Petition to demand rail route takeover

A petition calling for the East Coast Main Line to be brought back into public ownership will be handed to the UK government today amid expectations of an imminent decision on the future of the franchise.

Activists will hand in the petition to the Transport Department in London.

The petition will call on Transport Secretary Chris Grayling not to “bail out” the Stagecoach/virgin franchise.

Mr Grayling said earlier this month that Stagecoach would continue running the London to Edinburgh route only for “a small number of months”, revealing the government may step in to run the service.

The petition, initiated by campaign group We Own It, said Stagecoach and Virgin had failed, adding: “Chris Grayling says he will give in to their demands and bail them out to the tune of £2 billion.

“East Coast was run successfully in public ownership from 2009 to 2015 after the last private company failure, but then it was reprivatised. Seventysix per cent of us want public ownership and it would save us money.

“Chris Grayling, put taxpayers and passengers first. Don’t give Virgin Trains East Coast a free ticket to ruin our railway. Bring East Coast into public ownership now.”