East Coast rail line shortlist revealed

Image source, PA

Image caption, The East Coast franchise has been run by the government since 2009

The government has published a to run the East Coast mainline as part of plans for the rail route's reprivatisation.

FirstGroup has been shortlisted, alongside a joint bid from Eurostar and French firm Keolis, and another from Virgin and Stagecoach.

The franchise, which covers the route between London and Edinburgh, has been publicly run since 2009.

It is due to return to private hands in early 2015.

"Giving passengers more will be at the heart of the new East Coast franchise," said rail minister Stephen Hammond.

"For our railways to continue to grow we need strong private sector partners who can invest and innovate in ways that deliver a world class service."

'Economic vandalism'

The government was forced to take control of the franchise after the previous operator, National Express, ran into financial difficulties.

The government says it always intended to return the route to the private sector, but transport unions have called for the franchise to remain in public ownership.

The TSSA rail union says the line has been a "success story" under public ownership.

"This is nothing short of economic vandalism by a chancellor who does not want voters to know the truth about the East Coast line - it is a public sector success story," said Manuel Cortes, the TSSA's general secretary.

"It has been the cheapest franchise to run for the past five years and it has produced the greatest return to taxpayers - over 拢600m."

Of the named bidders, First Group, Stagecoach and Virgin already operate UK rail routes directly.

Eurostar operates services through the channel tunnel and Keolis has a stake in Govia, which operates Southern and South Eastern.

The government says it will give the three groups a formal "invitation to tender" in February, after which they will be given at least three months to submit their bids.