E&Y to assess Underground plans
Ernst & Young has been asked by Stephen Byers to carry out an independent value-for-money report on his plans to part-privatise the London Underground.
The transport secretary has called in the Big Five firm, currently also running Railtrack for the government, to give its assessment of his plans in a bid to persuade the public that the capital’s transport system would not suffer under the scheme.
Byers announced the move after publishing details of improvements London Underground’s three million users could expect under the £13bn public private partnership deals currently being negotiated by the DTLR.
Bob Kiley, the Commisioner of Transport for London, has repeatedly warned of the shortcomings in the PPP plans, forcing London Underground to publish a damning report in the summer on the proposals pull together by Deloitte & Touche.
The National Audit Office will also be carrying out its own evaluation of the project.
Byers said: ‘If the project does not prove better value for money than the alternatives then it will not proceed.’
The PPP plan will split the Tube’s infrastructure into three separate divisions, each to be run by a private consortium.
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PwC: D&T Tube report not ‘balanced’