FirstGroup soothes on crash fears

TRAIN operator FirstGroup has sought to soothe City fears about potential network disruption following the rail crash last Friday at Potters Bar, north of London. The company said investigators had said that the points failure was an isolated incident that would not lead to network-wide delays like those after the Hatfield disaster.

Chief executive Moir Lockhead, in charge of Great Eastern and Great Western routes into London, said in the first five days since the crash there were no indications of a fall in patronage from train users. He hopes the increase in the return of passengers to the network will continue. 'Over the last two years we have seen passenger growth of only 5%,' he said. 'But in the last six months that has risen to 11%.' FirstGroup shares, which fell 5% after Potters Bar, were down a further 17 1/2p to 297 1/2p.

Underlying profits at FirstGroup, which is also Britain's biggest bus operator and has extensive Yellow Bus and transit bus services in the US, rose 5% to £156m. The result was buoyed by more taxpayer subsidies for its loss-making First North Western train services. The dividend is increased by 10% to 10.3p a share.

FirstGroup could be a major beneficiary of plans from the Strategic Rail Authority's Richard Bowker to redraw the franchise map. It is close to bidding to run a Greater Anglian franchise, taking over the services of GB Rail's Anglian Railways and part of National Express's WAGN network. The franchise, which will deliver increased capacity and lower costs, could be operating in summer 2003.