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 has rejected Hull Trains’ plans to launch a service to Sheffield.
Approved services
The additional approved services are:
Grand Central: two additional Wakefield Kirkgate to Bradford Interchange services on weekdays and Saturdays; one additional Bradford Interchange to Wakefield Kirkgate service on weekdays and Saturdays; and one additional Bradford Interchange to Wakefield Kirkgate service in each direction on Sundays, and some additional Seaham calls on existing services.
Hull Trains: one additional northbound service on weekdays and Saturdays between London King’s Cross and Hull.
Lumo (Newcastle): one additional return service between London King’s Cross and Newcastle on weekdays and one additional service in opposing directions on a Saturday and Sunday.
Lumo (Glasgow extensions): the extension of existing London King’s Cross – Edinburgh services so that Lumo can provide two northbound services and one southbound service between London King’s Cross and Glasgow on weekdays and one in each direction on Sundays.
ORR rejected other proposed services on the basis of insufficient capacity and potential performance impacts, or becuase of the impact on the Secretary of State’s funds.
The rail regulator also rejected an application from Hull Trains for new services between London King’s Cross and Sheffield.
Grand Central’s rights services are on a contingent basis due to the potential for the operator needing to adjust its depot strategy, and consequently empty coaching stock moves, from 2028. The additional Seaham calls may conflict with future firm rights already granted to Tyne & Wear Metro operator Nexus for an additional train per hour to/from Sunderland, and on this basis Network Rail requested the rights are approved on a time-limited and contingent basis, with no presumption of continuity beyond December 2026.
Approvals process
ORR said it had put weight on its duties to promote the use of the rail network, give certainty to operators, promote competition for the benefit of passengers and have regard to the funds available to the Secretary of State.
‘Approving these additional open access services will increase connectivity’, said ORR’s Director of Strategy, Policy & Reform Stephanie Tobyn on July 29.
‘Importantly, we have ensured the approval of these services can be accommodated alongside the major service uplifts by other operators, which have been planned into the December 2025 timetable, so together passengers and freight customers can benefit from more direct connections and greater choice from December.’
Industry responses
FirstGroup CEO Graham Sutherland said ‘open access rail operators bring significant private investment to both the rail sector and UK manufacturing, connect under-served communities and deliver substantial economic and environmental benefits. We are pleased to have been awarded the extensions to our successful open access rail operations. This is an important step in our efforts to materially grow our open access business and will allow us to build on the substantial benefits we are making to the communities we serve, and to attract even more passengers to rail.’
FirstGroup said the additional services would add another 118 million seat-miles to the group’s existing open access capacity of 967 million. Combined with the separate Stirling and Carmarthen services expected to launch in mid-2026 and December 2027, it will more than double its existing open access capacity.
FirstGroup is ‘disappointed’ about the rejection of its Sheffield plan, which it said would have provided the city with its first regular service from London King’s Cross since 1968 and provided an estimated 350 000 people in the Worksop and Woodhouse catchment areas with direct rail access to London. It will ‘continue to explore further potential opportunities for the route’.
Arriva’s Grand Central said ‘we are pleased the regulator has approved our application to introduce services to Seaham, the town’s first direct connection to London. However, we are disappointed our application to offer additional stopping services between London, York, Bradford and Peterborough has not been granted.’
The operator said it had provided ‘detailed evidence’ that ‘demonstrates the East Coast Main Line can accommodate these services’, and continues to believe ‘our proposals were both viable and in the public interest, which was reflected in the significant support our application received from local stakeholders, who welcomed our proposals for additional services to under-served communities.’
It is ‘carefully reviewing all the decisions made’, and said ‘while we acknowledge the challenges posed by the timing and complexity of the application process, we are concerned about potential inconsistencies, including that some of Network Rail’s performance modelling, which contributed to the decision, created constraints that limited the full consideration of our proposals.’
It is undertaking further analysis to understand whether it can viably take forward the contingent approvals for the Wakefield Kirkgate to Bradford Interchange services.
