East Coast pleasure to follow a period of pain

After 130 years - Is this the end of the railway restaurant car?

Richard Branson's Virgin – which already runs the West Coast mainline – is eager to bid for the route when the Government decides to put it back in private hands.

It is in public ownership after last operator, National Express, ran out of money to keep hold of it, and Virgin bosses are urging Ministers to hurry up and start the bidding process for the new franchise amid speculation it could be delayed for two years because of economic uncertainty.

If it were successful, 2bn could be spent upgrading the line, trains and stations to allow more frequent and faster journeys between Leeds, York and Doncaster to London.

But the price of that would be months of disruption and delays while the work is carried out. Upgrades to the West Coast line caused chaos after work overran and, although Virgin bosses point out that was a much bigger scheme, they admitted there would be problems for East Coast passengers as well.

Virgin's Communications Director Arthur Leathley admitted disruption "won't be great for our reputation" and accepted that customers travelling between London and the North West suffered "five years of absolute pain" during work, but told the Yorkshire Post: "No one wants disruption but rather than have slow, painful decline you're better to grab hold of it and get the improvements."

He added: "You can't do the work that's required on the East Coast line simply or cheaply or without some disruption, and that will apply whoever's doing it.

"In contrast to the rest of the country, performance has declined and that's a direct result of lack of investment."

He said the result of the work would mean faster journeys, more reliable trains and more frequent services. On the West Coast line, an hourly service from Manchester to London has been replaced by three an hour.

"I'm sure people in Leeds or York would kill for that sort of service," said Mr Leathley. "But you only get that with spending money."

The previous Government expected the franchise to be re-let in 2011. Officials say it will not happen before then but industry insiders expect that to be delayed amid concern the Department for Transport would not get a good price in the current economic climate.