East Coast (train operating company)
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 on two primary routes; the first to Leeds and 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 subsidiary and consequently lost its franchise. The franchise was re-nationalised on 14 November 2009, with the intention being that operations would return to a private franchisee by December 2013. In March 2013 the Secretary of State for Transport announced that this would occur in February 2015 instead.
In January 2014, FirstGroup, Keolis/Eurostar and Stagecoach/Virgin were announced as the shortlisted bidders for the new franchise. The franchise passed to Virgin Trains East Coast on 1 March 2015.
Principal services
In May 2011, East Coast introduced a major new timetable known as "Eureka". The Eureka programme also introduced complimentary catering in First Class.London – Leeds
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.London – Newcastle
East Coast operated a half-hourly service between King's Cross and Newcastle 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. The half-hour train called at Peterborough, Newark, Doncaster,, Northallerton,, Durham and terminated at Newcastle, although there was an extension of this service to Edinburgh every 2 hours. At weekends, all daytime services to Newcastle continued through to Edinburgh, with some going non-stop. Late evening services terminated at Newcastle.London – Edinburgh
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, and Edinburgh. Some of these trains also called at Peterborough. Occasionally there 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 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.
London – Newark/York
An hourly service ran between King's Cross and Newark, calling at all intermediate stations. This was extended to every two hours, serving Retford and Doncaster and at peak times was extended to Newcastle. These services operated only on weekdays. Additional services also start/terminated at Doncaster or Peterborough at peak times.Limited service
London – Glasgow
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.London – Aberdeen
These trains were extensions to the hourly London-to-Edinburgh service. There were three trains per day each way between King's Cross and, departing at 10:00, 14:00 and 16:00, 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 the historic Forth, Tay and Montrose bridges.London – Inverness
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, 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 was not electrified.London – Bradford
One train per day in each direction ran between 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.London – Skipton
There was a morning train from to King's Cross with an early evening return.This 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 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.
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 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.
London – Lincoln
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 the Nottingham to Lincoln line was not electrified.London – Hull
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.London – Harrogate
There was a daily morning departure from Harrogate to King's Cross and an evening return. This service used a diesel InterCity 125 set as the Harrogate Line was not electrified.Named trains
East Coast operates a number of named passenger trains, including:| Name | Origin | Destination | Other details |
| Flying Scotsman | London King's Cross | Edinburgh Waverley | Service began 1862 in both directions; named by the LNER in 1924 |
| Highland Chieftain | London King's Cross | Inverness | 1tpd both ways, the longest East Coast route |
| Hull Executive | London King's Cross | Hull | |
| Northern Lights | London King's Cross | Aberdeen | 1tpd both ways |
Rolling stock
East Coast inherited the rolling stock operated by NXEC, comprising Class 43 diesel sets with their Mark 3 coaching stock, and Class 91 electric locomotives and Mark 4 coaches.The original franchise holder, GNER, undertook a major refurbishment of its rolling stock from 2003, which it titled "Project Mallard". Between 2003 and 2005, the Mark 4 carriage fleet was upgraded and refurbished, while work started on refurbishing the Mark 3 coaches under GNER in early 2007. This work continued under NXEC, with the final InterCity 125 set completed in October 2009.
Until October 2010, East Coast offered free Wi-Fi to passengers in both first and standard class. From 5 October 2010, a charge of £4.99 per hour or £9.99 for 24 hours was introduced for Standard Class passengers, with a 15-minute free allowance.
As part of a repaint of the InterCity 225 fleet, they were repainted into East Coast's silver livery. The repaint was started in June 2010 with the first full set being released on 30 July 2010. The idea is that a plain base livery can be easily customised for any future operator of the franchise.
Cancelled future fleet
Originally East Coast were to receive five Class 180 Adelante DMUs. Due to a reduction in the number of extra services, and with Directly Operated Railways stating its unhappiness with the Class 180 units, they were sent to First Great Western for use on the Cotswold Line instead.East Coast investigated using one 11-coach Pendolino from July 2011 but decided instead to lease an extra HST set from East Midlands Trains from May 2011, bringing the number of HSTs leased to 14.
Locomotive naming
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 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 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 a livery filled with images, stories and tributes to regiments and people who served in them across the East Coast route.
Performance
The public performance measure 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 was 88.2%.Profitability
East Coast paid back over £1 billion to the government over the course of its franchise.Loyalty scheme
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 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 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.