Government to reprivatise East Coast trains with winning bid
The Department for Transport will announce the official privatisation of the East Coast Mainline later this week by unveiling the winning bid.
FirstGroup
165.90p
15:29 26/04/24
Stagecoach Group
104.70p
16:34 27/06/22
Eurostar and Keolis put forth a joint bid that has largely been pinned as the front-runner but other companies have also placed bids including FirstGroup, Virgin and Stagecoach. The latter two companies also offered a joint bid.
This tender will involve returning the route that ties London to Scotland back to private ownership after five years governed by the public sector, the Express has reported.
Directly Operated Railways (DOR) has run the East Coast Mainline since 2009 when it rescued the service from a cash-strapped National Express.
Though the privatisation has been dubbed a “national disgrace” by RMT union general secretary Mick Cash, DOR claims to have returned more than £1bn to the taxpayer since the acquisition took place.
Cash told the Express on Sunday: “It is simply ludicrous to even contemplate re-privatisation when not only have there been two previous private sector failures on the East Coast route, but when the public-sector rescue operation has been such a stunning success.”
Ed Miliband has come out in support of renationalising British rail services and claims labour will do just that if elected early next year.
However, Keolis chief executive Alistair Gordon noted last year that this tender would be a way to “transform a hugely important national route, which has yet to see the same levels of investment as the West Coast Mainline”.