A RAIL franchise run by National Express will end three years early, the Government ruled today.
Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said that National Express East Anglia franchise, connecting Essex with London, will finish in March 2011 rather than be extended, as it could have been, until 2014.
Earlier this month National Express's East Coast franchise was taken into public ownership after the company said it would no longer fund it.
NatEx also runs the London to Tilbury and Southend line, c2c.
Today, Lord Adonis said that "the public interest would not be served by terminating the (east Anglia and c2c) franchises immediately".
Instead, NatEx will carry on operating East Anglia until March 31 2011, with a new operator taking over in April 2011.
Earlier this week, the Department for Transport announced a franchise bidding timetable for c2c which will see a new operator take over in May 2011.
Ellen Rossiter, spokeswoman for National Express said: "Whilst this decision was expected, given the event of the default of the National Express East Coast franchise, the company is disappointed given the excellent improvement in performance delivered by the group over the past five and a half years of operating the franchise."
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