TRANSPORT SECRETARY Patrick McLoughlin faces a tough series of questions about the collapse of the West Coast competition from the House of Commons Transport Committee next week.

The chairman of the Committee Louise Ellman has indicated that she also expects to see the first draft of an official report into where the Department for Transport went wrong.

The competition was cancelled early on 3 October. It is reported that the transport secretary took action only a few hours after officials had admitted to him that 'serious technical flaws' had been uncovered during the preparation of evidence for the High Court hearing demanded by Virgin.

MPs on the Committee are expected to ask searching questions about the failure of the West Coast process, because they had been reassured by Mr McLoughlin last month that the Department's calculations could be relied upon.

On 12 September, he had said: "I am satisfied that due diligence was done by the Department. Therefore, the intention is to go ahead with the contract when we can." When he gives evidence again on 31 October, Mr McLoughlin can expect to have his previous reassurances dissected by the Committee.

Committee chairman Louise Ellman has also made it clear that she expects to have at least a draft of the first report into the failure in front of her next week.

Two official inquiries have been ordered, the first of which is examining how the West Coast competition process lost its way. The second, which is due to report by the end of December, is looking at the wider issue of how franchises are awarded by the DfT.

The Government has named Virgin Trains as its operator of choice for the West Coast intercity service for the time being, and a contract of between nine and 13 months is expected. However this has yet to be confirmed, because talks on the terms of the contract are still continuing.