13Wednesday 9 September 2009 | The Scotsman Special report | BUSINESS CLASS
"We would
not want
to see
levels of
service
reduce in
future"
I
TSHOULDbethejewelinthecrownof
the British railway network, but the
main line service connecting London
to Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inver-
ness has had a troubled existence for some
years now.
The recent reports of a high-speed link
between London and Scotland � now that
really would be the rail network's flagship
� emphasised that it would be many years
before such a service was operational. The
East Coast line is facing its problems right
now.
Sometime in the next few months, the
East Coast franchise presently operated by
National Express will by taken over by a
company specially formed by the
Westminster government � the `operator
of last resort' or nationalisation by
another name.
In a year or so, the franchise will be put
out to tender to potential operators and
will be re-privatised. It's not quite chaos,
but it is not how things were supposed to
happen.
The unprecedented move by the
Government follows the failed attempt by
National Express East Coast (NXEC) to
renegotiate its franchise with the Depart-
ment for Transport after the recession
hammered its profits from business travel
in particular.
On1July,NXEC'sparentgroup,National
Express,announceditwouldnotbeableto
support its subsidiary for the duration of
the franchise until 2015 � NXEC was due to
pay the Government a total of
�1.4 billion in premiums in
that time.
It is the first time a long-distance train
operator has defaulted on its franchise in
this way and was described by the Govern-
ment as "not the failure of the system, but
the failure of one company".
But it was not the first time an East Coast
line operator had steamed into trouble.
Great North Eastern Railways (GNER) had
successfully run the franchise after taking
over from the nationalised InterCity East
Coast in 1996, and had won an extension.
GNER'sparentcompany,SeaContainers,
got into serious financial problems and
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
intheUSAin2006,soevenbeforethecom-
pany could default on the franchise, the
Government stepped in to order a new
franchise tendering exercise which NXEC
won in August 2007.
Twoyearslater,andmanyEastCoastpas-
sengers will be asking what will happen to
our trains in the immediate future. The an-
swer is that passengers should see little or
no difference to the service in the short
term, and the new private franchise opera-
tor will be very much expected to improve
some perceived problems on the line.
Ironically, in the weeks running up the
default announcement, passengers were
happier with NXEC than ever before.
Passenger Focus, the UK rail watchdog,
carried out one of its regular consumer
surveys in the spring and found that the
number of people describing themselves
as satisfied with the NXEC overall service
hadrisento87percent,puttingitjointtop
in the long-distance operator category.
An NXEC spokesman said: "Since
National Express began operating the
service, customer satisfaction, measured
by Passenger Focus, has improved by 5 per
cent. Operational performance is also the
best it has been since privatisation."
Themainsourcesofdissatisfactionwere
car parking facilities at East Coast stations
and the quality of facilities and services at
the stations, though with the former
category, satisfaction levels had risen from
46 per cent to 55 per cent.
On the trains, the toilet facilities and
luggage spaces were the main bugbears,
judged by the low 45 per cent and 56
per cent satisfaction levels.
Passenger Focus manager
Guy Dangerfield said:
"Passenger Focus will be
starting research in
coming weeks look-
ing at passenger
needsfromthisvital
rail link.
"We will be
encouraging the
government to
use the findings of this research to make
sure passenger views are taken into
account when deciding the service's
future. We would not want to see levels of
serviceandservicequalitytoreduceunder
future arrangements."
No-one seems to know the exact date
that NXEC will be handed over to the
government,butallsidesarecommittedto
a smooth transfer. A Department for
Transport spokesman said: "The handover
willtakeplacewhenNXECinformsusthat
they are no longer able to fulfil their
obligations. The company established by
the government is ready to go. We are in
their hands until then."
A National Express East Coast
spokesperson said: "At National Express
East Coast it remains business as usual. We
are also working with the DfT on an
orderlyhandoverofthefranchise,whichis
expected to take place towards the end of
the year. Customers and staff will not be
affected by these changes."
In the long run, the government wants
the East Coast main line back in private
hands, especially with the latest plans to
develop high speed links between north
and south.
Expect the real concerns of all involved
to be aired when the re-franchising tender
processgetsunderway,withVirginTrains,
FirstGroup and Stagecoach speculated as
possible bidders for what is, lest we forget,
nearly always a profitable line.
Nationalisation
signals change
for running of
East Coast line
RailwatchdogwantsimprovementasGovernmentgets
ready to relieve National Express, writes MartinHannan
National
Express is
waving goodbye
to its East Coast
Franchise,
above, but
GNER, below
left, also ran into
trouble

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