Rail jobs worry as East Coast line changes hands

Nov 12 2009 by William Green, The Journal

HUNDREDS of workers could face an uncertain future as the Government prepares to nationalise East Coast rail services, The Journal can reveal.

Current operator National Express will formally hand over the East Coast franchise on Friday night, with 2,800 staff also moving to a new publicly owned company.

But the prospects for more than 200 workers at a “customer contact” centre, opposite Newcastle Central Station, are unclear because it is not part of the East Coast franchise.

National Express owns the centre at Baron House, which deals with tickets for East Coast services and provides a telephone service for passengers.

That means the 230 workers at the centre do not automatically transfer to East Coast, the new operator owned by the Government.

And their future could remain uncertain for several more months as National Express and the new East Coast operator try to reach a deal. The developments come after the handover was brought forward by several weeks.

A further factor is that the centre also provides services for National Express’s East Anglia rail franchise.