East Coast, the trading name of the East Coast Main Line Company, was a state-owned British train operating company running the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, North East England, and Scotland. East Coast ran long-distance inter-city services from its Central London terminus at on two primary routes; the first to Leeds and the second to Edinburgh via Newcastle with other services reaching into Yorkshire and Northern and Central Scotland. It commenced operations on 14 November 2009 and ceased on 28 February 2015.

East Coast was a subsidiary of Directly Operated Railways, formed by the Department for Transport as an operator of last resort when National Express refused to provide further financial support to its National Express East Coast (NXEC) subsidiary and consequently lost its franchise. The franchise was re-nationalised on 14 November 2009, with the day-to-day operations continuing normally on the whole. Within one year, East Coast's rolling stock begun to be re-liveried in a new silver scheme intentionally styled so that future operators of the franchise could easily apply their own branding following their takeover of operations. During May 2011, East Coast launched the "Eureka" programme, which involved numerous service changes, including an overhauled timetable and complimentary catering for First Class passengers. On the whole, service levels remained relatively steady and unchanged throughout East Coast's tenure.

From the onset of East Coast's operations, the Department for Transport had publicly stated its long term intention for the franchise was for it to be retendered and thus return to a private franchisee; this was originally set to occur by December 2013. However, during March 2013, the Secretary of State for Transport announced that this transfer had been postponed to February 2015 instead."Railway plan puts new focus on passengers" Secretary of State for Transport statement, 26 March 2013. In January 2014, FirstGroup, Keolis/Eurostar and Stagecoach/Virgin were announced as the shortlisted bidders for the new franchise.InterCity East Coast franchise shortlist announced Railway Gazette International, 17 January 2014. The franchise passed to Virgin Trains East Coast on 1 March 2015.More seats, more services and new trains for East Coast passengers Department for Transport, 27 November 2014.3.3bn premium wins East Coast franchise for Stagecoach and Virgin Railway Gazette International, 27 November 2014.

History Background The original InterCity East Coast franchise was awarded to the Bermuda-based transport and container leasing company Sea Containers, which operated it from April 1996 until April 2005 via its subsidiary Great North Eastern Railway (GNER). While Sea Containers successfully bid for the award of a new seven-year franchise by the Department for Transport (DfT) commencing in May 2005; the award was subject to criticism that, amid aggressive bidding between the different companies competing for the franchise, GNER had committed itself to fulfilling an overly generous arrangement that may not be financially realistic, and was accused as having overbid to secure the franchise. During the original franchise, the company had been receiving subsidies from the British government to support its operations; however, the terms of the second franchise reversed this to have the operator making payments to the government, specifically a £1.3-billion premium which was due to the DfT over a ten-year period. Within two years, the company's financial difficulties had become a public concern.

In October 2006, Sea Containers filed for bankruptcy protection under the US Chapter 11 process, During December 2006, the DfT announced its intention to strip Sea Containers of its franchise, although GNER continued to operate it via an interim fixed fee management contract while another competitive tender was organised. In February 2007, the DfT announced that Arriva, First, National Express and Virgin Rail Group had been shortlisted to lodge bids for the new franchise. In August 2007, the DfT awarded the Intercity East Coast franchise to National Express, leading to the creation of National Express East Coast (NXEC) shortly thereafter.

Under the terms of its franchise agreement, National Express committed to paying a £1.4-billion premium to the DfT over a time span of seven years and four months. However, numerous rail analysts at the time promptly voiced concerns that the company had paid too much for the franchise, and had effectively repeated GNER's mistake in order to secure the franchise. According to railway industry periodical Rail, NXEC quickly garnered a reputation for cost-cutting and a decline in service levels, particularly in terms of the onboard catering. By 2009, NXEC was under increasing financial pressure due to various factors, including compounding rises in fuel prices and the poor economic climate of the time, commonly known as the Great Recession. During April 2009, National Express confirmed that it was pursuing talks with the government over possible financial assistance with the franchise, either through a reduction in the premium due or some other form of assistance.

Formation In July 2009, it was announced that National Express was intending to default on the franchise, having failed to renegotiate the contractual terms of operation; National Express stating that it would not be providing any further financial support necessary to ensure NXEC remained solvent. This meant NXEC would run out of cash by the end of 2009. As a consequence of this decision, the DfT announced it would establish a state-owned company to take over the franchise from National Express. The failure of the NXEC franchise sparked widespread calls amongst industry officials and members of the public for the InterCity East Coast franchise to be permanently placed into state ownership, or even the complete scrapping of the entire franchise system. In response, the Secretary of State for Transport Lord Adonis reiterated the findings of a 2008 National Audit Office (NAO) report which had concluded that the rail franchising system delivered good value for money and steadily improving services.

On 13 November 2009, NXEC relinquished its operation of the franchise, at which point the DfT took over through its newly formed subsidiary, East Coast.

Changes According to Rail, East Coast's management strategy was typically adverse to initiating changes and that relatively little had changed across the organisation's operations during its eight years of running the franchise. Karen Boswell, the managing director of East Coast, disputed this observation and pointed to substantial investment in terms of both staff and assets since assuming control of the franchise in 2009, and also observed that the operation was financially sound and that East Coast had become one of Britain's most profitable train operating companies by 2015.

During May 2011, East Coast introduced a major new timetable known as "Eureka"; changes included an extra three million seats per year, a decrease in general journey times and the adoption of a more regular service pattern.Rail Professional https://www.railpro.co.uk/railpro-magazine/magazine-archives/eureka-moment Within a few years of these changes, both train performance and punctuality figures had noticeably improved. Beyond the timetable changes, the Eureka programme was accompanied by various service changes, such as a nearly £10 million investment in staff training and to modernise its catering carriages, facilitating the introduction of complimentary catering for all First Class travellers.Business Traveller https://www.businesstraveller.com/news/2010/11/15/east-coast-to-offer-free-meals-in-first-class/

Prior to October 2010, East Coast offered free Wi-Fi to passengers in both First and Standard Class coaches. From 5 October 2010, the operator introduced a charge of £4.99 per hour or £9.99 for 24 hours for only Standard Class passengers; a 15-minute free allowance was still provided. In 2011, East Coast announced an investment of £600,000 for upgrading Wi-Fi equipment across its fleet, these new uplinks used a combination of satellites and lineside 3G/HSPA masts.

On 28 February 2015, the final operating day of East Coast, Virgin branding and public relations material begun to be deployed at various stations. Furthermore, East Coast's website, Twitter and Facebook pages were updated overnight to reflect Virgin's branding. That same day, multiple coordinated anti-privatisation protests were held in several cities, including Edinburgh, Doncaster and London, which were organised by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT). On 1 March 2015, Virgin Trains East Coast assumed operations.

Principal services London – Leeds This was the busiest East Coast service – half-hourly, with one train per hour serving Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate and Leeds, while the other served Stevenage, Grantham, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate and Leeds. At weekends, they called at Stevenage every two hours while Peterborough, Grantham, Newark, Doncaster and Wakefield were served hourly.Timetable East Coast 14 December 2014

London – Newcastle East Coast operated a half-hourly service between King's Cross and Newcastle (one fast, one semi-fast) throughout the day, departing from London on the hour and the half-hour. The top-of-the-hour trains were part of the London to Scotland services which ran as limited-stop expresses between London and Newcastle (as seen below). The half-hour train called at Peterborough, Newark, Doncaster, , Northallerton, , Durham and terminated at Newcastle, although there was an extension of this service to Edinburgh every two hours. At weekends, all daytime services to Newcastle continued through to Edinburgh, with some going non-stop. Late evening services terminated at Newcastle.

London – Edinburgh This was East Coast's flagship route, serving the whole length of the East Coast Main Line; an hourly service from London to Edinburgh Waverley, calling at York, Darlington, Newcastle, and Edinburgh. Some of these trains also called at Peterborough. Occasionally there was a half-hourly service to Edinburgh with some Newcastle trains extended at peak hours. At weekends all services on the half-hour continued to Edinburgh from Newcastle.

During the day, services to London King's Cross from Edinburgh ran every 30 minutes, one fast and one semi-fast. All trains called at Newcastle and most at Berwick upon Tweed, Darlington and York. In May 2011 East Coast re-introduced the historic Flying Scotsman service. This was an early-morning service to London King's Cross with a journey time of four hours, departing Edinburgh Waverley at 05:40, calling only at Newcastle at 07:03 and arriving at London at 09:40.

London – Newark/York An hourly service ran between King's Cross and Newark, calling at all intermediate stations. This was extended to every two hours, serving Retford and Doncaster and at peak times was extended to Newcastle. These services operated only on weekdays. Additional services also start/terminated at Doncaster or Peterborough at peak times.

Limited service London–Glasgow There was only one direct through train per day in each direction between King's Cross and Glasgow Central departing Glasgow at 06:50 and departing King's Cross at 15.30 as an extension of a London to Newcastle service also calling at Edinburgh. There were no East Coast service to Glasgow on Saturdays.

London–Aberdeen