VIRGIN Trains East Coast has sought to allay concerns that its £1.5 million scheme to revamp York Railway Station will be derailed by the latest franchise shock.

Regional transport bosses suggested today (Tuesday, February 6) that various proposed improvements on the route - including the station refurbishment and the deployment of new, faster trains - had been thrown into doubt by the Transport Secretary’s announcement on Monday that Virgin’s East Coast franchise may only be able to continue for a few more months.

He said the options were for Virgin Stagecoach to continue running services on a short-term, not-for-profit basis, or for the line to be directly operated by the Department for Transport through an “operator of last resort".

Virgin has only just submitted a planning application to City of York Council to create a first class lounge, two new shops and a new ‘customer zone’ at the station.

But Cllr Keith Wakefield, chairman of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s transport committee, said today that the Minister’s announcement threw into doubt a number of improvements that passengers had been led to believe were in the pipeline, including the refurbishment work, additional trains to Harrogate and the deployment of new, faster trains.

He said: “These enhancements to East Coast Mainline services are vital to the ongoing growth and prosperity of our region and we now need some confirmation from Mr Grayling about how they are going to be delivered and when.”

Cllr Judith Blake, also from the authority, said: “Passengers will be angry and disappointed that the improvements to East Coast Mainline services they were promised have been put in doubt less than three years after this franchise began, the latest in a series of franchise failures on this line.”

But asked by The Press to respond to such concerns about the station work, a Virgin Trains spokesperson said: “We fully expect this to go ahead as planned.” They did not explain why it would press ahead with such an investment when it was due to lose the franchise within months, other than on a not-for-profit basis.

City of York Council’s transport executive member and leader-in-waiting, Cllr Ian Gillies, said he had initially been concerned about the station project but was now more optimistic after receiving a letter today from the company’s managing director David Horne.

He said Mr Horne had said the company remained fully committed to the customers and communities it served and had been in discussions to facilitate the transition to a new East Coast Partnership whilst continuing to meet, or exceed, all its commitments.