113-629: East Coast , the trading name of the East Coast Main Line Company , was a British train operating company running the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London , Yorkshire , North East England, and Scotland. East Coast ran long-distance inter-city services from its Central London terminus at London King's Cross on two primary routes; the first to Leeds and
226-712: A 100% FirstGroup subsidiary when the 24.5% shareholder bought out its partners. The TOCs were renamed First Great Western and First North Western . Go-Ahead Group bought the remaining 35% share in Thames Trains . Virgin Group sold a 49% share in Virgin Rail Group that operated the CrossCountry and West Coast franchises to Stagecoach . The completion of the rail link to Heathrow Airport led to Heathrow Express , an open-access operator outside
339-571: A company wholly owned by the Strategic Rail Authority , which would operate the franchise until it could be tendered again. New franchise holders Arriva Trains Wales and Merseyrail began operating. FirstGroup purchased GB Railways which owned the Anglia Railways and Hull Trains businesses. A policy where the majority of services (both long-distance and commuter) from each London terminal would all be operated by
452-550: A day of work and drivers are not paid for all the time they work. By 2009, National Express East Coast had come under increasing financial pressure due to various factors, including compounding rises in fuel prices and the poor economic climate of the time, commonly known as the Great Recession . In contrast to the company's projected revenue increases during its franchise, NXEC's actual operating income (generated primarily from ticket sales) had decreased by 1 percent during
565-525: A diesel InterCity 125 set as the Harrogate Line is not electrified. East Coast operates a number of named passenger trains, including: East Coast inherited the rolling stock operated by NXEC, comprising InterCity 125 High Speed Train sets made up of Class 43 power cars and Mark 3 carriages , and InterCity 225 sets made up of Class 91 electric locomotives and Mark 4 carriages and Driving Van Trailers . This same rolling stock dated back to
678-572: A few years of these changes, both train performance and punctuality figures had noticeably improved. Beyond the timetable changes, the Eureka programme was accompanied by various service changes, such as a nearly £10 million investment in staff training and to modernise its catering carriages, facilitating the introduction of complimentary catering for all First Class travellers. Prior to October 2010, East Coast offered free Wi-Fi to passengers in both First and Standard Class coaches. From 5 October 2010,
791-459: A government-owned operator of last resort , due either to failing expectations or to events on the rail system as a whole. The term is also sometimes used to describe companies operating passenger or freight rail services over tracks owned by another company or a national network owner. Franchises were initially let by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF). This was in turn replaced by
904-482: A greater number of passengers as only a modest spend was required to earn benefits. The scheme initially launched with online bookings only but was then expanded to cover season tickets and business travel. In November 2013, Sky1 started to broadcast a documentary series "All Aboard East Coast Trains". One of the InterCity 225 sets was painted in a special blue livery which includes faces of employees that feature in
1017-525: A half-hourly service between King's Cross and Newcastle (one fast, one semi-fast) throughout the day, departing from London on the hour and the half-hour. The top-of-the-hour trains were part of the London to Scotland services which ran as limited-stop expresses between London and Newcastle (as seen below). The half-hour train called at Peterborough , Newark , Doncaster , York , Northallerton , Darlington , Durham and terminated at Newcastle, although there
1130-525: A junior transport minister, the Gillingham MP Paul Clark , listed a series of concerns to National Express in a letter following a meeting with an employee of National Express East Coast who lives in his constituency. The worker claimed that, due to reduced maintenance checks, some trains were in use with defective brakes, an allegation that was strongly denied by the company, which stated it would "never compromise on safety". He wrote: "As
1243-475: A livery filled with images, stories and tributes to regiments and people who served in them across the East Coast route. The public performance measure (PPM) shows the percentage of trains which arrive at their terminating station on time. It combines figures for punctuality and reliability into a single performance measure. The moving annual average PPM for East Coast by the end of its franchise (P12 2014–14)
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#17327825926311356-463: A new management team taking over the company in July 1991 which had the backing of ECI Partners , a mid-market private equity firm. The new team refocused the group on its core activities, leading to the sale of Crosville Wales to British Bus . During October 1991, it purchased Speedlink, an operator of coach services between Gatwick and Heathrow Airports . In December 1992, National Express Group plc
1469-451: A new unified National Express identity. It was intended to achieve greater recognition for all the group companies, to coincide with recent acquisitions and after current rail operations had improved in reliability to warrant association with the established express coach image. It coincided with the appointment of a group director for all UK operations and relocation of the head office from London to Birmingham , bringing all operations under
1582-721: A private operator. However, in October 2016, National Express elected to pull out, citing a delay in the ability to order new rolling stock while a challenge brought on by Deutsche Bahn was resolved, would make its bid unviable. In June 2015, it was announced that the parts 2 and 3 of the Rhein-Ruhr-Express which will be introduced in 2018 will be operated by National Express. This includes Regional-Express services RE4, RE5 and RE6 in Northrhine-Westphalia . In December 2016, coach operator Clarkes of London
1695-443: A result of reduced maintenance checks, 'some long-haul sets [trains] are in use with brake defects'. Increasing cuts in staff combined with an increasing pressure to ensure that trains run safely has resulted in fears among staff that a major accident is 'just around the corner'." Passengers, he added, "have been 'poisoned' as a result of coffee machines not being cleaned correctly, with cleaning fluids left in situ". The minister said he
1808-630: A single strategic management structure. Day-to-day management remained within individual companies. During February 2007, the Department for Transport announced that National Express, along with Arriva , First , and Virgin Rail Group , had been shortlisted to lodge bids for the InterCity East Coast franchise. In August 2007, the Department for Transport awarded the Intercity East Coast franchise to National Express, leading to
1921-525: A three-month period on East Coast tickets. Benefits included first class lounge access for the member and a guest, discounts at partner retailers, 20% off online advance ticket booking and a large number of free first class travel tickets. As this scheme had a high barrier to entry East Coast launched a revamped loyalty scheme in 2011 which was points based and included all spend on the East Coast website even if booking travel for other operators. The scheme meant rewards such as free travel were now within reach of
2034-574: Is listed on the London Stock Exchange . In 1972, the state-owned National Bus Company decided to bring together the scheduled coach services operated by its bus operating companies in the United Kingdom under one brand. Sir Frederick Wood , a prominent businessman and industrialist, was asked to oversee the creation of this new business model and led the group as its chairman from 1972 to 1978. Initially branded as National ,
2147-490: The Cotswold Line . East Coast investigated the use of a single 11-coach Pendolino from July 2011, but ultimately decided instead to lease an extra HST set from East Midlands Trains from May 2011, bringing the number of HSTs leased to East Coast to 14. The fleet of Class 91 locomotives inherited by East Coast has carried various names up until 2008. In 2011, in response to customer requests, East Coast resumed
2260-590: The Department for Transport (DfT) through a tendering system, to operate services on certain routes for a specified duration, while a small number of open-access operators hold licences to provide supplementary services on chosen routes. These operators can run services for the duration of the licence validity. The franchised operators have changed considerably since privatisation: previous franchises have been divided, merged, re-let to new operators, or renamed. Some privately-operated franchises have been taken over by
2373-710: The Greater Anglia franchise on 5 February 2012. In September 2012, FirstGroup was awarded the right to operate the West Coast franchise which provoked a backlash from incumbent Virgin Trains West Coast. As a result of the Department for Transport having provided incorrect information during the bid process, the offer was withdrawn in October 2012 and £40 million of bid costs refunded. In September 2014, Govia Thameslink Railway took over services formerly operated by First Capital Connect as part of
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#17327825926312486-698: The InterCity East Coast franchise. National Express Mobico Group , formerly National Express Group , is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham , England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express . The company also operates transport services including trains abroad: in the Republic of Ireland , United States, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Germany, Bahrain, Morocco, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and South Korea, and long-distance coach services across Europe. It
2599-798: The M>;Train , M>Tram and V/Line Passenger rail franchises in the Australian state of Victoria . During January 2000, National Express expanded into the American market by acquiring ATC, a public transportation operator. In July 2000, Prism Rail was purchased, though which the c2c , Wales & Borders , Wessex Trains and West Anglia Great Northern franchises were added to National Express' portfolio. In December 2002, National Express handed in its rail franchises in Victoria , Australia, having been unable to renegotiate financial terms with
2712-680: The Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive lets the Merseyrail franchise, while in London, Transport for London (TfL) oversees the new London Overground and Elizabeth line concessions. ( London Underground , a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London , operates trains nearly all on its own network serving mostly its own stations: It is not a Train Operating Company by the definition here.) The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) (formerly
2825-955: The Metro buses in Belfast and Ulsterbus coaches around the country. NIR is not a TOC under the terms of the Railways Act 1993 , which only applies to Great Britain. The cross-border service Enterprise (Belfast–Dublin) is jointly operated with Iarnród Éireann , the publicly owned national railway company of the Republic of Ireland. Upon privatisation in 1994, the three passenger-operating sectors of British Rail ( InterCity , Network SouthEast and Regional Railways ) were divided, and their existing operations were let as 25 franchises: The privatisation process began when BR's passenger sectors were divided into 25 train operating units which were gradually incorporated as publicly owned subsidiaries of
2938-598: The National Express brand was first used in 1974. With the privatisation of the National Bus Company in the 1980s, National Express was subject to a management buyout in March 1988. The management team pursued various means of diversification; during 1989, the company purchased Crosville Wales . Starting in early 1990s, National Express' financial performance began to deteriorate; this led to
3051-657: The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT). On 1 March 2015, Virgin Trains East Coast assumed operations. This was the busiest East Coast service – half-hourly, with one train per hour serving Peterborough , Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate and Leeds, while the other served Stevenage , Grantham , Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate and Leeds. At weekends, they called at Stevenage every two hours while Peterborough, Grantham, Newark, Doncaster and Wakefield were served hourly. East Coast operated
3164-736: The North East Regional franchise and the North West Regional franchise . In 2004, these were altered into the TransPennine franchise, for intercity services, and the Northern franchise, for local services that were awarded to First TransPennine Express and Northern Rail respectively. Some North West services were transferred to the Arriva Trains Wales franchise. In the same year, Thames Trains
3277-574: The State Government . During February 2004, the London bus operations of Connex were purchased and rebranded Travel London . In April 2004, National Express East Anglia commenced operating the Greater Anglia rail franchise . In September 2004, National Express sold its Melbourne bus operations to Ventura Bus Lines , and Brisbane and Perth bus operations to Connex . After being placed in administration in January 2005, Westbus
3390-584: The Strategic Rail Authority , which has since been abolished. For England, franchising is now the responsibility of the Department for Transport in the majority of cases. In Scotland, it is the responsibility of Transport Scotland . In Wales, since 2017, the responsibility for the specification and procurement of the Wales & Borders franchise belongs to Transport for Wales . In two parts of England, local government agencies are responsible: in Merseyside ,
3503-504: The Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern franchise and branded them as Thameslink and Great Northern. Services operated by Southern , another Govia subsidiary, were merged into the new franchise in the following year. Hull Trains became a 100% subsidiary of FirstGroup when the 80% shareholder bought out its partners. In March 2015, a Stagecoach and Virgin joint venture trading as Virgin Trains East Coast commenced operating
East Coast (train operating company) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3616-791: The passenger transport executive or other civic body responsible for administering public transport. One of these bodies, the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (Merseytravel) is responsible for one of three National Rail franchises not awarded by central government, namely the Merseyrail franchise, while certain National Rail services in North London came under the control of TfL in November 2007 as London Overground. Two other franchises,
3729-512: The 'Touromo' brand. Touromo aimed to provide day trips and short breaks to destinations across the UK and Europe as one combined brand, and National Express planned to expand the brand outside the West Midlands and South East England to operate across the United Kingdom. Six months later, however, it was announced that Touromo was to cease operations and that National Express Transport Solutions
3842-630: The Association of Train Operating Companies) provides a commonality for the TOCs and provides some centralised co-ordination. Its activities include the provision of a national timetable and online journey planner facility, and the operation of the various Railcard discount schemes. Eurostar is also a member of the RDG, though it is not itself a TOC. For historical and geographical reasons
3955-749: The Bahrain Public Transport Company in which National Express holds a 50% shareholding commenced operating a 10-year concession in Bahrain . In May 2009, National Express sold some of its bus operations to Abellio : In December 2020, National Express sold its Xplore Dundee business to McGill's Bus Services . Rail franchises formerly operated: National Express had a 17.5% shareholding in London & Continental Railways (L&CR) from its formation in September 1994 until it
4068-599: The British Rail era, with some of the HSTs approaching 40 years old by the end of East Coast's operation. The original franchise holder, GNER , undertook a major refurbishment of its rolling stock from 2003, which it titled "Project Mallard ". The Mark 4 carriages were upgraded and refurbished between 2003 and 2005, while work on refurbishing the Mark 3 carriages started under GNER in early 2007 and continued under NXEC, with
4181-565: The British Railways Board. They acted as shadow franchises prior to being put to tender: The opening of the Channel Tunnel saw operations by Eurostar begin from London Waterloo to Paris and Brussels . The franchising process was implemented, with various private companies taking over the shadow franchises. Three were awarded to management buyouts . The Great Western Holdings ' management also were awarded
4294-557: The DfT Rail Group. Until 2005 this role was performed by the Strategic Rail Authority . The infrastructure of the railways in England, Scotland, and Wales – including tracks and signalling – is owned and operated not by the train companies but by Network Rail , which took over responsibility from Railtrack in 2002. Most passenger trains are owned by a small number of rolling stock companies (ROSCO) and are leased to
4407-476: The DfT awarded the Intercity East Coast franchise to National Express, leading to the creation of National Express East Coast (NXEC) shortly thereafter. Under the terms of its franchise agreement, National Express committed to paying a £1.4-billion premium to the DfT over a time span of seven years and four months. However, numerous rail analysts at the time promptly voiced concerns that the company had paid too much for
4520-600: The East Coast franchise. In April 2008, Wrexham & Shropshire began operating open access services between Wrexham and London Marylebone . In June 2008, the Gatwick Express franchise was integrated with the South Central franchise operated by Southern . The government announced that National Express East Coast would have its franchise to operate intercity services along the ECML terminated, and that
4633-548: The National Express offer, in March 2022, the Stagecoach board of directors withdrew its recommendation in favour of a takeover offer from a DWS managed investment fund. In January 2023, the coach excursion business of seven National Express Transport Solutions companies (Coliseum Coaches, Lucketts Travel, Mortons Travel, Solent Tours, Stewarts Tours, Woods Tours and Worthing Coaches) were brought together under
East Coast (train operating company) - Misplaced Pages Continue
4746-587: The North West Regional Railways franchise. The remainder were divided between a handful of major transport operators: In Northern Ireland, NIR stopped using its own branding on the Enterprise service between Belfast and Dublin when it purchased new rolling stock in conjunction with IÉ, instead launching Enterprise as a separate brand name. Great Western Holdings , which operated Great Western Trains and North West Trains, became
4859-540: The Nottingham to Lincoln line was not electrified. The Hull Executive ran between King's Cross and Hull , with one train per day each way. This service also used InterCity 125 sets, as the Hull line was not electrified. More frequent services between King's Cross and Hull were operated by First Hull Trains . There was a daily morning departure from Harrogate to King's Cross and an evening return. This service used
4972-582: The Scottish national franchise, currently operated by ScotRail , and the Welsh domestic franchise, operated by Transport for Wales , are awarded by the devolved governments of the two constituent nations. The Rail Delivery Group is the coordinating body of the train operating companies in Great Britain and owns the National Rail brand, which uses the former British Rail double-arrow logo and organises
5085-491: The US Chapter 11 process , During December 2006, the DfT announced its intention to strip Sea Containers of its franchise, although GNER continued to operate it via an interim fixed fee management contract while another competitive tender was organised. In February 2007, the DfT announced that Arriva , First , National Express and Virgin Rail Group had been shortlisted to lodge bids for the new franchise. In August 2007,
5198-454: The award of a new seven-year franchise by the Department for Transport (DfT) commencing in May 2005; the award was subject to criticism that, amid aggressive bidding between the different companies competing for the franchise, GNER had committed itself to fulfilling an overly generous arrangement that may not be financially realistic, and was accused as having overbid to secure the franchise. During
5311-471: The common ticketing structure. Many of the train operating companies are in fact parts of larger companies which operate multiple franchises. The railway network in Northern Ireland is managed differently from the rest of the UK. The sole company in Northern Ireland that operates trains is NI Railways , who are a subsidiary of Translink , the publicly owned transport corporation, which also runs
5424-516: The company's finances under stress largely as a result of having overbid for the National Express East Coast rail franchise, National Express became a takeover target in 2009. In June 2009, a takeover offer from fellow transport operator FirstGroup was rejected. On 3 September 2009, National Express' largest shareholder, Spain's Cosmen family with 18.5%, and CVC Capital Partners made a takeover offer of £765 million for
5537-461: The company. The Takeover Panel set a deadline of 11 September 2009 for all prospective bids. During September 2009, National Express agreed to allow the Cosmen/CVC consortium to undertake due diligence . During the following month, the Cosmen/CVC consortium had reportedly reached an agreement to sell the UK bus and rail operations to rival transport operator Stagecoach Group if its offer
5650-521: The contractual terms of operation; National Express stating that it would not be providing any further financial support necessary to ensure NXEC remained solvent. This meant NXEC would run out of cash by the end of 2009. As a consequence of this decision, the DfT announced it would establish a publicly owned company to take over the franchise from National Express. The failure of the NXEC franchise sparked widespread calls amongst industry officials and members of
5763-430: The creation of National Express East Coast (NXEC) shortly thereafter. Under the terms of its franchise agreement, National Express committed to paying a £1.4-billion premium to the Department of Transport over a time span of seven years and four months. However, numerous rail analysts promptly voiced concerns that the company had paid too much for the franchise, and had effectively repeated GNER's mistake in order to secure
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#17327825926315876-422: The event, they never operated in revenue-earning service with East Coast, as the proposed services were never introduced and the units did not find favour with East Coast's parent company Directly Operated Railways . Three of the units were sublet to Northern Rail for use on services from Manchester to Preston and Blackpool, before all five were returned to their original operator, First Great Western , for use on
5989-410: The final set completed in October 2009. The Mallard interiors were used throughout East Coast's tenure; Rail magazine alleged that, by 2015, some sets were looking particularly worn and in need of another refurbishment or wholesale replacement. Some minor changes were made to the InterCity 225 fleet, perhaps the most noticeable of which was their repainting into East Coast's silver livery. This repaint
6102-443: The first half of 2009. According to Rail , the franchise had quickly garnered a reputation for cost-cutting and a decline in service levels, particularly in terms of the onboard catering. It had also introduced various new charges, such as a £2.50 per journey leg for seat reservations. During April 2009, National Express confirmed that the company was still pursuing talks with the government over possible financial assistance with
6215-413: The franchise in 2009, and also observed that the operation was financially sound and that East Coast had become one of Britain's most profitable train operating companies by 2015. During May 2011, East Coast introduced a major new timetable known as "Eureka"; changes included an extra three million seats per year, a decrease in general journey times and the adoption of a more regular service pattern. Within
6328-514: The franchise would pass into the hands of public-sector company, Directly Operated Railways , which acted as the parent for East Coast . Grand Central open-access services from London to Bradford began on 23 May 2010. DB Regio's operations in the UK were integrated into those of Arriva following the acquisition of the latter by Deutsche Bahn in the previous year. Owing to continuing losses, Wrexham & Shropshire ceased operating on 28 January 2011. Abellio Greater Anglia began operating
6441-427: The franchise, and had effectively repeated GNER's mistake in order to secure the franchise. According to railway industry periodical Rail , NXEC quickly garnered a reputation for cost-cutting and a decline in service levels, particularly in terms of the onboard catering. By 2009, NXEC was under increasing financial pressure due to various factors, including compounding rises in fuel prices and the poor economic climate of
6554-499: The franchise, at which point the DfT took over through its newly formed subsidiary , East Coast. According to Rail , East Coast's management strategy was typically adverse to initiating changes and that relatively little had changed across the organisation's operations during its eight years of running the franchise. Karen Boswell, the managing director of East Coast, disputed this observation and pointed to substantial investment in terms of both staff and assets since assuming control of
6667-404: The franchise, either through a reduction in the premium due or some other form of assistance. During these negotiations, the company had reportedly offered to pay over £100 million to be released from its commitment to operate the franchise. In July 2009, the Department for Transport announced that it would take the National Express East Coast franchise into public ownership at the end of
6780-404: The franchise. On 9 December 2007, National Express East Coast commenced operations, taking over from Great North Eastern Railway . In May 2009, National Express sold Travel London and Travel Surrey to Abellio . On 3 January 2007, a speeding National Express coach overturned on the M4 / M25 slip road, leaving three passengers dead. The driver was jailed for five years. In July 2009,
6893-401: The franchising system, beginning its services from London Paddington to Heathrow with operating rights until 2023. The shareholdings of M40 Trains were restructured with John Laing owning 84% of the company with the remaining 16% held by former BR managers. MTL which operated Merseyrail Electrics and Northern Spirit and Prism Rail that operated c2c (renamed from LTS Rail earlier in
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#17327825926317006-528: The group are: In July 2023, National Express announced they would be ceasing the operation of coach tours having only launched the Tourismo brand of coach tours in January the same year. National Express Germany operates a number of train services in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia . Following the financial difficulties of Abellio GmbH, National Express was awarded an emergency contract to operate further services in North Rhine-Westphalia from February 2022 to run for two years. In February 2015,
7119-434: The historic Flying Scotsman service. This was an early-morning service to London King's Cross with a journey time of four hours, departing Edinburgh Waverley at 05:40, calling only at Newcastle at 07:03 and arriving at London at 09:40. An hourly service ran between King's Cross and Newark , calling at all intermediate stations. This was extended to York every two hours, serving Retford and Doncaster and at peak times
7232-425: The historic Forth , Tay and Montrose bridges. This was an extension of a London-to-Edinburgh service with a daily service operating between King's Cross and Inverness , departing at 12:00 with the southbound service departing Inverness at 7:55 (09–40 Sundays), named the Highland Chieftain . The journey took just over eight hours and was operated by InterCity 125 sets, as the line between Edinburgh and Inverness
7345-497: The hourly London-to-Edinburgh service. There were three trains per day each way between King's Cross and Aberdeen , departing at 10:00 ( The Northern Lights ), 14:00 and 16:00 (weekdays only), the journey time being just over seven hours. There was also one service per day in each direction between Leeds and Aberdeen. These services were operated by InterCity 125 sets, as the Edinburgh to Aberdeen line and York to Leeds section via Garforth were not electrified. This route crossed
7458-567: The individual TOCs. However, a handful of TOCs own and maintain some of their own rolling stock. Train operating companies also operate most of the network's stations , in their role as station facility owners (SFO), in which they lease the buildings and associated land from Network Rail. Network Rail manages some major railway stations and several stations are operated by London Underground or other companies. Most passenger TOCs in Great Britain are privately owned. The majority of these hold franchises to operate rail services on specific parts of
7571-431: The name Wales & Borders . The remainder of Wales & West's services in the west of England were renamed Wessex Trains . John Laing bought out its partners in M40 Trains. Connex , having already lost the South Central franchise in 2001, was removed as franchisee of the South Eastern franchise in 2003 on the grounds of poor financial management. It was replaced as the franchise holder by South Eastern Trains ,
7684-420: The operation of InterCity 225s on this service. From the timetable starting 22 May 2011, the evening return train from Kings Cross was worked by an InterCity 225 (Monday – Fridays only). The Saturday run of the outward service was the only East Coast service serving Leeds not to call at Wakefield Westgate : after Leeds, this service took the route via Micklefield and Hambleton Junctions to Doncaster. Although
7797-773: The operator introduced a charge of £4.99 per hour or £9.99 for 24 hours for only Standard Class passengers; a 15-minute free allowance was still provided. In 2011, East Coast announced an investment of £600,000 for upgrading Wi-Fi equipment across its fleet, these new uplinks used a combination of satellites and lineside 3G / HSPA masts. On 28 February 2015, the final operating day of East Coast, Virgin branding and public relations material begun to be deployed at various stations. Furthermore, East Coast's website, Twitter and Facebook pages were updated overnight to reflect Virgin's branding. That same day, multiple coordinated anti-privatisation protests were held in several cities, including Edinburgh, Doncaster and London, which were organised by
7910-477: The original franchise, the company had been receiving subsidies from the British government to support its operations; however, the terms of the second franchise reversed this to have the operator making payments to the government, specifically a £1.3-billion premium which was due to the DfT over a ten-year period. Within two years, the company's financial difficulties had become a public concern. In October 2006, Sea Containers filed for bankruptcy protection under
8023-400: The other trains to/from Skipton used the InterCity 225, the Saturday run of the outward service used the InterCity 125 because the alternative route used was not fully electrified. From May 2011, a direct train ran between King's Cross and Lincoln Central , with one service per day in each direction as an extension of the London – Newark service. This service used a diesel InterCity 125 set as
8136-562: The permanent public ownership of the InterCity East Coast franchise, or even the complete scrapping of the entire franchise system. In November 2009, the government announced that National Express East Anglia would not be granted a three-year extension that it had otherwise qualified for; this was reportedly a result of the East Coast default. However, National Express were subsequently granted an extension until October 2011, followed by another through to February 2012. With
8249-726: The practice. It began by naming 91109 as Sir Bobby Robson , unveiled in a ceremony at Newcastle station on 29 March 2011 by his widow Elsie and Alan Shearer , patron of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation , which the company was also now a supporter of. On 2 June 2012, 91110 was renamed Battle of Britain Memorial Flight by Carol Vorderman at the National Railway Museum as part of the Railfest 2012 Event. On 16 February 2013, 91107
8362-550: The previous owners. In April 2007, National Express acquired Continental Auto, the second-largest bus and coach operator in Spain. During November 2007, South East England coach operator The Kings Ferry was purchased and an airport to hotel shuttle service in London branded Dot2Dot was launched. Dot2Dot did not prove to be commercially viable and thus ceased operations in November 2008. In November 2007, National Express announced plans to re-brand all of their operations under
8475-514: The privatisation of airports, purchasing East Midlands , Bournemouth , and Humberside Airports . In a move to concentrate on bus and rail provision, Humberside was sold to Manchester Airports Group in 1999 followed by Bournemouth and East Midlands in February 2001. Until November 2007, the group also operated Stewart International Airport in New Windsor, New York . However, the lease
8588-410: The programmes in order to promote the series. Train operating company In the railway system of Great Britain , a train operating company ( TOC ) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993 . There are two types of TOC: most hold franchises let by
8701-527: The public for the InterCity East Coast franchise to be permanently placed into public ownership, or even the complete scrapping of the entire franchise system. In response, the Secretary of State for Transport Lord Adonis reiterated the findings of a 2008 National Audit Office (NAO) report which had concluded that the rail franchising system delivered good value for money and steadily improving services. On 13 November 2009, NXEC relinquished its operation of
8814-404: The purview of National Rail, which operate specific services which are recent additions to Britain's railways. The main examples are Eurostar, which operates to continental Europe via the Channel Tunnel , and Heathrow Express , which runs fast services from London to Heathrow Airport . A number of metropolitan railways on the network are operated by the local franchise holder in conjunction with
8927-716: The railway and come under the auspices of the National Rail brand. In addition, companies are able to bid for "paths" (specific parts of the overall National Rail timetable) to operate their own services, which the franchises do not operate – these operators are classed as open-access operators and are not franchise holders. Currently in Great Britain, there are three open-access operators: Hull Trains , which runs services between London King's Cross and Hull , Grand Central , which operates between King's Cross and Sunderland and between King's Cross and Bradford , and Lumo , which operates between King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley . In addition, there are operators that fall outside
9040-614: The railway network of the United Kingdom is split into two independent systems: one in Great Britain (including the Isle of Wight ), and one in Northern Ireland, which is closely linked to the railway system of the Republic of Ireland. In Great Britain, passenger train services are operated by a number of companies, referred to as Train Operating Companies or TOCs, normally on the basis of regional franchises awarded by
9153-501: The routes operated by Silverlink in London, which were combined with the extended East London line in 2011. Services are controlled directly by TfL, with running of the trains themselves contracted to a private company as an operating concession. This is different from an ordinary franchise, as the train operator is not given control of the strategic aspects of the operation, such as pricing, timetabling and rolling stock procurement. In December 2007, National Express East Coast took over
9266-628: The running of the InterCity East Coast franchise from GNER . Grand Central also began operating its services between London and Sunderland as an open access operator. In January 2008, Laing Rail which owned M40 Trains and a 50% shareholding in London Overground Rail Operations was sold to Deutsche Bahn , becoming part of the DB Regio Group. In February 2008, One was re-branded by National Express as National Express East Anglia to bring it into line with
9379-532: The same franchise was partially enacted. In April 2004, One commenced operating the Greater Anglia franchise that combined the Anglia Railways and First Great Eastern franchises with the West Anglia Great Northern services radiating out from Liverpool Street . The remainder continuing to be operated as WAGN . In the North of England, prior to 2004 there were two regional franchises,
9492-509: The second to Edinburgh via Newcastle with other services reaching into Yorkshire and Northern and Central Scotland. It commenced operations on 14 November 2009 and ceased on 28 February 2015. East Coast was a subsidiary of Directly Operated Railways , formed by the Department for Transport as an operator of last resort when National Express refused to provide further financial support to its National Express East Coast (NXEC) subsidiary and consequently lost its franchise. The franchise
9605-459: The shortlisted bidders for the new franchise. The franchise passed to Virgin Trains East Coast on 1 March 2015. The original InterCity East Coast franchise was awarded to the Bermuda -based transport and container leasing company Sea Containers , which operated it from April 1996 until April 2005 via its subsidiary Great North Eastern Railway (GNER). While Sea Containers successfully bid for
9718-588: The south-east of England, were replaced as the operator of the Network SouthCentral franchise by Govia , who began operating it under the name South Central . Also in 2001, a new franchise, the Wales & Borders franchise was created by the amalgamation of Valley Lines and the majority of services in Wales and the Borders held by Wales & West . The new franchise was initially operated under
9831-405: The time, commonly known as the Great Recession . During April 2009, National Express confirmed that it was pursuing talks with the government over possible financial assistance with the franchise, either through a reduction in the premium due or some other form of assistance. In July 2009, it was announced that National Express was intending to default on the franchise, having failed to renegotiate
9944-517: The top three United States school bus operators. In May 1999, National Express purchased Australia's largest private bus operator, National Bus Company . National Bus Company had bus operations in Brisbane , Melbourne and Perth , and also held a 57% shareholding in Westbus , Sydney 's largest bus operator. Westbus also had a London coach operation. In August 1999, National Express was awarded
10057-646: The whole, service levels remained relatively steady and unchanged throughout East Coast's tenure. From the onset of East Coast's operations, the Department for Transport had publicly stated its long term intention for the franchise was for it to be retendered and thus return to a private franchisee; this was originally set to occur by December 2013. However, during March 2013, the Secretary of State for Transport announced that this transfer had been postponed to February 2015 instead. In January 2014, FirstGroup , Keolis / Eurostar and Stagecoach / Virgin were announced as
10170-409: The year after National Express announced it would not invest any further funds into the franchise, effectively declaring it planned to default. In defaulting on the franchise, National Express directly incurred losses of £72 million by forfeiting bonds. Directly Operated Railways took over the East Coast franchise on 14 November 2009. The franchise failure sparked public and industry calls for
10283-505: The year), Valley Lines Trains , Wales & West , and West Anglia Great Northern were purchased by Arriva and National Express respectively, resulting in the latter owning nine franchises. The two companies transferred to Arriva were renamed Arriva Trains Merseyside and Arriva Trains Northern. The first open access operator using the National Rail brand, Hull Trains , commenced running its services between King's Cross and Hull . In 2001, Connex , which had operated two franchises in
10396-720: Was "shocked and appalled at the information with which I've been provided. You will understand that these allegations are exceptionally serious". School bus drivers in the US have raised concerns about the safety of the buses run by Durham, a subsidiary of National Express, and the second-largest operator of school bus services in North America. According to representatives of Durham bus drivers, fluid leaks, tyres that need to be replaced, black mould and non-functional emergency equipment are regular concerns, whilst workers continued to operate buses while sick because they cannot afford to miss
10509-459: Was 88.2%. Unlike the majority of rail franchises, East Coast was a profitable ongoing concern. It paid back in excess of £1 billion to the British government over the course of its franchise. East Coast inherited the 'escape' loyalty scheme from National Express which was eventually rebranded as East Coast Rewards. The original scheme involved giving benefits to customers who spent over £1,750 in
10622-406: Was a half-hourly service to Edinburgh with some Newcastle trains extended at peak hours. At weekends all services on the half-hour continued to Edinburgh from Newcastle. During the day, services to London King's Cross from Edinburgh ran every 30 minutes, one fast and one semi-fast. All trains called at Newcastle and most at Berwick upon Tweed, Darlington and York. In May 2011 East Coast re-introduced
10735-664: Was acquired and rebranded Travel Dundee . During September 1998, Crabtree-Harmon, the seventh-largest student transportation bus company in the United States was acquired, with 82 school bus contracts mainly in Missouri , but also in other Midwest states including Colorado , Iowa , Kansas , Oklahoma and Utah . During February 1999, Robinson Bus Service was purchased; it was followed in August 1999 by Durham Transportation . These acquisitions placed National Express as one of
10848-682: Was acquired in April 1995. During April 1996, National Express commenced operating its first UK railway franchises, Gatwick Express and Midland Mainline . One year later, three other franchises were awarded, these being Silverlink , Central Trains and ScotRail . To comply with a Monopolies & Mergers Commission ruling on it winning the ScotRail franchise , National Express sold the Scottish Citylink operation to Metroline in August 1998. In February 1997, Taybus Public Transport
10961-567: Was an extension of the London to Leeds service. Though the line to Skipton was electrified throughout, the East Coast service to/from the town was initially operated using a diesel HST because the electrical infrastructure on the Leeds to Skipton line was insufficient to support a Class 91 locomotive in addition to the Class 333 electric multiple units that operated the local services from Leeds to Skipton. However, tests took place on 16 January 2011 for
11074-512: Was an extension of this service to Edinburgh every two hours. At weekends, all daytime services to Newcastle continued through to Edinburgh, with some going non-stop. Late evening services terminated at Newcastle. This was East Coast's flagship route, serving the whole length of the East Coast Main Line ; an hourly service from London to Edinburgh Waverley , calling at York, Darlington, Newcastle, Berwick-upon-Tweed and Edinburgh. Some of these trains also called at Peterborough . Occasionally there
11187-739: Was awarded two regional rail contracts by the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr , Zweckverband Nahverkehr Rheinland and Zweckverband Nahverkehr Westfalen-Lippe authorities that commenced in December 2015. In January 2015, the Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft announced that National Express had been selected to operate the Nuremberg S-Bahn system from December 2018. It was to have been the first Deutsche Bahn S-Bahn network to be taken over by
11300-496: Was extended to Newcastle. These services operated only on weekdays. Additional services also start/terminated at Doncaster or Peterborough at peak times. There was only one direct through train per day in each direction between King's Cross and Glasgow Central departing Glasgow at 06:50 and departing King's Cross at 15.30 as an extension of a London to Newcastle service also calling at Edinburgh. There were no East Coast service to Glasgow on Saturdays. These trains were extensions to
11413-497: Was floated on the London Stock Exchange . In 1993, Scottish Citylink , Eurolines and East Midlands Airport were acquired. During April 1995, National Express purchased West Midlands Travel , the formerly council-owned bus network of Birmingham and the West Midlands ; it was rebranded Travel West Midlands in September 1996. This move began the brand family of Travel ... local bus operations. Bournemouth Airport
11526-647: Was nationalised by the Government of the United Kingdom in 2009. L&CR was responsible for building the High Speed 1 project. National Express also held a 40% stake in the Inter-Capital and Regional Rail consortium which held the management contract for the UK arm of the Eurostar operation, L&CR's subsidiary Eurostar International from 1998 to 2010. In the 1990s, National Express moved into
11639-410: Was not electrified. One train per day in each direction ran between Bradford Forster Square and King's Cross via Leeds. This used an electric InterCity 225 train as the route was fully electrified. This service offered the fastest journey time of 1hr 59m, only stopping at Wakefield Westgate on the way to London. There was a morning train from Skipton to King's Cross with an early evening return. It
11752-406: Was purchased with 56 vehicles. In March 2020, Lucketts Travel was purchased. During September 2021, it was reported that National Express had entered into talks to acquire Stagecoach Group. In December 2021, a deal was agreed between the boards of the two companies: however, it was subject to both shareholder approval and regulatory scrutiny. Having originally recommended shareholders accept
11865-533: Was re-nationalised on 14 November 2009, with the day-to-day operations continuing normally on the whole. Within one year, East Coast's rolling stock begun to be re-liveried in a new silver scheme intentionally styled so that future operators of the franchise could easily apply their own branding following their takeover of operations. During May 2011, East Coast launched the "Eureka" programme, which involved numerous service changes, including an overhauled timetable and complimentary catering for First Class passengers. On
11978-458: Was renamed Skyfall and temporarily returned to its original 91007 number to mark the James Bond film of the same name, which featured trains extensively and became the highest-grossing film of all time in the United Kingdom. On 14 October 2014, 91111 was unveiled to mark the 100th anniversary of World War I . The specially-designed East Coast locomotive, named For The Fallen , carries
12091-631: Was sold to ComfortDelGro Cabcharge in August 2005. In June 2005, the London bus arm of Tellings-Golden Miller was purchased by National Express, after which it was rebranded as Travel London. During July 2005, National Express sold ATC to Connex. In October 2005, the company agreed to buy most of the operations of privately owned Spanish transport operator ALSA , which operates bus and coach services in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, and long-distance coach services to other parts of Europe. Alsa's operations in South America and China were retained by
12204-428: Was sold to the public Port Authority of New York and New Jersey . Australian bus companies previously operated: In 1999, the Group gained the Australian franchises M>Train , M>Tram and V/Line Passenger , following the privatisation of rail and tram services by the Government of Victoria . After incurring large losses and being unable to renegotiate the franchise contracts, the operations were handed back to
12317-511: Was started in June 2010, with the first full set (excluding loco) being released on 30 July 2010. A key concept behind the new livery was that a plain base livery would be readily customisable to suit any potential future operator of the franchise. East Coast leased five Class 180 Adelante diesel multiple units from Angel Trains with the intention of using them on proposed additional services from London King's Cross to Lincoln and Harrogate. In
12430-461: Was successful. The deadline for offers was subsequently extended to 16 October 2009. On 16 October 2009, the Cosmen/CVC consortium announced that they had withdrawn their offer. That same day, Stagecoach submitted its own all-share bid to acquire National Express. This, too, did not proceed and, in November 2009, National Express announced it would raise the necessary capital through a share issue. During February 2013, National Express Germany
12543-496: Was superseded by First Great Western Link and ScotRail (National Express) by First ScotRail . A new operator, Heathrow Connect , jointly run by BAA and First Great Western , began operating stopping services between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport complementing the Heathrow Express. Three new integrated franchises began operating in April 2006: Further integrations occurred in 2007. The first of these
12656-576: Was the South Western franchise ; this merged the original South West Trains franchise with the Island Line Trains franchise on the Isle of Wight and began operating in February 2007 under the name South West Trains, with Island Line retained as a separate brand. In November 2007, three new integrated franchises began operating: In addition to these three, a further new operator, London Overground Rail Operations , took control of
12769-420: Was to cease offering day trips and holiday excursions in October 2023. In June 2023, National Express changed its name to Mobico Group. In August 2024, Mobico announced that they had begun the process of selling its North American school bus division, including Durham School Services , in order to reduce its debt. National Express' operations are summarised below: The bus and coach services operated by
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