THE option of the East Coast Mainline being run by publicly by an ‘operator of last resort’ remains on the table, the Department of Transport has said, after it was accused of a “barrage of obfuscation” over the future of the route.

The RMT rail union said Transport Chris Grayling must come clean over who was going to run the service going forward after he announced last month that the current deal involving Stagecoach and Virgin could only continue in the short term.

It claimed the Government was doing everything in its power to avoid returning the route to the public ownership.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said: “The Government’s current position on the future of Britain’s vital East Coast route is as obscure, unclear, and unintelligible as you can get.”

Mr Cash claimed Mr Grayling had already decided to carry on temporarily with Stagecoach and Virgin and there had been no discussions to operate the railway through the public option which the minister had talked about.

A DfT spokesperson said: “The Secretary of State has been clear that the option for the East Coast franchise to be directly operated through an operator of last resort remains on the table, alongside the option of a strictly-designed short continuation.

“The DfT will choose the option that best protects the interests of taxpayers and passengers.

“We maintain the capability to run a railway. Our operational body [Directly Operated Railways] was brought in-house in 2015 as it was a waste of taxpayers’ money to have a standby operation in place full-time when it was not being used.”