The recent collapse of the East Coast mainline, which has now been taken back under government control, could have been averted if a proposition from National Express had been taken up. With the UK government, and UK taxpayers, set to lose heavily on the deal after the East Coast mainline franchise was withdrawn from National Express it is now believed that the company had stepped forward with an alternative proposal which would reduce taxpayer losses by £70 million.

It seems as though the company is concerned about its other two profitable rail franchises and the possibility that the UK government will take legal action to take his back in-house as well. Currently lawyers from National Express and the government are checking the small print of the franchise agreements which had been expected to run until 2015. It'll be interesting to see how National Express is penalised with regards to the two other profitable franchises as this could impact upon the actions of other franchise owners in these difficult times.

When the UK rail network was privatised some time ago there was significant union anger against the move, something which has been borne out over the last few days. Are we set to see a significant chunk of the UK rail network nationalised?

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