YORK’S case for remaining as the headquarters for one of the UK’s most crucial rail routes is to be thrashed out next week.

A decision session for City of York Council leader Andrew Waller will discuss the arguments for the nerve centre of the East Coast Mainline staying in the city when it ultimately reverts to private ownership, ahead of submissions to Government transport heads.

It will lay out the benefits of the HQ continuing to be located in Skeldergate, and claim that many of the services which would operate from there should be made “stand-alone” after a new company is found to take over the running of the line, to avert a repeat of past snags.

The Government has been in control of the route since last year, when National Express ditched the franchise, and fears continue to linger about whether York will survive as its base in the future.

The report, by Roger Ranson, the council’s assistant director for economic development and partnerships, said: “Most importantly, the current East Coast operational headquarters needs to remain in York throughout the currency of the next franchise.

“Crucially, the expertise and experience for effective operation has been developed here since privatisation and is now centred on modern office premises with easy access to the station.

“More specifically, York is equidistant between its capital stations in London and Edinburgh and has easy access to Leeds – this gives the city a distinct advantage from an operational point of view.

“The railway industry’s extensive presence in the city makes recruitment easier, as do York’s exceptional qualities as a place to live.

“The headquarters and the central services it embraces – human resources, finance etc – need to be made ‘standalone’ within the franchise specification. Past experience has demonstrated that, if consolidated within the existing operations of a large parent company, these functions are exceedingly difficult to unravel when a franchise expires or is terminated.”

The report recommended that whoever takes over the franchise should look at conserving and enhancing York Station as “a principal gateway” and that these views should be forwarded to the Department for Transport.