Multiple Aspects with Lord Berkeley

Is overbidding for the ECML franchise the whole story?

THE East Coast Main Line franchise debacle is depressingly familiar. Having had three failures in 10 years, it must be very unsettling for the staff who hear all the sales pitch from their new operators and end up working for a company that cannot carry on.

Ministers blame Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) for the current failure; clearly their bid was too high, but is that the whole story?

Network Rail was supposed to have delivered upgrades to improve speed, capacity and reliability, all listed in the franchise tender documents and, without these, VTEC clearly could