InterCity East Coast

InterCity East Coast is a railway franchise for passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom from London King's Cross to Hull, Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen. It was formed during the privatisation of British Rail and transferred to the private sector in April 1996.

Initially operated by Great North Eastern Railway (GNER), it has since been operated by National Express East Coast and East Coast, and is now operated by Virgin Trains East Coast. In 2018 the early termination of the franchise, five years ahead of schedule, was announced.

Great North Eastern Railway
In April 1996, Sea Containers had been operating under the GNER brand, commenced a seven-year contract to operate the franchise.

In March 2000, the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) shortlisted Sea Containers and Virgin Rail Group to bid for the next franchise. The franchise was to be for 20 years and included the proposals for new trains and replacement of sections of track. In January 2002, the SRA scrapped the refranchising process and awarded a two-year extension to Sea Containers until April 2005.

In October 2004, the SRA issued an Invitation to Tender for the next franchise to the four shortlisted bidders, Danish State Railways/English Welsh & Scottish, FirstGroup, GNER and Virgin Rail Group. In March 2005, the franchise was awarded to GNER for seven years, with a three-year extension based on targets being met, starting on 1 May 2005. GNER continued to pay a $1.3 billion premium to the Department for Transport over the ten years.

However due to the financial problems causing it to have overbid, as well as financial difficulties encountered in the company, in December 2006 the government announced it was stripping the franchise from Sea Containers and would put it up for re-tender, with GNER running the franchise on fixed fee management contract in the interim.

National Express East Coast
In February 2007, the DfT had announced Arriva, First, National Express and Virgin to be shortlisted to lodge bids for the franchise. In April 2007, it was announced that GNER had a 10% stake in the Virgin Rail Group bid. In August 2007 the franchise was awarded to National Express, and GNER's services transferred to National Express East Coast (NXEC) on 9 December 2007.

By 2009, NXEC was under increasing financial pressure due to rising fuel prices and the economic downturn. Instead of projected increases in revenue from the franchise, in the first half of 2009 NXEC ticket sales income decreased by 1%. In April 2009, National Express confirmed that it was still pursuing talks with the government over possible financial assistance with the franchise, either through a reduction in the premium due, or other assistance.

In July 2009, National Express announced it planned to default on the franchise, having failed to renegotiate the contractual terms of operation, and would not provide any further funding. This meant NXEC would run out of cash by the end of 2009. As a result, the DfT announced it woould re-nationalise the franchise.

East Coast
The franchise was re-nationalised on 14 November 2009 with Directly Operated Railways' subsidiary East Coast taking over, with the intention being that operations would return to a private franchisee by December 2013. In March 2013, it was announced that this would be put back to February 2015.