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The government now admits that it does not know the costs of running the threatened London-Penzance sleeper train.
In a statement to the growing Save Our Sleeper campaign, which now has more than 850 signatures on its petition, a Department for Transport (DfT) spokesman said: "The Invitation to Tender for the Greater Western franchise has been issued and as part of this bidders have been asked to bid and separately price sleeper services. "Costs to run the service are thought to be around £5m, but this is simply an estimate.
The intention of asking the three franchise bidders to price the sleeper service separately is to see if the services can be run more efficiently with lower costs and higher usage, and to consider whether there are any viable alternatives. "No decisions have been taken and the bids will be looked at once they have been submitted in the Autumn," says the DfT. SOS Joint Chairman Andrew Roden says: "This is the first time the Department for Transport has admitted to us that it doesn't know how much the sleeper train costs to run, yet the Strategic Rail Authority said in June that it believes the sleeper is not value for money.
"It's a step back from the letter sent by DfT official Roger Jones to Andrew George MP, where he claims the service costs around £5 million to run, and definitely covers less than half the costs. "The most common comment I receive about the sleeper train is that it needs better promotion: if more people know about the service, more will use it, and we wouldn't be fighting to save it now.
"The Save Our Sleeper campaign has real momentum behind it now, and we need everyone who cares about the South West, and about travel, to sign our petition, write to their MPs, and write to Alistair Darling to show how much they value this vital service. I really believe that we're going to save this train - but we need as much support as possible, and fast, because we don't have long left."
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