Planning a train journey from London to Scotland by train? Then you'll need to look no further than Stagecoach and Virgin in the future.
The Perth-based transport group and its partner have seen off competition from rival FirstGroup and a consortium led by the French state to secure the East Coast rail franchise.
Stagecoach also helps run the the other north-south intercity rail service in the UK - the West Coast franchise - it has a 45 per cent stake in the Virgin Trains joint venture controlled by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group.
Announcing the eight-year deal on Thursday morning, the UK government chose to focus on "a host of extra benefits for passengers" in the new contract - due to start next March - and ignore the controversy behind its decision to return the one state-run rail franchise back to the private sector.
The opposition Labour Party has argued that East Coast's strong performance since it was renationalised in 2009, after National Express walked away from the contract, was justification for leaving it in state hands to provide a benchmark against other privatised franchises.
The government countered that it was being starved of investment - the biggest single investment is new trains, which are being procured centrally by the state - which only the private sector can deliver.
Stagecoach will run the East Coast franchise with Virgin although Sir Richard is taking a step back this time round and is only expected to take 10 per cent in the new operator - dubbed Inter City Railways. The government said it expected to receive payments of £3.3bn from Inter City Railways over the eight-year contract.
Its bid won out over rival ones from FirstGroup and a joint venture between Keolis, a subsidiary of SNCF that has been active in the UK for almost a decade, and Eurostar, the operator of cross-Channel trains, which is majority owned by the French state operator.
Patrick McLoughlin, the UK's transport minister, said:
This is a fantastic deal for passengers and for staff on this vital route. It gives passengers more seats, more services and new trains.
Martin Griffiths, chief executive of Stagecoach was equally effusive about what the deal would do for the travelling public:
A passion for customers, employees and the community is at the heart of our plans for the franchise. We want to build on the quality and pride of the people who will be joining our team.
We have some fantastic ideas to deliver a more personal travel experience for customers. Investing in the committed people who will make that happen is a big part of our plans, giving opportunities for them to develop and grow into more senior roles. At the same time, we have developed major programmes to help young people, communities and small businesses along what is one of Britain's major rail routes.
Rail franchising in the UK was thrown into disarray after the 2012 West Coast rail fiasco, which saw the government reverse its decision to award FirstGroup the highly cash-generative franchise after incumbent Virgin Trains, challenged the decision and uncovered huge irregularities in the way the state had run the bid process.
The government subsequently overhauled the rail franchising process, leading to delays of more than 5 years in re-letting some of the franchises, including the West Coast contract, which remains with Virgin Trains until 2017.
The failure to secure the East Coast franchise will come as another blow to FirstGroup, which has seen its position as the UK's largest rail operator undermined as it has lost two of its rail contracts - Thameslink and Scotrail - since rail franchising restarted, and failed to win a third - Essex Thameside.