'Government must work hard to restore confidence in franchising'

In the short term passengers will need to be reassured by the Government that their day-to-day service won't be affected by the cancellation of the competition to run the West Coast franchise.

Longer term, the Government will need to work hard to restore confidence in the franchising process as these decisions affect millions of passengers on a daily basis.

Passengers will also want to know that the burden of costs arising from this cancelled process will not be directly passed on to them through hikes in fares.