The lobbying group Rail Partners has made a new bid to get the private sector more involved in operating passenger railways.
The group has already campaigned for a continuation of privately-owned operators, and for them to have greater commercial freedom than they have under current National Rail Contracts. Although the Government appears to be sympathetic, the Labour Party has said it would move towards a ‘publicly-owned railway’ in England if it gains power at the next General Election.
The Scottish and Welsh operators have already been renationalised by the devolved governments, while three previously-franchised English operators, Southeastern, Northern and TransPennine Express, have also been returned to state control.
LNER was set up as a nationalised operator from the start in 2018 following the failure of the Virgin Trains East Coast franchise, which was mostly owned by Stagecoach.
Rail Partners is now calling for more open access operators to be permitted, such as Grand Central, Hull Trains and Lumo. The Office of Rail and Road has already approved an application by Grand Union Trains to operate five trains a day between London, Cardiff and Carmarthen from December 2024, although Grand Union says the opening date is yet to be confirmed because it is in talks with rolling stock suppliers. Grand Central has also just been granted permission to call at Peterborough for the first time.
Another operator, Wrexham & Shropshire, had to close in early 2011 after financial problems.
Rail industry leaders met in London for Rail Partners’ Open Access Summit, to discuss ‘unlocking the potential of open access rail operations’ within Britain. The discussion focused on how to encourage new open access services and how to remove existing barriers to prospective entrants.
Yesterday’s event was attended by rail minister Huw Merriman, who Rail Partners described as ‘a longstanding advocate of open access operations’.
Also at the meeting were civil servants from the Department for Transport and the Treasury. They were joined by representatives of Network Rail, the ORR, existing open access operators, rolling stock leasing companies, third-party ticket retailers and many of the owning groups, including Arriva Group, FirstGroup, Mitsui, MTR, Trenitalia and Transport UK (formerly Abellio).
Rail Partners chief executive Andy Bagnall said: ‘Alongside the important role played by contracted operators, open access services have the potential to deliver really tangible benefits for passengers and communities across the UK.
‘Currently, the system is not set up to fully unlock that potential, or attract new entrants into the market. That’s why bringing together so many senior industry colleagues to work together, find the solutions, and remove those barriers is so important, and we’re optimistic that we will see measures to support open access in the near future.’
Arriva UK Trains managing director David Brown added: ‘Open-access operators, like Arriva’s Grand Central, are of vital importance to our railway, driving competition and innovation at the same time as connecting areas of the country that are underserved by the regular timetable.
‘Today’s summit was a welcome first-step in ensuring the role of open-access operators is not only safeguarded but encouraged to grow.’