Grand Union applies to run non-London trains

Open access operator plans Edinburgh-Cardiff service

 
GUT’s Cardiff to Edinburgh services could use Class 222s

 
Grand Union Trains is seeking access rights to run the first open access passenger services which would exclude London. It says its proposed services between Cardiff and Edinburgh via Birmingham would provide a much-needed uplift in capacity and cheaper fares.

All current open access services operate to and from London, as did the short-lived Wrexham to Marylebone operation. GUT aims to introduce London to Stirling and London to Carmarthen services in the next two years, and is now developing plans for five Cardiff to Edinburgh trains per day in each direction from late 2025.

A co-operative company called Go-op proposed services in Wiltshire and Somerset more than a decade ago but they never came to fruition. It reiterated its plans last year.

The latest proposals from GUT and Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands Railway come as ministers indicate a more supportive government stance on open access than in the past. Rail minister Huw Merriman, a long-time advocate of open access, attended an open access summit last month.

We will support more open access services where it benefits passengers and taxpayers. We’ve seen this work well with Hull Trains and Grand Central as well as with Lumo

In his George Bradshaw address in February, transport secretary Mark Harper said: “We will support more open access services where it benefits passengers and taxpayers. We’ve seen this work well with Hull Trains and Grand Central as well as with Lumo.” These services offered passengers greater choice and more direct links, he said. “Open access operators will play an important role in the industry’s future, especially as we grow new markets and make best use of spare capacity on the network.”

However, DfT-sponsored train operators have twice pre-empted GUT proposals. In September, the DfT announced that CrossCountry would launch a daily Cardiff to Edinburgh service as part of the operator’s new direct award. This will be resourced primarily by combining existing Cardiff to Birmingham and Birmingham to Edinburgh trains.

 

 
Regarding this innovation, GUT managing director Ian Yeowart told Passenger Transport: “Despite the fact that it has been public since before us, we shared the information [about GUT’s Cardiff-Edinburgh proposal] with the DfT in May. It’s no coincidence that CrossCountry have looked to do something. The fact they’ve gone out before us is with a view to it looking as though we’re pinching their ideas.”

However, the DfT said CrossCountry had presented its idea for a Cardiff to Edinburgh return service to the Department over a year ago, well before any open access application for this corridor was known.

GUT’s planned Carmarthen to London open access services were pre-empted in May when Great Western Railway extended more of its Swansea to London services to start at Carmarthen. Before GUT was granted access rights for Carmarthen to London, GWR had argued that the proposed services would involve “mega-abstraction with little if any generation”, on the grounds that there was little new revenue to be gained west of Swansea.

I despair when I see a four-car train going through York packed, going to Plymouth or Penzance,

Yeowart said CrossCountry’s new service would not deter GUT because CrossCountry was providing insufficient capacity on its core sections of route. “I despair when I see a four-car train going through York packed, going to Plymouth or Penzance,” he said.

“We’ve been working on Cardiff to Edinburgh for a long time. We discussed it with the DfT. To be fair to them, they think it’s desperately needed.”

GUT would initially use Class 222/223 diesel units. Its application says GUT would provide around one million additional seats annually along this route.

We will bring in competition to the eye-watering charges on the route, which is why a lot of people go via London to South Wales

Yeowart said: “We will bring in competition to the eye-watering charges on the route, which is why a lot of people go via London to South Wales [from the North East and Edinburgh].”

GUT’s application says that “ticket prices between various ECML locations and South Wales are particularly expensive with walk on anytime single fares between York and Cardiff for example at £161.80 and £359.40 1st class. Between Edinburgh and Cardiff, the walk on single fare is £233.20. A 1st class walk on single is £429.00. All these services do of course require a change of train at present.”

Passenger Transport asked the DfT whether it was behaving hypocritically by publicly supporting open access while allowing two of its sponsored train operators to pre-empt planned open access services.

A DfT spokesperson responded: “This claim is simply untrue – all applications are considered in a fair and open process, based on providing passengers better value for money and more efficient services.”

The DfT also said that the government had not objected to GUT’s proposals to operate Carmarthen services. Its response to the ORR’s consultation in 2021 concluded: “In summary, the Department considers the application is primarily abstractive in nature, impacting on taxpayers funding of the railway at a time when rail revenue nationally is extremely constrained. It would have a substantial and overall negative effect for passengers on (an already crowded in normal circumstances) GWML network in relation to capacity and performance, on an area of the network which is already well serviced by passenger services, which support the connectivity of our Union. We consider that these impacts must be examined in detail as the application is considered.”

 
This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.

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