In June 2018 the franchise was terminated and the trains and stations taken back into public ownership; since then, services are provided by London North Eastern Railway (LNER), a company owned by the Department for Transport.

[5][6] In October 2004, the SRA issued an Invitation to Tender for the next franchise to the four shortlisted bidders, Danish State Railways/English Welsh & Scottish, FirstGroup, GNER and Virgin Rail Group.

[12] In February 2007, the DfT announced Arriva, FirstGroup, National Express and Virgin Rail Group had been shortlisted to lodge bids for the franchise.

[18] In July 2009, National Express announced it planned to default on the franchise, having failed to renegotiate the contractual terms of operation, and would not provide any further funding.

[24][25][26] In November 2017, Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling announced the early termination of the East Coast franchise in 2020, three years ahead of schedule, following losses on the route by the operator.

Virgin Trains East Coast had been due to pay more than £2 billion in franchise premiums to the government over the last four years of its contract.

A partnership of Arup Group, Ernst & Young, and SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit provided assistance to the government in their preparation to take control of the franchise from VTEC.