A RAIL passengers' group has called on train operator Connex to be ruled out of the bidding for a key North-East rail franchise.

The French-owned firm remains one of two in the running to take over the Transpennine route linking Newcastle and York to Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool.

But the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) last week stripped the company of its London and South-East commuter route for failing to meet tough financial management standards.

The SRA said it had "lost total confidence" in Connex and ended its franchise three years early due to its incompetence.

But the authority said it did not stop Connex from bidding for the transpennine franchise, which is due to be decided on next month.

Last night, Peter Wood, North-East spokesman for independent passenger group Rail Future, called on the SRA to rule the company out and hand the contract to rivals First Group/Keolis consortium.

He said: "I think it's quite ridiculous that they still seem to be in the frame for the transpennine franchise.

"If they can't run trains in the South, how can they be good enough to run those in the North?

"We want to know that there is going to be proper investment in the service and that it is going to be improved, not run on the cheap by a company which can't even run trains down South."

A Connex spokeswoman said that the company's bid for the franchise was in the SRA's hands, but voiced doubts over the likelihood of success.

She said: "The bid is in. There is nothing else to do. In the light of last week, they are probably fairly clear about it."

"We have been waiting for the SRA to make a decision on transpennine for two-and-a-half years, so nothing changes."

Cash-strapped Connex, which runs 1,800 trains a day, received an extra £58m subsidy last year and wanted more money before the SRA decided to strip it of its southern services.

SRA chairman Richard Bowker said: "I am not putting any more taxpayers' money into a company in which we have lost total confidence."