Pinky and the Brain

NR's Internet Rapid Rebuttal Unit has been very quiet recently.

The reason why is now clear.

PJ and co have obviously been busy in another place.

This from Edinburgh North MP, Mark Lazarowicz, during today's Transport Questions...

"In bidding for the franchise, National Express knowingly took a commercial risk and should not be able to just 'walk away' now, but if the franchise is handed back, the East Coast line should be run by Network Rail not put out to tender again."

The Fact Compiler's flabber is truly gasted at the very thought!

UPDATE: This from the Velopodist...

I think Mr Lazarowicz will find there are a number of problems with having Network Rail running InterCity East Coast, among them the competition implications and the fact they wouldn't know how to do it.

But probably the biggest is this: Network Rail's licence prohibits it from running any trains, so much so that it has to employ someone else to drive the measurement trains.

So a juicy long-distance franchise looks out of the question.