An artist’s impression of the new Hitachi intercity express train which is due to begin running on the East Coast mainline later this year

Chris Grayling avoided commuters’ wrath over the biggest rise in rail fares since 2013 by escaping to Qatar last week, but the transport secretary may find it harder to dodge the fallout from his decision to allow Stagecoach and Virgin to pull out of the East Coast main line franchise.

When Lord Adonis quit as the government’s infrastructure tsar last month, in protest at the handling of Brexit negotiations, the Labour peer also used his resignation speech to condemn Grayling for “bailing out” the two operators.

The row raises questions over the process by which private companies bid to run our railways, known as franchising. Some reckon Grayling’s move could encourage other operators to wriggle out of unprofitable contracts. With Labour threatening to renationalise the