Great North Eastern Railway - History

History

Sea Containers was awarded a seven-year franchise to run the InterCity East Coast franchise from April 1996.

In March 2000 the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority announced that Sea Containers and Virgin Rail Group had been shortlisted to bid for the next franchise. In January 2002 the Strategic Rail Authority scrapped the refranchising process and awarded a two-year extension to Sea Containers until April 2005.

In October 2004 the Strategic Rail Authority issued the Invitation to Tender for the InterCity East Coast franchise to the four shortlisted bidders, Danish State Railways/EWS, First, GNER and Virgin Rail Group. In March 2005 the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the franchise to GNER for seven years, with a three-year extension based on targets being met, starting on 1 May 2005.

The initials GNER were similar to LNER, the company that operated the route before being nationalised as part of British Railways in 1948. Additionally, two of the LNER's predecessor companies were the GNR, who built King's Cross station, and the GER. GNER made further links to its past by adopting a dark-blue livery with red trimming lines for its trains, similar to that used by the GER, and using a Victorian coat of arms-style crest on their trains.

GNER suffered two major accidents during its operating years. The Hatfield crash on 17 October 2000, when the 12:10 London King's Cross – Leeds train derailed just south of Hatfield station due to a hairline crack in the rail. The only fatalities were in the restaurant car, which struck an overhead catenary stanchion during the derailment. GNER's other accident was the Great Heck rail crash on the morning of 28 February 2001, where a Newcastle–London service hit a Land Rover that had driven off the M62 motorway. The GNER train derailed and was subsequently hit by a Freightliner train from Immingham to Ferrybridge, resulting in the death of ten people. In neither of these accidents was GNER at fault.