Media centre

Wednesday 24 May 2006

NETWORK RAIL LOOKS FOR FREE EVENING NEWSPAPER PARTNER

Region & Route:

National

Network Rail is inviting expressions of interest from publishers to explore options to distribute a free afternoon / evening newspaper at the ten major stations it manages in London. The newspaper will be able to be distributed Mondays to Fridays between the likely hours of 3pm and 9pm. The footfall through these stations each evening is almost one million people of which 76% are in the ABC1 demographic. Over half of rail passenger journeys begin or end at one of Network Rail’s managed stations. John Pike, Network Rail’s Director, Commercial Property said: “Network Rail is keen to look for a partner to explore the possibilities of offering a free evening newspaper to the millions of people who use our stations every day. “This is a great opportunity in rapidly growing market. Potential bidders will have access to Britain’s biggest stations, which already play host to some of the country’s busiest retailers. For Network Rail the benefits would be yet another offering for passengers and an extra stream of revenue to invest back into the railway.” Associated Newspapers will retain the rights to distribute the hugely successful Metro at Network Rail managed stations in the morning. The forward auction for the potential rights to distribute the newspaper will be conducted electronically. Organising this will be supply chain experts State of Flux. This ‘eAuction’ will be run on a web-based platform gathering all participants at the same time on the same website. Network Rail is pioneering this process as part of its ‘iProcurement’ strategy in order to maximise revenue, increase transparency and save time. The tender process begins within the next fortnight with a view to completion by the end of June.