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As you may know by now, the ghost of transport past is making a comeback at midnight tonight.

Accompanied by the the whiff of curly egg sandwiches, the spirit of British Rail will be reborn.

I'm talking about the .

The state takes over one part of our railways for the first time since privatisation, all of course due to the .

The new government-owned operator is called East Coast Rail (I wonder how long it took them to work out that name). It's catchphrase "Business As Usual".

Not a patch on the classic but perhaps slightly more upbeat than the old national network's more apologetic "We're Getting There".

There will be some improvements though.

If you're in Standard Class you're promised a revamped snack trolley.

First Class passengers though can really celebrate.

Under National Express their free refreshments were restricted to water, tea, coffee and a biscuit.

Now they're being promised peanuts and pasties too!

.

The index-linked fares controlled by the Rail Regulator will drop by 0.4 per cent in the New Year (now don't spend what you'll save all at once).

But the fares that aren't regulated will still rise above inflation as East Coast Rail has decided to press ahead with the increases planned by National Express.

That's already drawn the disapproval of green groups and some who wonder why a state-owned company needs to ratchet up ticket prices.

But that's because this is still being run in a similar way to a private company.

East Coast Rail has to earn revenue to pay the Government.

Fans of wholesale renationalisation are hoping it will be a success though so that the Government will be persuaded to take more franchises back into state hands.

There seems little chance of that though.

Both Labour and the Tories are committed to readvertising the franchise, and returning it to private hands by 2011.

These are all questions for Transport Minister Lord Adonis though. We've got him on the this Sunday.

Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to ask him.

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