A FORMER Carlisle MP has claimed that the decision to award the West Coast Mainline to FirstGroup takes away customer choice on the line.

The competition watchdog has launched a probe into the award of a contract to replace Virgin Trains in running services on the West Coast Main Line.

A joint venture between Aberdeen-based FirstGroup and Italian-owned train operator Trenitalia is due to launch on December 8.

But the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) confirmed it is investigating whether the decision by the Department for Transport (Dft) to award the contract to First Trenitalia could lead to competition concerns.

The case was referred to the watchdog by the European Commission

Eric Martlew, who was the founder of the West Coast Main Line All-Party Parliamentary Group and was a Labour MP for Carlisle for more than 20 years, said: “There is no doubt it has reduced competition. I would like to see a system where people have competition on the line.

“If we are going to have a monopoly, we should renationalise the railways and let the people run the monopoly.

“The idea of privatisation was to give people choice, but this takes away choice. It won’t do anything to reduce fares.”

The CMA will consider whether the contract will lead to a merger which could substantially reduce competition.

Mr Martlew added: “If you want to go from Preston or to Edinburgh or Glasgow, you would have the choice between Transpennine and Virgin.

“But FirstGroup are taking over from Virgin Trains, so the reason they are looking at it is that it is getting rid of competition, with the whole line basically being run by FirstGroup.”

FirstGroup currently operates three UK rail franchises: Great Western Railway, South Western Railway and TransPennine Express. It also runs open access operator Hull Trains.

Trenitalia runs trains on the c2c line between east London and Shoeburyness in Essex.

In addition to running West Coast Main Line trains, First Trenitalia has also been appointed as the “shadow operator” for HS2 and will be responsible for new high-speed services, depending on the outcome of an ongoing review.

A DfT spokesman said: “The West Coast Partnership contract was awarded after an extensive procurement process, with First / Trenitalia producing the most economically advantageous bid scoring highly on both price and quality.”

The spokesman said the department would not be commenting on the CMA investigation.

Virgin Trains has run services on the West Coast line since March 1997.

It is suing the DfT over its decision to disqualify their bid to continue operating as a franchisee due to a row over pensions.

Having launched on September 19, the inquiry will unveil its phase one decision on November 21. Comments are invited until October 4.