 An LNERAzuma at London King's Cross (2019) | |
| Operator | London North Eastern Railway |
|---|---|
| Main Route | East Coast Main Line |
| Fleet |
|
| Stations called at | 53 |
| Dates of operation |
|
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) |
| Length | 393 miles (632 km) |
| Operating speed | 125 mph |
| Other | |
| Website | www |
InterCity East Coast is a railway franchise for passenger trains on theEast Coast Main Line in Great Britain. It connectsLondon King's Cross withHull Paragon,Lincoln,Leeds,Bradford Forster Square,Harrogate,Newcastle,Edinburgh Waverley,Inverness andAberdeen. It was formed during theprivatisation of British Rail and transferred to the private sector in April 1996.
Initially operated byGreat North Eastern Railway (GNER), it was later operated byNational Express East Coast,East Coast andVirgin Trains East Coast. In June 2018, the franchise was terminated, with the operation of stations and trains taken back into public ownership; since then, services have been provided byLondon North Eastern Railway (LNER), a company owned by theDepartment for Transport.
In April 1996,Sea Containers commenced a seven-year contract to operate the franchise, operating under theGNER brand.[1]
In March 2000, the ShadowStrategic Rail Authority (SRA) shortlisted Sea Containers andVirgin Rail Group to bid for the next franchise.[2] The franchise was to be for 20 years and included proposals for new trains and replacements of sections of track.[3][4] In January 2002, the SRA scrapped the refranchising process and awarded a two-year extension to Sea Containers until April 2005.[5][6]
In October 2004, the SRA issued anInvitation to Tender for the next franchise to the four shortlisted bidders:Danish State Railways/English Welsh & Scottish,FirstGroup, GNER and Virgin Rail Group.[7] In March 2005, the franchise was awarded to GNER for seven years, with a three-year extension based on targets being met, starting on 1 May 2005.[8] GNER committed to pay a £1.3 billion premium to the Department for Transport (DfT) over ten years.[9]
However, due to the financial problems caused by it having overbid[10] as well as financial difficulties encountered by the parent company,[11] the government announced on December 2006 that it was stripping the franchise from Sea Containers; it would put it up for retender, with GNER running the franchise on fixed-fee management contract in the interim.[12]
In February 2007, the DfT announcedArriva,FirstGroup,National Express and Virgin Rail Group had been shortlisted to lodge bids for the franchise.[13] In April 2007, it was announced that GNER had a 10% stake in the Virgin Rail Group bid.[14] In August 2007 the franchise was awarded to National Express,[15][16] and GNER's services transferred toNational Express East Coast (NXEC) on 9 December 2007.
By 2009, NXEC was under increasing financial pressure due to rising fuel prices and the economic downturn. Instead of projected increases in revenue from the franchise, in the first half of 2009 NXEC ticket sales income decreased by 1%.[17] In April 2009, National Express confirmed that it was still pursuing talks with the government over possible financial assistance with the franchise, either through a reduction in the premium due or other assistance.[18]
In July 2009, National Express announced it planned to default on the franchise, having failed to renegotiate the contractual terms of operation, and would not provide any further funding. This meant NXEC would run out of cash by the end of 2009.[19] As a result, the DfT announced it would renationalise the franchise.
The franchise was renationalised on 14 November 2009, withDirectly Operated Railways' subsidiaryEast Coast taking over, with the intention being that operations would return to a private franchisee by December 2013.[20] In March 2013, theSecretary of State for Transport announced that this would be put back to February 2015.[21]
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In January 2014,FirstGroup,Keolis/Eurostar International Limited (EIL) andStagecoach/Virgin were announced as the shortlisted bidders for the new franchise.[22][23] In November 2014, the franchise was awarded to Stagecoach/Virgin, who – trading asVirgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) – commenced operating the franchise on 1 March 2015.[24][25][26]
In November 2017, Secretary of State for Transport,Chris Grayling, announced the early termination of the East Coast franchise in 2020, three years ahead of schedule, following losses on the route by the operator. VTEC had been due to pay more than £2 billion in franchise premiums to the government over the last four years of its contract.[27][28]
Grayling said the losses were due to VTEC overestimating future growth in passenger revenue in its bid calculations, meaning franchise payments due to the government exceeded the profits being returned by running the services. Others pointed to the delays in state-ownedNetwork Rail's delivery of expected infrastructure upgrades, which meant the company could not operate the increased number of services needed to generate the greater revenue.[29]
Termination was brought forward in February 2018 to June 2018.[30][31][32]
On 16 May 2018, Grayling announced the franchise would be terminated on 24 June 2018 and renationalised. A partnership ofArup Group,Ernst & Young andSNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit provided assistance to the government in their preparation to take control of the franchise from VTEC. Services are operated by LNER, which is owned byDfT Operator, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Department for Transport.[33]
At its inception, the franchise inherited and operated a fleet ofInterCity 125 andInterCity 225 trains. These were refurbished with new interiors in the mid-2000s; the former were retired in December 2019 and the latter were due to be retired in 2020. The fleet was to be replaced fully byClasses 800 and801Azumas.[34]
In February 2020, it was announced that LNER would retain severalClass 91s andMark 4 sets, to enable it to meet December 2021 timetable requirements.[35]
