FirstGroup, the leading transport operator in the UK and North America, today unveiled further information about its plans for a new rail service between London, North East England and Edinburgh for an average fare below £25 – less than a typical minicab journey to the airport – and many tickets would be even cheaper still.
Under the plans for an open access operation, similar to award-winning sister company First Hull Trains, the Group said tickets would cost less than half the current average fare on the route, potentially saving a family of four around £200 on a return trip to the capital.
The operator said it showed how serious it was about competing with low-cost airlines and opening up rail travel between the two capitals and up and down the East Coast Mainline to thousands of new passengers.
The Group submitted a formal track access rights application to the Office of Rail and Road in March, and will appear in front of the regulator on Friday 12 June to present its plans in more detail.
FirstGroup’s new open access plans will consist of five trains throughout the day each way between London King’s Cross to Edinburgh, via intermediate stations at Stevenage, Newcastle and Morpeth and with journey times of approximately four hours.
In addition to these low fares, passengers would benefit from free Wi-Fi and on-board catering, all offered in one high-quality class of travel on brand new, state of the art trains.
FirstGroup also revealed that the first service of the day from London would arrive in Edinburgh by 1000, designed specifically to attract business passengers who usually fly. This arrival time is an hour earlier than the first available train today.
Currently two thirds of journeys between the two capitals are made by plane. Stevenage station in the South East is close to Luton and Stansted airports, and Morpeth station is close to Newcastle airport, and serving these stations will help air travellers consider rail as a potential option.
If successful with the application FirstGroup plan to introduce the brand new, state of the art electric intercity trains, which can run alongside operations by the East Coast franchise, from 2018.
Commenting, Tim O’Toole, FirstGroup’s Chief Executive said:
“Budget airlines are the great success story of aviation and we want to take them on at their own game with these innovative new proposals, by offering genuinely low fares at half the average price of today.
“Our plans will give customers travelling between London, the North East of England and Edinburgh an attractive alternative to flying and, if accepted by the Office of Rail and Road, will shake up travel options between these cities.
“For the price of a minicab journey to the airport, passengers would be whisked between London and Edinburgh on brand new trains and arrive earlier than they can do today. We are taking our proposals to the ORR this week and we are looking forward to hearing the outcome of our application.”
Notes
FirstGroup already has extensive experience running an open access operation on the route. First Hull Trains regularly receives amongst the highest customer satisfaction scores in the country – scoring 95 per cent in the Spring 2014 National Passenger Survey. Since it started services in 2000 the open access operator has filled a vital gap in the market, making 90 journeys a week between London and Hull and transporting more than 750,000 people annually – a ten-fold increase since inception. FirstGroup also operates services to Newcastle and Edinburgh through its First TransPennine Express rail franchise.
FirstGroup plc (LSE: FGP.L) is the leading transport operator in the UK and North America. With approximately £6 billion in revenues and around 110,000 employees, we transported around 2.4 billion passengers last year. Each of our five divisions is a leader in its field: In North America, First Student is the largest provider of student transportation with a fleet of around 49,000 yellow school buses, First Transit is one of the largest providers of outsourced transit management and contracting services, while Greyhound is the only nationwide operator of scheduled intercity coach services. In the UK, FirstGroup is one of Britain's largest bus operators running a fleet of some 6,300 buses, and we are one of the country’s most experienced passenger rail operators, carrying around 280 million passengers last year.
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