National Express East Coast
National Express East Coast was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise from December 2007 until November 2009, when it refused financial support for its franchise. It operated InterCity train services on the East Coast Main Line.
History
The original InterCity East Coast franchise was awarded to Sea Containers which operated it from April 1996 until April 2005 trading as GNER. Sea Containers was awarded a new seven-year franchise by the Department for Transport from May 2005 with a three-year extension dependent on performance targets being met. GNER committed to pay a £1.3-billion-premium to the Department for Transport over 10 years.However, due to the financial problems caused by it having overbid as well as financial difficulties encountered by the parent company, in December 2006 the government announced it was stripping the franchise from Sea Containers and would put it up for re-tender, with GNER running the franchise on fixed fee management contract in the interim.
In February 2007 the Department for Transport announced that Arriva, First, National Express and Virgin Rail Group had been shortlisted to lodge bids for the new franchise.
In August 2007 the Department for Transport awarded the InterCity East Coast franchise to National Express. National Express committed to pay a £1.4-billion-premium to the Department of Transport over seven years and four months. At the time rail analysts had speculated that the company had paid too much for the franchise. National Express East Coast commenced operations on 9 December 2007.
Services
NXEC's principal routes were from London King's Cross to Leeds and Edinburgh Waverley.In off-peak times, there were three or four trains per hour to and from King's Cross. The following details apply to weekday operations.
Principal routes
London–Leeds
The service between King's Cross and Leeds was generally half-hourly, with all trains serving Wakefield Westgate, most trains serving Peterborough and Doncaster and some serving Stevenage, Grantham, Newark and Retford.London–Newcastle–Edinburgh
A half-hourly service between King's Cross and Newcastle operated for most of the day, departing from London on the hour and on the half-hour. The 'top of the hour' departures continued through to Edinburgh Waverley, with a two-hourly extension to Glasgow Central.These trains generally ran as limited-stop expresses between London and Newcastle, all trains called at York, and most at Peterborough and Darlington, though afternoon and evening departures from King's Cross ran non-stop to Doncaster or York. The trains leaving King's Cross on the half-hour generally terminated at Newcastle and served Stevenage, Grantham, Newark, Retford, Northallerton, Doncaster and Durham as well as Peterborough, York, and Darlington.
Other routes
London/Leeds-Aberdeen
There were four trains per day serving Aberdeen departing Leeds at 07:10 and King's Cross at 10:30, 14:00 and 16:00 and Aberdeen at 07:52, 09:52 and 14:50 for King's Cross and 18:16 for Edinburgh with a journey time from King's Cross of just over seven hours. These services were operated by HSTs, as the Edinburgh–Aberdeen line was not electrified.London-Inverness
The Highland Chieftain ran between Inverness and King's Cross with a journey time of just over eight hours, departing Inverness at 07:55 and King's Cross at 12:00. This service was operated by a HST, as the Edinburgh – Dunblane and Dunblane – Inverness lines were not electrified.London-Hull
The Hull Executive ran between Hull and King's Cross, departing Hull at 07:00 and King's Cross at 17:20. This service was operated by a HST as the Temple Hirst Junction – Hull Line was not electrified.London-Skipton
There was a 06:55 departure from Skipton and Keighley to King's Cross with an 18:03 return. This was an extension of a Leeds – King's Cross service. Though the line was electrified, the service was operated using a HST because the electrical infrastructure on the line was insufficient to support a Class 91 locomotive and the Class 333 EMUs that operate the local services. The Saturday running of the southbound service was the only NXEC southbound service from Leeds not to call at Wakefield Westgate. This service departed from Leeds and headed along the Leeds-Selby Line to join the East Coast Main Line at Hambleton. This was to retain driver route knowledge for diversionary services.London-Bradford Forster Square
There was a 06:30 service from Bradford Forster Square to King's Cross with a 17:33 return. This was an extension of a Leeds – King's Cross service and was operated by an InterCity 225 set.London-Harrogate
There was a Monday-Saturday 07:28 departure from Harrogate to King's Cross. However, there was no return journey. This was operated by an InterCity 125.Named trains
NXEC operated the following named passenger trains:- The Hull Executive London – Hull / Hull – London
- The Northern Lights London – Aberdeen / Aberdeen – London
- The Highland Chieftain London – Inverness / Inverness – London
- The Flying Scotsman London – Edinburgh Waverley / Glasgow Central – London
Proposed routes
London-Lincoln
A franchise commitment was to introduce a fifth service out of King's Cross each hour, operating to Lincoln and York on alternate hours from December 2010. It was proposed to lease four Class 90s and Mark 3 sets for use on the Leeds and York services with HSTs being used on the Lincoln services. This was later shelved and five Class 180s were leased instead. It was anticipated that one early morning train would start from Cleethorpes, serving Grimsby Town and Market Rasen, with one evening service to Lincoln extended to Cleethorpes.Rolling stock
NXEC inherited a fleet of High Speed Trains and InterCity 225 sets made up of Class 91s hauling Mark 4 Carriages and a Driving Van Trailer from GNER. The High Speed Trains were part way through an overhaul program with the Class 43 power cars being repowered with MTU 16V4000R41 engines at Brush Traction and the Mark 3 Carriages refurbished to Mallard standards at Wabtec, Doncaster. This was completed in 2009.NXEC offered free Wi-Fi to passengers in both first and standard class.
To operate proposed new services from 2010, five Class 180s were leased. They were never used by NXEC with three being sublet to Northern Rail in October 2008.
In 2009 a High Speed Train that had been on lease while the fleet was refurbished, was returned to Porterbrook and sent to First Great Western.
Fleet
Proposed fleetDemise
By 2009 NXEC was under increasing financial pressure due to rising fuel prices and the economic downturn. Instead of projected increases in revenue from the franchise, in the first half of 2009 NXEC ticket sales income decreased by 1%.Due to the revenue shortfall, NXEC introduced a charge of £2.50 per journey leg for seat reservations.
In April 2009 National Express confirmed that it was still pursuing talks with the government over possible financial assistance with the franchise, either through a reduction in the premium due, or other assistance.
In July 2009 it was announced that National Express planned to default on the franchise, having failed to renegotiate the contractual terms of operation, with National Express stating that it would not provide 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 result, the Department for Transport announced it would establish a publicly owned company to take over the franchise.
In prior negotiations, the company had reportedly offered to pay over £100 million to be released from its commitment to operate the franchise. Transport Secretary Lord Adonis had rejected this on a matter of principle, saying: "The government is not prepared to renegotiate rail franchises, because I'm simply not prepared to bail out companies that are unable to meet their commitments". In defaulting on the franchise, under the franchising system, National Express only directly incurred losses of £72 million by forfeiting bonds.
The franchise failure sparked public and industry calls for the permanent public ownership of the InterCity East Coast franchise, or even the complete scrapping of the entire franchise system. In response, Lord Adonis reiterated the findings of a 2008 National Audit Office report, which had concluded that the rail franchising system delivered good value for money and steadily improving services.
National Express East Coast continued to operate the franchise until 23:59 on 13 November 2009, when the Department for Transport took over through its East Coast subsidiary.