National Express has won the battle to provide long-distance train services on the East Coast mainline, succeeding GNER with a £1.4 billion bid.

The transport group, also the UK's largest coaches operator, fought off competition from rivals including FirstGroup, Arriva and a Virgin-Stagecoach consortium to win the franchise, one of the most prestigious in the network.

The InterCity East Coast franchise was put out to tender by the Department for Transport at the turn of the year after Sea Containers, the parent company of GNER, filed for bankruptcy protection.

National Express said it expected to make £1.4 billion worth of payments to the government over the course of the franchise, more than the £1.3 billion which GNER said it would pay over ten years.

The new franchise runs from December 9 this year to March 2015, with the final 17 months of the franchise dependent on the group hitting performance targets.

The group said it expected the franchise to add £600 million to annual group revenues.

The win is a boon for Richard Bowker, National Express's chief executive, who has been fighting to boost the group's rail interests after recent franchise changes have weakened its position.

In June the company lost the right to run Midland Mainline services between London and the East Midlands.

The enlarged East Midlands franchise was instead handed to Stagecoach.

National Express is also losing the right to run local services in the Midlands, as its Central Trains franchise is being disbanded.

The decision to hand the Midland Mainline services to Stagecoach piled further pressure on National Express to win a big rail franchise.

The company's Silverlink franchise, which runs local services around London, is being split up, and Gatwick Express, the small and barely profitable airlink service, will be handed over to Southern, the commuter services operator, next year.

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