Regulator approves additional East Coast Main Line open access services but Hull Trains to Sheffield is rejected
UK: The Office of Rail & Road has approved the launch of additional and extended services by open access operators Lumo, Grand Central and Hull Trains, but it has rejected Hull Trains’ plans to launch a service to Sheffield.
First Rail operators to use SilverRail ticketing platform
UK: Ticket technology supplier SilverRail is to provide its e-commerce platform to three of First Rail’s passenger train operators.
Hull Trains eyes Worksop and Sheffield launch
UK: Hull Trains’ proposed London King’s Cross – Worksop – Sheffield open access service would ‘give people more choice’, offer more flexibility in train fares and make the area better known, according to Labour Member of Parliament for Bassetlaw Jo White.
FirstGroup makes its case for open access alongside Great British Railways
UK: FirstGroup has set out its case for retaining a ‘thriving’ open access sector as part of the restructured railway, arguing that privately-funded services without government contracts can drive growth across all operators including those to be controlled by Great British Railways.
‘We grow, they grow’: FirstGroup sets out open access rail aims
Following FirstGroup’s announcement that it is to order more trains to support its growth drive in the open access market, First Rail Managing Director Steve Montgomery explains the next steps to Rail Business UK.
Interview: ‘Open access works in Europe and it works here’
UK: Martijn Gilbert, head of FirstGroup’s Lumo and Hull Trains businesses, says the open access model is a proven success, and makes the case for further expansion whatever rail reforms may lie ahead.
Haigh confirms open access operators’ role in Labour’s rail plans
UK: ‘Open access operators like these will play a role in the future of our railways under Labour’, Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said when she officially opened Hull Trains’ Learning & Development Academy.