Tuesday, November 25, 2003

John Laing plc ('Laing'), the infrastructure investment group, which operates Chiltern Railways, has entered into a joint venture with GNER Holdings Limited ('GNER') to bid for the Greater Western rail franchise.  The new company will be 50% owned by each party and will be called the London & Western Railway Company.

The Greater Western franchise is due to commence in 2006 following an award from the Strategic Rail Authority ('SRA'), and will combine the services currently operated by First Great Western, Thames Trains and Wessex Trains serving the West of England, South Wales and the Thames Valley. When combined, these franchises will have a turnover of approximately £550 million, 65 million passenger journeys annually and serve 297 stations.

London & Western will combine GNER's expertise in running long distance prestige rail services with Chiltern's experience of running regional and commuter services.  Chiltern Railways was awarded the first 20-year franchise by the SRA in recognition of the growth and improvement achieved since the original
seven-year franchise was awarded in 1996.  Chiltern achieved Best Rail Route for three years running at the National Rail Awards and, in the most recent annual performance data, gained the highest customer satisfaction rating in the rail industry at 87% satisfaction.

The joint venture company will be embarking on a period of extensive stakeholder consultation in London and the key regions served by the franchise. The formal bidding for the Greater Western franchise is expected to commence in 2004.

Andy Friend, Chief Executive of Laing, commented:

'We are combining the UK rail network's two leading operators to create a powerful bidder for the Greater Western franchise. Both partners have proven track records of successfully investing to improve their franchises and delivering an efficient and reliable service to customers. We believe that by working together we can generate significant synergies on this major consolidation of the UK train operating franchise.

Chiltern has proved to be a top quality investment for Laing, producing attractive returns for shareholders. It has consistently outperformed other South East train operating companies in terms of passenger growth and
performance. In alliance with GNER, we are confident that we can bring similarly robust performance to the combined Greater Western franchise.'

For further information please contact:

John Laing plc                                          020 7904 9200
Andy Friend, Chief Executive
Adrian Ewer, Finance Director
Finsbury Group                                          020 7251 3801
Edward Orlebar/ Faeth Birch / Robin Walker


Notes to Editors

About Chiltern Railways

Chiltern Railways operates high quality regional and commuter rail services between London Marylebone and Aylesbury, Banbury and the West Midlands.  It has consistently outperformed other South East train operating companies in terms of revenue growth, customer satisfaction and performance. To date in 2003 Chilterns passenger revenues have increased by 11% year on year.

Since the franchise was awarded in 1996, Chiltern Railways has:
•    Increased the number of train services by 33%
•    Grown passenger numbers by 70%
•    Ordered new, high quality carriages to increase the fleet size by over 75%
•    Restored 28 miles of double track, singled in the 1960s, enabling it to run more services
•    Become the first train operating company to build and own a station - Warwick Parkway
•    Invested in longer platforms, improved stations and bigger car parks
•    Restored the historic Moor Street station in Birmingham as a high quality passenger environment for  today's railway
•    Invested in the first cross-industry Integrated Control Centre to make services more reliable
•    Won awards for delivery of investment, customer service and performance

Chiltern Railways has been awarded a unique 20-year franchise, investing over £370m to continue to improve service to the customer.  It is providing more platforms at key stations, building a new train depot, ordering more trains to provide more passenger capacity and improving passenger information and ticket
purchasing to make travelling by rail easier and more reliable.

About GNER

GNER operates fast and frequent train services between London Kings Cross, the East Midlands, Yorkshire, North East England and Scotland. Long recognised as being at the forefront of customer service in the UK rail industry, GNER has consistently achieved the highest passenger satisfaction ratings of any long-distance operator.

GNER is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sea Containers Ltd.

GNER operates without any subsidy from the UK government. Yet it has a higher number of staff on-train than other comparable operators because it believes in exceeding passengers' expectations. For GNER, good service is good business.

Since the start of its franchise in 1996, GNER has:
•    Increased the number of train services operated by 24%
•    Grown passenger numbers by 30%
•    Increased staff on trains by 550
•    Changed the face of railway catering with innovative menus created by leading restaurateurs and introduced extra restaurant services
•    Introduced unique Partnership Agreements with all four rail trade unions
•    Achieved Investors in People accreditation, the first UK train operator to do so
•    Increased the size of its train fleet to provide more capacity by leasing Class 373 Eurostars and lengthening diesel High Speed Trains
•    Developed the most reliable fleet of diesel High Speed Trains in the UK, according to independent sources
•    Delivered better, more secure stations and bigger car parks
•    Won over 30 awards since 1999

GNER is currently spending £100m to deliver redesigned, rebuilt, longer and more reliable trains.  It is also modernising stations and providing bigger car parks, easier ticket purchasing and better information for passengers.

About John Laing plc

John Laing is the UK's listed market leader in PPP/ PFI infrastructure projects.   It is currently invested in 32 PPP/ PFI projects in the rail, roads and accommodation sectors, 22 of which are fully operational. Preferred bidder status has been reached on 16 further projects.


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