Advertisement

East Coast Rail Winner Makes Service Pledge

Passengers using the East Coast main line are being promised massive improvements including new routes, trains and carriages by the consortium set to take over the franchise.

The Government has confirmed its intention to award the eight-year deal to Inter City Railways, made up of Stagecoach and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Trains, which already operates the West Coast route between London and Scotland.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said the consortium would begin operations in March in what marks a return to the private sector following almost five years of public ownership.

Labour and transport unions had fought to keep East Coast in public hands, pointing to returns it has made to the Treasury.

The decision was seen as a disaster for FirstGroup, which had bid for the work having lost its First Capital Connect and ScotRail franchises.

Its share price fell on Wednesday in advance of the announcement, down 10% on the week, and by a further 6% in early trading on Thursday.

There had been speculation that a consortium of Eurotunnel and French company Keolis, which is 70% owned by French state railway SNCF, was to be chosen.

The Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin told Sky News the deal would provide the Treasury with more funds, £3.3bn over the eight-year contract, while there would be a series of benefits for passengers, including:

:: 23 new services from London to key destinations, with 75 more station calls a day.

:: Plans for direct links to Huddersfield, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Dewsbury and Thornaby.

:: Proposals for more trains to London from Bradford, Edinburgh, Harrogate, Leeds, Lincoln, Newcastle, Shipley, Stirling and York.

:: An additional 3,100 extra seats for the morning peak time by 2020.

:: A 12,200 or 50% increase in seats across the entire train fleet.

:: There would be 65 state-of-the-art Intercity Express trains brought into passenger service from 2018, totalling 500 new carriages.

:: Journey times from London to Leeds reduced by 14 minutes, and from London to Edinburgh by 13 minutes.

:: A £140m investment package to improve trains and stations.

The East Coast line is currently run publicly for the Government by Directly Operated Railways (DOR).

Mr McLoughlin said that while DOR had returned more than £1bn to the Treasury over the last five years the Virgin/Stagecoach partnership would return £3.3bn over eight years.

Shadow transport secretary Michael Dugher, who had tried to have the decision postponed, accused the Government of selling the taxpayer and travelling public "down the river".

He added: "It's absurd that our own public operator is the only rail company in the world that has been barred from challenging to run its own services, on the ideological grounds that it is British and publicly owned."