Member Article

National Express wins rail route

National Express has won the battle to operate the main London-to-Scotland rail route. The transport group was awarded the contract to run the East Coast Main Line franchise by the Department for Transport after a bidding war, and will take over the operation from GNER in December. National Express beat off opposition from Arriva, First Group and a joint venture between Virgin Trains and Stagecoach to win the contract.

The new franchise, covering the arterial North-South rail route, will be called National Express East Coast. It links London with Scotland, calling at Peterborough, Leeds, Doncaster, York, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness. National Express has pledged to invest in extra services, stations and on-board services. The group said it would inject £7.4m to upgrade stations, including the creation of 2,000 extra car park spaces, over the course of the seven-and-a-half years.

Rebekah Gaze, North East Chamber of Commerce transport policy adviser, said: “The East Coast Mainline has been in limbo for more than a year while we awaited the decision on who would take over running this crucial route. We are delighted that this period of treading water has finally come to an end.”

“National Express has a strong record in running rail services and has committed to running a service comparable to that which was provided by GNER. This is vital as the East Coast Mainline is too important a route to be run as a budget service. What is of paramount importance is that prices remain competitive and cost-effective. The Government is encouraging people to use public transport instead of cars to ease congestion. It cannot, therefore, allow passengers to be priced off the rail.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .