THE RMT rail union is to hold a protest next week after warning that front-line jobs and safety are at risk as a result of the re-privatisation of the East Coast Mainline.

The union plans to target a planned presentation on Friday April 11 at Newcastle’s Centre for Life by Channel Tunnel operator Eurostar and French firm Keolis, which are jointly bidding for the franchise.

East Coast is currently in public hands but the Government wants to return it to the private sector before the next General Election.

Last year Directly Operated Railways, which took over the running of trains on the route from National Express, returned more than £200m to taxpayers as a result of its stewardship of the line.

The RMT said there had been two previous spectacular private failures with East Coast and said it was being re-opened for “wholesale plundering” by financial speculators.

RMT acting general secretary Mick Cash said: “Privatisation has been a disaster for Britain's railways, they now cost between three and four times more in tax payer subsidy than the publicly owned British Rail.

“We are now lumbered with the highest fares in Europe but despite all the billions in profits in subsidies robbed by the private companies in the past two decades, front line staff jobs and safety are under threat as the exploitation ratchets up another gear.

“Cuts to station staff, threats to ticket offices and train catering facilities, attacks on the role of guard, alongside the outsourcing and contracting out of jobs, are all on the agenda as the East Coast is fattened-up for re-privatisation.”

A number of MPs are opposing the re-letting of the franchise, while a campaign group, We Own It, has been set up and has handed a petition into Parliament.