New East Coast Mainline franchise confirmed
This is ostensibly good news for rural communities in the hinterlands of those places with more potential rail services. I do wonder however if the large price paid for the franchise will make some of these promises unsustainable. What is clear is that infrastructure improvements are crucial to the future of rural communities even if they enhance the connectivity of cities. This article tells us:
The Department for Transport today confirmed (10 December 2014) it has officially signed the East Coast rail franchise contract with Inter City Railways, a venture between Stagecoach and Virgin.
The 8 year deal will give passengers between London and Edinburgh more seats, more services and new trains from March next year. Under the franchise agreement, Inter City Railways will provide passengers a host of benefits, including:
▪ new services from London to key destinations, with 75 more station calls a day
▪ plans for new direct links to Huddersfield, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Dewsbury and Thornaby
▪ more trains to London from Bradford, Edinburgh, Harrogate, Leeds, Lincoln, Newcastle, Shipley, Stirling, and York
▪ 3,100 extra seats for the morning peak time into and out of King’s Cross by 2020
▪ 2,200 additional seats – a 50% increase – across the entire train fleet
▪ 65 state-of-the-art Intercity Express trains brought into service from 2018, totalling 500 new carriages
▪ reduction of journey times from London to Leeds by 14 minutes, and from London to Edinburgh by 13 minutes