East coast mainline to be temporarily renationalised
The East Coast rail service will be temporarily renationalised, the government has decided, after operators Virgin and Stagecoach could no longer meet the promised payments in the £3.3bn contract.
The London to Edinburgh service will be taken back into public control on 24 June, a little over three years since Virgin Trains East Coast started running. It will be rebranded as the London and North Eastern Railway.
Although when my Dad was shovelling coal on the old LNER footplate it was dubbed by some wag as the Late & Never Early Railway...
All we need now is the return of the LMS, GWR and the Southern...
Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power - Eric Hoffer.
I have NO BELIEF in the existence of a God or gods. I do not have to offer proof nor do I have to determine absence of proof because I do not ASSERT that a God does or does not or gods do or do not exist.
Rationalia relies on voluntary donations. There is no obligation of course, but if you value this place and want to see it continue please consider making a small donation towards the forum's running costs.
Details on how to do that can be found here. .
"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."
Frank Zappa
"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
Apparently, the two companies in the joint bid to run the franchise over-estimated their projected profits on the back of which they secured their finance. Didn't stop them borrowing more to maintain the dividend though. Now the taxpayer picks up the shortfall - and as sure as eggs are laid by a female bird, reptile, fish, or invertebrate, usually containing a developing embryo, as soon as it manages two financial quarters in profit it'll be shipped out to the private sector again.
Rationalia relies on voluntary donations. There is no obligation of course, but if you value this place and want to see it continue please consider making a small donation towards the forum's running costs.
Details on how to do that can be found here. .
"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."
Frank Zappa
"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
