CrossCountry news
News about the CrossCountry rail franchise, which comprises long-distance and regional routes in England, Scotland and Wales, extending from Aberdeen to Penzance. It is operated by Deutsche Bahn’s Arriva UK Trains business.
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Rail Business UKCrossCountry ticketing contract to support ACE innovation
UK: CrossCountry has selected the Arriva Customer Engine platform to provide web and app journey planning, ticket sales and travel information services including live travel updates. CrossCountry selected the fellow Arriva Group supplier after a procurement process involving 22 competitors. ACE is already used by Arriva’s ...
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Rail Business UKCrossCountry Class 170 DMUs evolve
UK: Arriva TrainCare’s Crewe depot has completed work on the first of 29 Class 170 diesel multiple-units operated by CrossCountry which are to be refurbished by 2028. The multi-million pound programme has been funded by leasing company Porterbrook. The scope includes fitting the DMUs originally built ...
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Rail Business UKCrossCountry Voyager refurbishment contract awarded
UK: Leasing company Beacon Rail has formally awarded Alstom a £60m contract to refurbish CrossCountry’s fleet of Voyager and Super Voyager 200 km/h inter-city diesel-electric multiple-units. The work will include an interior refresh with replacement seats, tables and carpets, improved lighting, a passenger counting system and ...
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Rail Business UKCrossCountry ordered to produce improvement plan
UK: Secretary of State for Transport Louise Haigh has written to the two Interim Managing Directors of CrossCountry expressing ‘serious concern’ about the train operator’s performance. She expects the operator to agree a Remedial Plan, saying ‘I will not hesitate to take further action under the ...
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Rail Business UKCrossCountry cuts services to catch up on driver training
UK: CrossCountry is cutting services from August 10 until November 9 in an effort to reduce on-the-day cancellations while it catches up on a post-pandemic backlog of driver training. On July 29 the operator said prolonged industrial action across the rail industry had prevented it from ...
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NewsInvestor sees ‘genuine growth potential’ as DB completes sale of Arriva
EUROPE: The sale of Deutsche Bahn’s non-German public transport business Arriva to I Squared Capital has been completed, the companies announced on June 3. DB said it would now focus on rail transport within Germany, while I Squared said it sees opportunities to invest in decarbonisation. ...
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Rail Business UKTidyco to overhaul Class 170 HVAC units
UK: Porterbrook Leasing has awarded Tidyco a contract to overhaul and refurbish 444 cab and saloon heating, ventilation and air-conditioning modules from ADtranz/Bombardier Class 170 Turbostar diesel multiple-units operated by East Midlands Railway and CrossCountry. Porterbrook and Tidyco have worked together to develop a bespoke overhaul ...
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Rail Business UKCrossCountry DMU maintenance contract signed
UK: CrossCountry has awarded West Midlands Trains a long-term contract to continue to maintain the long-distance operator’s Class 170 diesel multiple-unit fleet at Tyseley depot in Birmingham until 2031. ‘Servicing, maintaining and cleaning the Class 170 fleet has been, and continues to be, an important part ...
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Rail Business UKCrossCountry gets more Voyagers as refurbishment plan agreed
UK: CrossCountry has selected Alstom as preferred bidder to refurbish its fleet of Voyager DMUs over a broadly two-year period as part of an investment package aimed at increasing capacity on its network by up to 25%. The national long-distance operator also announced on March 25 ...
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Rail Business UKCrossCountry Managing Director leaves
UK: Managing Director Tom Joyner left CrossCountry with immediate effect on February 15.
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Rail Business UKCapacity increase future-proofs Birmingham’s University station
UK: A three-year project to increase passenger capacity at University station on Birmingham’s Cross City Line was completed with the opening of two buildings on January 28. The station was designed for 500 000 passengers/year when it opened in 1978, but expansion of the university and ...
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Rail Business UKCrossCountry train services agreement extended
UK: Alstom is to continue to service and maintain the CrossCountry Voyager and Super Voyager trainsets until 2031 under a €950m eight-year extension to its existing train services agreement. The extension announced on November 2 covers 34 Class 220 Voyager and 24 Class 221 Super Voyager ...
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Rail Business UKInterview: Rethinking ‘unusual and special’ CrossCountry
UK: CrossCountry’s National Rail Contract came into force on October 15, giving the business some medium-term certainty and Managing Director Tom Joyner a chance to reflect with Rail Business UK on its evolving role as a truly national train operator.
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NewsDeutsche Bahn to sell Arriva Group to I Squared
EUROPE: German national railway Deutsche Bahn has signed an agreement to sell the whole of Arriva Group to infrastructure investment manager I Squared Capital. The transaction announced on October 19 is expected to complete in 2024, subject to customary closing conditions including the approval of the ...
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Rail Business UKVoyager transfer anticipated as CrossCountry gets National Rail Contract
UK: The Department for Transport has directly awarded Arriva UK Trains a National Rail Contract to continue to operate CrossCountry long-distance passenger services. The contract announced on September 19 succeeds a unique Operating Cost Franchise Agreement which DfT entered into in October 2020 during the pandemic. ...
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Rail Business UKAsking passengers what they want from train interiors
UK: A report into what passengers want from train interiors has been produced to help inform the proposed refurbishment of Turbostar diesel multiple-units. Built by Bombardier Transportation from the late 1990s, the units are widely deployed by various train operators on regional services across the British ...
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Rail Business UKTrain driver sentenced for Bromsgrove collision
UK: A train driver who was distracted by a using mobile phone leading to a collision between a DB Cargo locomotive and a passenger train has been sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months. He must also undertake 120 h of unpaid work and ...
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Rail Business UKCrossCountry direct award planned
UK: The Department for Transport has published a prior information notice which gives it the ability to directly award a contract for the operation of CrossCountry passenger services. The services have been operated by Arriva subsidiary XC Trains Ltd since 2007. The franchise was originally due ...
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Rail Business UKCrossCountry deploys ITAL Revenue Protection platform
UK: CrossCountry has rolled out ITAL’s Revenue Protection platform, following trials with a prototype and testing by selected ticket inspectors. A digital daily duty monitor captures activities throughout a inspector’s shift and automatically produces a detailed report, removing the need for manual data entry and analysis. ...
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Rail Business UKNew CrossCountry contract includes capacity, accessibility and environmental improvements
UK: The Department for Transport has directly awarded incumbent Arriva a new contract to operate CrossCountry services for a further three years. CrossCountry Managing Director Tom Joyner tells Rail Business UK about the operator’s plans, saying ’the good thing is the longevity, which CrossCountry really needs as it gives us a real chance to do some serious planning for the future.’