National Express has bagged the contract to run rail services between London and Scotland. They were awarded the contract by the department of transport after GNER failed to pay the government an assured sum of £1.3bn. GNER, a US based firm had run into financial troubles which resulted in non payment to the treasury to run the rail services.

This new rail route will be called National Express East Coast. National Express already covers a major part of North-South rail route. The new route links London with Scotland with stops at Peterborough, Leeds, Doncaster, York, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness.

National Express won the tender in a close fight. Other contenders were Arriva, First Group and a joint venture between Virgin trains, GNER and Stagecoach. Under the new terms, NE will pay the treasury a total sum of £1.4bn to run the rail services until March of 2015. The upkeep costs of train stations and other infrastructure will be taken care by NE.

National Express said it would inject £7.4m to upgrade stations, including the creation of 2,000 extra car park spaces, over the course of the seven-and-a-half years.

It also said that from December 2010, the number of weekday trains could rise from 136 to 161 and a new London-to-Lincoln service would also be added.

The company will spend £400,000 in reducing energy use at stations and train depots.

via BBC