Govt. To Run East Coast Franchise From December 12th

National Express will be handing back their East Coast franchise to the government on December 12th. The new service will be called East Coast Main Line and will remain under government control until mid 2011, longer than originally expected. All mention of National Express will be removed from stations and trains and staff uniforms will be 'upgraded'.

Last summer the government said it believed that it might have grounds to terminate the NXEA and C2C franchises as a consequence of the East Coast failure and that all options were being explored. This appears to still be the case.