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Government to take over running of East Coast rail route from National Express

7:41am Wednesday 1st July 2009


THE Government is to take over the running of the East Coast mainline, which operates throughout the North-East, according to reports.

The troubled National Express company is to hand over the running of the service.

The franchise is expected to have lost £20m in the first half of this year and has been hit by a fall in the number of passengers using it.

Requests for its contract to be redrawn have been firmly rejected by Government ministers.

As reported last night, Richard Bowker, the chief executive of transport group National Express, is to leave the firm.

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David Lacey, Durham says...
12:44pm Wed 1 Jul 09

Following the failure of GNER and now National Express to run this key route at a profit there are going to be plenty of calls for it to be permanently taken back into public ownership. This would be a great mistake. Whatever the failings of the parent companies - both of which ran into corporate difficulties - the service provided has been vastly superior to the hit and miss affair we all suffered in the days of British Rail. Whilst privatisation was poorly executed when introduced, it has since matured into a better system with high levels of customer satisfaction.

The sooner the Government retenders and appoints another private sector operator, the better. I would be happy to see First Group or Virgin run the trains.

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darlodave, Darlington says...
6:19am Thu 2 Jul 09

What will the new logo be on the side of the trains - New Labour to the Rescue.

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