91-561: First Capital Connect ( FCC ) was a British train operating company , owned by FirstGroup , that operated the Thameslink and Great Northern sectors from April 2006 to September 2014 which later became the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) franchise. First Capital Connect was a major provider of commuter and regional services in London and the south east of England. It operated passenger rail services from Luton and Bedford via
182-687: 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
273-930: A 24.5% shareholding in Great Western Holdings that won the Great Western and North Western franchises, and a 100% shareholding in First Great Eastern that ran the Great Eastern franchise from January 1997. In March 1998, FirstGroup purchased the 75.5% shares in Great Western Holdings that it did not already own and rebranded the franchises First Great Western and First North Western . In September 1998, FirstGroup made its first overseas foray when New World First Bus commenced operating bus services in Hong Kong formerly operated by China Motor Bus ;
364-554: 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
455-732: A controlling stake in Greyhound Lines , the largest bus operator in North America. The Greyhound name and the names of Canadian subsidiaries of Greyhound Canada were retained, and all other Laidlaw-owned services in the United States and Canada were rebranded under the First or Greyhound names, except for Voyageur Colonial and Grey Goose in Canada. In January 2009, DSBFirst , FirstGroup's joint venture with Danish State Railways commenced operating
546-512: A franchise commitment with the Department for Transport. Previously passengers with an off-peak travelcard could travel on any train after the morning peak had finished at 09:30 however, passengers would no longer be able to use an off-peak ticket for trains leaving London stations between 16:30 and 19:00. Passengers using these peak-hour trains would pay an additional charge to travel. The evening peak restriction does not affect southbound travel. This
637-559: A management buyout led by its then general manager, Moir Lockhead . As GRT Bus Group , it expanded through acquisition purchasing six former nationalised bus companies in England and Scotland. During April 1995, FirstBus was formed through the merger of the Badgerline and GRT Bus Groups, with fleets in England, Wales and Scotland. The former King Street Barracks site in Aberdeen was selected as
728-501: A national network owner. Franchises were initially let by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF). This was in turn replaced by the Strategic Rail Authority , which has since been abolished. For England, franchising is now the responsibility of the Department for Transport in the majority of cases. In Scotland, it is the responsibility of Transport Scotland . In Wales, since 2017,
819-667: A national timetable and online journey planner facility, and the operation of the various Railcard discount schemes. Eurostar is also a member of the RDG, though it is not itself a TOC. For historical and geographical reasons the railway network of the United Kingdom is split into two independent systems: one in Great Britain (including the Isle of Wight ), and one in Northern Ireland, which
910-623: A nationwide network of express coaches to the Olympic Park and the Weymouth and Portland sailing venue . These services required around 900 vehicles in total, although some were sub-contracted. During June 2013, most of the First London bus operations were sold to Go-Ahead London , Metroline and Tower Transit . In April 2015, FirstGroup was unsuccessful in bidding for the ScotRail franchise , which
1001-489: A number of failings in the way in which it handled this incident, including a need to improve communications with passengers. First Capital Connect inherited a fleet of Class 319 units from the former Thameslink operator. It also inherited a fleet of Class 313, 317 and 365 units from WAGN on the Great Northern routes. The rolling stock composition is specified by the franchise agreement. All Thameslink route rolling stock
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#17328523378461092-550: A petition on the Prime Minister's website to end First Capital Connect's franchise during 2009. Other people have asked for a full enquiry into the service, while Lord Adonis , the former Secretary of State for Transport , described the service offered by FCC on its Thameslink route as "shoddy" and "very substandard", and said that if improvements were not made the company could be stripped of its franchise. In its Autumn 2009 National Passenger Survey, Passenger Focus said FCC had
1183-421: A result of heavy snow in south-east England; although snow was not the only problem, and although significant snowfall ended on 6 January, FCC continued to run emergency timetables through to 11 January. Trains returned to the normal timetables from 18 January, but delays and cancellations continued as a result of signalling problems. It was revealed that First Capital Connect achieved 60% in its punctuality during
1274-422: A study and undertook consultation on options for increasing the capacity of services to Peterborough and Cambridge. The final recommendations involved lengthening four peak services from eight to 12 carriages from May 2009, and adding or removing a small number of stops to balance loads between trains. 1,779 more seats have been provided during the morning peak and 2,490 during the evening peak, significantly reducing
1365-626: A wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London , operates trains nearly all on its own network serving mostly its own stations: It is not a Train Operating Company by the definition here.) The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) (formerly the Association of Train Operating Companies) provides a commonality for the TOCs and provides some centralised co-ordination. Its activities include the provision of
1456-542: Is Britain's largest bus operator, running more than 20% of all local bus services. A fleet of nearly 9,000 buses carries some 2.9 million passengers a day in more than 40 major towns and cities. FirstGroup also runs passenger rail services in the UK. Passenger rail franchises consist of Avanti West Coast , Great Western Railway and South Western Railway . It also runs two non-franchised open access passenger operations – Hull Trains and Lumo . FirstGroup operates tram services on
1547-634: Is closely linked to the railway system of the Republic of Ireland. 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 DfT 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 –
1638-472: 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 (ROSCO) 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
1729-633: The Eurotunnel Group in exchange for £31 million, ending the group's involvement in rail freight transport. In September 2010, former London Underground managing director Tim O'Toole , already a board member since May 2009 and chief operating officer and Deputy Chief Executive since June 2010, was announced as the successor to retiring group chief executive officer Moir Lockhead with effect from 31 March 2011. During September 2011, FirstGroup's German bus operations were sold to Marwyn European Transport. In December 2011, DSBFirst ceased operating
1820-517: The First Capital Connect franchise and a renewed First Great Western franchise that had been expanded to include the Thames Trains and Wessex Trains franchises. In February 2007, FirstGroup agreed to buy the US-based firm Laidlaw , an operator of inter-city coaches and yellow school buses across North America, in exchange for £1.9 billion (US$ 3.7 billion). This also gave it
1911-742: The First TransPennine Express rail franchise, FirstGroup having a 55% shareholding in the venture. During April 2004, FirstGroup commenced operating the First Great Western Link franchise, it also commenced the First ScotRail franchise in October 2004. In December 2004, the remainder of First North Western passed to Northern Rail , some services having already been transferred to Arriva Trains Wales and FirstTranspennine Express. During April 2006, FirstGroup commenced operating
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#17328523378462002-512: The Go-Ahead Group and Rotala . In May 2020, FirstGroup announced it has effectively reversed its previous strategy, opting to retain its UK bus operations and instead sell its assets in North America. In April 2021, FirstGroup agreed terms to sell the First Student and First Transit businesses to EQT AB ; the sale completed later in 2021. During October 2021, FirstGroup announced
2093-689: The Greater Anglia franchise on 5 February 2012. In September 2012, FirstGroup was awarded the right to operate the West Coast franchise which provoked a backlash from incumbent Virgin Trains West Coast. 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. In September 2014, Govia Thameslink Railway took over services formerly operated by First Capital Connect as part of
2184-681: The InterCity East Coast franchise. FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen , Scotland. The company operates transport services in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland . It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index . The creation of what became FirstGroup is closely tied to
2275-617: The London Tramlink network carrying approximately 24 million passengers per year on behalf of Transport for London . FirstGroup owns and operates the Aircoach service in Dublin , linking Dublin Airport with the city centre, the south side of Dublin, Greystones and Bray as well as long-distance express services runs to Cork and Belfast . FirstGroup has always had a consistent brand and uses
2366-884: 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. Upon privatisation in 1994, the three passenger-operating sectors of British Rail ( InterCity , Network SouthEast and Regional Railways ) were divided, and their existing operations were let as 25 franchises: The privatisation process began when BR's passenger sectors were divided into 25 train operating units which were gradually incorporated as publicly owned subsidiaries of
2457-698: 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
2548-760: The Oresundtrain rail franchise from Helsingør and Nivå in Denmark along the Kystbanen line and over the Øresund Bridge to Malmö , Växjö , Kalmar , Karlskrona and Gothenburg in Sweden. FirstGroup had a 25% shareholding in the Danish business and 20% in the Swedish business. By March 2011, this shareholding had increased to 30%. During June 2009, FirstGroup made a takeover offer for fellow transport operator National Express , which
2639-635: The Secretary of State for Transport announced plans for a direct award franchise to run until 13 September 2014. On 18 February 2014 the Department for Transport announced it had agreed a new short-term franchise with First Capital Connect, running for six months to September 2014. On 23 May 2014 the new TSGN franchise was awarded to Govia with services operated by First Capital Connect transferring to Govia Thameslink Railway on 14 September 2014. The routes operated by First Capital Connect off-peak Monday to Friday were, with frequencies in trains per hour: Unlike
2730-528: The Somerset based services of the Bristol Omnibus Company that were rebranded in 1985 as Badgerline were purchased in a management buyout . As Badgerline Group, it expanded through acquisition purchasing other formerly nationalised bus companies in England and Wales. In January 1989, Grampian Regional Transport , the bus operator in Aberdeen owned by Grampian Regional Council , was privatised in
2821-516: The South Western franchise . In May 2020, FirstGroup announced it would retain its UK bus operations and sell off its activities in North America. During June 2022, FirstGroup rejected a £1.2bn takeover offer from US private equity company I Squared Capital . FirstGroup originated within the deregulation of bus services in the United Kingdom in 1986, whereby private companies purchased nationalised and municipal bus operators. During September 1986,
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2912-401: The Thameslink to Sutton , Wimbledon and Brighton via Central London . It also operated commuter, suburban and regional services out of London King's Cross and London Moorgate to Hertfordshire , Cambridgeshire and Norfolk . Major destinations served included Cambridge , King's Lynn and Peterborough . First Capital Connect ceased operations at 02:00 on 14 September 2014, when
3003-506: The Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern franchise and branded them as Thameslink and Great Northern. Services operated by Southern , another Govia subsidiary, were merged into the new franchise 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
3094-700: The West Anglia Great Northern franchise were amalgamated in preparation for the Thameslink Programme (formerly Thameslink 2000), designed to increase capacity on the Thameslink route, with trains from King's Lynn, Cambridge and Peterborough. On 24 July 2007 the government announced that it was fully committed to funding the Thameslink Programme, and the project is now largely complete. In the early part of 2007, First Capital Connect conducted
3185-589: The deregulation of bus services in the United Kingdom during the 1980s. During April 1995, two acquisitive private bus operators, Badgerline and GRT Bus Group , merged to create FirstBus. The new company initially operated a fleet of 5,600 buses to provide services to numerous regions across England, Wales and Scotland. Throughout the late 1990s, FirstBus continued its policy of growth by acquisition. To this end, it acquired several former council owned operations and companies formerly owned by English, Welsh and Scottish nationalised operators. During December 1997,
3276-751: The passenger transport executive or other civic body responsible for administering public transport. One of these bodies, the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (Merseytravel) 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 TfL in November 2007 as London Overground. Two other franchises,
3367-405: The privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993 . There are two types of TOC: most hold franchises let by the Department for Transport (DfT) through a tendering system, to operate services on certain routes for a specified duration, while a small number of open-access operators hold licences to provide supplementary services on chosen routes. These operators can run services for
3458-730: The privatisation of the PTE bus operations and the privatisation of London bus services . FirstBus acquired GM Buses North in Manchester and Strathclyde Buses in Glasgow in 1996, Mainline in South Yorkshire and CentreWest in London in 1997, and Capital Citybus in London in 1998. During December 1997, the company was renamed FirstGroup ; this change was due to the company's entry in February 1996 into Britain's recently privatised railways , having
3549-416: The 16:30 Brighton to Bedford service. Another train of the same type was sent to assist the failed train, and was eventually coupled to it at 20:20 but by this time passengers had used the emergency release handles to open the train doors in an attempt to improve ventilation (as the air-conditioning and lighting systems were no longer functioning by this point). The train began to move at 21:03 but this movement
3640-517: The American company Ryder Public Transport Services. During May 2000, it began operating the London Tramlink concession. During August 2003, FirstGroup purchased GB Railways , which owned Anglia Railways and GB Railfreight and held 80% of the shares in Hull Trains . In February 2007, FirstGroup agreed to buy the US-based bus operator Laidlaw , along with a controlling stake in Greyhound Lines ,
3731-427: The British Railways Board. They acted as shadow franchises prior to 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
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3822-422: 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 its franchise to operate intercity services along the ECML terminated, and that
3913-436: The FCC livery and refreshing the interiors. It had an £ 8 million programme of upgrades for several major stations. [REDACTED] Media related to First Capital Connect at Wikimedia Commons Train operating company In the railway system of Great Britain , a train operating company ( TOC ) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since
4004-423: The First brand for most of its operations. FirstBus began to apply a standard corporate typeface to its fleet names in the late 1990s, introducing the stylized f logo depicting a road. A corporate white, pink and blue livery nicknamed " Barbie " was introduced to new buses, while further bus company acquisitions continued. Inherited bus fleets were initially left in their original colours with First fleet names, with
4095-446: 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
4186-411: The Scottish national franchise, currently operated by 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
4277-437: The Swedish part of the operation after difficulties encountered by Danish State Railways over cross subsidies . In July 2012, First Travel Solutions provided bus and coach services for the London 2012 Olympic Games as First Games Transport. This involved the provision of venue shuttle and park and ride services, services connecting the peripheral park and ride sites on the M25 with the Olympic Park and Ebbsfleet , and
4368-420: The Thameslink route, there was only one control centre for FCC services on the Great Northern route, at King's Cross, within the power signal box. This gave a frequency of 10 trains between London Blackfriars and St Pancras which increased during peak hours. FCC had two control centres (or 'Service Delivery Centres', SDC) for the Thameslink route. North of Blackfriars was controlled from West Hampstead , within
4459-441: The United States. In August 2017, FirstGroup's joint venture with MTR Corporation commenced operating the South Western franchise , the company holding a 70% shareholding in South Western Railway . In May 2019, FirstGroup announced its intention to sell its UK bus operations and that its US activities were to receive greater attention in the future. However, the only sales completed were parts of First Greater Manchester to
4550-466: The buildings and associated land from Network Rail. Network Rail manages some major railway stations and several stations are operated by London Underground or other companies. Most 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
4641-404: 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
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#17328523378464732-558: The company held a 26% shareholding in the joint venture. During May 2000, FirstGroup sold its shares to joint venture partner New World Development . In September 1999, FirstGroup purchased Ryder Public Transport Services, a provider of school bus and contracted public bus transportation in the United States. In May 2000, FirstGroup began operating the London Tramlink concession under contract to Transport for London . During August 2003, FirstGroup purchased GB Railways , which owned Anglia Railways and GB Railfreight and held 80% of
4823-423: The company rebranded its First Somerset & Avon operations in Bridgwater and Taunton as The Buses of Somerset , using a two-tone green livery. Hull Trains carries a predominantly blue livery, including white, pink and purple. This was also used by First Great Western until 20 September 2015, when the franchise was rebranded as Great Western Railway, with a new logo and dark green livery paying homage to
4914-512: The company was renamed FirstGroup to reflect its entry into Britain's recently privatised railways . Around this time, it had a 24.5% shareholding in Great Western Holdings that was awarded the Great Western and North Western franchises, as well as a 100% shareholding in First Great Eastern . FirstGroup made its first overseas foray in September 1998 via a 26% shareholding in the joint venture New World First Bus that provided bus services in Hong Kong . In September 1999, FirstGroup purchased
5005-518: The duration of the licence validity. The franchised operators have changed considerably since privatisation: previous franchises have been divided, merged, re-let to new operators, or renamed. Some privately-operated franchises have been taken over by a government-owned operator of last resort , due either to failing expectations or to events on the rail system as a whole. The term is also sometimes used to describe companies operating passenger or freight rail services over tracks owned by another company or
5096-424: The first half of January 2010 on the Thameslink route. First Capital Connect has since offered improved discount and refund packages for customers affected by the disruption. On 23 December 2010 FCC introduced an emergency timetable on the Great Northern route, reducing the number of rush-hour trains by 75%. This was due to snow which had damaged some of the trains, making them unable to run. Angry commuters started
5187-436: The franchise was taken over by Govia Thameslink Railway , and became part of the larger Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise . On 8 April 2005, the Strategic Rail Authority announced that Danish State Railways / EWS , FirstGroup , John Laing / MTR , National Express and Stagecoach had been shortlisted for the Thameslink Great Northern franchise . On 13 December 2005, the Department for Transport awarded
5278-514: The franchise would pass into the hands of public-sector company, Directly Operated Railways , which acted as the parent for East Coast . Grand Central open-access services from London to Bradford began on 23 May 2010. DB Regio's operations in the UK were 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. Abellio Greater Anglia began operating
5369-401: 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
5460-569: The headquarters. At the time of the merger, FirstBus had 5,600 buses, 4,000 of which came from Badgerline. Badgerline's Trevor Smallwood became chairman of FirstBus, while GRT head Moir Lockhead became deputy chairman and chief executive. Throughout the late 1990s, FirstBus continued its policy of growth by acquisition. To this end, it acquired several former council owned operations and companies formerly owned by English, Welsh and Scottish nationalised operators. FirstBus went on to acquire larger urban metropolitan operators by taking advantage of
5551-481: The intention that the Barbie scheme would stand for a set service quality. Later older buses received a modified "Barbie 2" livery. As part of its corporate branding, First subsequently removed all local branding for its bus services, buses simply carried the 'First' brand, although each company still operated independently. In 2012, the group began to introduce a new purple, white and lilac livery to its bus fleets, which also reinstated local branding. In January 2014,
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#17328523378465642-498: The largest bus operator in North America. During June 2009, FirstGroup made an unsuccessful takeover bid for rival transport operator National Express . In June 2010, FirstGroup sold its rail freight business First GBRf to the Eurotunnel Group , exiting the rail freight sector as a result. During October 2016, First Transit commenced operating the A-train , its first rail operation in the United States. In August 2017, FirstGroup's joint venture with MTR Corporation commenced operating
5733-449: The lowest overall satisfaction rating of any UK train operator, at 75%. In early 2013, consumer group Which? carried out a survey which rated First Capital Connect as the worst train operator in the UK. First Capital Connect was criticised for running some of the country's most overcrowded trains; the 07.15 from Cambridge to London King's Cross frequently was reported to have had 76 people standing for every 100 seated. This situation
5824-431: 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 ,
5915-740: The new Thameslink rolling stock is introduced, to further enhance capacity on the Thameslink services. FCC also gained 13 Class 321s from London Midland : 321401-406 in May 2009, 321407-410 later in 2009, 321418-420 in 2010. These enhanced the capacity on Peterborough / Cambridge - King's Cross services. Three Class 313 units from London Overground moved to the Great Northern route for inner-suburban services, King's Cross/Moorgate - Welwyn Garden City/Hertford North/Letchworth Garden City, once all of London Overground's new Class 378 were delivered. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] FCC operated two depots: During its tenure, FCC overhauled all of its rolling stock painting their exteriors in
6006-422: The new franchise to FirstGroup, with the services operated by Thameslink and West Anglia Great Northern transferring to First Capital Connect on 1 April 2006. The term of the franchise was originally for nine years, finishing in 2015. This was dependent on performance targets being met at the end of the fourth year, which would trigger an automatic two-year extension, and an extension for up to three years after
6097-424: The number of rush-hour commuters unable to find a seat. In December 2011, the DfT announced that all services operated by First Capital Connect would be included within the new Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise. On 29 March 2012, the Department for Transport announced that Abellio , FirstGroup , Govia , MTR and Stagecoach had been shortlisted for the new franchise. The Invitation to Tender
6188-553: The offer had undervalued the company. While talks between the two companies continued for a further two months, I Squared ultimately called off its efforts in August 2022. In February 2023, FirstGroup announced that subject to regulatory approval, it would purchase both the bus services and bus dealer operations of Purfleet -based Ensignbus . In January 2024, FirstGroup announced that it had purchased York Pullman . In October 2024, FirstGroup announced that it had purchased both Lakeside Group and Anderson Travel. FirstGroup
6279-410: The original Great Western Railway . London Tramlink operations are painted in white, green and blue as per Transport for London requirements. In Scotland, First ScotRail operated with a blue livery with white saltire markings on the carriage ends, as mandated by the Scottish Government's transport agency Transport Scotland . Current operating businesses include: In September 2022 First Bus
6370-578: 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 three open-access operators: Hull Trains , which runs services between London King's Cross and Hull , Grand Central , which operates between King's Cross and Sunderland and between King's Cross and Bradford , and Lumo , which operates between King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley . In addition, there are operators that fall outside
6461-486: The power signal box ; south of Blackfriars from Three Bridges, which was also home to other southern TOC controls. The disruptions were triggered by FCC drivers declining to work overtime or during their allotted rest days, following their rejection of a proposed pay increase of 0% (rising to 3% in 2010). Without access to overtime and rest day work, FCC was unable to provide enough drivers to maintain its standard Thameslink service. Disruption continued into January 2010 as
6552-493: The public. An incident was reported by the BBC after a passenger collapsed and FCC's station staff would not help. In October 2010, passengers trapped on a failed train near Cambridge gave up waiting, forced the train doors open and walked up the line to the nearby Foxton station . On 26 May 2011 at 18:27, passengers were trapped on a failed Class 377 train between St Pancras International (Low Level) and Kentish Town stations, forming
6643-460: 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 continental Europe 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
6734-668: The responsibility for the specification and procurement of the Wales & Borders franchise belongs to Transport for Wales . In two parts of England, local government agencies are responsible: in Merseyside , the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive lets the Merseyrail franchise, while in London, Transport for London (TfL) oversees the new London Overground and Elizabeth line concessions. ( London Underground ,
6825-501: The routes operated by Silverlink in London, which were combined with the extended East London line in 2011. Services are controlled directly by TfL, 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
6916-608: The running of the InterCity East Coast franchise from GNER . 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
7007-468: The sale of Greyhound Lines to FlixMobility , completing its stated divestments to focus on its core UK public transport businesses. In October 2021, the open-access operator Lumo commenced operating services on the East Coast Main Line . In June 2022, FirstGroup's board unanimously rejected a £1.2bn takeover proposal from US private equity firm I Squared Capital ; a spokesperson stated that
7098-449: 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 . In the North of England, prior to 2004 there were two regional franchises,
7189-556: The shares in Hull Trains . Having not been shortlisted for the Greater Anglia franchise , this outcome gave FirstGroup another chance to bid. However, it too was unsuccessful and the franchise was awarded to the rival transport company National Express from April 2004, including the services operated by First Great Eastern. In November 2003, FirstGroup purchased a 90% shareholding in Irish coach operator Aircoach . In February 2004, FirstGroup's joint venture with Keolis commenced operating
7280-450: The sixth year at the discretion of the DfT. It was announced on 5 August 2011 that the franchise would end on 14 September 2013. "This will help to facilitate the continued project delivery of the Thameslink Programme, in particular the introduction of new rolling stock, which will be completed after the expiry date of the existing franchise." The Thameslink franchise and the Great Northern part of
7371-570: 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 . 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
7462-505: 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
7553-583: Was electrically powered dual-voltage four-car units using 25 kV AC overhead power north of Farringdon and 750 V DC third rail to the south. In addition to its EMU fleet, FCC owned the last mainline-registered Class 03 diesel shunter, 03179 Clive . An additional four Class 319s were transferred from Southern in March 2009 to expand capacity on the Thameslink route, giving FCC all 86 319s. The DfT ordered 23 new dual-voltage Class 377 units for Southern, which entered service in 2010 and were sublet to FCC until
7644-416: Was immediately stopped because passengers were egressing onto the track from the carriages within the tunnel. The passengers were escorted back on to the train, which was authorised to move forward again at 21:12. Three sets of doors towards the rear of the train were still fully open while it travelled approximately a mile to Kentish Town, where all passengers then left the train. First Capital Connect admitted
7735-597: Was introduced due to severe peak-time overcrowding. Students at some sixth-form colleges were hit by price increases of over £300 per annum when FCC replaced a discount scheme introduced by previous franchise holders WAGN and Thameslink, with its own 'Student Connect' scheme. The level of discount was greatly reduced, and although in theory the scheme is fairer, in practice many students and parents were left out of pocket. In September 2010, First Capital Connect admitted in an email that, despite being trained in first aid, staff were not allowed to offer medical help to members of
7826-400: Was recognised by FCC itself: "We recognise that overcrowding is the biggest issue affecting our customers. This is at an unacceptable level on some of our services". From 27 May 2009 FCC introduced extra carriages, which meant that this service became a 12-car train rather than an 8-car. In mid-2006, First Capital Connect introduced evening peak-time fares for northbound travel out of London as
7917-579: Was run by Abellio ScotRail until the end of that franchise in March 2022. During December 2015, FirstGroup was awarded the next TransPennine Express franchise. The new franchise commenced on 1 April 2016 with a commitment to introduce new trains, routes and faster journey times. During October 2016, First Transit commenced operating the A-train under contract to the Denton County Transportation Authority , its first rail operation in
8008-491: Was struggling with debt at the time and was struggling to hold onto its National Express East Coast rail franchise. This offer was rejected; a National Express spokesperson stated that it did not "consider it appropriate" at the time to discuss a takeover. FirstGroup believed that there was "significant industrial and commercial logic" for a merger, but National Express wished to focus on its own initiatives. In June 2010, FirstGroup sold its railfreight business First GBRf to
8099-536: 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: Further integrations occurred in 2007. The first of these
8190-506: 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: In addition to these three, a further new operator, London Overground Rail Operations , took control of
8281-483: Was to have been issued in October 2012 and the successful bidder announced in early 2013. But in the wake of the InterCity West Coast re-franchising process collapsing, the government announced in October 2012 that the process would be put on hold pending the results of a review. In January 2013 the government announced it would be exercising an option to extend the franchise until 31 March 2014. In March 2013,
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