Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. National Express East Coast was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, running high speed passenger services on the East Coast Main Line between London and Scotland, as part of the East Coast passenger franchise. Under the privatised railway system in Great Britain, the franchise was operated by NXEC Trains Limited, a subsidiary of National Express Group, who operated the franchise in return for payments being made to the Department for Transport. National Express were awarded the right to operate the franchise in 2007 after the previous operator, Great North Eastern Railway (GNER), were forced to give up the franchise by the government early in 2006, after financial difficulties. NXEC in-turn lost its franchise on 14 November 2009. On 1 July 2009, after unsuccessfully attempting to re-negotiate the franchise terms, the National Express Group announced it would not provide further financial support to ensure can continue operations for the full term of the franchise.