Kingdom's most important railway chains.

The Shadow Strategic Rail Authority in the UK announced yesterday that three parties have been selected to bid for Britain's South West Trains franchise.

It said they are Stagecoach Holdings (the incumbent franchisee), FirstGroup plc in association with the Dutch Railways, and GNER Holdings, Sea Containers' wholly-owned subsidiary which holds the Great North Eastern Railway franchise.

The South West Trains network is composed of three parts: London inner suburban, London outer suburban and long distance trains from London to the southwest coast.

The train service as operated by Stagecoach has a poor reputation. Trains are often filthy, lavatories often don't work, there have been frequent cancellations due to lack of drivers and overcrowding is notorious.

James Sherwood, president of Sea Containers said: "What GNER has to offer is a total transformation of the travel experience using the expertise gained on the East Coast Main Line.

The travelling public knows that GNER can deliver clean trains, polite staff, extra car parking, safe stations, improved punctuality, clean and functioning lavatories and efficient telesales, Internet and machine ticketing.'' BUSINESS BUC