June 26, 2020 3.55 pm This story is over 45 months old

LNER secures three year contract extension

Three extra years of train service for LNER

By Local Democracy Reporter

The Department for Transport extended LNER’s east coast mail line contract for three more years.

LNER took over from Virgin Trains East Coast on June 24, 2018 to run cross-country services, after government terminated its previous franchise agreement with East Coast Main Line.

The franchise between Stagecoach Group and Virgin Trains was cancelled due to poor passenger numbers and heavy financial losses of around £200m.

The new awarded contract for LNER comes after the new Azuma trains from Lincoln to London have been running several direct services per day.

A spokesperson for LNER said: “We are pleased the Department for Transport has made a Direct Award to LNER to continue operating intercity rail services on the East Coast for another three years with the option to extend for a further two.

“This will allow us to continue delivering planned improvements for customers, including completing the introduction of Azuma trains and associated increase in services, destinations and journey times as well as our enhanced customer experience.”