New Sheffield to London service part of rail plan

MILLIONS of people across Britain will have access to new train services under rail industry plans.

Open access services on seven routes are being developed, including FirstGroup’s plans to run services between London King’s Cross and Sheffield.

York-based prospective open access company Grand Union Trains plans to launch services between London Euston and Stirling in central Scotland from next June.

The Government is planning measures to encourage further proposals, despite concerns that open access services create additional strain on the network and take too much revenue away from conventional operators.

The vast majority of trains are run by operators either owned or paid management fees by the UK, Scottish or Welsh governments.

In contrast, open access operators – like Hull Trains which runs services between Hull and London

King’s Cross – set their own fares, take on all revenue risk and receive no taxpayer-funded subsidies.

Rail minister Huw Merriman described open access as “such a positive”, as it didn’t require direct taxpayer subsidy. They’d also managed to avoid industrial action “perhaps because it’s a fresher way of working with the workforce rather than on an old rule book basis”, he said.

Britain’s railways have been repeatedly hit by industrial action; a dispute involving members of train drivers’ union Aslef is ongoing.

New open access operators competing on the same routes as incumbents typically offer fare reductions of 20-60 per cent in the long-term, a report by Rail Partners suggested.

But critics say this is because open access operators don’t have to pay the same overheads and suggest that fares could go up overall if the new operators make it difficult for existing ones to run services.