Rail passengers could know who will be running the lucrative East Coast Main Line for the next 20 years by the end of this month.
Bosses of the two competing companies - GNER and Virgin - have finished making their cases to the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA).
The SRA will now make a recommendation to Secretary of State for Transport Stephen Byers, who will then announce the official decision.
An SRA spokesperson said: "Given that there has been a recent change around within the government and that no date or time for a meeting has been fixed, I am unable to say exactly when any decision will be announced.
"However, we do not expect the process to take too long and it is possible that there could be an announcement within two weeks."
Updated: 11:15 Tuesday, June 12, 2001
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