Arriva buys open access operator Grand Central
by Katie Silvester
Arriva has acquired Grand Central, the operator of open access services from Sunderland and Bradford/ Halifax to London Deutsche Bahn-owned Arriva
already owns Alliance Rail, which is looking at new open access routes, but none are yet operational. Arriva also acquired Wrexham
& Shropshire Railway – which ran open access operations from Wrexham to London – when it bought Laing Rail, but Wrexham & Shropshire ceased trading at the start of this year.
Grand Central has been losing money for the last few years. Bob Holland, Arriva UK Trains
managing director, said: ‘We firmly believe open access will play a valuable part in a balanced portfolio
for our UK Trains division, alongside our three franchises and concessions operated on London Overground and the Tyne and Wear Metro. ‘Bringing Grand Central on board means we have a live open access operation up and running, one which is popular with customers and which we believe we can develop to become a key commercial part of our UK rail operations.’
Both Grand Central and
Alliance Rail were started by former British Rail manager Ian Yeowart, who now works full time for Alliance. But the two operations will remain separate entities. Tom Clift, managing director of Grand Central, said:: ‘The decision by Arriva, one of Europe’s largest transport undertakings, to acquire
Grand Central, is a huge vote of confidence in all our staff, who have worked so hard over the last four years to deliver the very highest standards of customer service to the growing numbers of passengers using our routes. ‘I will continue to lead Grand Central and will report directly into Bob Holland, managing director of Arriva’s UK Trains division. Meanwhile, Grand Central will remain a self-contained business with its own unique brand and identity. Our headquarters will continue to be based in York.’ Arriva already owns CrossCountry, Arriva Trains Wales and Chiltern Railways franchises, as well as running concessions to operate the Tyne and Wear Metro, and has a stake in London Overground operations.
Turbostar maintenance contract extended
n
Bombardier has won a £17.7m contract to continue servicing ScotRail’s Class 170 Turbostar fleet for the next three years.
The win is welcome news for the company in the wake of losing the Thameslink contract to Siemens. Bombardier described the contract as ‘significant’.
‘It builds on the diverse portfolio of contracts
Bombardier has with FirstGroup, one of our key strategic customers,’ said Des McKeon, the firm’s commercial director. The contract relates to the 177-strong fleet that serves the key Glasgow-Edinburgh route, as well as Aberdeen and Inverness services.
News in brief
Hydrex bought by Network Rail
Network Rail has bought the assets of bankrupt road-rail vehicle supplier Hydrex Equipment (UK), including its staff. Network Rail director Martin Elwood, said: ‘This is not a step that Network Rail has taken lightly. The purchase of Hydrex’s rail division has secured hundreds of jobs, while making sure we can deliver, as planned, our programme of maintenance, renewals and enhancements.’
Reading re-signalling goes to Invensys
Tube Lines bonds are passed to TfL n
Transport for London has acquired around £1bn of Tube
Lines debt, the latest step in winding up the failed London Underground public-private partnership. The debt acquisition means TfL has bought back the majority of
Tube Lines’ complex and expensive £1.6bn debt structure, following the acquisition of £300m of debt between August and September this year. TfL managing director of
finance, Steve Allen said: ‘Following
the transfer of Tube Lines to TfL in June 2010, we inherited debt more expensive than TfL is able to secure. ‘Thanks to our AA+ rating we
are able to achieve more attractive rates than those available to Tube Lines.’
Invensys has won the £28m signalling contract for the Reading Western Mainlines programme. The four-year project involves remodelling the Reading station area from Sonning to Pangbourne, resignalling a new train care depot and putting signals on four new platforms to provide increased capacity at the station.
DECEMBER 2011 PAGE 11
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