. for other uses see national express disambiguation . national express group type public traded as lse nex industry public transport founded 1972 national express branding 1992 national express group plc headquarters birmingham united kingdom area served europe and north america key people sir john armitt chairman dean finch group chief executive products bus coach train & tram services revenue 1 919.8 million 2015 1 operating income 193.5 million 2015 1 net income 109.1 million 2015 1 website www.nationalexpressgroup.com national express group plc is a british multinational public transport company headquartered in birmingham that operates bus coach train and tram services in the united kingdom united states canada spain portugal malta germany and morocco and long distance coach services across europe . it is listed on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 250 index . contents 1 history 1.1 acquisitions and disposals 1.2 default on east coast rail franchise 1.3 operational safety concerns 1.4 offers for the company 2 operations 2.1 uk and europe 2.1.1 bus and coach 2.1.1.1 bus 2.1.1.2 coach 2.1.2 railway and tram 2.1.2.1 railway 2.1.2.2 tram 2.2 usa and canada 2.2.1 bus 2.3 middle east 2.3.1 bus 3 former operations 3.1 uk and europe 3.1.1 bus and coach 3.1.1.1 bus 3.1.1.2 coach 3.1.2 railway and tram 3.1.2.1 railway 3.1.2.2 london and continental railways 3.2 airports 3.3 australian operations 3.3.1 bus and coach 3.3.2 railway and tram 3.4 usa and canada 3.4.1 bus and coach 3.4.1.1 bus 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit duple dominant bodied leyland tiger in liverpool in 1982 in the original livery midland mainline high speed train at london st pancras alexander alx400 bodied dennis trident 2 on route 3 at trafalgar square in april 2008 in 1972 the state owned national bus company decided to bring together the scheduled coach services operated by its bus operating companies in the united kingdom under one brand . sir frederick wood a prominent businessman and industrialist was asked to oversee the creation of this new business model and led the group as its chairman from 1972 to 1978 . 2 initially branded as national the national express brand was first used in 1974 . 3 4 with the privatisation of the national bus company in the 1980s national express was subject to a management buyout in march 1988 . the management team began to diversify and in 1989 purchased crosville wales 5 but its financial performance began to deteriorate from early 1990 . a new management team took over the company in july 1991 with the backing of development and venture capital investors . the new team refocused the group on its core activities and sold crosville wales to british bus . 6 in october 1991 it purchased speedlink an operator of coach services between gatwick and heathrow airports . 4 in december 1992 national express group plc was floated on the london stock exchange . 3 acquisitions and disposals edit in 1993 scottish citylink eurolines and east midlands airport were acquired . 7 8 in april 1995 national express purchased west midlands travel the formerly council owned bus network of birmingham and the west midlands 3 and rebranded it travel west midlands in september 1996 . this began the brand family of travel ... local bus operations . bournemouth airport was acquired in april 1995 . 9 in april 1996 national express commenced operating its first uk rail franchises gatwick express and midland mainline . other franchises won in 1997 were silverlink central trains and scotrail . to comply with a competition commission ruling on it winning the scotrail franchise national express sold the scottish citylink operation to metroline in august 1998 . 10 11 in february 1997 taybus public transport was acquired and rebranded travel dundee . 12 in september 1998 crabtree harmon the seventh largest student transportation bus company in the united states was acquired with 82 school bus contracts mainly in missouri but also in other midwest states including colorado iowa kansas oklahoma and utah . in february 1999 robinson bus service was purchased followed in august 1999 by durham transportation . these acquisitions placed national express as one of the top three united states school bus operators . 13 in may 1999 national express purchased australia s largest private bus operator national bus company . 14 national bus company had bus operations in brisbane melbourne and perth and also held a 57 % shareholding in westbus sydney s largest bus operator . westbus also had a london coach operation . 15 in august 1999 national express won the m train m tram and v line passenger rail franchises in the australian state of victoria . 16 17 in january 2000 national express expanded into the american market by acquiring atc a public transportation operator . 18 in july 2000 prism rail was purchased adding the c2c wales & borders wessex trains and west anglia great northern franchises to national express portfolio . 19 20 21 in december 2002 national express handed in its victoria rail franchises having been unable to renegotiate financial terms with the state government . 22 23 in february 2004 the london bus operations of connex were purchased and rebranded travel london . 24 in april 2004 national express east anglia commenced operating the greater anglia rail franchise . 25 in september 2004 national express sold its melbourne bus operations to ventura bus lines and brisbane and perth bus operations to connex . 26 27 after being placed in administration in january 2005 westbus was sold to comfortdelgro cabcharge in august 2005 . 28 29 in june 2005 the london bus arm of tellings golden miller was purchased and also rebranded travel london . 30 in july 2005 national express sold atc to connex . 31 in october 2005 national express agreed to buy most of operations of privately owned spanish transport operator alsa which operates bus and coach services in spain portugal and morocco and long distance coach services to other parts of europe . alsa s operations in south america and china were retained by the previous owners . 32 in april 2007 national express acquired continental auto the second largest bus and coach operator in spain . 33 dot2dot volkswagen in london in april 2008 in november 2007 south east england coach operator the kings ferry was purchased 34 and an airport to hotel shuttle service in london branded dot2dot was launched . 35 it was not successful and ceased in november 2008 . 36 in november 2007 national express announced plans to re brand all of their operations under a new unified national express identity . 37 it was intended to achieve greater recognition for all the group companies to coincide with recent acquisitions and after current rail operations had improved in reliability to warrant association with the established express coach image . it coincided with the appointment of a group director for all uk operations and relocation of the head office from london to birmingham bringing all operations under a single strategic management structure . day to day management remains within individual companies . 38 in december 2007 national express east coast commenced operating the intercity east coast franchise . 39 in may 2009 national express sold travel london to abellio . 40 in february 2013 national express was awarded two regional rail contracts in germany by the verkehrsverbund rhein ruhr zweckverband nahverkehr rheinland and zweckverband nahverkehr westfalen lippe authorities that commenced in december 2015 . 41 42 in january 2015 the bayerische eisenbahngesellschaft announced that national express will operate the nuremberg s bahn system from december 2018 . it will the first deutsche bahn s bahn network to be taken over by a private operator all today s private s bahn lines in germany were completely new . it was also announced that the network which will include the allersberg express will be operated with koda 7ev trains built by koda vagonka . these emus will replace the older trains with class 143 locomotives and x cars and the newer talent 2 emus . 43 on 16 june 2015 it was announced that the parts 2 and 3 of the rhein ruhr express which will be introduced in 2018 will be operated by national express . this include the today s regional express services re4 re5 and re6 in northrhine westphalia . 44 default on east coast rail franchise edit national express east coast high speed train at london king s cross in july 2009 . 4 months later national express would be stripped of this franchise due to poor financial management . on 1 july 2009 the department for transport announced that it would take the national express east coast franchise into public ownership at the end of the year after national express announced it would not invest any further funds into the franchise effectively declaring it planned on defaulting . 45 further controversy ensued when on 27 july 2009 the commons transport committee said that ministers should consider operating the east coast main line as a public railway after national express announced they would walk away . 46 directly operated railways took over the east coast franchise on 14 november 2009 . 47 also in november 2009 the government announced that national express east anglia would not be granted a three year extension that it had otherwise qualified for because of the east coast default . 48 operational safety concerns edit on 3 january 2007 a speeding national express coach overturned on the m4 m25 slip road leaving three passengers dead . the driver was jailed for five years . 49 in july 2009 a junior transport minister the gillingham mp paul clark spelt out a series of concerns to national express in a letter following a meeting with an employee of national express east coast who lives in his constituency . the worker claimed that due to reduced maintenance checks some trains were in use with defective brakes an allegation strongly denied by the company which said it would never compromise on safety . he wrote as a result of reduced maintenance checks some long haul sets trains are in use with brake defects . increasing cuts in staff combined with an increasing pressure to ensure that trains run safely has resulted in fears among staff that a major accident is just around the corner . passengers he added have been poisoned as a result of coffee machines not being cleaned correctly with cleaning fluids left in situ . the minister said he was shocked and appalled at the information with which i ve been provided . you will understand that these allegations are exceptionally serious . 50 school bus drivers in the us have raised concerns about the safety of the buses run by durham a subsidiary of national express and the second largest operator of school bus services in north america . according to representatives of durham bus drivers fluid leaks tires that need to be replaced black mold and non functional emergency equipment are regular concerns whilst workers continued to operate buses while sick because they can not afford to miss a day of work and drivers are not paid for all the time they work . 51 offers for the company edit park s of hamilton plaxton elite bodied volvo b9r in bolton in april 2013 with the company s finances under stress largely as a result of having overbid for the national express east coast rail franchise national express became a takeover target in 2009 . in june 2009 a takeover offer from fellow transport operator firstgroup was rejected . 52 on 3 september 2009 national express largest shareholder spain s cosmen family with 18.5 % and cvc capital partners made a takeover offer of 765 million for the company . 53 54 the takeover panel set a deadline of 11 september 2009 for all prospective bids . 55 national express agreed to allow