East Coast (train operating company)

East Coast

Class 91 locomotive at London King's Cross in August 2012
Overview
Franchise(s)	InterCity East Coast 14 November 2009 – 28 February 2015
Main region(s)	Greater London East of England East Midlands Yorkshire and the Humber North East England Scotland
Fleet size	31 Class 91 electric locomotives 30 InterCity 225 sets 14 InterCity 125 (HST) sets
Stations called at	53
Stations operated	12
Parent company	Directly Operated Railways
Reporting mark	GR
Predecessor	National Express East Coast
Successor	Virgin Trains East Coast
Other
Website	www.eastcoast.co.uk

v t e East Coast Route
Legend
Inverness Carrbridge Aviemore Kingussie Newtonmore Blair Atholl Pitlochry Dunkeld & Birnam Perth Gleneagles Dunblane Stirling Falkirk Aberdeen Stonehaven Montrose Arbroath Dundee Leuchars Kirkcaldy Inverkeithing Glasgow Central Motherwell Haymarket Edinburgh Waverley Dunbar Reston Berwick-upon-Tweed Alnmouth Morpeth Newcastle Durham Darlington Northallerton York Skipton Keighley Bradford Forster Square Shipley Harrogate Horsforth Leeds Wakefield Westgate Hull Brough Selby Doncaster Retford Lincoln Newark North Gate Grantham Peterborough Stevenage London King's Cross

East Coast, the trading name of the East Coast Main Line Company,^[1] 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 London King's Cross 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.^[2]

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 (NXEC) subsidiary and consequently lost its franchise.^[3] The franchise was re-nationalised on 14 November 2009, with the day-to-day operations continuing normally on the whole. Within one year, East Coast's rolling stock begun to be re-liveried in a new silver scheme intentionally styled so that future operators of the franchise could easily apply their own branding following their takeover of operations. During May 2011, East Coast launched the "Eureka" programme, which involved numerous service changes, including an overhauled timetable and complimentary catering for First Class passengers. On the whole, service levels remained relatively steady and unchanged throughout East Coast's tenure.

From the onset of East Coast's operations, the Department for Transport had publicly stated its long term intention for the franchise was for it to be retendered and thus return to a private franchisee; this was originally set to occur by December 2013.^[4] However, during March 2013, the Secretary of State for Transport announced that this transfer had been postponed to February 2015 instead.^[5] In January 2014, FirstGroup, Keolis/Eurostar and Stagecoach/Virgin were announced as the shortlisted bidders for the new franchise.^[6][7][8] The franchise passed to Virgin Trains East Coast on 1 March 2015.^[9][10][11]