Pledge to turn East Coast rail link into best

Nov 13 2009 by William Green, The Journal

TRANSPORT Secretary Lord Adonis today declared that the East Coast rail franchise will become the “pride” of Britain under nationalisation.

A transformation of Newcastle station, the scrapping of a charge for reserving seats, improved cleanliness and better catering are promised as services are taken over by a publicly-owned company tonight. The switch to the state-owned East Coast company comes after current operator National Express hit financial troubles.

Previous operator GNER also collapsed under financial strains, although the Government still intends ultimately to re-let the flagship franchise – linking the region with London and Scotland – to the private sector.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said: “East Coast will remain in public hands for two years and there will be full continuity of service.

“But this is not a care and maintenance job – I want to see real improvements in the service and better value for money.

“East Coast staff have real pride in their jobs. They want to offer a fantastic service and the new company will give them the tools for the job.

“This is a profitable railway – it needs to be the pride of its passengers and staff too and that’s my aim for East Coast.”

Promised improvements include an end to charges for seat reservations from January.

In May, The Journal revealed how National Express were accused by unions of “mugging” passengers with the charges.

Other improvements feature £12m for station improvements, including at Newcastle, York, and Peterborough.

A new station entrance will be created at Newcastle, with 200 new cycle spaces as well as new passenger and retail facilities at the western end of the station.

There will also be an immediate review of on-board catering in standard and first-class with improvements planned from next year and promised better standards of cleanliness on trains and East Coast managed stations.

East Coast chairman Elaine Holt said day one of the new operation was about “business as usual” for staff and customers, but promised the top priority was to deliver the “basics” to a consistently high standard in the coming weeks and months.

“Over time we’ll introduce further improvements to the service, the stations and the trains. Our aim is to make sure that East Coast is the preferred way to travel along the length of the route and the best performing long distance rail operator,” she added.

It was also announced that Karen Boswell will be the managing director of East Coast having worked most recently at transport giant FirstGroup.

Other staff employed by National Express will transfer to the new firm.