First lose ScotRail franchise to Dutch firm Abellio

DUTCH rail firm Abellio is expected to be named tomorrow as winner of the next £2.5 billion ScotRail franchise, industry sources have told The Scotsman.

The offshoot of Dutch national railways will take over the Scottish Government’s biggest contract to run most of the country’s trains for ten years from next April.

Current operator FirstGroup had been among five shortlisted bidders, along with National Express, Arriva and Hong Kong operator MTR.

Abellio operates three rail franchises in England, including Merseyrail and Northern Rail, which it jointly runs with Serco, which will run the Caledonian Sleeper - also from April.

One source said: “It’s 100 per cent Abellio”.

Another said: “They have been out and about with an air of confidence. All the talk has been about them.”

The firm have been the most mentioned of the five bidders in industry circles pretty much since the shortlist was announced last November.

Abellio was also the first to announce its interest in the franchise a year earlier, when UK managing director Dominic Booth said its experience and “enormous pool of expertise” well positioned it to run the franchise.

He added: “Northern Rail in particular shares many of the characteristics of the