East Coast rail directors paid six figure salaries The highest paid director at the East Coast Main Line Company is on a package worth between £161,000 and £180,000, it has emerged. Seven other executives at the government-back company received salaries of more than £100,000 - two of which are on a remuneration band that pays between £121,000 and £140,000. Michael Holden, chief executive of DOR, received a salary of £156,100 for the year to the end of March 2012, a Freedom of Information request by the Press Association disclosed. The revelations are likely to anger passengers when they are having to shoulder an average 4.2pc rise in the price of annual season tickets across the rail industry, while punctuality remains poor. Last month, fewer than three quarters of East Coast services ran on time, although these figures were adversely impacted by the snow and icy weather. Executive salaries at East Coast, which recently named a train Skyfall after the latest James Bond film, are modest compared to private rail companies. However, listed transport businesses such as FirstGroup operate vast bus operations in addition to several rail franchises. A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: "East Coast is run along commercial lines and it is right that it is able to set salaries to attract properly qualified senior staff, in line with all other train companies.