99-641: Virgin Rail Group ( WCT Group since 2021) is a British rail transport company that was formed by the Virgin Group to bid for rail franchises in the United Kingdom during the privatisation of British Rail in the late 1990s. Amid the privatisation of British Rail during the mid 1990s, Virgin submitted multiple bids to operate several different train franchises, including Gatwick Express , InterCity CrossCountry and InterCity West Coast . It
198-712: A 100% FirstGroup subsidiary when the 24.5% shareholder bought out its partners. The TOCs were renamed First Great Western and First North Western . Go-Ahead Group bought the remaining 35% share in Thames Trains . Virgin Group sold a 49% share in Virgin Rail Group that operated the CrossCountry and West Coast franchises to Stagecoach . The completion of the rail link to Heathrow Airport led to Heathrow Express , an open-access operator outside
297-510: A cessation of services for this reason was impossible. It did not however stop speculation from rival TOCs (principally First ) and Virgin Rail Group that they would be keen to rebid for the ECML franchise if it were put back out to tender. In July 2006, rumours began circulating that Sea Containers would be prepared to sell GNER in an effort to stave off resorting to Chapter 11 proceedings to secure itself from its creditors. During July 2006,
396-571: A company wholly owned by the Strategic Rail Authority , which would operate the franchise until it could be tendered again. New franchise holders Arriva Trains Wales and Merseyrail began operating. FirstGroup purchased GB Railways which owned the Anglia Railways and Hull Trains businesses. A policy where the majority of services (both long-distance and commuter) from each London terminal would all be operated by
495-594: A diesel InterCity 125 because the Edinburgh to Aberdeen line and the section of the Cross Country Route between Leeds and York are not electrified. A daily service operated between King's Cross and Inverness, named the Highland Chieftain , a journey taking just over 8 hours. The service was operated using a diesel InterCity 125, as the line north of Edinburgh is not electrified. GNER ran
594-402: A fixed charge on open-access operators, but that if he had not done so, he would have been acting illegally because of the very different conditions under which open-access operators and franchised operators get access to the network. The High Court ( Mr Justice Sullivan ) refused GNER permission to appeal. That same month, GNER announced that its chief executive officer, Christopher Garnett ,
693-720: A joint venture with SNCF (30%). In April 2019, Stagecoach revealed that it had been disqualified from the franchises it was bidding for, including the West Coast Partnership. One month later, the company announced that it would legally challenge the disqualification. However, on 17 June 2020, the High Court ruled against the company and that the decision had been lawful. Accordingly, Virgin Trains ceased in December 2019. In June 2019, Virgin lodged an application to
792-526: A maximum speed of 110 mph (180 km/h) between Grantham and Doncaster because of problems with the overhead wire and pantograph interface. Furthermore, as a consequence of gauging restrictions, the Eurostars were not permitted to operate north of York to Newcastle, Glasgow or Edinburgh. During November 2005, it was announced that, following their refurbishment, the InterCity 225 fleet would displace
891-511: A national network owner. Franchises were initially let by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF). This was in turn replaced by the Strategic Rail Authority , which has since been abolished. For England, franchising is now the responsibility of the Department for Transport in the majority of cases. In Scotland, it is the responsibility of Transport Scotland . In Wales, since 2017,
990-632: A national timetable and online journey planner facility, and the operation of the various Railcard discount schemes. Eurostar is also a member of the RDG, though it is not itself a TOC. For historical and geographical reasons the railway network of the United Kingdom is split into two independent systems: one in Great Britain (including the Isle of Wight ), and one in Northern Ireland, which
1089-620: A pair of two new-build tilting trains ; these were claimed to enable the London - Edinburgh journey to be reduced to only 3 hours and 30 minutes, in part achieved via their increased maximum speed of 140mph (225kmh). While GNER's Chief Executive Christopher Garnett stated that he expected the delivery of these new trains within two years, an order having been reportedly placed during October 1997, no such tilting trains were ever introduced appear. The original fleet would be supplemented by additional rolling stock to bolster capacity; such stock included
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#17327659986981188-610: A result of new government policies, railway operations were to be operated by various private sector companies working under a franchise arrangement. Accordingly, the InterCity East Coast franchise was one such franchise created to take over operations of the East Coast Main Line (ECML) from British Rail. According to industry periodical Rail , the East Coast franchise was commonly viewed as one of
1287-566: A three-year extension based on targets being met, starting on 1 May 2005. The terms of the new franchise had considerable differences from that of the original period; instead of GNER receiving subsidies for its operations, it would be instead paying the British state for the privilege of doing so; there was reportedly concerns over the financial viability of such an arrangement from the onset. In order to meet these payments, GNER assumed passenger numbers would increase by around 30 per cent across
1386-627: A top to wear underneath the new blouses. In November 2016, the government announced that the InterCity West Coast franchise would be replaced by the West Coast Partnership , which included operating High Speed 2 (HS2). Services were planned to begin on the first phase of HS2 in 2026. The DfT requires that the new operator have experience in operating high speed trains (250 mph) and infrastructure. To satisfy this requirement, Stagecoach (50%) and Virgin (20%) bid in
1485-653: A wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London , operates trains nearly all on its own network serving mostly its own stations: It is not a Train Operating Company by the definition here.) The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) (formerly the Association of Train Operating Companies) provides a commonality for the TOCs and provides some centralised co-ordination. Its activities include the provision of
1584-710: Is closely linked to the railway system of the Republic of Ireland. In Great Britain, passenger train services are operated by a number of companies, referred to as Train Operating Companies or TOCs, normally on the basis of regional franchises awarded by the DfT Rail Group. Until 2005 this role was performed by the Strategic Rail Authority . The infrastructure of the railways in England, Scotland, and Wales – including tracks and signalling –
1683-640: Is electrified throughout, the GNER service to/from the town operated using a diesel InterCity 125 because the electrical infrastructure on the Leeds-to-Skipton line at the time was unable to provide sufficient power to support an InterCity 225 alongside the existing electric local services. There was a Monday-Saturday morning departure from Harrogate to King's Cross. However, there was no return journey so passengers were required to change at Leeds or York on to Northern Rail services to Harrogate. This service
1782-472: Is owned and operated not by the train companies but by Network Rail , which took over responsibility from Railtrack in 2002. Most passenger trains are owned by a small number of rolling stock companies (ROSCO) and are leased to the individual TOCs. However, a handful of TOCs own and maintain some of their own rolling stock. Train operating companies also operate most of the network's stations , in their role as station facility owners (SFO), in which they lease
1881-495: The Hull Executive from Hull Paragon to London King's Cross, with one morning journey down to London and one evening journey up to Hull. The service was operated by a diesel InterCity 125, as the line to Hull is not electrified. More regular services between London King's Cross and Hull Paragon were operated by Hull Trains . There were two trains per day between London and Bradford Forster Square. These were extensions of
1980-824: The Greater Anglia franchise on 5 February 2012. In September 2012, FirstGroup was awarded the right to operate the West Coast franchise which provoked a backlash from incumbent Virgin Trains West Coast. As a result of the Department for Transport having provided incorrect information during the bid process, the offer was withdrawn in October 2012 and £40 million of bid costs refunded. In September 2014, Govia Thameslink Railway took over services formerly operated by First Capital Connect as part of
2079-482: The Hatfield crash occurred with the high speed derailment of an Intercity 225 set, which was primarily caused by the failure of a rail that had been poorly maintained. The incident had deeply affected GNER’s business, not only due to a significant drop in confidence amongst its passengers but the rapid enactment of many emergency speed restrictions imposed by the national infrastructure company Railtrack . The incident
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#17327659986982178-411: The High Court rejected GNER's judicial review over the Office of Rail Regulation 's decision to allow rival train operating company Grand Central to operate trains along part of the ECML, – and in particular its right to call at York , one of the principal (and lucrative) stops on the ECML. GNER had made its application partly on the basis that 'open-access' train operators are not required to meet
2277-433: The InterCity East Coast franchise. Great North Eastern Railway Great North Eastern Railway , often referred to as GNER , was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, owned by Sea Containers , that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, North East England and Scotland from April 1996 until December 2007. During March 1996, Sea Containers
2376-899: The Metro buses in Belfast and Ulsterbus coaches around the country. NIR is not a TOC under the terms of the Railways Act 1993 , which only applies to Great Britain. The cross-border service Enterprise (Belfast–Dublin) is jointly operated with Iarnród Éireann , the publicly owned national railway company of the Republic of Ireland. Upon privatisation in 1994, the three passenger-operating sectors of British Rail ( InterCity , Network SouthEast and Regional Railways ) were divided, and their existing operations were let as 25 franchises: The privatisation process began when BR's passenger sectors were divided into 25 train operating units which were gradually incorporated as publicly owned subsidiaries of
2475-736: The North East Regional franchise and the North West Regional franchise . In 2004, these were altered into the TransPennine franchise, for intercity services, and the Northern franchise, for local services that were awarded to First TransPennine Express and Northern Rail respectively. Some North West services were transferred to the Arriva Trains Wales franchise. In the same year, Thames Trains
2574-613: The Office of Rail & Road for an open access service from London Euston to Liverpool Lime Street calling at Nuneaton , Tamworth , Lichfield Trent Valley , Liverpool South Parkway and Liverpool Lime Street to rival the West Coast Partnership franchisee from May 2021. The application was later withdrawn. In 1998, Virgin Rail, as part of the Capital Rail consortium, was shortlisted for an Australian high-speed rail service from Sydney to Canberra . During November 2018, it
2673-572: The Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern franchise and branded them as Thameslink and Great Northern. Services operated by Southern , another Govia subsidiary, were merged into the new franchise in the following year. Hull Trains became a 100% subsidiary of FirstGroup when the 80% shareholder bought out its partners. In March 2015, a Stagecoach and Virgin joint venture trading as Virgin Trains East Coast commenced operating
2772-584: The moving block signalling apparatus being immature for such a busy mixed-traffic mainline. Railtrack would ultimately collapse while its successor, Network Rail , would also be unable to fully deliver the promised upgrade, heavily impacting Virgin West Coast's operations. The upgrade programme would be cut back, as a result, the top speed was reduced to 125 mph. The Pendalino fleet was introduced into passenger services from Birmingham International to Manchester Piccadilly on 23 July 2002, coinciding with
2871-791: The passenger transport executive or other civic body responsible for administering public transport. One of these bodies, the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (Merseytravel) is responsible for one of three National Rail franchises not awarded by central government, namely the Merseyrail franchise, while certain National Rail services in North London came under the control of TfL in November 2007 as London Overground. Two other franchises,
2970-405: The privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993 . There are two types of TOC: most hold franchises let by the Department for Transport (DfT) through a tendering system, to operate services on certain routes for a specified duration, while a small number of open-access operators hold licences to provide supplementary services on chosen routes. These operators can run services for
3069-565: The British Railways Board. They acted as shadow franchises prior to being put to tender: The opening of the Channel Tunnel saw operations by Eurostar begin from London Waterloo to Paris and Brussels . The franchising process was implemented, with various private companies taking over the shadow franchises. Three were awarded to management buyouts . The Great Western Holdings ' management also were awarded
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3168-683: The ECML. Amongst its franchise promises was that the train mileage operated in the 1995/1996 period would be initially maintained for period of two years, along with a stated ambition to increase it in the long term; furthermore, all existing rolling stock would undergo refurbishment, and that all trains would feature an onboard buffet and trolley service. The stations of the route were also to receive improvement packages; these were typically focused on improving access and security alike, while neighbouring car parks were also expanded wherever reasonable to do so. During January 1997, Sea Containers Chairman James Sherwood announced that GNER intended to procure
3267-549: The East Coast franchise. In April 2008, Wrexham & Shropshire began operating open access services between Wrexham and London Marylebone . In June 2008, the Gatwick Express franchise was integrated with the South Central franchise operated by Southern . The government announced that National Express East Coast would have its franchise to operate intercity services along the ECML terminated, and that
3366-502: The Eurostars. The InterCity 225s were refurbished by Bombardier Transportation between 2003–2005, the programme was named Project Mallard in honour of the LNER steam locomotive . They boasted re-designed interiors and new features such as Wi-Fi and electric sockets at every seat pair. GNER bought twelve Mark 3 sleeping carriages with the intention of converting them to passenger carriages to lengthen HSTs. However, this programme
3465-644: The Invitation to Tender for the InterCity East Coast franchise to the four shortlisted bidders, Danish State Railways / English Welsh & Scottish , First , GNER and Virgin Rail Group . The bidding process was described as being highly competitive, several of the bidders were reportedly determined to dislodge the incumbent GNER. In March 2005, the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the franchise to GNER for seven years, with
3564-568: The King's Cross–Leeds services and were operated using an electric InterCity 225. Some of these services were also operated using a Class 89 electric locomotive, Mark 4 coaches and a DVT until 2001. There was a morning train from Skipton and Keighley to King's Cross with an early evening return. As with the Bradford trains, this was an extension to the Leeds–London service. Though the line to Skipton
3663-587: The North West Regional Railways franchise. The remainder were divided between a handful of major transport operators: In Northern Ireland, NIR stopped using its own branding on the Enterprise service between Belfast and Dublin when it purchased new rolling stock in conjunction with IÉ, instead launching Enterprise as a separate brand name. Great Western Holdings , which operated Great Western Trains and North West Trains, became
3762-635: The Pendolino fleet, perhaps most noticeable change was the 21 nine-car units each had one first class carriage converted to standard class. Virgin was shortlisted for the InterCity West Coast franchise by the DfT in March 2011. In August 2012, the Department awarded FirstGroup the new franchise. Virgin felt that the methodology used to award the franchise was flawed, and Richard Branson said it
3861-607: The Reverend W. Awdry , it mentions characters such as "Gordon the Virgin Engine" ( Gordon the Big Engine ) and "The Bearded Controller" ( The Fat Controller , reimagined as Richard Branson). Train operating company In the railway system of Great Britain , a train operating company ( TOC ) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since
3960-582: The Scottish national franchise, currently operated by ScotRail , and the Welsh domestic franchise, operated by Transport for Wales , are awarded by the devolved governments of the two constituent nations. The Rail Delivery Group is the coordinating body of the train operating companies in Great Britain and owns the National Rail brand, which uses the former British Rail double-arrow logo and organises
4059-473: The US Chapter 11 process , therefore allowing the company to continue trading while it sorted out its finances. However, this meant that the company was unable to fulfil its guarantees in respect to its GNER subsidiary, greatly increasing the risk exposure of the latter's operations. During December 2006, the Department for Transport announced its intention to strip Sea Containers of its franchise; this
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4158-708: The better franchises to bid for, as the ECML had been electrified only a few years before hand and was being served by the newest intercity stock in British Rail's inventory, the InterCity 225 ; the line also had a well-established reputation for its high-speed services. Accordingly, numerous private companies submitted bids to the Office for Passenger Rail Franchising. One such firm was the Bermuda -based transport and container leasing company Sea Containers , whose bid
4257-591: The broken contract. In October 2023, the High Court in London ruled in favour of Virgin, and awarded the company $ 115 million in damages. Brightline stated its intention to appeal the judgement. Virgin's role in the privatisation of British Rail was lampooned in Thomas the Privatised Tank Engine , a 1994 parody children's book published by Private Eye magazine. A send-up of The Railway Series by
4356-466: The buildings and associated land from Network Rail. Network Rail manages some major railway stations and several stations are operated by London Underground or other companies. Most passenger TOCs in Great Britain are privately owned. The majority of these hold franchises to operate rail services on specific parts of the railway and come under the auspices of the National Rail brand. In addition, companies are able to bid for "paths" (specific parts of
4455-497: The collapse of infrastructure owner Railtrack . In order for tilting trains to be operated, Railtrack had committed itself to upgrading the West Coast Main Line as to permit 140 mph operation by 2005. However, the modernisation of the line suffered from spiralling costs, rising from an estimated £2 billion to roughly £10 billion, while the programme had failures that were technical as well as managerial, such as
4554-452: The common ticketing structure. Many of the train operating companies are in fact parts of larger companies which operate multiple franchises. The railway network in Northern Ireland is managed differently from the rest of the UK. The sole company in Northern Ireland that operates trains is NI Railways , who are a subsidiary of Translink , the publicly owned transport corporation, which also runs
4653-443: The company's overbidding for the franchise coupled to what proved to be crippling premium repayments to the government. The company blamed the effects of the 7/7 terrorist attacks , increased electricity prices, and increased competition from low-cost airlines for the decline in passenger numbers. It also faced a growing challenge from the revitalised West Coast services operated by Virgin Trains . The company attempted to address
4752-406: The complexity of the evaluation process and issues with the tender itself, the selection process ground to a halt. However, in January 2002, the Strategic Rail Authority announced that the refranchising process had been scrapped and that a two-year extension had been awarded to Sea Containers, extending GNER's franchise period to April 2005. During October 2004, the Strategic Rail Authority issued
4851-518: The duration of the licence validity. The franchised operators have changed considerably since privatisation: previous franchises have been divided, merged, re-let to new operators, or renamed. Some privately-operated franchises have been taken over by a government-owned operator of last resort , due either to failing expectations or to events on the rail system as a whole. The term is also sometimes used to describe companies operating passenger or freight rail services over tracks owned by another company or
4950-444: The early 2000s, the Hatfield rail crash and the Great Heck rail crash . Plans to procure a fleet of tilting trains based on the Pendolino were mooted by the company, but were discarded amid a protracted and complex refranchising process. During March 2005, the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the East Coast franchise to GNER for a second time; however, the terms for this second franchise period were financially demanding, seeing
5049-422: The envisioned tilting train, which was known by the name Pendolino and was later designated under TOPS as the Class 390 . It was expected that the Pendolinos would run at service speeds of up to 140 mph (225 km/h) and that the whole fleet would be delivered by May 2002. The service introduction of the Pendolino was repeatedly delayed, a fact which has been attributed to the poor project management and
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#17327659986985148-514: The franchise would pass into the hands of public-sector company, Directly Operated Railways , which acted as the parent for East Coast . Grand Central open-access services from London to Bradford began on 23 May 2010. DB Regio's operations in the UK were integrated into those of Arriva following the acquisition of the latter by Deutsche Bahn in the previous year. Owing to continuing losses, Wrexham & Shropshire ceased operating on 28 January 2011. Abellio Greater Anglia began operating
5247-591: The franchise. One early, and particularly low cost, means of expanding GNER's fleet was the purchase of the Class 89 prototype electric locomotive 89001. After being repaired at a reported cost of £100,000 and repainted in GNER livery, it went into revenue-earning service in March 1997, being primarily used on services from London King's Cross to Leeds and Bradford Forster Square. 89001 had to be withdrawn from service in October 2000 due to technical problems, but its brief service life had helped alleviate GNER's shortage of traction due to reliability issues. By 2000, it
5346-1209: The franchise. In April 2007, it was announced that GNER had a 10% stake in the bid lodged by Stagecoach & Virgin. In August 2007, the Department for Transport awarded the franchise to National Express , and GNER's services transferred to National Express East Coast on 9 December 2007. GNER's principal routes were from London King's Cross to Leeds and Edinburgh Waverley . From Edinburgh Waverley, selected services continued on to Motherwell and Glasgow Central , Inverness , or Aberdeen . From Leeds, some trains ran to and from Bradford Forster Square , Skipton , and Harrogate . One service per day also ran to and from Hull via Selby . Other towns and cities served by GNER trains included Stevenage , Peterborough , Grantham , Newark , Retford , Doncaster , Wakefield , Shipley , Keighley , Horsforth , Brough , York , Northallerton , Darlington , Durham , Newcastle , Morpeth , Alnmouth (for Alnwick ), Berwick-upon-Tweed , Dunbar , Motherwell , Inverkeithing , Kirkcaldy , Leuchars , Arbroath , Montrose , Stonehaven , Falkirk , Stirling , Perth , Pitlochry , Kingussie , and Aviemore . The service between King's Cross and Leeds
5445-401: The franchising system, beginning its services from London Paddington to Heathrow with operating rights until 2023. The shareholdings of M40 Trains were restructured with John Laing owning 84% of the company with the remaining 16% held by former BR managers. MTL which operated Merseyrail Electrics and Northern Spirit and Prism Rail that operated c2c (renamed from LTS Rail earlier in
5544-490: The half-hour generally terminated at Newcastle and served other intermediate stations such as Grantham, Newark, Retford, Doncaster and Durham as well as Peterborough, York, and Darlington. GNER operated ten trains per day between King's Cross and Glasgow. With the upgrade of the West Coast Main Line (WCML) between London Euston and Glasgow to 125 mph completed, GNER could no longer compete with Virgin Trains on this route in terms of journey times (5hrs 30mins compared to
5643-468: The hour' departures continued through to Edinburgh (with the 10:00 keeping the traditional name Flying Scotsman ); some of these ran on to either Glasgow Central, Aberdeen or Inverness. These trains generally ran as limited-stop expresses between London and Newcastle: all trains called at York, and most at Peterborough and Darlington, though afternoon and evening departures from King's Cross ran non-stop to Doncaster or York. The trains leaving King's Cross on
5742-415: The leased Regional Eurostar fleet was properly introduced to GNER service, facilitating the inclusion of additional London to York services in a new timetable; however, unlike the Intercity 225, the Eurostars were restricted to a maximum speed of 110mph to reduce excessive wear on the overhead wiring. GNER's operations were greatly affected by a pair of accidents during the early 2000s. On 17 October 2000,
5841-480: The life of the franchise, reaching around 20 million by 2015. In May 2006, it was revealed that GNER's parent company Sea Containers was in financial difficulties, and was rumoured to be bordering on insolvency . Questions were raised as to whether GNER could continue operating should its parent company cease trading. The company rejected this assertion, stating that its lines of credit and financial activities were "ring-fenced" away from Sea Containers, and therefore
5940-431: The name Wales & Borders . The remainder of Wales & West's services in the west of England were renamed Wessex Trains . John Laing bought out its partners in M40 Trains. Connex , having already lost the South Central franchise in 2001, was removed as franchisee of the South Eastern franchise in 2003 on the grounds of poor financial management. It was replaced as the franchise holder by South Eastern Trains ,
6039-428: The name combined the initials of two of the LNER's predecessor companies , the Great Northern Railway (GNR), who had built King's Cross station, and the Great Eastern Railway (GER). GNER made further links to the past companies by adopting a dark-blue livery with red trimming lines for its trains, similar to that used by the GER, and using a Victorian coat of arms -style crest on their trains. The company's image
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#17327659986986138-405: The new 4hrs 25min time on the WCML), but they did provide a link from Glasgow to Newcastle and York and a secondary route for use when the WCML was closed for engineering work. There were three trains per day each way between King's Cross and Aberdeen, the journey time being just over seven hours. There was also one service per day arriving at Aberdeen from Leeds. These services were operated using
6237-407: The next franchise. GNER's submission had included its plan to purchase a fleet of 25 tilting trains, similar to the British Rail Class 390 Pendolinos then being introduced on the West Coast Main Line ; this were envisioned to feature multiple types of propulsion, being divided between electric and diesel-powered examples so that they could serve all of the franchise's destinations. In part due to
6336-499: The one-off Class 89 locomotive and a number of Class 373 Regional Eurostars . Within its first few years of operation, GNER had succeeded at increasing the speed of the fastest scheduled service in Great Britain, the London-York route having a reported average speed of 112mph at its fastest. According to Rail magazine, the operator's customer service was frequently praised, while passengers also warmed received its promises of an increased quality of onboard catering. During May 2000,
6435-407: The opening of the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. In October 1998, Virgin Group sold 49% of the shares in Virgin Rail Group to the British transport company Stagecoach . In March 2000, Virgin was shortlisted to bid for the InterCity East Coast franchise. During January 2002, the Strategic Rail Authority scrapped the refranchising process and awarded a two-year extension to GNER . In
6534-578: The overall National Rail timetable) to operate their own services, which the franchises do not operate – these operators are classed as open-access operators and are not franchise holders. Currently in Great Britain, there are three open-access operators: Hull Trains , which runs services between London King's Cross and Hull , Grand Central , which operates between King's Cross and Sunderland and between King's Cross and Bradford , and Lumo , which operates between King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley . In addition, there are operators that fall outside
6633-493: The problem by waiving booking fees on internet sales, cutting staff numbers, and raising fares and car-parking charges where the market could bear it. In a press interview in September 2006, GNER's ex-chief Christopher Garnett hinted at a bleak future for GNER and the franchising system, claiming that the trend among TOCs to overbid for the renewal of franchises would result in a financially unsustainable railway. In October 2006, Sea Containers filed for bankruptcy protection under
6732-404: The purview of National Rail, which operate specific services which are recent additions to Britain's railways. The main examples are Eurostar, which operates to continental Europe via the Channel Tunnel , and Heathrow Express , which runs fast services from London to Heathrow Airport . A number of metropolitan railways on the network are operated by the local franchise holder in conjunction with
6831-435: The responsibility for the specification and procurement of the Wales & Borders franchise belongs to Transport for Wales . In two parts of England, local government agencies are responsible: in Merseyside , the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive lets the Merseyrail franchise, while in London, Transport for London (TfL) oversees the new London Overground and Elizabeth line concessions. ( London Underground ,
6930-411: The route for another year via a management contract. The final northbound GNER train was the 20:30 London King's Cross – Newcastle on 8 December 2007; the company was replaced by the new franchisee National Express East Coast one day later. The creation of the Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) is closely associated with the privatisation of British Rail that was enacted during the mid 1990s; as
7029-501: The routes operated by Silverlink in London, which were combined with the extended East London line in 2011. Services are controlled directly by TfL, with running of the trains themselves contracted to a private company as an operating concession. This is different from an ordinary franchise, as the train operator is not given control of the strategic aspects of the operation, such as pricing, timetabling and rolling stock procurement. In December 2007, National Express East Coast took over
7128-628: The running of the InterCity East Coast franchise from GNER . Grand Central also began operating its services between London and Sunderland as an open access operator. In January 2008, Laing Rail which owned M40 Trains and a 50% shareholding in London Overground Rail Operations was sold to Deutsche Bahn , becoming part of the DB Regio Group. In February 2008, One was re-branded by National Express as National Express East Anglia to bring it into line with
7227-600: The same fixed costs for accessing Network Rail 's infrastructure as train operating companies running services under a contract or 'franchise' with the Department for Transport . GNER's case failed principally because the High Court determined that not only did European law permit the Rail Regulator to establish a charging regime for open-access operators which was different from the one which applies to franchised operators (such as GNER), in this case not imposing
7326-532: The same franchise was partially enacted. In April 2004, One commenced operating the Greater Anglia franchise that combined the Anglia Railways and First Great Eastern franchises with the West Anglia Great Northern services radiating out from Liverpool Street . The remainder continuing to be operated as WAGN . In the North of England, prior to 2004 there were two regional franchises,
7425-588: The south-east of England, were replaced as the operator of the Network SouthCentral franchise by Govia , who began operating it under the name South Central . Also in 2001, a new franchise, the Wales & Borders franchise was created by the amalgamation of Valley Lines and the majority of services in Wales and the Borders held by Wales & West . The new franchise was initially operated under
7524-572: The wake of the collapse of Railtrack and the inability of Network Rail to deliver on the 140 mph (225 km/h) West Coast Main Line upgrade, both the Virgin CrossCountry and Virgin West Coast franchises were suspended in favour of management contracts in July 2002. While the terms of the West Coast franchise were renegotiated, agreement could not be reached on CrossCountry and it
7623-481: The withdrawal of subsidies and enactment of charges to the British Government. Concerns over the viability of such payments, as well as the general financial condition of Sea Containers were well-founded, with the latter entering bankruptcy in November 2006. Following its inability to fulfil agreed payments, GNER was stripped of the franchise during December 2006, although it continued to run services on
7722-505: The year), Valley Lines Trains , Wales & West , and West Anglia Great Northern were purchased by Arriva and National Express respectively, resulting in the latter owning nine franchises. The two companies transferred to Arriva were renamed Arriva Trains Merseyside and Arriva Trains Northern. The first open access operator using the National Rail brand, Hull Trains , commenced running its services between King's Cross and Hull . In 2001, Connex , which had operated two franchises in
7821-420: Was announced as the winner during March 1996, leading to a seven-year franchise upon the East Coast being awarded to their newly-created subsidiary GNER. The initials GNER were reminiscent of the historic London and North Eastern Railway (LNER, no relation to the current train operating company ), the company that operated the route before being nationalised as part of British Railways in 1948. Additionally,
7920-612: Was announced that Virgin Group would become a minority investor in the American company Brightline and would provide rights to rebrand the service as Virgin Trains USA. However, in August 2020, managers at the company alleged that Virgin had not provided the agreed investment money and thus it would be ending its branding deal, returning to the previous Brightline brand. In March 2021, Virgin sued Brightline for $ 251.3 million because of
8019-414: Was awarded a 23-month management contract to run the West Coast franchise until November 2014; the contract was extended in stages until March 2020. During May 2013, there was a controversy regarding new uniforms, with claims that the blouses were too revealing and potentially exposed dark bras to the public. Virgin Rail Group responded to this by offering a voucher worth £20 to allow employees to purchase
8118-423: Was awarded the franchise to operate the East Coast services; it begin operations on 28 April 1996. Initially receiving a favourable reception, the company brought in several service alterations and innovations, including the leasing of Class 373 Regional Eurostars along with the refurbishment of the InterCity 225 fleet. However, GNER's reputation and passenger numbers were both hit by a pair of derailments during
8217-518: Was blameless in both incidents, the travelling public were shaken; by March 2001, the revenue of long-distance operators had declined by an average of 21 per cent. By this point, the future franchising arrangements of the East Coast route were already being examined. During March 2000, the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority announced that two companies, Sea Containers and Virgin Rail Group , had been shortlisted to bid for
8316-834: Was cancelled when GNER was able to lease other Mark 3s that were released by Virgin CrossCountry after this operator withdrew its HSTs. One commitment for the new franchise awarded in 2005 was to upgrade all of its HSTs to the same standards as the InterCity 225s. The Class 43 power cars were overhauled by Brush Traction in Loughborough, their Paxman Valenta engines replaced with MTU 16V4000 units. To operate increased services to Leeds, GNER leased two former Midland Mainline HSTs from May 2007. English, Welsh & Scottish Railway provided strategically-placed rescue locomotives, originally Class 47s and later Class 67s . EWS also provided Class 90s to cover for Class 91s; one
8415-421: Was clear that GNER's Class 91 fleet was in need of refurbishment to address reliability issues, thus the company made arrangements to lease alternative traction as a stop-gap measure. Between May 2000 and December 2005, GNER leased a number of Class 373 Regional Eurostars from Eurostar . In GNER service, the fleet was operated for services between London and York, and later Leeds, but had to be restricted to
8514-450: Was compounded, just as business seemed to recovering, when another serious accident involving GNER occurred on 28 February 2001. The Selby rail crash involved a Newcastle–London service that had derailed after striking a Land Rover that had driven off the M62 motorway ; the GNER train was shortly after hit by a Freightliner train, compounding the incident and death toll alike. Although GNER
8613-467: Was expanded in the early 2000s when, as part of a refranchising bid, GNER stated that its planned to purchase a fleet of 25 tilting trains, similar to the British Rail Class 390 Pendolinos then being introduced on the West Coast Main Line ; this were envisioned to feature multiple types of propulsion, being divided between electric and diesel-powered examples so that they could serve all of
8712-529: Was generally hourly, with trains serving most main intermediate stations. With the completion of the Allington Chord, near Grantham, having increased track capacity, GNER began to operate a full half-hourly service throughout the day on this route in May 2007. A half-hourly service between King's Cross and Newcastle operated for most of the day, departing from London on the hour and the half-hour. The 'top of
8811-842: Was operated using a diesel InterCity 125 as the line to Harrogate is not electrified. The Saturday running of this service was the week's only GNER southbound service from Leeds not to call at Wakefield Westgate. This service departed from Leeds and took the Selby line to join the East Coast Main Line at Hambleton . At the beginning of operations in April 1996, GNER inherited a fleet of InterCity 125 High Speed Train sets made up of Class 43 power cars and Mark 3 carriages , and InterCity 225 sets made up of Class 91 locomotives and Mark 4 carriages and Driving Van Trailers . It continued to operate both types throughout its time operating
8910-648: Was professionally designed by Vignelli Associates , an Italian design house; it was responsible for the train liveries and interiors, staff uniforms and overall corporate identity. Their website states "The Great North Eastern Railway logo emphasises the NE. The train has a new livery, dark blue with a bright red stripe containing all necessary information. It has a crest, a required tradition, and sober interiors for both first and tourist class." Operations commenced on 28 April 1996. From its onset, GNER's management had pledged to bring about substantial changes and improvements upon
9009-612: Was repainted in GNER livery but not dedicated to the franchise. The HSTs were allocated to Craigentinny Depot in Edinburgh and the InterCity 225s to Bounds Green Depot in London. Lighter maintenance and servicing were carried out at Neville Hill Depot in Leeds and Heaton Depot in Newcastle. During the late 1990s, GNER announced plans to purchase a pair of two tilting trains, based on Italian Pendolino technology. This ambition
9108-467: Was reportedly due to the company's financial issues and having been overbid. Despite this announcement, GNER continued to operate the franchise under a management contract, which was extendable for up to two years, while the Department for Transport undertook the selection of a new franchisee. In February 2007, the Department for Transport announced that Arriva , FirstGroup , National Express and Virgin Rail Group had been shortlisted to lodge bids for
9207-475: Was retendered in 2007. While Virgin Trains did bid to retain the franchise, it was awarded to Arriva , thus the services operated by Virgin CrossCountry were transferred to CrossCountry on 11 November 2007. During 2004, Virgin was again shortlisted to bid for the InterCity East Coast franchise, but was ultimately unsuccessful; the franchise was instead won by Sea Containers , parent company of then train operator Great North Eastern Railway . After Sea Containers
9306-555: Was stripped of the East Coast franchise due to poor financial management, Virgin was again shortlisted for the InterCity East Coast franchise in February 2007, submitting a bid had a 10% shareholding by the incumbent, Sea Containers. However, this bid was not successful, as the franchise was won by National Express . During July 2008, Virgin was awarded a contract by the DfT to manage the introduction of 106 extra Class 390 Pendolino carriages. Virgin Trains made further enhancements to
9405-617: Was successful in winning the latter two, leading to Virgin CrossCountry and Virgin West Coast commencing operations in January and March 1997 respectively. Both franchises were scheduled to run for 15 years. One of Virgin's franchise commitments was to replace the British Rail -era locomotives and rolling stock inherited by Virgin West Coast with brand new tilting trains . Following negotiations with several manufacturers, Virgin placed an order with Alstom / Fiat Ferroviaria to produce
9504-496: Was superseded by First Great Western Link and ScotRail (National Express) by First ScotRail . A new operator, Heathrow Connect , jointly run by BAA and First Great Western , began operating stopping services between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport complementing the Heathrow Express. Three new integrated franchises began operating in April 2006: Further integrations occurred in 2007. The first of these
9603-576: Was the South Western franchise ; this merged the original South West Trains franchise with the Island Line Trains franchise on the Isle of Wight and began operating in February 2007 under the name South West Trains, with Island Line retained as a separate brand. In November 2007, three new integrated franchises began operating: In addition to these three, a further new operator, London Overground Rail Operations , took control of
9702-411: Was to step down, having occupied that position since Sea Containers had originally been awarded their first franchise. Amid growing industry speculation that Sea Containers was working towards a "financial restructuring", the company's President and Chief Executive Bob Mackenzie was named as Garnett's successor. The firm's problems were further fuelled by GNER's poor profitability, which had been linked to
9801-404: Was unlikely Virgin would bid for any future franchises. When the DfT did not respond to Virgin's concerns, it launched proceedings for a judicial review . While preparing its case for the judicial review, the government discovered significant technical flaws in the way the franchise process had been conducted, and cancelled the competition , vindicating Virgin's protests. In December 2012, Virgin
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