A train company is repainting its carriages as part of a £1 million rebranding exercise only six months after some were last repainted.

National Express, which took over GNER’s East Coast Main Line service between London and Edinburgh on Sunday, claims that the new colour scheme and new staff uniforms are essential to attract people who do not normally travel by train.

But passenger groups and unions say the changes are a waste of money and want the company to concentrate on improving punctuality. A fifth of trains on the route were at least 10 minutes late in the year to June.

Almost 2,000 carriages are being rebranded by four train companies which took control of franchises in the past month.

Under the Government’s franchising policy, trains can change hands every seven years. The first thing new operators do is to place their logo and colours on carriages.

National Express is replacing GNER’s dark blue and red livery with a predominantly white colour scheme. In May GNER repainted two trains that could have operated for several years before needing a fresh coat.

National Express is planning to raise unregulated fares by an average of 2.1 per cent above inflation for the next seven years. It is also planning to cut hundreds of jobs and has refused to rule out reducing frontline staff.

More Trains Less Strain, a campaign group, said that passengers would be dismayed to learn that fares were going up at the same time as large sums were being spent on rebranding.

Tony Ambrose, the group’s co-ordinator, said: “Passengers just want to get to their destination on time, in reasonable comfort and for a reasonable price. They do not care which train company takes them and, in any case, they do not have a choice on 95 per cent of routes.”

Mr Ambrose added: “The colour of the train is immaterial. Any spare money should be spent on improving comfort and cleanliness not on pointless rebranding.”

Gerry Doherty, general secretary of the TSSA, the white-collar rail union, said the network would be simpler to use if trains were a consistent colour.

“If we have to have franchises, the Government should specify a single livery and stop companies from wasting money every few years.

“They say they partly do it to cultivate loyalty among staff. But railway staff tend to be loyal to the industry rather than to the brand.” Mr Doherty said that passengers had been confused by previous rebranding exercises, such as when First Group relaunched itself as “First” and installed its logo on Great Western trains. “Elderly ladies were anxiously looking for second-class carriages because they all had ‘First’ on them.”

First Group also tried to abolish the long-established name of another service as part of a rebranding exercise. Many passengers were familiar with the Thameslink service running between Bedford and Brighton, which First Group renamed First Capital Connect.

Richard Bowker, National Express chief executive, said that it would cost about £1 million to rebrand the company’s trains, buses and coaches.

He said that the repainting would be done gradually and would coincide with scheduled mechanical overhauls in order to minimise the impact of having trains out of service.

Three other new companies are also rebranding their trains: Arriva Crosscountry (which replaced Virgin Crosscountry), London Midland (which replaced Silverlink and Central) and East Midlands Trains (which replaced Midland Mainline). The companies are either repainting trains or sticking a vinyl covering over the existing paintwork.

More Trains Less Strain plans to implement its own “rebranding” next month. It is preparing a series of adhesive logos, which it plans to stick on trains. They include “First Late Western” for First Great Western.

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