A VITAL North-East rail link will “sing” under its new operator, by delivering new jobs and better services, Sir Richard Branson last night vowed.

The Virgin tycoon said the East Coast Main Line will be revolutionised after a five-year spell under public ownership.

Inter City Railways, a venture between Stagecoach and Virgin, began operating the franchise this week and bosses have promised quicker journeys and direct links to London from Middlesbrough and Thornaby, near Stockton.

However, the move has fuelled fears passengers will suffer from increased fares, with the RMT union branding the changes industrial vandalism.

However, the well-known entrepreneur yesterday told The Northern Echo any differences will be beneficial for travellers, refuting a ticket price hike and confirming the operator will create more customer service posts.

Speaking at an event in Newcastle, Sir Richard said bosses will use Virgin and Stagecoach’s experience of operating the West Coast Main Line as a template for the East Coast.

He said: “Compare it to the West Coast.

“When we took that over, it was run down and fairly dilapidated and sad, and staff were demoralised.

“But we invested in rolling stock, transformed it, and have doubled the number of people using it.

“We hope we can do the same with the East Coast by replacing the old rolling stock to give workers something they can be proud of, and passengers something they can enjoy using.

“We will try to make it sing like the West Coast.

“Business fares are more expensive, but that helps subsidise low fares for the vast majority.

“We are going to take on more customer facing people because that is really important too.”

Under its eight-year deal with the Government, Inter City Railways has promised to implement a raft of improvements.

From May 2019, officials hope to deliver faster journeys between Newcastle and London, a third train per hour between London and Newcastle, and add Darlington to Inverness and Aberdeen trains.

The following year, they say it will start a two hourly non-stop Newcastle to London service, a two hourly direct service between Middlesbrough, Thornaby and London, and four direct London to Sunderland services every day.

Trains for the Middlesbrough to London trips will use stock built at Hitachi’s £82m factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, as part of the Intercity Express Programme, which Sir Richard said was a massive boost for UK manufacturing.

He added: “The more we can trade within Great Britain the better.

“I’m delighted with the Hitachi agreement.”

Inter City Railways previously agreed to pay the ministers about £3.3bn to operate the franchise and plans to invest £140m into services.

It will run until 31 March 2023, with the Government retaining the option of a one-year extension, and the trains operating under the Virgin Trains East Coast livery.

The agreement took many by surprise after strong speculation had linked French-owned Eurostar and Keolis with a takeover of the route from the publicly-run Directly Operated Railways, which rescued the East Coast Main Line after the National Express franchise collapsed.

Sir Richard was speaking about the rail venture at a Virgin StartUp ceremony, held at The Northern Stage, which aimed to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.

He added: “The North-East is full of people with great ideas and want to start their own business.

“They will be the Virgin of the future.”

His visit to the region also coincided with Stagecoach announcing its results for the 40 weeks to February 1.

It said like-for-like revenues were 6.7 per cent higher for Virgin Rail Group, with its UK rail division also seeing revenues rise 7.6 per cent.

The transport company also runs buses services across Teesside, Hartlepool, Sunderland and Newcastle.