east coast was a government-owned british train operating company. it ran high-speed passenger trains on the east coast main line between london, yorkshire, the north east and scotland, being forced to take over after national express east coast defaulted on their franchise. it started operations on 14 november 2009. it ended operations on 28 february 2015. they had 45 locomotives and served 53 stations whilst operating 12 of them. the franchise was re-let to virgin trains east coast, ending the period of government ownership, despite contributing a lot of money to the treasury and calls for the government to retain the franchise.