Rail franchises operators & contracts

TOC bosses appear before MPs, blame chaos on infrastructure failures

19.06.18: Bosses from Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Northern Rail cited failures in infrastructure being completed in time and last-minute changes to timetables as reasons for a chaotic bedding in of new timetables that led to delays and cancell...

Labour to launch no confidence challenge against Grayling

19.06.18: The transport secretary is under fire in parliament today as Labour looks to draft a motion of no confidence in the Commons. The party is using one of its opposition days — one of the 20 days in a parliamentary year where the opposing...

GTR boss to resign, citing 'huge frustration' from passengers

15.06.18: The chief executive of struggling operator Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) will resign. Charles Horton, the boss of GTR which runs Thameslink, Great Northern, and Southern railways, will remain in the position for a short time to oversee the...

Renewed West Midlands partnership to work towards 100 targets, from ticketing to stations

13.06.18: The Swift smart card is to be rolled out across the West Midlands through the renewal of a partnership first set up six years ago. Chiltern Railways, West Midlands Rail (WMR) and Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) have renewed their partnership...

GTR’s PRM policy remains unchanged, it tells ORR

11.06.18: Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has denied making changes to the way in which it assists passengers with reduced mobility (PRM). Following the publication of its document, ‘Pit stop: Key principles for managing station dwell times,’...

DfT publishes ITT for East Midlands franchise bidders

08.06.18: Bidders for the next East Midlands franchise are being urged to demonstrate how they will deliver on an “ambitious” upgrade programme as the DfT published the invitation to tender (ITT). The current franchise has been operated b...

Consultation launched for next CrossCountry franchise

08.06.18: The DfT has kicked off a public consultation to seek views on various aspects of the next CrossCountry franchise to inform what the department will ask from potential operators when the franchise is renewed next year. T...

Greater Anglia speeds up delay repay compensation

06.06.18: Greater Anglia has updated its compensation process to make it faster to make a claim after listening to customer feedback. Rail passengers in the region told the train operating company that its online Delay Repay claim form, which is used to...

Network Rail chair says ‘maybe he should’ resign over rail crisis

05.06.18: The chair of Network Rail has said maybe he should resign over mounting pressure from MPs and the public after chaos caused by unprecedented delays and cancellations on the nation’s railways. Sir Peter Hendy has said his company was &...

KeolisAmey unveils £1.9bn Wales and Borders upgrade plans

04.06.18: KeolisAmey has unveiled its plans for a £1.9bn investment in the Wales and Borders rail network and the South Wales Metro in partnership with Transport for Wales (TfW). The announcement comes as the Welsh Government confirmed that KeolisA...

FirstGroup boss resigns after £327m loss

31.05.18: FirstGroup boss, Tim O’Toole, has stepped down with immediate effect, following the announcement of the train operator’s financial loss. In the year ending March 2018, the company reported a full-year loss of £327m – a v...

Grayling must ‘immediately intervene’ on Northern performance

31.05.18: The government must escalate its response to the Northern rail “fiasco”, according to the mayor of Greater Manchester. Andy Burnham is calling on the transport secretary today to intervene after new figures showed that the franchise...

KeolisAmey JV awarded Wales and Borders franchise deal

23.05.18: The Welsh Government is to award the contract to operate the new Wales and Borders franchise and the South Wales Metro to KeolisAmey, it has announced. Following the completion of a 10-day standstill period, the contract will run from 4 June th...

Every single service affected by major GTR timetable shakeup

18.05.18: Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) will change the times of every single service as part of its Rail Plan 20/20 programme. In order to run an additional 400 trains every day, the TOC will transform its entire timetable, starting from this Sunday, 2...

TfN seeking Northern improvement plan after Burnham slams TOC performance

18.05.18: The chair of Transport for the North (TfN), John Cridland, has revealed that the organisation will seek to meet with Northern Rail boss David Brown to figure out an improvement plan to help mitigate the current performance problems that blight the...