Lower premiums, but a tough challenge

Directly Operated Railways’s East Coast company will pay £333m less in premiums to the government than NXEC would have done. The difference illustrates graphically why National Express had no option but to surrender the franchise to the government.

DOR chief executive Elaine Holt says East Coast’s business plan is designed to provide financial stability for the company and new investment funds for areas such as engineering and marketing, after years of turmoil under first...