Video: After 130 years, is this finally the end of the line for the railway restaurant car?

Representing the pinnacle of civilised travel, the restaurant car was as much a part of the railway experience as the smell of steam and picturesque countryside.

Its popularity has endured for some but the decline of the service has gathered pace in recent years as on-board catering led to heavy losses for operators.

East Coast runs 15 restaurant cars a day on the main line to London, down from a hundred or so in 2007, but now the service may be killed off altogether as the Government-owned operator tries to reduce the 25m annual losses arising from catering.

An East Coast spokesman insisted that the future of the restaurant car service has yet to be decided, although he confirmed the operator is considering how best to provide on-board catering.

He said: "Changes to the on-board services are designed to improve revenue for the business and to provide better value for customers and the taxpayer and to reduce the historical losses associated with catering provision."

East Coast trialled an at-seat breakfast menu earlier this month following market research and said it was considering offering meals included in the price of a first-class ticket. "The new service will not result in an increase for fares for first-class passengers, " he added.

The operator was due to make an announcement about its on-board catering earlier this month but postponed the event, claiming "details still needed to be worked through".

The spokesman said market research was ongoing and any new service was unlikely before the new year.

Judith Donovan, the former head of Yorkshire Tourist Board who started the "great kipper debate" in 2007 when the fish was taken off the breakfast menu, said she would be "gutted" if the restaurant car was scrapped.

"But if it was my business I would not run it like this. Their cost control needs some serious examination. If you have a restaurant car breakfast you get a Loseley yoghurt and Alpen, but if you have breakfast at seat you have a Muller yoghurt and granola. Why don't they start consolidating their buying?"

Ms Donovan, who made her name as a marketing entrepreneur, added: "For years I have been recommending people to take the train down to London rather than fly or drive because it is a civilised experience."

Russell Hollowood, a creative content developer at York's National Railway Museum, said that on-board dining resonates with notions of high living and a golden age wrapped up with beautiful steam carriages and shining cutlery.

"It's a beautiful experience but at the end of the day these things are essentially a business, " he said. "People confuse nostalgia with reality. Even in the high days of the railway industry, they were very careful to make sure restaurants themselves made money and would not keep them if they weren't making any.

"It's like any business. It has to change with the market it is serving. If you don't use it, you lose it."

Some business travellers on the route yesterday said they were too busy working on laptops to sit down for a meal in the restaurant car.

The East Coast spokesman said: "The plans are still very much in development. Both first class and standard class passengers will be able to get both hot and cold food on board the train."

The East Coast Main Line is the only UK rail service under control of the Government. It took over from National Express last November after the franchise holder broke the terms of its contract.

The Yorkshire Post revealed in July how ministers had put off until the autumn a decision over buying a new fleet of express trains which could cut journey times from Yorkshire to London and raised doubts over whether it will go ahead at all.