A NATIONALISED rail company will operate trains on the East Coast Main Line for at least a year, the Government has admitted.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis told MPs that a national operator stood ready to take over from National Express.

The private company - best known for its bus services - looks set to relinquish the trains contract because it can't make enough money from the line.

Today Lord Adonis told the House of Commons Transport Committee: ‘‘I can say today that we expect it to remain as a public company for at least a year’’.

It is expected that the line will be taken over by the Government some time before the end of this year.

Asked if the line would remain publicly run, Lord Adonis said that current legislation required the line to be run by a private franchisee.

Appearing last month before the committee, Lord Adonis had been questioned about the financial state of National Express regarding the East Coast line.

He had said then that no rail company had defaulted on its franchise obligations.

Asked today if he had issued a warning to National Express before his first appearance before the committee, Lord Adonis said he would not describe it as a warning and that he had not thought it appropriate to give details of what had gone on to the committee.

He said today: ‘‘I made it clear that I couldn’t give a running commentary (on all the discussions). I said that I could not comment further on commercially-sensitive issues.’’