UK: Open access start-up co-operative Go-op has signed a track access contract with Network Rail, and is now seeking investors to finance the launch of regional passenger services between Swindon, Taunton and Weston-Super-Mare in December 2026.
Go-op has confirmed it is in discussions to lease four-car Class 769 electro-diesel units. These would run at up to 145 km/h and offer ‘much more space both for passengers, bicycles and freight’ than the 120 km/h Class 153 single car or Class 150 two-car DMUs it previously considered. On June 13 director Alex Lawrie told Rail Business UK that Go-op hopes to finalise a leasing agreement by the end of summer.
In November 2024 regulator the Office of Rail & Road agreed to Go-op’s application for the track access contract, but set conditions reflecting its novel co-operative structure. Lawrie said Go-op must show by May 2026 that it has the necessary finance to start operations, and that rolling stock has been secured. ORR has said that if it does not meet the conditions and subsequently launch by December 2026, the access rights running to December 2030 will lapse.
So far Go-op has been funded by numerous small investments from its members. It raised around £600 000 for development, but not the more substantial sums needed to launch. Crowdfunding proved unsuccessful, with a lower level of support than other community share issues. Go-op said this could be because the project does not rely on capital assets, the relationship of open access operators to the future Great British Railways is ‘complex and still a little unclear’ and investors have a reduced appetite for risk.
As a result it is now looking to partner with a small number of established investors to raise the £2·5m needed to start services. Lawrie told Rail Business UK that Go-op had learned the launch will need ‘a small number of specialist investors, it is not something ordinary folk can manage’.
