National Express bounced back today from the disappointment of losing the battle to run one of Britain’s biggest rail franchises by revealing bumper passenger growth across its rail business and sticking to its profit targets.

The transport group, which saw the rival Stagecoach pick up the lucrative East Midlands franchise two weeks ago, said that passenger numbers at its One network in the South East of England were up by more than 10 per cent on last year.

In a thinly veiled nudge to the Department for Transport it added: “We continue to deliver industry leading operational performance.

“Whilst the result for the new East Midlands franchise was disappointing, we await the outcome of the New Cross Country and Inter-City East Coast bids.”

A ruling on both New Cross Country and Inter-City East Coast is expected within weeks and a spokeswoman signalled the group was confident of success. “We have put in strong bids, that’s all we can say,” she said.

The East Midlands decision has piled the pressure on National Express to pick up one or both of the new franchises.

Its existing Midland Mainline service is being rolled into the East Midlands franchise awarded to Stagecoach and the company’s Silverlink service, which runs local routes between Hertfordshire and London, is being split up.

However, in a trading statement today, the group insisted it still remained on track to hit profit targets for the year given strong growth across its coach, bus and rail divisions in the UK and the US.

Passenger numbers at its coach business rose 3 per cent in the six months to June 30, boosted by a new contract to become the official transport provider for the new Wembley Stadium.

It has carried 10,000 spectators to and from the venue since April and yesterday ran coaches from 43 destinations for the Diana Tribute Concert.

National Express added that its North American business had enjoyed its “best ever” bid season, securing $38 million (£19 million) of new contracts.

“We have made a good start to the year and are trading in line with expectations,” the group said. The group’s half-year results are due on July 26. Analysts are expecting full-year pre-tax profits of £155 million.

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