1.
ScotRail (brand)
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ScotRail has been the brand name used for all Scottish regional and commuter rail services, including some cross-border services, since September 1983. Since 2008, it is the permanent name of the Scottish franchised rail services, the ScotRail brand was created by British Railways Scottish Region manager Chris Green in the mid 1980s to provide a distinctive brand for the Regional Railways network in Scotland. The brand has developed and is still in use today, the red stripe was replaced with a saltire blue stripe, and the InterCity name was replaced with the ScotRail name. Most Diesel Locomotives carried standard InterCity Executive livery, but with ScotRail branding, Diesel and Electric multiple units carried normal versions of the Regional Railways livery. In the SPT area, rolling stock was painted in Strathclyde Orange, the brand was adopted by National Express Group when it took over the franchise from British Railways during privatisation in 1997. The first unique ScotRail livery was introduced shortly after privatisation under National Express, initially, vehicles received the new ScotRail logo applied with vinyl stickers, a stylised outline of Scotland composed of three flashes in the corporate colours of green, red and purple. There were no units left with Regional Railways livery in Scotland at the end of the National Express franchise period, the latter were replaced by ex-Stansted Skytrain Class 322 units which were never repainted under the National Express franchise, receiving only ScotRail logo transfers. When FirstGroup became the franchisee on 17 October 2004, in line with other rail franchises it held, when First originally acquired the franchise, a new regional livery of pink, grey and purple and a new logo of a pink circle and an italicised f character was introduced. Legislation requiring train doors to be painted in a colour to the body for visually impaired passengers resulted in white doors with a pink stripe. Like National Express, First applied their logo on units by transfer until repainting, a large number of units were re-branded into this livery, including the Class 322 units re-acquired for North Berwick service and the Class 90 locomotives used on Caledonian Sleeper services. In September 2008, the Scottish Government agency, Transport Scotland, Transport Scotland came up with a new livery which will be applied to all of Scotlands trains, when they went into maintenance. The new livery is blue background, with grey doors. A new logo is applied, ScotRail, with the tag line Scotlands Railway. Stations and staff uniforms are also getting a new look - dark blue and this livery is not going to be replaced when the franchise ends, the only branding showing the operator will be a small ScotRail is operated by sign on the station building and on the train doors. The franchise transferred to Abellio ScotRail on 1 April 2015, the Caledonian Sleeper rolling stock was not treated with the Transport Scotland livery as it was transferred to a separate franchise operated by Serco on 1 April 2015
2.
Scottish Gaelic
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Scottish Gaelic or Scots Gaelic, sometimes also referred to as Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish. The 2011 census of Scotland showed that a total of 57,375 people in Scotland could speak Gaelic at that time, the census results indicate a decline of 1,275 Gaelic speakers from 2001. A total of 87,056 people in 2011 reported having some facility with Gaelic compared to 93,282 people in 2001, only about half of speakers were fully literate in the language. Nevertheless, revival efforts exist and the number of speakers of the language under age 20 has increased, Scottish Gaelic is neither an official language of the European Union nor the United Kingdom. Outside Scotland, a group of dialects collectively known as Canadian Gaelic are spoken in parts of Atlantic Canada, mainly Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. In the 2011 census, there were 7,195 total speakers of Gaelic languages in Canada, with 1,365 in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island where the responses mainly refer to Scottish Gaelic. About 2,320 Canadians in 2011 also claimed Gaelic languages as their mother tongue, with over 300 in Nova Scotia, aside from Scottish Gaelic, the language may also be referred to simply as Gaelic. In Scotland, the word Gaelic in reference to Scottish Gaelic specifically is pronounced, outside Ireland and Great Britain, Gaelic may refer to the Irish language. Scottish Gaelic should not be confused with Scots, the Middle English-derived language varieties which had come to be spoken in most of the Lowlands of Scotland by the modern era. Prior to the 15th century, these dialects were known as Inglis by its own speakers, from the late 15th century, however, it became increasingly common for such speakers to refer to Scottish Gaelic as Erse and the Lowland vernacular as Scottis. Today, Scottish Gaelic is recognised as a language from Irish. Gaelic in Scotland was mostly confined to Dál Riata until the 8th century, when it began expanding into Pictish areas north of the Firth of Forth, by 900, Pictish appears to have become extinct, completely replaced by Gaelic. An exception might be made for the Northern Isles, however, however, though the Pictish language did not disappear suddenly, a process of Gaelicisation was clearly underway during the reigns of Caustantín and his successors. By a certain point, probably during the 11th century, all the inhabitants of Alba had become fully Gaelicised Scots, by the 10th century, Gaelic had become the dominant language throughout northern and western Scotland, the Gaelo-Pictic Kingdom of Alba. Its spread to southern Scotland, was even and totalizing. Place name analysis suggests dense usage of Gaelic in Galloway and adjoining areas to the north and west as well as in West Lothian, less dense usage is suggested for north Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, the Clyde Valley and eastern Dumfriesshire. In south-eastern Scotland, there is no evidence that Gaelic was ever widely spoken, the area shifted from Cumbric to Old English during its long incorporation into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria
3.
British Rail Class 158
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The British Rail Class 158 Express Sprinter is a diesel multiple-unit, built specifically for British Rail between 1989 and 1992 by BREL at its Derby Works. They were built to replace many locomotive-hauled passenger trains, and allowed cascading of existing Sprinter units to replace elderly heritage DMUs, the Class 159 DMUs are almost identical to the Class 158s, having been converted from Class 158 to Class 159 in two batches. A total of 182 units were built, the majority were built as two-car sets. 17 units were built as units, eight of these units have since had the centre car removed. The final ten units were built specifically for West Yorkshire PTE Metro services around Leeds, there were three varieties of unit when built. The standard batch, two- and three-car units had 350 hp Cummins engines, the next batch were built as non-standard to enable 350 hp Perkins engines to be fitted. The final batch were given higher-powered Cummins engines of 400 hp, another 22 of these higher-powered units were built, and became three-car Class 159s. Over time, the units have become mixed up as franchises changed, all units use P4-4A and T4-4A bogies. When introduced, British Rail described the Class 158s as bringing new standards of comfort, as built, interiors were described as fully carpeted, with panoramic windows and a variety of seats arranged both airline-style and in bays of four around tables. Despite an increased top speed of 90 miles per hour, the units also promised a smoother, quieter ride than its predecessors. The Class 158s were expected to achieve 13,500 miles of operation between major services and a range of up to 1,600 miles from each refuelling. Despite the attention given to facilities, the phrase garden shed engineering has been used to describe the build. The class has suffered from unreliable air-conditioning systems since the outlawing of the CFC gases with which they were originally designed to work. Following privatisation, many operators undertook to re-engineer or entirely replace such equipment, as a result, the systems in use and their effectiveness now vary across the fleet. The lightweight aluminium body of the Class 158s leads to a route availability score. However, the units were refused permission by Network Rail to operate on the Conwy Valley, ScotRail was the first part of British Rail to introduce the Class 158s to public service in September 1990, long after the planned date. These were employed on Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh Waverley services, as well as services to Aberdeen, the Class 158s then went on to be deployed elsewhere in Britain, primarily in the Midlands, Northern England, Wales and the South West. With the majority of the fleet coming under the control of the Regional Railways division, examples included long-distance Trans-Pennine services in the north of England, as well as a range of upgraded regional services under the Alphaline brand in the Midlands, Wales and the South West
4.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
5.
North West England
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North West England, one of nine official regions of England, consists of the five counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,052,000 in 2011 and it is the third most populated region in the United Kingdom after the South East and Greater London. North West England is bounded to the east by the Peak District, the region extends from the Scottish Borders in the north to the West Midlands region in the south. To its southwest is North Wales, amongst the better known of the North Wests physiographical features are the Lake District and the Cheshire Plain. The highest point in North West England is Scafell Pike, Cumbria, Windermere is the largest natural lake in England. Broad Crag Tarn on Broad Crag is Englands highest lake, wast Water is Englands deepest lake, being 74m deep. A mix of rural and urban landscape, two large conurbations, centred on Liverpool and Manchester, occupy much of the south of the region. The north of the region, comprising Cumbria and northern Lancashire, is rural, as is the far south which encompasses parts of the Cheshire Plain. The region includes parts of three National parks and three areas of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, source, Office for National Statistics Mid Year Population Estimates North West Englands population accounts for just over 13% of Englands overall population. 37. 86% of the North Wests population resides in Greater Manchester,21. 39% in Lancashire,20. 30% in Merseyside,14. 76% in Cheshire and 7. 41% live in the largest county by area, Cumbria. According to 2009 Office for National Statistics estimates,91. 6% of people in the region describe themselves as White,88. 4% White British,1. 0% White Irish and 2. 2% White Other. The Mixed Race population makes up 1. 3% of the regions population, there are 323,800 South Asians, making up 4. 7% of the population, and 1. 1% Black Britons. 0. 6% of the population are Chinese and 0. 5% of people belong to ethnic group. North West England is a diverse region, with Manchester. 19. 4% of Blackburn with Darwens population are Muslim, the third highest among all local authorities in the United Kingdom, Areas such as Moss Side in Greater Manchester are home to a 30%+ Black British population. In contrast, the town of St. Helens in Merseyside, one in five of the population in the North West is Catholic, a result of large-scale Irish emigration in the nineteenth century as well as the high number of English recusants in Lancashire. For top-tier authorities, Manchester has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the region, for council districts, Burnley has the highest rate, closely followed by Hyndburn, both in Lancashire. For top-tier authorities, Cheshire has the lowest teenage pregnancy rate, for council districts, Eden has the lowest rate closely followed by South Lakeland, both in Cumbria
6.
North East England
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North East England is one of the nine regions of England that are classified at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, the region is home to three large conurbations, Teesside, Wearside, and Tyneside, the latter of which is the largest of the three and the eighth most populous conurbation in the United Kingdom. The city of Durham is the county town of County Durham, other large settlements in the region include Darlington, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, South Shields, Stockton-on-Tees and Washington. The region is hilly and sparsely populated in the North and West. The highest point in the region is The Cheviot, in the Cheviot Hills, Peters Church in Monkwearmouth, Sunderland and St. Pauls in Jarrow also hold significant historical value and have a joint bid to become a World Heritage Site. The area has a strong religious past, as can be seen in such as the Lindisfarne Gospels. The work of the 7th-century Cuthbert, Bede and Hilda of Whitby being hugely influential in the church and are still venerated today. Bede is regarded as the greatest Anglo-Saxon scholar and his best known work is The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. This body of work is thought to have been done in honour of Cuthbert, British history changed forever that day and three hundred years of Viking raids, battles and settlement were to persist until William the Conqueror defeated King Harold at Hastings in 1066. The last independent Northumbrian king from 947–8 was Eric Bloodaxe who died in battle at the Battle of Stainmore, Westmorland, after Eric Bloodaxes death, all England was ruled by Eadred the grandson of Alfred the Great and so began the machinery of national government. Today the Viking legacy can still be found in the language and place names of Northeast England, the name Newcastle comes from the new castle built shortly after their conquest in 1080 by Robert Curthose, William the Conquerors eldest son. North East England has a climate with narrower temperature ranges than further south in England. Met Office operates several stations in the region. The stations nearest significant urban areas are Durham, Stockton-on-Tees and Tynemouth, the warmest summers in the region are found in Stockton-on-Tees and the Middlesbrough area with a 1981-2010 July average high of 20.4 °C. The summers on the coastlines are clearly cooler than in the southern and central inland areas. Moving further inland, frosts during winter gets more common due to the higher elevation and these companies are members of the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster. The early chemical industry in this region was however primarily Tyneside based and associated with the manufacture of soap and glass. The most important chemical activity in the 18th and 19th centuries was the manufacture of alkali to make soap, what came out of the industrial revolution was a period when the Northeast of Englands economy was dominated by iron and steel, coal mining and shipbuilding
7.
FirstGroup
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FirstGroup is a British transport group, registered and operating in the United Kingdom. The company also operates services in Ireland, Canada and the United States. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE250 Index, FirstGroup originated from the deregulation of bus services in the United Kingdom in 1986, whereby private companies purchased nationalised and municipal bus operators. In September 1986 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 a management buyout led by its general manager Moir Lockhead. As GRT Bus Group, it expanded through acquisition purchasing six former nationalised bus companies in England and Scotland, in April 1995 FirstBus was formed through the merger of the Badgerline and GRT Bus Groups, with fleets in England, Wales and Scotland. Aberdeen was selected as the headquarters, at the time of the merger, FirstBus had 5,600 buses,4,000 of which came from Badgerline. Badgerlines Trevor Smallwood became chairman of FirstBus, while GRT head Moir Lockhead became deputy chairman, FirstBus continued the policy of growth by acquisition acquiring former council owned operations and companies formerly owned by English, Welsh and Scottish nationalised operators. FirstBus went on to larger urban metropolitan operators by taking advantage of the privatisation of the PTE bus operations. 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. The company was renamed FirstGroup in December 1997 after the company moved into railways in February 1996 with the privatisation of British Rail, through a 24. In March 1998 FirstGroup purchased the 75. 5% shares in Great Western Holdings 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, FirstGroup had a 26% shareholding in the joint venture. In 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 transportation in the United States. In May 2000 FirstGroup began operating the London Tramlink concession under contract to Transport for London, in August 2003 FirstGroup purchased GB Railways which owned Anglia Railways and GB Railfreight and held 80% of the shares in Hull Trains. Having not been shortlisted for the Greater Anglia franchise, this gave FirstGroup another chance to bid, however it was unsuccessful and the franchise was awarded to 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 FirstGroups joint venture with Keolis commenced operating the First TransPennine Express rail franchise, FirstGroup having a 55% shareholding. In April 2004 FirstGroup commenced operating the First Great Western Link franchise, 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
8.
Abellio ScotRail
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Abellio ScotRail, operating services under the name ScotRail, is the national train operating company of Scotland. A subisidary of Abellio, it has operated the ScotRail franchise since 1 April 2015, in November 2013, Transport Scotland announced that Abellio, Arriva, FirstGroup, MTR Corporation and National Express had been shortlisted to bid for the new ScotRail franchise. In October 2014, the franchise was awarded to Abellio, the franchise will operate for seven years with a three-year extension available contingent on performance criteria being met. Abellio began operating the franchise on 1 April 2015, on 6 September 2015, Abellio ScotRail commenced operating services on the Borders Railway. In June 2016 the RMT union announced that train guards would be going in strike several times during the months in protest of more driver only trains. An agreement was reached in September 2016, bringing an end to the dispute and it was agreed that the new Class 385 trains will have the doors controlled by both the driver and guard, with the driver opening the doors and the guard closing them. On 20 January 2017 the Managing Director of ScotRail and the ScotRail alliance stepped down from his role after 18 months in the company, within a few days Alex Hynes was named as the new Managing Director. The franchise agreement requires the introduction of Great Scottish Scenic Railway trains on the West Highland, Far North, Kyle, Borders Railway, steam special services are also promoted by Abellio ScotRail. Abellio ScotRail operates 354 stations in Scotland, not included are Glasgow Prestwick Airport station, owned and operated by the airport, as well as both Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central, which are managed by Network Rail. Abellio ScotRail operates Lockerbie even though none of its services call there and it also took over management of Dunbar, previously operated by Virgin Trains East Coast, in June 2015. Abellio ScotRails fleet is maintained at Edinburgh Haymarket, Glasgow Eastfield, Glasgow Shields Road, Corkerhill, Abellio ScotRail began operations with the rolling stock below, mainly transferred from First ScotRail, Abellio ScotRail has mentioned the following as part of the future rolling stock. This new rolling stock will result in 10 Class 156, eight Class 158 and 21 Class 170s returning to their leasing companies, five of the 156s, all the 158s and 16 of the 170s released will join Northern when their leases expires in 2018. Transport Scotland negotiated to retain an extra 13 Class 170s to support services through Fife to Aberdeen, media related to Abellio ScotRail at Wikimedia Commons Official website
9.
Caledonian Sleeper
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Caledonian Sleeper is the collective name for overnight sleeper train services between London and Scotland, in the United Kingdom. It is one of only two services on the railway in the United Kingdom. Two services depart London each night from Sunday to Friday and travel via the West Coast Main Line to Scotland, the earlier departure divides at Edinburgh into portions for Aberdeen, Fort William and Inverness. The later departure serves Edinburgh and Glasgow splitting at Carstairs, five London bound portions depart from these destinations each night, combining into two trains at Edinburgh and Carstairs. Since April 2015, the Caledonian Sleeper has been a franchise operated by Serco. Prior to this it was part of the ScotRail franchise, Sleeper trains had operated between London and Scotland since the completion of the line in the 1850s. Services operated from both London Euston via the West Coast Main Line including the Royal Highlander and London Kings Cross via the East Coast Main Line until the latter were withdrawn in May 1988. InterCity planned to remove all seating accommodation on the services from May 1992. After 12 months the Stagecoach carriages were withdrawn, on 5 March 1995, responsibility for operation of the Anglo-Scottish services passed within British Rail from InterCity West Coast to ScotRail. Eventually British Rail agreed to retain the Fort William portion, the motorail service was withdrawn in 1995. On 4 June 1996, the service was relaunched as the Caledonian Sleeper with the Night Caledonian, Night Scotsman, Night Aberdonian, Royal Highlander, on 31 March 1997, as part of the ScotRail franchise it was taken over by National Express. In March 1998, the West Coast Main Line portions which had been hauled by Virgin Trains Class 87s, were taken over by English Welsh & Scottish Class 90s. In January 2000, sitting carriages were introduced with 11 ex Virgin Trains Mark 2 carriages refurbished at Wolverton railway works with first class recliners, at the same time the Mark 3 sleeping carriages were refurbished with a purple and blue livery applied. From June 2001, Class 67s began to replace Class 47s on the Aberdeen, in June 2006, they replaced Class 37s on the Fort William portion. On 17 October 2004, the Caledonian Sleeper along with the rest of the ScotRail franchise was taken over by First ScotRail, the carriages were painted in FirstGroups corporate blue, pink and white livery as were three Class 90s. In 2012 the Scottish Government announced that as part of the reletting of the ScotRail franchise from April 2015 and it was stated that a total of £100 million would be invested in new and additional rolling stock. In June 2013, Transport Scotland announced Arriva, FirstGroup and Serco had been shortlisted to bid for the new franchise, in May 2014, the franchise was awarded to Serco with a commitment to replace the Mark 2 and Mark 3 coaching stock by 2018. Some terminus station have lounges and ticketing/customer service desks, two trains depart London Euston on six nights per week, Sunday to Friday, heading north on the West Coast Main Line
10.
Great Western Railway (train operating company)
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Great Western Railway is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup. It manages 208 stations and its trains call at over 270, GWR operates long-distance inter-city services along the Great Western Main Line to South West England and South Wales, as well as the Night Riviera sleeper service between London and Penzance. The company began operating in February 1996 as Great Western Trains, in December 1998 it became First Great Western after FirstGroup bought out its partners shares in Great Western Holdings. In April 2006, First Great Western, First Great Western Link and Wessex Trains were combined into the new Greater Western franchise and brought under the First Great Western brand. The company adopted its current name and a new livery in September 2015 to coincide with the start of a franchise that is due to run until April 2020. Great Western Holdings was owned by some former British Rail managers, FirstBus, in March 1998, FirstGroup bought out its partners stakes to give it 100% ownership. In December 1998, the franchise was rebranded as First Great Western, on 1 April 2004, First Great Western Link commenced operating the Thames Trains franchise. It operated local services from Paddington to Slough, Henley-on-Thames, Reading, Didcot, Oxford, Newbury, Bedwyn, Worcester, Hereford, Banbury. It also operated services from Reading to Gatwick Airport, and from Reading to Basingstoke, on 1 April 2006, the Great Western, Great Western Link and Wessex Trains franchises were combined into a new Greater Western franchise. FirstGroup, National Express and Stagecoach were shortlisted to bid for new franchise. On 13 December 2005, it was announced that FirstGroup had won the franchise, originally, First planned to subdivide its services into three categories based on routes. Following feedback from staff and stakeholders, the decision was taken to re-brand, in May 2011, FirstGroup announced that it had decided not to take up the option to extend its franchise beyond the end of March 2013. FirstGroup stated that, in the light of the plan to electrify the Great Western route from London via Bristol to Cardiff. CEO Tim OToole said, We believe we are best placed to manage these projects, in March 2012 Arriva, FirstGroup, National Express and Stagecoach were shortlisted to bid for the new franchise. The ITT ran from the end of July until October 2012, the winner would have been announced in March 2013, and taken on the franchise from 21 July 2013 until the end of July 2028. The new franchise would include the introduction of new Intercity Express Trains, capacity enhancements, the award of the franchise was again delayed in October 2012, while the Department for Transport reviewed the way rail franchises are awarded. In January 2013, the government announced that the current competition for the franchise had been terminated, a two-year franchise extension until September 2015 was agreed in October 2013, and subsequently extended until March 2019. A further extension to April 2019 was granted in March 2015, the company rebranded itself as Great Western Railway on 20 September 2015 and introduced a green livery in recognition of the former Great Western Railway
11.
National Express
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It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE250 Index. In 1972 the state owned National Bus Company decided to bring together the scheduled services operated by its bus operating companies in the United Kingdom under one brand. Sir Frederick Wood, a prominent businessman and industrialist, was asked to oversee the creation of new business model. Initially branded as National, the National Express brand was first used in 1974, with the privatisation of the National Bus Company in the 1980s, National Express was subject to a management buyout in March 1988. The management team began to diversify, and in 1989 purchased Crosville Wales, a new management team took over the company in July 1991, with the backing of mid-market private equity firm, ECI Partners. The new team refocused the group on its activities and sold Crosville Wales to British Bus. In October 1991 it purchased Speedlink, an operator of services between Gatwick and Heathrow Airports. In December 1992 National Express Group plc was floated on the London Stock Exchange, in 1993 Scottish Citylink, Eurolines and East Midlands Airport were acquired. In April 1995 National Express purchased West Midlands Travel, the council owned bus network of Birmingham. This began the family of Travel. Bournemouth Airport was acquired in April 1995, in April 1996 National Express commenced operating its first UK rail franchises, Gatwick Express and Midland Mainline. Other franchises won in 1997 were Silverlink, Central Trains and ScotRail, to comply with a Competition Commission ruling on it winning the ScotRail franchise, National Express sold the Scottish Citylink operation to Metroline in August 1998. In February 1997 Taybus Public Transport was acquired and rebranded Travel Dundee, in February 1999 Robinson Bus Service was purchased followed in August 1999 by Durham Transportation. These acquisitions placed National Express as one of the top three United States school bus operators, in May 1999 National Express purchased Australias largest private bus operator, National Bus Company. National Bus Company had bus operations in Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, Westbus also had a London coach operation. In August 1999 National Express won the M>Train, M>Tram and V/Line Passenger rail franchises in the Australian state of Victoria, in January 2000, National Express expanded into the American market by acquiring ATC, a public transportation operator. In July 2000 Prism Rail was purchased adding the c2c, Wales & Borders, Wessex Trains, in December 2002 National Express handed in its Victoria rail franchises having been unable to renegotiate financial terms with the State Government. In February 2004 the London bus operations of Connex were purchased and rebranded Travel London, in April 2004 National Express East Anglia commenced operating the Greater Anglia rail franchise
12.
Scottish Government
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The Scottish Government is Scotlands devolved government. It was formally renamed in 2012 to the Scottish Government by section 12 of the Scotland Act 2012, the government consists of cabinet secretaries, who attend cabinet meetings, and ministers, who do not. It is led by the first minister, who selects the cabinet secretaries, the Scottish Government is responsible for devolved matters, and those not explicitly reserved to the British Parliament in Westminster, by Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998. Devolved matters that were decided on by the Scotland Act 1998 included healthcare provision, education, justice, policing, rural affairs, economic development, the Scottish Government also has administrative responsibility for some matters where it does not have legislative power. An example is Sections 36 &37 of the Electricity Act 1989 which allow the Scottish Government to authorise power transmission lines and grant power generation consents. The Scottish Governments budget is decided upon by the grant that is formulated using the Barnett Formula with the ability to also increase or decrease income tax rates. In the financial year of 2016–17, the annual budget was £37.2 billion. The government is led by the First Minister, the Scottish Parliament nominates one of its members to be appointed as first minister by the monarch. He or she is assisted by various cabinet secretaries with individual portfolios, Ministers are similarly appointed to assist cabinet secretaries in their work. The Scottish law officers, the Lord Advocate and Solicitor General, can be appointed from outside the parliaments membership and they are appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the first minister. The first minister, the secretaries and the Scottish law officers are the members of the Scottish Government. They are collectively known as the Scottish Ministers, the members of the government have substantial influence over legislation in Scotland, putting forward the majority of bills that are successful in becoming Acts of the Scottish Parliament. The structure of the team used by the Scottish National Party after its election victory in May 2007 differs from those used by previous governments. The title cabinet secretary was introduced to replace what were called ministers, the cabinet secretaries and ministers are, The Scottish Cabinet is the group of ministers who are collectively responsible for all Scottish Government policy. While parliament is in session, the cabinet meets weekly, normally meetings are held on Tuesday afternoons in Bute House, the official residence of the first minister. The cabinet consists of the secretaries, excluding the Scottish Law Officers. The Lord Advocate attends meetings of the cabinet only when requested by the first minister, the cabinet is supported by the Cabinet Secretariat, which is based at St Andrews House. Scottish Government also includes a service that supports the Scottish ministers
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Media related to First ScotRail at Wikimedia Commons
