Cross Country Franchise
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The Cross-Country Franchise is a new National Rail franchise formed by the Department for Transport to operate passenger rail services on the Cross-Country Route. The franchise will be formed through the amalgamation of the current Virgin Cross Country (VXC) franchise, which operates inter-city services that do not terminate in London, with elements of Central Trains. The franchise is due to begin operating in November 2007.
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[edit] Routes
The new franchise will be responsible for the existing VXC services, most of which utilise Birmingham New Street as their hub. These services include:
- Birmingham - Reading / The South
- Birmingham - Bristol - South West
- Birmingham - North East - Scotland
- Birmingham - North West - Scotland
- Birmingham - Manchester
The franchise will also have responsibility for the following services currently run by Central Trains CityLink:
Finally, the franchise will run the following Central Trains regional service.
[edit] Possible Route Changes
VXC's current services between Manchester and Glasgow/Edinburgh will be transferred to TransPennine Express from December 2007, subject to contracts being agreed.[1]
Latest reports suggest that the Birmingham - Leicester service may be operated by the new Cross-Country due to staffing difficulties. It has also been proposed that this train extend to Cardiff giving Leicester direct links to the south west (this would run from Birmingham to Cardiff instead of the Nottingham service).
A new regional service has been proposed, which would run from Nottingham through to Oxford via Leicester and Coventry. This service would integrate the Coventry - Nuneaton service, which is currently proposed to be operated by the new West Midlands franchise.
[edit] Bids
The Department for Transport announced on 19 September 2006 that four parties had pre-qualified for new franchise[2]:
- Arriva Trains Cross Country Limited (Arriva Group)
- First Cross Country Limited (First Group)
- NXC Trains Limited (National Express Group)
- Virgin Voyager Trains Ltd (Virgin Rail Group)
[edit] References
- ^ TPE set to run services to Edinburgh and Glasgow. TransPennine Express.
- ^ Department for Transport announces pre-qualified bidders for 3 new franchises. Department for Transport.
[edit] External links
| Domestic: | Arriva Trains Wales - c2c - Central Trains1 - Chiltern Railways - First Capital Connect First Great Western - First ScotRail - Grand Central2 - GNER - Heathrow Connect Hull Trains - Island Line3 - Merseyrail - Midland Mainline1 - Northern Rail Northern Ireland Railways4 - 'one' - Silverlink1 - Southeastern - Southern South West Trains - TransPennine Express - Virgin Trains (VWC - VXC1) |
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| International: | Enterprise4 - Eurostar |
| Airport Link: | Gatwick Express - Heathrow Express - Stansted Express5 |
| Sleeper: | Caledonian Sleeper6 - Night Riviera7 |
| 1 Ends November 2007 - 2 Starts 20 May 2007 - 3 Operated by South West Trains 4 Operated on the Irish railway network - 5 Operated by 'one' - 6 Operated by First ScotRail 7 Operated by First Great Western |
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| Future passenger train operators and franchises in Great Britain | |
|---|---|
| New Franchises: | Cross Country1 - East Midlands1 - InterCity East Coast - London Overground1 West Midlands1 |
| Proposed open-access operators: |
Glasgow Trains2 - Grand Union2 - Humber & City2 - Wrexham & Shropshire3 |
| 1 Starts November 2007 - 2 Proposed - 3 Awaiting Approval | |
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