Train operator Grand Central issues warning over Eureka timetable (From York Press)

Train operator Grand Central issues warning over Eureka timetable

10:52am Thursday 18th March 2010 in

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YORK train operator Grand Central claims the proposed new Eureka timetable for the East Coast Mainline route will lose it 20 per cent of its revenue.

Managing director Tom Clift said today the figure, calculated by independent consultants, was unacceptable to the open access operator, which runs four direct services a day from York to King’s Cross.

He said the company, which has warned previously that it was considering legal action to block the timetable, was in discussions with Network Rail about ways of reducing the impact on Grand Central.

He said the consultants would be asked to assess whether any suggested improvements would reduce the loss of revenue to “acceptable” levels. Grand Central would then decide whether it needed to mount legal action, but he stressed such action would be a “distraction” and a last resort.

He said its revenue would be reduced because the timetable was designed to benefit trains run by rival York firm East Coast, leading to Grand Central trains running slower.

Under Eureka, East Coast is set to operate an extra ten services a day on the route from York to London and Edinburgh, and its average journey time from York to London is set to be cut by ten minutes to one hour, 50 minutes.

A Department for Transport spokesman said it believed the new timetable was in the best interests of passengers living along the East Coast Main Line.

• Members of the RMT trade union nationally have voted in favour of industrial action, in protest at job losses. Network Rail plans to axe more than 1,300 jobs around the country.