The Scottish government has awarded the £2.5 billion ScotRail train franchise to an offshoot of the Dutch railways in the latest blow to the incumbent operator, FirstGroup.
Abellio was this morning be named the winner of the bid to take over most of the country’s train services for ten years from next April.
The Scotrail deal is the biggest contract award by the Scottish government — and comes less than three weeks after the referendum on independence.
The contract is expected to stoke controversy because Abellio is believed to have been outbid on price by National Express. The Dutch bidder is understood to have scored more highly on the quality of its offer.
The pair, alongside FirstGroup, were three of the five shortlisted bidders for