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Fresh call for rail re-nationalisation after East Coast mainline comes back under government control

The East Coast mainline has been re-nationalised for the third time after successive private companies failed to keep the trains running. Credit: ITV News

There have been fresh calls from the Labour party for the rail network to be re-nationalised as the East East mainline through Stevenage and Peterborough came back under government control.

Stagecoach and Virgin agreed to pay £3.3 billion to run the franchise until 2023 but the contract was ended prematurely after they failed to hit revenue targets.

Now the line has been re-nationalised for the third time after successive private companies failed to keep the trains running.

The company now running the line is know as London North Eastern Railway (LNER) and will be run by the same managing director, David Horne.

Labour were campaigning at stations calling for the re-nationalisation of all the private rail operating companies.

  • Click below to watch a report by ITV News Anglia's Liz Summers