Alliance Rail Holdings
 | |
| Formation | 2009 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | York |
Acting Managing Director | Richard McClean |
Parent organization | Arriva UK Trains |
Staff | 5 |
| Website | www.alliancerail.co.uk |
Alliance Rail Holdings[1] is a railway company developing plans to operate passenger trains in the United Kingdom through its subsidiaries Great North Western Railway Company Limited (GNWR)[2] and Grand Southern Railway (GSR). Despite various proposals, the company has not run any passenger services since its formation in 2009.
Alliance has undertaken detailed timetabling and economic work to support its applications to the Office of Rail & Road (ORR). Alliance is headed by Richard McClean who is also managing director of Grand Central. A new development team was announced on 12 August 2010.[3] The venture is wholly owned by Arriva.[4]
Approved proposals
Great North Western Railway
In August 2015, the ORR announced Alliance Rail's amended application to operate six trains per day from London Euston to Blackpool calling at Milton Keynes, Nuneaton, Tamworth, Lichfield Trent Valley, Crewe, Preston, Kirkham & Wesham and Poulton-le-Fylde had been successful. A 10-year access agreement was awarded with operations to commence in May 2018.[5][6] These services were to have been operated by fellow Arriva subsidiary Grand Central.[7] The application proposed using 125mph tilting Class 390 Pendolinos, however with Alliance unable to negotiate a derogation to operate the rolling stock, the access rights lapsed in June 2017.[8][9]
Alliance applied for altered paths with former Virgin Trains East Coast and now current London North Eastern Railway InterCity 225 sets to commence operating from September 2019. As these will not able to tilt, their speed would be restricted to 110mph. Due to the lower speed, the revised service would only call at Milton Keynes, Nuneaton, Preston, Kirkham & Wesham and Poulton-le-Fylde.[9][10]
In June 2018, the Office of Rail and Road approved the new application for a 7-year track access application for 5 direct services from Blackpool North to London Euston calling at: Poulton-le-Fylde, Kirkham and Wesham, Preston, Nuneaton and Milton Keynes Central from September 2019. [11][12] An option for a 6th service in the future is available.
Rejected proposals
Grand Southern Railway
In November 2016, Alliance began a consultation for a proposed London Waterloo to Southampton service. It was proposed to operate seven off-peak services from December 2017 calling at Wimbledon, Hook, Basingstoke, Winchester and Eastleigh, with two peak services proposed from December 2018. It was set to use Class 442s.[13] Network Rail had identified available paths for Grand Southern to use.[9] In March 2017, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) told Grand Southern to delay the application until the outcome of the South Western franchise was known. In March 2018, the ORR released an update confirming a delay on the application. The application was eventually rejected in August 2018.[14]
The reason for the rejection was due to the fact that the Class 442 were no longer available. The proposal also only generated between £0.17 and £0.22 of new revenue and the ORR requires no less that £0.30 therefor failing the not primarily abstractive test.[15]
Great North Eastern Railway
GNER, resurrecting the name of the defunct Sea Containers subsidiary lodged an application to operate from London King's Cross to Cleethorpes, Bradford Foster Square, Ilkley and Edinburgh from 2018.[16] These were rejected in May 2016.[17]
It also proposed in 2009 to operate services from London King's Cross to Scarborough via the Yorkshire Coast Line, Skegness, Sheffield via Grantham, Grimsby and Middlesbrough, but these were rejected in 2010 by the ORR. It was also proposed in December 2013 that services would run services between Kings Cross and Skipton, but these were withdrawn in 2014 by the ORR.
References
- ^ Companies House extract company no 7026295 Alliance Rail Holdings Limited
- ^ Companies House extract company no 6938935 Great North Western Railway Company Limited
- ^ "New development team announced" (Press release). Alliance Rail. 12 August 2010. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
- ^ Silvester, Katie (October 2010). "Interview: Ian Yeowart". Rail Professional. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|dead-url=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Milner, Chris (7 August 2015). "Green light for Alliance Holdings service to Blackpool". The Railway Magazine. Archived from the original on 10 August 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|dead-url=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)
- "Alliance Blackpool Service Approved". Modern Railways. Vol. 72, no. 804. September 2015. p. 8. ISSN 0026-8356. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
- "ORR approves Blackpool open access trains" Rail Magazine issue 781 19 August 2015 page 22 - ^ "Blackpool open access services approved" Today's Railways issue 166 October 2015 page 9
- ^ "Alliance Blackpool Service Approved" Modern Railways issue 804 September 2015 page 8
- ^ "HSTs for Alliance Rail as Pendolino plans face difficulties" Today's Railways issue 182 February 2017 page 14
- ^ a b c Alliance drops Pendolino plan as Southampton paths identified Railway Gazette International 19 July 2017
- ^ "Alliance Rail Holdings: Projects".
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ Projects Alliance Rail Holdings
- Southampton - London open access service proposed Railway Gazette International 8 November 2016
- Great Southern signals more choice on railways The Times 9 November 2016 - ^ Office of Rail and Road, http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/28450/2018-08-01-grand-southern-decision-letter.pdf
- ^ [3]
- ^ Great North Eastern Railway Archived 12 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine Alliance Rail Holdings
- "Alliance reveals London-Edinburgh plan" Rail Magazine issue 776 10 June 2015 page 18 - ^ Applications for the East Coast Main Line Office of Rail & Road 12 May 2016
- First Group to run Edinburgh to London budget rail service BBC News 12 May 2016
- VTEC and FirstGroup granted East Coast Main Line paths Railway Gazette International 12 May 2016
