, celebrated by John Betjeman.

Ian travels from Cornwall to the Scottish borders, meeting those responsible and those affected and questioning whether such brutal measures could be justified. Knowing what we know now, with trains far more energy efficient and environmentally sound than cars, perhaps Beeching's plan was the biggest folly of the 1960s?

No response to my Tweets to @SW_Trains recently.  Perhaps they've blocked me?