1.
Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain
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A limited number of urban services are privately run, but are awarded by the local authority. The system only covers the railways of Great Britain, the railways in Northern Ireland are owned and operated by the state-owned company NI Railways. The franchising system was created by the Railways Act 1993 as part of the privatisation of British Rail by the Government of John Major, prior to this, the railway system had been owned and operated by the government-owned corporation British Rail, which has since been wound up. Prime Minister John Major envisaged splitting up the railways and returning ownership to an equivalent of the Big Four railway companies that had existed before the creation of British Rail, the legislation allowed BR to bid for franchises, if the DPRF agreed, but in practice he never did. Winning bidders were decided on a pure cost basis – those who offered to pay the highest premium, or lowest subsidy, once signed, franchise agreements could only be terminated under certain conditions, namely not meeting the PSR, although fines were available as an intermediate step. The first franchise agreements to be signed were for the South West and Great Western franchises, the first passenger train service operated by a privatised franchise was the South West Trains 05. As the program progressed, all franchises had been awarded and commenced by 1 April 1997, OPRAF was initially criticised for taking too long, but answered that most of the delays were outside of their control, and were indeed caused by the government itself. Ultimately, although there were 25 franchises, the eventual buyers came from only 13 different companies, many were bus companies, with the hoped for interest from airlines and shipping groups failing to be converted into solid bids. In addition, despite several bids, due to difficulties in raising finance, National Express Group was the winner of most franchises, with five. Prism Rail came next, with four, connex, Virgin and MTL all captured two each, with the franchises they won being closely related. Stagecoach also won two, although the second was the tiny Island Line, which would eventually be merged with their main win, South West. Great Western Holdings also won two, on sides of the country - Great Western and North Western, First Group. Their March 1998 buyout of the other GWH partners increased their total to three, in the end, most of the franchises were awarded for lengths from 7 to 7 and a half years. Only seven franchises were longer - two for 10 years, and five for 15 years, only one was shorter, the 5 year award for Island Line. Since this would take time as it involved legislation, in the time it established the SRA in shadow form. Part of their brief was to ensure the railways operated as a coherent network and their goals were closely aligned with the governments wider objectives, set out in July 2000 as the ten-year plan, Transport 2010. It aimed to have these proposals agreed by Autumn 2001, and these long term plans were disrupted in 2001/2 by the impact of the Hatfield rail crash, which led to the nationalisation of Railtrack, creating Network Rail. On 1 February 2001 the position of Franchising Director was abolished by the Transport Act 2000, instead it elected for a short 2-year extension, hoping the situation would be clearer by then
2.
London Paddington station
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Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of the Great Western Railway, much of the main-line station dates from 1854 and was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It was first served by London Underground trains in 1863, as the western terminus of the Metropolitan Railway. Today, Paddington tube station is served by the Bakerloo, Circle, District and it is also the terminus for the Heathrow Express and Heathrow Connect services to and from London Heathrow Airport. It is one of 19 stations in the United Kingdom managed directly by Network Rail and it is situated in fare zone 1. The station complex is bounded at the front by Praed Street and at the rear by Bishops Bridge Road, on the west side of the station is Eastbourne Terrace, while the east side is bounded by the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal. The station is in a cutting, a fact obscured at the front by a hotel building. The surrounding area is residential, and includes the major St Marys Hospital, restaurants. Until recently there was little office accommodation in the area, however, recent redevelopment of derelict railway and canal land, marketed as Paddington Waterside, has resulted in new office complexes nearby. In addition to the Underground stations at Paddington, Lancaster Gate tube station on the Central line is a walk away to the south. A little further to the south lie the conjoined parks of Hyde Park, the National Rail station is officially named London Paddington, a name commonly used outside London but rarely by Londoners, who call it just Paddington, as on the London Underground map. Parts of the station, including the train shed, date from 1854. It is one of 19 stations managed by Network Rail, the first station was a temporary terminus for the GWR on the west side of Bishops Bridge Road, opened on 4 June 1838. The first GWR service from London to Taplow, near Maidenhead, after the main station opened in 1854, this became the site of the goods depot. It opened on 29 May 1854, the glazed roof is supported by wrought iron arches in three spans, respectively spanning 68 feet,102 feet and 70 feet. The roof is 699 feet long, and the original roof spans had two transepts connecting the three spans and it is commonly believed that these were provided by Brunel to accommodate traversers to carry coaches between the tracks within the station. However recent research, using documents and photographs, does not seem to support this belief. The Great Western Hotel was built on Praed Street in front of the station in 1851–1854 by architect Philip Charles Hardwick, the station was substantially enlarged in 1906–1915 and a fourth span of 109 feet was added on the north side, parallel to the others
3.
Heathrow Airport
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Heathrow Airport is a major international airport in London, United Kingdom. In 2016, it handled a record 75.7 million passengers, Heathrow lies 14 miles west of Central London, and has two parallel east–west runways along with four operational terminals on a site that covers 12.27 square kilometres. London Heathrow is the hub for British Airways and the primary operating base for Virgin Atlantic. In September 2012, the UK government established the Airports Commission, in July 2015, the commission backed a third runway at Heathrow and the government approved a third runway in October 2016. Heathrow is 14 mi west of central London, near the end of the London Borough of Hillingdon on a parcel of land that is designated part of the Metropolitan Green Belt. The airport is surrounded by the areas of Harlington, Harmondsworth, Longford and Cranford to the north and by Hounslow. To the south lie Bedfont and Stanwell while to the west Heathrow is separated from Slough in Berkshire by the M25 motorway, Heathrow falls entirely under the TW postcode area. As the airport is west of London and as its runways run east–west, for a chronicled history of Heathrow Airport, see History of Heathrow Airport. Heathrow Airport originated in 1929 as an airfield on land south-east of the hamlet of Heathrow from which the airport takes its name. At that time there were farms, market gardens and orchards there, there was a Heathrow Farm about where Terminal 1 is now, a Heathrow Hall and a Heathrow House. This hamlet was largely along a lane which ran roughly along the east. Development of the whole Heathrow area as a much larger airport began in 1944. But by the time the airfield was nearing completion, World War II had ended, the government continued to develop the airport as a civil airport, it opened as London Airport in 1946 and was renamed Heathrow Airport in 1966. Heathrow Airport is used by over 80 airlines flying to 185 destinations in 84 countries, the airport is the primary hub of British Airways and is a base for Virgin Atlantic. It has four terminals and a cargo terminal. Of Heathrows 73.4 million passengers in 2014, 93% were international travellers, the busiest single destination in passenger numbers is New York, with over 3 million passengers flying between Heathrow and JFK Airport in 2013. As the required length for runways has grown, Heathrow now has two parallel runways running east–west. These are extended versions of the two east–west runways from the original hexagram, from the air, almost all of the original runways can still be seen, incorporated into the present system of taxiways
4.
British Rail Class 360
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The Class 360 is an electric multiple-unit that was built by Siemens in two sub-types from 2002–2003 and 2004-2005. These units are part of the Siemens Desiro family, the Siemens Desiro UK family also includes units of Classes 185,350,380,444 and 450. Unlike the South West Trains and West Coast Main Line Desiros and this was a late design change, as the Health and Safety Executive was not happy with the drivers visibility with the previous designs gangway cab for Driver Only Operation. The Class 360 has air conditioning, rapid acceleration technology, first Great Eastern ordered 21 4-car units to replace its elderly Class 312 slam-door units. They entered service in August 2003, and by mid-2004 had completely replaced the old trains and they are primarily used on London Liverpool Street to Clacton-on-Sea, Ipswich and Colchester Town services. They also run to Walton-on-the-Naze at peak times, in April 2004 FirstGroup lost the franchise to the National Express Group, which operated the Great Eastern routes as part of its National Express East Anglia franchise. The franchise is now operated by Greater Anglia, though operated by Greater Anglia, the Class 360 is not maintained by the franchise but is under contract from Siemens for routine maintenance at Ilford Depot near London. These are to be replaced by Bombardier Aventra units entering service between 2019-2020, which means that the class 360/1s will be passed on to another company and it has not yet been announced where they will be passed on to. Heathrow Connect normally runs five 5-car units operating London Paddington-Heathrow Airport stopping trains, for a period in early 2016, service was suspended to facilitate the use of the Class 360 trains on the Heathrow Express service, whose Class 332s had been taken out of service for safety reasons. The trains entered service on 12 June 2005 and these units were originally intended as Class 350s for prospective spot hire. In 2010, one unit was transferred to Heathrow Express to operate its Heathrow Terminal 4 shuttle service, nine Desiro Class 360/2 units have been supplied for the Suvarnabhumi Airport Link in Thailand. Four are four-car sets for Express services running non-stop from City Air Terminal at Makkasan to the airport, another five sets are three-cars for City Line Service stopping at all stations from Phayathai to the airport. The air-conditioning system on trains is designed for the Thai climate. On 25 May 2014,360205 derailed as it entered Paddington due to maintenance errors
5.
Heathrow Airport Holdings
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Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited, formerly BAA is the United Kingdom-based operator of London Heathrow Airport. The company also operated London Gatwick and Stansted airports, plus several other UK airports under its former name, in March 2009 the company was required to sell Gatwick and Stansted airports, and over the following years sold all its airports other than Heathrow. The company was renamed Heathrow Airport Holdings in 2012 to reflect its main business, the companys head office is located in The Compass Centre on the grounds of London Heathrow Airport in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The company makes money from charging landing fees to airlines and increasingly from ancillary operations within those airports such as retail, in the following few years, the authority acquired responsibility for Glasgow International Airport, Edinburgh Airport, Southampton Airport and Aberdeen Airport. The Authority took on the Ministry of Civil Aviation Constabulary in 1966, which was renamed to become the British Airports Authority Constabulary, the initial capitalisation of BAA plc was £1,225 million. In the early 1990s, the company sold Prestwick International Airport, in July 2006, BAA was taken over by a consortium led by Ferrovial, following a bid which valued the company at £10.1 billion. As a result, the company was delisted from the London Stock Exchange on 15 August 2006. Following the take-over, the decision was made to sell the stake in Ferihegy and this was completed in June 2007, when a consortium led by Hochtief AirPort of Germany purchased the stake. After an inquiry from August 2008 – March 2009, the UK Competition Commission announced that BAA would be required to sell three of the seven UK airports it owned at the time, the sales were forecast to raise between £3. 5bn and £4bn. BAA announced plans to sell Gatwick Airport on 17 September 2008, at that time, Gatwick Airport was valued at £1. Ferrovial and its partners had been seeking £1. 8bn- £2bn when they opened the bidding process, eventually, the sale was confirmed on 21 October 2009 and formally completed on 3 December 2009, for a fee of £1.51 billion. This was almost 25 per cent less than BAA had expected Gatwick would fetch when the sale was announced a year previously, BAA sold the airport to Global Infrastructure Partners, the fund backed by Credit Suisse and General Electric, who also operate London City Airport. Ferrovial, the majority holder in BAA, said that it expected to make a loss of around 142 million euros against its consolidated earnings following the sale. On 19 October 2011, BAA announced that Edinburgh Airport would be put up for sale in early 2012 with an aim to handing over the running of the site to a new owner by summer 2012, the airport was sold to Global Infrastructure Partners in 2012. On 18 January 2013, Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited announced the sale of Stansted to the Manchester Airports Group, in May 2014, Heathrow Airport Holdings announced the appointment of John Holland-Kaye, current Development Director, as chief executive officer, succeeding Colin Matthews on 1 July 2014. As BAA, the company was adamant that its name did not officially stand for anything and it was still widely referred to as the British Airports Authority by both the media and the public – even though the Authority was dissolved following the 1986 privatisation. The companys former logo, composed of three triangles, was created by John Lloyd and Jim Northover of the design consultancy, Lloyd Northover. The original BAA plc was acquired in 2006 by Airport Development and Investment Limited, in October 2008 ADI changed its name to BAA Limited, and on 15 October 2012, the company announced that it had changed its name to Heathrow Airport Holdings
6.
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
7.
Heathrow Express
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Heathrow Express is an airport rail link between London Heathrow Airport and Paddington. It opened in 1998 and is operated by the Heathrow Express Operating Company and it is an open access operator and not subject to franchising. Heathrow Express was planned as a joint venture between BAA and British Rail, but was taken over fully by the following the railways being privatised. The principal works were two 5-mile single-bore tunnels and underground stations at Heathrow Central and Terminal 4, electrification of the Great Western Main Line between Paddington and Airport Junction, where the new line diverged from the GWML, was also required. A flying junction known as Stockley Flyover was constructed to connect the tunnel to the GWML fast lines, beginning in January 1998, an interim service called Heathrow FastTrain ran to a temporary station called Heathrow Junction, where a coach took passengers the rest of the way. The full service began on 23 June 1998, with four trains per hour running in each direction, in 2005, a service called Heathrow Connect was started, operating a twice-hourly stopping service along the route using Class 360 Desiro EMUs. In 2008, Heathrow Express was diverted to serve the new Terminal 5 in lieu of Terminal 4, the company employs 435 staff, 90% of whom work on trains or stations, and 72 of whom are train drivers. Heathrow Airport Holdings have an agreement with Network Rail until 2023 for access paths on the GWML, trains depart Paddington every 15 minutes from 05.10 until 23.25, and there is a similar quarter-hourly service in the return direction. At Paddington they use dedicated platforms 6 and 7, although on other platforms are used. There are two stops at Heathrow, Heathrow Central, serving Terminals 1,2 and 3, until the opening of Terminal 5 on 27 March 2008, Heathrow Express terminated at Heathrow Terminal 4, this is now served by the Heathrow Express shuttle from Heathrow Central. The service uses Class 332 electric multiple units built by CAF/Siemens and these incorporate video monitors and the ability to use mobile phones throughout the journey, even in tunnels. The monitors are used for advertising and for news and weather updates produced by BBC World News. Heathrow Express has been well received, not least because steps were taken to reduce the environmental impact. As of Summer 2013, all units have undergone a complete refurbishment inside and out including new seating configurations, luggage storage, Express Saver and Business First tickets are valid within 3 months of date of travel and return journey valid within 1 month of outbound journey. Standard class travel between Heathrow stations is free, there is also a stopping service, Heathrow Connect, which takes the same route but using the slower relief lines, on which significantly lower fares are charged. This takes approximately 15 minutes longer than Heathrow Express, but offers connections to the London Underground Central, Airport workers can get a discount through the Airport Commuter scheme operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings. Performance for the first quarter of the 2013 financial year was 94. 0% PPM, the service runs along Network Rails Great Western Main Line from Paddington to Airport Junction. The line from Airport Junction to the terminals is owned by Heathrow Airport Holdings
8.
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
9.
TfL Rail
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It is operated by MTR Corporation Ltd under contract to Transport for London, and forms part of the future Crossrail route from Shenfield to Reading and Heathrow Airport. TfL Rail took control of the Liverpool Street to Shenfield metro service in May 2015, in May 2018 Heathrow Connect services between Paddington and the airport and the Heathrow Express shuttle from Heathrow Central to Terminal 4 will also come under TfL Rail operation. TfL Rail will then be re-branded as the Elizabeth line in December 2018, between opening in May 2015 and the end of the 2015/2016 period TfL Rail carried over 38 million passengers. In July 2014 TfL awarded the contract to MTR, with a duration of eight years with an option to extend by a two years. The existing Class 315 trains were re-painted in the TfL Rail livery, every station is also staffed from first train to last of the day. TfL Rail utilises the existing 20 miles 16 chains of track on the Great Eastern Main Line between Liverpool Street and Shenfield, during peak times, service frequency is increased and calling patterns vary, with some stations omitted on certain services. On Sundays there are two trains per hour between Liverpool Street and Shenfield and two trains per hour between Liverpool Street and Gidea Park. TfL Rail operations commenced with the fleet of Class 315 rolling stock. These units will be replaced by 66 new Class 345 trains built by the Canadian firm Bombardier Transportation, the Class 315 trains will continue to be maintained at the existing Ilford depot. The Class 345 fleet will be maintained at a new depot at Old Oak Common
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