UK: FirstGroup has secured the rolling stock it needs to launch open access passenger services between London Euston and Stirling in mid-2026.
On June 2 the company announced an agreement to lease five Bombardier Transportation Class 222 inter-city diesel multiple-units from Eversholt Rail for the duration of its track access agreement, which runs until June 2030. The DMUs are currently used by East Midlands Railway, which is to replace them with new Hitachi Class 810 Aurora trainsets. The trains will need to be reformed from their existing five- and seven-car sets before being deployed.
In 2024 Grand Union WCML secured rights to launch London – Stirling trains which would be the first open access service on the West Coast Main Line. The company was subsequently acquired by FirstGroup, which will launch the services under the Lumo brand it uses for its existing London King’s Cross – Edinburgh route.
There will be four return services a day (three on Sundays) between Stirling and London, plus a daily return service between Preston and London seven days a week. The trains will serve Stirling, Larbert, Greenfaulds (serving Cumbernauld), Whifflet (serving Coatbridge), Motherwell, Lockerbie, Carlisle, Preston, Crewe, Nuneaton, Milton Keynes and London Euston. This will provided the only direct serves to London from Whifflet, Greenfaulds and Larbert.
Following a period of mobilisation, the FirstGroup expects to achieve annual revenues of around £50m and ‘a low double digit operating profit margin’. It will evaluate opportunities to extend the track access agreement and make use of options to order new electric or bi-mode trains under its existing framework agreement with leasing company Angel Trains and manufacturer Hitachi Rail UK.
‘The mobilisation of our new service between London and Stirling is another important step towards rolling out Lumo as a nationwide operator and growing our open access capacity, a key priority for the group’, said FirstGroup CEO Graham Sutherland. ‘Our investment and capabilities in open access rail have delivered reliable, value for money services, grown rail demand and helped to spur economic growth and connect communities. We look forward to doing the same on our new services.’
Open access passenger services will be able to operate under the government’s rail nationalisation and reform plans, but Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander has expressed concern about revenue abstraction and network capacity.
Announcing its lease agreement, FirstGroup noted that open access operators are ‘set up with solely private investment and take full commercial risk and opportunity’, and the Stirling service would be ‘making use of available paths on the network’.
