Government sells rights on High Speed Railway
November 9th 2010 The successful bidder in a sale of the concession to run Britain’s first high speed railway, 'High Speed 1', was announced today by Transport Secretary Philip Hammond as a consortium comprising Borealis Infrastructure and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
The consortium will pay the Government a total concession value of £2.1bn to operate the line for the next 30 years.
The consortium will take on the management of the 68 mile line which links London to the Channel Tunnel following completion later this month. The consortium will be responsible for running the line as well as stations such as St Pancras International, and the international stations at Stratford, Ashford and Ebbsfleet.
Philip Hammond said: “This is great news for taxpayers and rail passengers alike. It is a big vote of confidence in UK plc and a big vote of market confidence in the future of high speed rail. It also shows that the decisive action this Government has taken to reduce the deficit is already paying dividends and that investors believe once again that Britain is open for business.
“The £2.1bn receipt exceeds the highest expectations for the sale and will make a welcome contribution to reducing the deficit.
"I look forward to working with the new concessionaire and to the benefits passengers will see as High Speed 1 seeks to attract new services to the line, allowing British passengers to travel by high speed train to even more destinations across Europe.
“This is an exciting time for rail travel and an important step in our plans to develop a truly national and international high speed network for British travellers.”
The successful sale was managed for the Government by London and Continental Railways.
The winning bidder becomes the owner of HS1 Limited which has a 30 year concession to run the High Speed 1 line and stations. HS1 is currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of London and Continental Railways which is, in turn, owned by the Secretary of State for Transport.
Borealis Infrastructure is the infrastructure investment arm of the OMERS Worldwide group of companies. OMERS is one of Canada’s largest pension plans with approximately C$48 billion in net assets invested on behalf of approximately 400,000 active and retired municipal employees and more than 900 local government employers in Ontario.
Borealis manages a diversified portfolio of infrastructure assets for OMERS including investments in energy, transportation, government-related services and institutional facilities. Borealis has over C$7 billion (£4 billion) invested in over 20 businesses. Its portfolio includes investments in Associated British Ports and Scotia Gas Networks in the UK and a significant majority interest in The Detroit River Rail Tunnel, a 2.6km freight railway tunnel which spans the business trade corridor between the U.S. and Canada and connects Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan in North America.
With C$96.4 billion in assets as of December 31, 2009, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is the largest single-profession pension plan in Canada. An independent organisation, it invests the pension fund's assets and administers the pensions of 289,000 active and retired teachers in Ontario.
Teachers’ direct investments in the UK include Camelot Group, Acorn Care and Education, Bristol International Airport, Birmingham Airport, Scotia Gas Networks, InterGen and Thomas More Square Estate, as well as substantial shareholdings in a variety of publicly listed companies. It has offices in Toronto, London and New York. More articles from Handling & Storage Solutions: | 
