Consortium on track to take over East Coast

A company owned by Virgin and Stagecoach will operate trains on the East Coast line from next March putting the service back into private hands for the first time in almost six years.

It's promised to transform services for passengers with new trains and extra seats and at the same time cut prices for on the day ticket sales.

It says it'll increase the number of trains from Lincoln to London King's Cross to five a day but not for another five years. In a moment we'll ask Virgin's spokesman - why passengers will have to wait.

Chris Kiddey has two reports, one from the North of the region, the second from Lincolnshire.

Many of the changes will not be in place for several years and Richard Scott from Virgin who explained the delay: