Train operating company

In Great Britain, passenger train services are operated by a number of companies, referred to as Train Operating Companies or TOCs, normally on the basis of regional franchises awarded by the Department for Transport Rail Group. Until 2005 this role was performed by the Strategic Rail Authority. The infrastructure of the railways in England, Scotland, and Wales – including tracks and signalling – is owned and operated not by the train companies but by Network Rail, which took over responsibility from Railtrack in 2002. Most passenger trains are owned by a small number of rolling stock companies and are leased to the individual TOCs. However, a handful of TOCs own and maintain some of their own rolling stock. Train operating companies also operate most of the network's stations, in their role as station facility owners (SFO), in which they lease the buildings and associated land from Network Rail.[2] Network Rail manages some major railway stations and several stations are operated by London Underground or other companies.

All passenger TOCs in Great Britain are privately owned. The majority of these hold franchises to operate rail services on specific parts of the railway and come under the auspices of the National Rail brand. In addition, companies are able to bid for "paths" (specific parts of the overall National Rail timetable) to operate their own services, which the franchises do not operate – these operators are classed as open-access operators and are not franchise holders. Currently in Great Britain, there are two open-access operators: Hull Trains runs services between London King's Cross and Hull, and Grand Central, which operates between London King's Cross and Sunderland and between London King's Cross and Bradford. In addition, there are operators that fall outside the purview of National Rail, which operate specific services which are recent additions to Britain's railways. The main examples are Eurostar, which operates to the continent via the Channel Tunnel, and Heathrow Express, which runs fast services from London to Heathrow Airport.

A number of metropolitan railways on the network are operated by the local franchise holder in conjunction with the passenger transport executive or other civic body responsible for administering public transport. One of these bodies, the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive, is responsible for one of three National Rail franchises not awarded by central government, namely the Merseyrail franchise, while certain National Rail services in North London came under the control of Transport for London in November 2007 as London Overground. Two other franchises, the Scottish national franchise, currently operated by Abellio ScotRail, and the Welsh domestic franchise, operated by Transport for Wales, are awarded by the devolved governments of the two constituent nations.

The Rail Delivery Group is the coordinating body of the train operating companies in Great Britain and owns the National Rail brand, which uses the former British Rail double-arrow logo and organises the common ticketing structure. Many of the train operating companies are in fact parts of larger companies which operate multiple franchises.

The railway network in Northern Ireland is managed differently from the rest of the UK. The sole company in Northern Ireland that operates trains is NI Railways, who are a subsidiary of Translink, the publicly owned transport corporation, which also runs the Metro buses in Belfast and Ulsterbus coaches around the country. NIR is not a TOC under the terms of the Railways Act 1993, which only applies to Great Britain. The cross-border service Enterprise (Belfast–Dublin) is jointly operated with Iarnród Éireann, the publicly owned national railway company of the Republic of Ireland.

The privatisation process began when BR's passenger sectors were divided into 25 shadow franchises[3] – these were publicly owned TOCs operating in the planned franchise areas prior to the actual franchises being put to tender:

The opening of the Channel Tunnel saw operations by Eurostar begin from London Waterloo to Paris and Brussels.

The franchising process was implemented, with various private companies taking over the shadow franchises. Three were awarded to management buyouts. The Great Western Holdings' management also were awarded the North West Regional Railways franchise. The remainder were divided between a handful of major transport operators:

In Northern Ireland, NIR stopped using its own branding on the Enterprise service between Belfast and Dublin when it purchased new rolling stock in conjunction with IÉ, instead launching Enterprise as a separate brand name.

Great Western Holdings, which operated Great Western Trains and North West Trains, became a 100% FirstGroup subsidiary when the 24.5% shareholder bought out its partners. The TOCs were renamed First Great Western and First North Western.

Go-Ahead Group bought the remaining 35% share in Thames Trains.

Virgin Group sold a 49% share in Virgin Rail Group that operated the CrossCountry and West Coast franchises to Stagecoach.

The completion of the rail link to Heathrow Airport led to Heathrow Express, an open-access operator outside the franchising system, beginning its services from London Paddington to Heathrow with operating rights until 2023.

The shareholdings of M40 Trains were restructured with John Laing owning 84% of the company with the remaining 16% held by former BR managers.

MTL which operated Merseyrail Electrics and Northern Spirit and Prism Rail that operated c2c (renamed from LTS Rail earlier in the year), Valley Lines Trains, Wales & West, and West Anglia Great Northern were purchased by Arriva and National Express respectively, resulting in the latter owning nine franchises. The two companies transferred to Arriva were renamed Arriva Trains Merseyside and Arriva Trains Northern.

The first open access operator using the National Rail brand, Hull Trains, commenced running its services between King's Cross and Hull.

In 2001, Connex, which had operated two franchises in the south-east of England, were replaced as the operator of the Network SouthCentral franchise by Govia, who began operating it under the name South Central.[4]

Also in 2001, a new franchise, the Wales & Borders franchise was created by the amalgamation of Valley Lines and the majority of services in Wales and the Borders held by Wales & West. The new franchise was initially operated under the name Wales & Borders. The remainder of Wales & West's services in the west of England were renamed Wessex Trains.

John Laing bought out its partners in M40 Trains.

Connex, having already lost the South Central franchise in 2001, was removed as franchisee of the South Eastern franchise in 2003 on the grounds of poor financial management. It was replaced as the franchise holder by South Eastern Trains, a company wholly owned by the Strategic Rail Authority, which would operate the franchise until it could be tendered again. New franchise holders Arriva Trains Wales and Merseyrail began operating. FirstGroup purchased GB Railways which owned the Anglia Railways and Hull Trains businesses.

A policy where the majority of services (both long-distance and commuter) from each London terminal would all be operated by the same franchise was partially enacted. In April 2004, One commenced operating the Greater Anglia franchise that combined the Anglia Railways and First Great Eastern franchises with the West Anglia Great Northern services radiating out from Liverpool Street. The remainder continuing to be operated as WAGN.[5]

In the North of England, prior to 2004 there were two regional franchises, the North East Regional franchise and the North West Regional franchise. In 2004, these were altered into the TransPennine franchise, for intercity services, and the Northern franchise, for local services that were awarded to First TransPennine Express and Northern Rail respectively. Some North West services were transferred to the Arriva Trains Wales franchise.

In the same year, Thames Trains was superseded by First Great Western Link and ScotRail (National Express) by First ScotRail.

A new operator, Heathrow Connect, jointly run by BAA and First Great Western, began operating stopping services between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport complementing the Heathrow Express.

Three new integrated franchises began operating in April 2006:

• First Capital Connect, began operating the Thameslink/Great Northern franchise, on the cross-London Thameslink route and suburban services from London King's Cross and London Moorgate.
• First Great Western began operating the Greater Western franchise that combined express and local services from London Paddington to the West of England by amalgamating it with First Great Western Link and Wessex Trains.
• Southeastern commenced operating the Integrated Kent franchise taking over services from London Victoria, London Charing Cross, London Cannon Street and London Blackfriars to south-east London and Kent; responsibility for high speed domestic services operated on High Speed 1 from London St Pancras was included in the franchise.

Further integrations occurred in 2007. The first of these was the South Western franchise; this merged the original South West Trains franchise with the Island Line Trains franchise on the Isle of Wight and began operating in February 2007 under the name South West Trains, with Island Line retained as a separate brand.

In November 2007, three new integrated franchises began operating:

• CrossCountry, took over from Virgin CrossCountry and parts of Central Trains, and operates regional inter-city services that bypass the major London terminals.[6]
• East Midlands Trains replaced Midland Mainline and parts of Central Trains encompassing inter-city services from London St Pancras as well as local services in the East Midlands
• London Midland began operating the West Midlands franchise replaced Silverlink County and parts of Central Trains and operates stopping services between London Euston and Northampton, in addition to local services in the West Midlands

In addition to these three, a further new operator, London Overground Rail Operations, took control of the routes operated by Silverlink in London, which were combined with the extended East London line in 2011. Services are controlled directly by Transport for London, with running of the trains themselves contracted to a private company as an operating concession. This is different from an ordinary franchise, as the train operator is not given control of the strategic aspects of the operation, such as pricing, timetabling and rolling stock procurement.

In December 2007, National Express East Coast took over the running of the InterCity East Coast franchise from GNER.[7] Grand Central also began operating its services between London and Sunderland as an open access operator.

In January 2008, Laing Rail which owned M40 Trains and a 50% shareholding in London Overground Rail Operations was sold to Deutsche Bahn, becoming part of the DB Regio Group.

In February 2008, One was re-branded by National Express as National Express East Anglia to bring it into line with the East Coast franchise.

In April 2008, Wrexham & Shropshire began operating open access services between Wrexham and London Marylebone.

In June 2008, the Gatwick Express franchise was integrated with the South Central franchise operated by Southern.

The government announced that National Express East Coast would have their franchise to operate intercity services along the ECML terminated, with the franchise passing into the hands of public sector company Directly Operated Railways, which acted as the parent for East Coast.[8]

Grand Central open-access services from London to Bradford began on 23 May 2010.[9]

DB Regio's operations in the UK was integrated into those of Arriva following the acquisition of the latter by Deutsche Bahn in the previous year.

Owing to continuing losses, Wrexham & Shropshire ceased operating on 28 January 2011.[10]

Abellio Greater Anglia began operating the Greater Anglia franchise on 5 February 2012.[11]

In September 2012, FirstGroup was awarded the right to operate the West Coast franchise which provoked a backlash from incumbent Virgin Trains. As a result of the Department for Transport having provided incorrect information during the bid process, the offer was withdrawn in October 2012 and £40 million of bid costs refunded.[12]

In September 2014, Govia Thameslink Railway took over services formerly operated by First Capital Connect as part of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise and branded them as Thameslink and Great Northern.[13] Services operated by Southern, another Govia subsidiary, were merged into the new franchaise in the following year.

Hull Trains became a 100% subsidiary of FirstGroup when the 80% shareholder bought out its partners.

In March 2015, a Stagecoach and Virgin joint venture trading as Virgin Trains East Coast commenced operating the InterCity East Coast franchise.[14]

In April 2015, the ScotRail franchise was split with the Caledonian Sleeper services becoming a stand-alone franchise operated by Serco while the remaining services remained as the Abellio ScotRail franchise.[15][16]

In May 2015, a number of metro routes run by Abellio Greater Anglia from London Liverpool Street were transferred to TfL to run as a concession similar to both London Overground and Crossrail (under the name, TfL Rail). The routes transferred were those to Shenfield, Enfield Town, Chingford, Cheshunt, Romford and Upminster.[17]

In April 2016, FirstGroup trading as TransPennine Express commenced operating the TransPennine Express in its own right, previously having done so in a joint venture with Keolis.[18] On the same date, Arriva Rail North commenced operating the Northern franchise.

In November 2016, Arriva Rail London took over the London Overground concession from London Overground Rail Operations.[19]

In February 2017, National Express sold its subsidiary c2c to Trenitalia.

In March 2017, Abellio sold a 40% share in Abellio Greater Anglia to Mitsui.[20]

In August 2017, a FirstGroup/MTR joint venture trading as South Western Railway commenced operating the South Western franchise.[21]

In December 2017, an Abellio, East Japan Railway Company and Mitsui joint venture trading as West Midlands Trains commenced operating the West Midlands franchise.

In May 2018, the Government announced that Virgin Trains East Coast's contract would be terminated early due to financial difficulties.

In May 2018, TfL Rail took over the Heathrow Connect Services, which led to the introduction of Oyster and Contactless payment to Heathrow Airport for the first time on National Rail.[22]

In June 2018, the company was replaced by the government owned London North Eastern Railway.

In October 2018, Transport for Wales took over the Wales & Borders franchise from Arriva Trains Wales.

In August 2019 East Midlands Railway took over the East Midlands franchise from East Midlands Trains.[23]

In December 2019, Avanti West Coast began operating the new West Coast Partnership replacing Virgin Trains (InterCity West Coast).[24][25]

On 1 March 2020, operation of the Northern franchise transferred from Arriva Rail North to the UK government-owned Northern Trains.

Because the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom caused passenger numbers to reduce to near zero, the UK government took emergency action to support train operating companies by assuming their financial risks. The companies were not allowed to make timetable or staffing changes without government approval. The Office for National Statistics reclassified the companies as public non-financial corporations so borrowing and employees are counted in the public-sector. They were viewed as effectively temporarily renationalised.[26]

On 22 October 2020, the Welsh Government announced that the Wales & Borders franchise, operated by Keolis & Amey as Transport for Wales, would be transferred to a government-owned company, currently called Transport for Wales Rail Ltd, in February 2021.[27]

In February 2021, it is expected for the Wales & Borders franchise to transfer to a Welsh government-owned operator of last resort.[27]

• Avanti West Coast
• Abellio ScotRail
• c2c
• Caledonian Sleeper
• Chiltern Railways
• CrossCountry
• East Midlands Railway
• Govia Thameslink Railway trading as Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern and Thameslink
• Greater Anglia including Stansted Express
• Great Western Railway
• Southeastern
• South Western Railway (including Island Line)
• TransPennine Express
• Transport for Wales, to be nationalised on 7 February 2021[28]
• West Midlands Trains trading as West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway

Operators paid to run trains, does not collect the fares:

• Arriva Rail London (London Overground)
• TfL Rail (Elizabeth Line)
• Merseyrail

Government-owned operators of last resort which replaced failed private franchises:

• London North Eastern Railway
• Northern Trains

• Eurostar
• Grand Central
• Heathrow Express
• Hull Trains