Posted 4th November 2008 | 2 Comments

Operator head-to-head with open-access duo

“We want to create a bigger railway, making better use of existing capacity, improving punctuality and providing better connections with the services of other operators.

IN a bold plan to cut journey times, increase seating capacity and generate extra revenue for investment, National Express East Coast wants to launch 25 new services to and from London from December next year.

With performance levels at their highest since 1996, the company has applied to the Office of Rail Regulation to increase hourly off-peak services to and from London King’s Cross from four to five, and for a clockface timetable for trains leaving London.

One train each hour would be extended from Leeds to Bradford, and another hourly service would run to Lincoln via Newark or Harrogate via Leeds. Also, one daily service would be extended from Lincoln to serve Market Rasen, Grimsby and Cleethorpes.

A report by L.E.K Consulting, commissioned by NXEC, has compared the proposals with competing track access rights applications from two ‘open access’ operators being considered by ORR and analysed the benefits of each to rail users and the UK economy as a whole.

NXEC benefits highlighted include faster East Coast journeys from London, saving 15 minutes to Edinburgh and York, 17 minutes to Newcastle, 18 minutes to Darlington, 12 minutes to Leeds and 11 minutes to Doncaster.

The report also states that the plan would create thousands of additional seats each day, with two extra trains to Edinburgh, eight to Leeds and 12 more to Peterborough and Doncaster, as well as eight new services to and from Lincoln, 15 to and from Bradford and six to and from Harrogate.

It claims that the plans would deliver over six times more annual revenue than the proposals of Grand Union and 23 times more than the proposed Harrogate services of Hull Trains.

NXEC managing director David Franks said: “We want to create a bigger railway, making better use of existing capacity, improving punctuality and providing better connections with the services of other operators.

“Our application covers far more destinations than those of both the ‘open access’ proposals, on one of the busiest and fastest-growing routes in the country. We aim to deliver more seats, faster journeys and more railway investment, and to spread the benefits throughout the East Coast main line.”

National Express is encouraging customers and stakeholders to write to the Office of Rail Regulation in support of its plans.

Reader Comments:

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  • Anthony, Lincoln, LIncolnshire

    It is a shame that having had a major upgrade to Lincoln Central Station, we have still got to wait until Dec 2009 before National Express can introduce any improvement to the service Lincoln to London customers receive. The sadness is that the longer it takes the more diffiicult it will be to attact us back.


  • Simon, London, UK

    It's a shame that NX aren't as concerned about their East Anglia services!
    NXEC is clearly more profitable than NXEA.