Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Great North Eastern seeks extra decade on franchise

Randeep Ramesh
Monday 12 May 1997 18:02 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Great North Eastern Railway, which runs high-speed train services from London to Scotland, is seeking to extend the length of its franchise by a decade to invest in new rolling stock and upgrade the electrified line.

Chris Garnett, chief executive, outlined plans to buy a fleet of 10 tilting trains worth up to pounds 200m and make a substantial upgrade to run trains at 140mph for most of the east coast journey. In return GNER wants to extend its licence from seven years to 17.

"We know now that unless we make additional capital investment we will have acute difficulty in carrying the numbers of passengers," said Mr Garnett.

Under the current legalisation, the length of a franchise cannot be extended without being re-tendered and offered to other competitors, but he believes the Secretary of State has the authority to waive that part of the process.

The company has held exploratory talks with the new administration, but Labour ministers have yet to come to terms with the intricacies of the private railways and a decision is not expected for some months.

GNER, which has been run by Sea Containers for 12 months, considers itself a victim of its own success, with passenger volumes up 8 per cent, resulting in passenger revenues of pounds 252m.

The problem for GNER is that it has an average load factor of 59 per cent.

It predicts that this will rise within two years to 65 per cent - which will mean that most trains in the rush hour will be overcrowded.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in