Date: 26/03/2013

Private companies have been invited to bid for the East Coast rail franchise, which has been run in the public sector since 2009. The London to Scotland route was run by National Express before then. In a separate announcement, the Department for Transport said Virgin would continue to run the West Coast Main Line until April 2017.

External links

Bids invited to run East Coast rail

BBC News

The government invites private companies to bid for the East Coast rail franchise and also announces Virgin will run the West Coast Main Line until 2017.

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