WE read that Virgin East Coast (VTEC) bid £3.3bn (£3,300,000,000) for the East Coast franchise over eight years.
Simple arithmetic shows that that represents £412.5m per year, even more simply £7.9m per week, every week of those eight years.
That’s what they agreed to pay the government after covering all their running costs and making an operating profit. More than £1m per day.
That’s plainly a quite ludicrous and unrealistic amount.
I frequently travel with VTEC to London and have no complaints about the standards of service but I fear that the management have only themselves to blame for submitting a totally unsustainable bid for the franchise.
Peter Sotheran, Redcar
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here