East Coast mainline: Virgin-Stagecoach takeover 'a national disgrace'

Consortium promises new trains and faster journeys, but unions are furious that the line will be re-privatised

Virgin train, London
(Image credit: WILL OLIVER/AFP/Getty)

Stagecoach and Virgin have been awarded the London-to-Scotland rail franchise in a deal which union leaders have branded "a national disgrace".

The two companies agreed to pay £3.3bn for the East Coast mainline contract and promised to invest £140m in maintenance and development over the next eight years, the BBC reports.

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