Open access is ‘key priority,’ says Firstgroup boss
Firstgroup is pushing ahead with plans to expand its open access offering despite fears over a government clampdown.
The transport giant on Monday announced it had leased five Class 222, six car diesel trains after signing an agreement with rolling stock firm Eversholt Rail.
It intends for the 340-seat trains to be used on a new open access service between London Euston and Stirling, which is expected to launch in 2026.
The route will be operated by Firstgroup’s subsidiary, Lumo. It aims to “significantly increase” direct connections to and from London and central and southern Scotland.
Chief executive Graham Sutherland said mobilising the Euston-Stirling service was “another important step towards rolling out Lumo as a nationwide operator and growing our open access capacity, a key priority for the group.
“Our investment and capabilities in open access rail have delivered reliable, value for money services, grown rail demand and helped to spur economic growth and connect communities. We look forward to doing the same on our new services.”
Open access is a lesser-used model in the railway industry in which operator’s take on greater commercial risk in exchange for greater profit.
Proponents argue it increases competition and performance for traditional operators while lowering fares for passengers.
But Labour’s re-nationalisation programme has left open access providers facing greater hurdles to expansion.
Earlier this year, transport secretary Heidi Alexander ordered the industry regulator to take a tougher approach to approving applications for new open access routes, despite their huge growth in recent years.
In a statement on Monday, Firstgroup said: “The benefits of the successful open access model, recognised by government and the independent regulator ORR, include connecting under-served places, helping to drive economic growth and providing additional capacity on core routes which can push a modal shift away from carbon-intensive travel.”
Shares were trading down around 0.6 per cent by mid-morning.
Labour’s nationalisation programme kicked off last month with the transfer of SWR into state ownership. It had been run by Firstgroup since 2017.
Jerome Mayhew, shadow minister for rails, said Labour’s plan for rail nationalisation were “driven purely by ideology and won’t get the rail networks back on track.”
“The private sector can – and has – brought significant investment into British railways without draining the Treasury of taxpayers’ money.
He added: “Lumo should be heralded as an example of how the private sector can benefit the railways, but instead Labour would prefer to shut them down.”