London North Eastern Railway

London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is a future train operating company that will operate the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line from King's Cross to Edinburgh and Scotland from 24 June 2018. Owned by the Department for Transport, it will be operated by a consortium of Arup Group, Ernst & Young and SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit.

In November 2017 Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling announced the early termination of the InterCity East Coast franchise in 2020, three years ahead of schedule, following losses on the route by operator Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC), who had been due to pay more than £2 billion in franchise premiums to the government over the last four years of its contract.

This was brought forward in February 2018 to mid-2018. The Department for Transport (DfT) decided to either negotiate a deal with VTEC to continue to run the franchise on a temporary non-profit basis while a new franchise competition is conducted or to arrange for VTEC be taken over by the DfT's operator of last resort, a partnership of Arup Group, Ernst & Young and SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit. On 16 May 2018 it was announced that the latter had been decided and that LNER would take over from VTEC on 24 June 2018. The DfT also announced that LNER would be the long term brand applied to the InterCity East Coast franchise. As part of the overall strategy for the East Coast franchise, the Secretary of State for Transport stated that Great Northern services could potentially be integrated into the operation when the Thameslink Southern & Great Northern franchise expires in 2021.

LNER is the second time that a government appointed operator of last resort has taken control of the InterCity East Coast franchise; between 2009 and 2015 the franchise was operated by East Coast following National Express East Coast defaulting.