Arriva pre-qualifies for Crossrail concession

Arriva welcomes the announcement by Transport for London today (25 June) that the leading European transport group has been shortlisted to bid for the Crossrail concession.

Arriva, Deutsche Bahn’s (DB) division for regional passenger transport services outside of Germany, submitted an expression of interest for the Crossrail concession in late in April.

Bob Holland, Arriva’s managing director – UK, said: “We submitted a strong expression of interest and to be selected by Transport for London to bid for this innovative contract is excellent news.

“We have worked successfully in partnership with Transport for London since 2007, through our joint venture* LOROL transforming the London Overground network.

“We are confident that we can draw from this – and the wealth of experience we and our parent company DB have elsewhere in UK and European rail – to help us create a winning bid that will contribute to creating a unique railway that is fully integrated with London’s transport network and will offer a step change in quality for the people of London.”

In the UK, Arriva operates six rail businesses – Arriva Trains Wales, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, Grand Central, Tyne and Wear Metro and joint venture LOROL*. The group also operates rail services in Denmark, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Sweden and Poland.

Arriva is also one of London’s largest bus operators running more than 19 per cent of the capital’s bus services under contract to Transport for London.

Crossrail is a joint venture between Transport for London and the Department for Transport to build a new railway linking Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west, to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

*LOROL is a joint venture between Deutsche Bahn (DB) and MTR Corporation. DB’s interest in LOROL is managed by Arriva – DB’s division for regional passenger transport outside of Germany.