Activists picketed Britain's most famous train station, Kings Cross, demanding renationalisation of the much maligned East Coast line.
A group of campaigners held a protest outside Kings Cross, putting extra pressure on Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to bring the East Coast main line into public hands.
East Coast is currently held as a joint franchise between Virgin Trains and Stagecoach, which were due to run operations until 2023. But both companies failed to turn the bad fate of the line around, having contributed much less than the £3.3 billion agreed during the handover.
The line was privatised in 2015 by the Coalition government.
Grayling has been prevaricating on announcing what next for the line, which remains 90% in the hands of Stagecoach until further announcement.
The protest, which brought trade unionists, public ownership group We Own It, and members of the public together, was sure to add extra pressure on the Transport Secretary, who is currently under fire for cancelling the electrification of three rail lines last year.
We Own It director, Cat Hobbs, said:
“Stagecoach and Virgin have failed to run the East Coast line, and received a huge bailout for their efforts which will cost us all millions. It is ridiculous to even consider allowing them to continue to run the franchise. The East Coast line should be brought into public ownership, where it worked well in the past, and will work well again.”
Hobbs is among those who believe Grayling is currently holding backstage meetings with Stegecoach, negotiating a future deal. The private rail company’s shares went up by 13% last November, when the government announced it would allow Virgin and Stagecoach to release themselves from the franchise by 2020.
The campaign had previously focused on Virgin, which was bailed out from the East Coast contract by the government earlier this year.
We Own It has said nearly 3000 people have now emailed Stagecoach demanding and end to negotiations and that East Coast is brought back into public ownership.
Joana Ramiro is a reporter for Left Foot Forward. You can follow her on Twitter for all sorts of rants here.
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