All open access articles
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News‘Price dumping’ row mars Ouigo’s latest expansion
SPAIN: SNCF’s low-cost subsidiary Ouigo has further expanded its operations in Spain, launching Madrid – Valladolid services on April 19, consisting of two return trips per day. Single fares start at €9, and initially 14 000 tickets per week have been made available. The operator could ...
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NewsTrenitalia seeks more business in France
EUROPE: Italian national operator Trenitalia is seeking to expand its presence in the French market by growing both its domestic high speed services and by providing more international links.
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NewsRailcoop on brink of liquidation as financing gap stymies restructuring hope
FRANCE: Open access co-operative Railcoop is expected to be formally liquidated on April 29, the company President Nicolas Debaisieux has confirmed. The collapse of the co-operative comes after it was placed into judicial administration on October 16 for a period of up to six months. With ...
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NewsČD and RegioJet competition dispute settled
CZECH REPUBLIC: National operator ČD and Open access company RegioJet have agreed to end all legal proceedings relating to a dispute about competition on the Praha – Ostrava line Under the so-called Falcon Case, RegioJet had sought damages of up to KC717m, alleging that ČD had ...
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NewsRegioJet to launch night train to Ukraine
EUROPE: RegioJet has opened ticket sales for a night train service between Praha and the rail hub at Chop in western Ukraine’s Zakarpattia Oblast. The operator says this will be the first 100% commercially operated service between the European Union and Ukraine. The daily service is ...
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Rail Business UKAlstom and SLC plan to enter the open access passenger market
UK: Alstom and SLC Rail have spoken exclusively to Rail Business UK about their plans to launch an open access train service between London Euston and Wrexham which would make use of the latest technology, seek to exploit new business opportunities and benefit from changes in the passenger market.
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Rail Business UKFirstGroup’s open access performing ahead of expectations
UK: Trading in FirstGroup’s First Rail division has been slightly ahead of expectations due to strong performance at the open access businesses, the company said in a pre-close trading update. The announcement on March 12 covers the period since the half year results were published on ...
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NewsMSC’s purchase of Italo stake approved
ITALY: The European Commission has approved Mediterranean Shipping Co’s planned acquisition of a 50% stake in open access high speed train operator Italo-NTV from Global Infrastructure Partners. The transaction announced in October was examined under the normal merger control procedure, with the Commission concluding that there ...
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Rail Business UKLondon – Stirling open access train service approved
UK: The Office of Rail & Road has given the go-ahead for Grand Union Trains to launch an open access passenger service between London and Stirling. Access rights have been approved from June 2025 to June 2030. ORR said the services would use existing off-lease diesel ...
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NewsHigh speed rail start-up Kevin Speed signs access agreement
FRANCE: Aspiring high speed train operator Kevin Speed has signed a track access framework agreement with infrastructure manager SNCF Réseau, and hopes to launch its first services under the Ilisto brand by the end of 2028.
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Rail Business UKLumo plans to extend open access services to Glasgow
UK: Open access train operator Lumo is has announced plans to extend some of its London – Edinburgh services to Glasgow. The FirstGroup-owned company is working with Transport Scotland and infrastructure manager Network Rail to agree final route options and timings ahead of an application for ...
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NewsFinland’s VR to acquire Swedish open access operator
SWEDEN: Finnish national train operator VR Group has agreed to acquire MTR Nordic’s Swedish open access passenger business MTR Express. MTRX launched open access services between Stockholm and Göteborg in 2015. It now runs 18 services a day using six Stadler Flirt X74 EMUs and with ...
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In depthEurope: Overnight trains are back in vogue
With the launch of next-generation rolling stock on ÖBB’s international overnight trains and the revival of a Paris – Berlin service, the stage is set for a night train renaissance in Europe. Toma Bačić reports.
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Rail Business UKFirstGroup plans London – Sheffield open access train service
UK: FirstGroup has announced plans to launch an open access passenger train service between London and Sheffield. The first phase of an application was submitted to industry regulator the Office of Rail & Road on January 5. Consultation will follow, along with discussions with Network Rail ...
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Rail Business UKPlan to welcome open access back to Wrexham
UK: Plans have been drawn up to revive open access services between London, Shrewsbury and Wrexham under the WSMR brand, 13 years after a previous initiative ended. Tony Miles reports.
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NewsIryo reports strong first year as Spanish high speed traffic grows again
SPAIN: Iryo carried 5·2 million passengers at an average load factor of more than 65% in its first year of operation.
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NewsStart-up announces Amsterdam to London and Paris high speed train ambitions
Source: Nikolay/Pixabay EUROPE: A proposal to launch high speed train services from Amsterdam to London and from Groningen to Paris has been announced by Dutch start-up Heuro, while Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson is also reported to be looking at competing with Eurostar on cross-Channel routes. ...
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NewsInfrastructure manager established ahead of South African rail network opening
SOUTH AFRICA: National railway and logistics group Transnet has established an interim rail infrastructure manager as part of plans to open the network to third party train operators in 2024. Vertical separation forms part of the government’s National Rail Policy which aims to facilitate private sector ...
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Rail Business UKCardiff – Edinburgh open access train service proposal under development
UK: Grand Union has begun industry consultation over a proposal to operate five open access services a day between Cardiff and Edinburgh, and separately is looking at rolling stock options for its planned London – Carmarthen and London – Stirling services. Grand Union Managing Director Ian ...
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NewsNew entrant seeks to launch passenger trains on seven routes in Italy
ITALY: Privately owned new entrant Longitude Holding has submitted requests to operate passenger services on one international and six domestic routes, rail regulator ART has confirmed to Railway Gazette International.