More than 23,000 people back demand to keep railway service in state hands as government moves to sell franchise to private bidders

Campaigners have handed over a petition signed by more than 23,000 passengers to keep the east coast mainline railway service in public hands.

The London-Edinburgh East Coast trains are run by the state-owned Directly Operated Railways (DOR), but the government is starting the process of offering the line up for franchise to private bidders.

More than 60 MPs from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Green and Scottish National parties have signed an early day motion calling for the train service to remain state-run.

Results published last week by DOR showed that the company paid more than £208m to the government last year in premiums and profits. Since DOR stepped in to run East Coast in 2009 after the private operator National Express failed to meet agreed payments, it has paid more than £600m into Treasury coffers. Figures from the Office of Rail Regulation show that East Coast receives a lower subsidy than comparable operations.

Union leaders and protesters handed over the the petition in Westminster to Lilian Greenwood, Labour's shadow rail minister, and Caroline Lucas of the Green party, who were to pass it to the transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin.

Frances O'Grady, Action for Rail spokesperson and TUC general secretary, said: "Privatising the east coast mainline defies all logic. Since it was renationalised the line has made a large contribution to the taxpayer, bringing in over £600m already.

"By taking the east coast out of public ownership the government will be passing the income the line raises into the pockets of corporate shareholders, when it should be using the cash to reduce rail fares and improve services."

Greenwood said: "It makes no sense to waste public money and government time on selling off East Coast instead of getting to grips with the cost-of-living crisis. David Cameron should now take note of this petition and cancel this ideologically driven privatisation."

The coalition has prioritised the sell-off of East Coast after wider rail franchising was thrown into disarray by last year's West Coast fiasco, when Virgin's legal action to keep the line it had run for 15 years led to the Department for Transport scrapping or postponing bidding competitions for most of the rail service. While it has since granted direct awards for National Express, First Group and Virgin to continue running lines until as late as 2017, the DfT plans to ensure a new private operator is running East Coast by February 2015.

The DfT insists franchising remains the best way to secure services for passengers, stating: "A strong private-sector partner will not only provide certainty of ownership for the East Coast franchise but will be best placed to build on the significant investment planned for the route, delivering benefits to passengers and taxpayers for years to come."

• This article was amended on 18 October 2013. It originally stated that East Coast took over the running of the mainline in 1999. In fact, it did so in 2009. This has been corrected.