A Cautious Welcome to the new East Coast Mainline Franchise

Bassetlaw’s Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesman, Leon Duveen, has given a cautious welcome to this morning’s new that a Virgin/Stagecoach consortium has won the franchise to run the East Coast Mainline, replacing the Government owned body that has run it since the last franchise holder gave it up.

Leon went on to say “This morning’s announcement has meant an end to the uncertainty over the future of the line and will allow for investment in the infrastructure, not least Retford Low Level Station.

“As a regular user of the line, I hope the new franchise holder will work with the user groups to look at ways that the service can be improved. There is a demand for more services stopping in Retford in both directions, giving people in Bassetlaw a better link to the major cities both to the North & to the South.

“As our local Bus Company is part of the consortium, I also hope that the bus services in our area will be better coordinated with the trains arriving at Retford.

“I hope that modernisation of Retford Low level Station is high on the list of area s for investment. On my recent inspection visit with members of GRaB & FoBLL groups, we saw that it is currently a disgrace and a very bleak place to wait for trains to Worksop or Gainsborough. I will be writing to the new franchise holder to ask for this to happen”