Posted on: 02/12/2009 

FARES could be cut on the newly-nationalised East Coast rail service between Edinburgh and London in a bid to fill thousands of empty seats.

A review carried out shortly before National Express surrendered the franchise for the route last month found first-class carriages were less than a third full and standard class carriages less than two-thirds full.

Now Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has asked managers to examine ticket prices "to look at how fares can be made more attractive".

Bookings on East Coast trains are said to be particularly low during late mornings and afternoons, while travellers can fly more cheaply.

A standard-class return rail fare between London and Edinburgh next weekend is £163.55 but budget airline easyJet offers the same trip for £95.98.

Lord Adonis also indicated that East Coast would attempt to cut journey times between Edinburgh and London to less than four hours, following criticism by government agency Transport Scotland that not enough had been done to reduce journey times for the timetable due to take effect from December 2010.

He said: "A service for business travellers which is under four hours long could make the east coast line more competitive with the plane."

The Department for Transport is said to have been impressed by the streamlined fares offered by Grand Central, which operates between London and York.

East Coast Main Line was taken into public hands on 13 November after National Express, which had been operating the service since 2007, failed to renegotiate the contract. The company is widely believed to have overpaid after agreeing to give the government £1.4 billion over seven years.

Falling revenue and rising costs brought about by a fall in passenger growth led National Express to abandon the franchise which had been due to run until 2015.

The Government says the line will be run in the public sector for the next two years, but unions and rail campaigners have called for it to remain permanently in public ownership.

In one of the first moves after taking over the franchise last month, East Coast said it would uphold fare increases that had been proposed for next January by its predecessor, National Express, which will see some tickets go up by five per cent.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: "The Secretary of State has asked the East Coast company to look at how fares can be made more attractive with a view to cutting some fares and getting more passengers on the service."