Fears over rail contract decision

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Transport giant National Express beat off the challenge of three other bidders to run the East Coast Main Line (ECML) franchise.

National Express, which will replace the present operator GNER, will have to pay the Government £1.4 billion during the life of its franchise which will start in December and run until March 2015.

Unregulated fares - generally off-peak tickets - are expected to rise by an average of 2.1% above inflation each year of the franchise.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of customer watchdog Passenger Focus, welcomed the details of new and improved services that were promised in the new franchise. But he added: "We remain concerned at the accumulative affect of year-on-year unregulated fare rises way above inflation."

And Passenger Focus manager Guy Dangerfield said the above-inflation rises could "could amount to a 45% price increase over the length of the franchise" and could mean a York to London standard open return ticket rising from £179 to £259 by 2015.

GNER has run ECML services since 1997 and won a competition to retain the franchise in 2005. But the Department for Transport (DfT) retendered the deal after GNER's parent company, Bermuda-based Sea Containers, filed for bankruptcy protection in the US last year.

National Express, which also runs the London to Tilbury and Southend train company c2c and the East Anglia-based One train company, defeated First Group, Arriva and a partnership between Virgin and Stagecoach to win the bidding battle for ECML.

Under the deal, the operator will be expected to deliver faster journey times, with London to Leeds services taking two hours, as well as more London to Edinburgh trains with journeys lasting four hours 20 minutes.

National Express has committed to ensuring that nine out of 10 trains run on time, as well as environmental benefits such as reducing fuel consumption per passenger kilometre by 28% over the life of the franchise, and investment in four "green" stations.