FirstGroup urges speedier response to access bids as it promotes open access operations

FirstGroup has called for the track access bids process to be speeded up, as part of its report promoting open access operations.

Its new report - Moving forward together: Why open access is essential for a better railway, published on January 20 - also called on government to continue supporting applications as existing train operators begin to be taken over by the Department for Transport.

The report claimed the sector can “meet and relieve demand if timetabling is more responsive to market needs”.

FirstGroup said speeding up the process of going from announcing plans to the start of services, such as its Lumo operation on the East Coast Main Line, would unlock markets quicker and give passengers greater choice.

The operator currently has four track access bids in with the Office of Rail and Road (ORR): London King’s Cross-Sheffield via Worksop; Edinburgh Waverley-Glasgow Queen Street; London Euston- Rochdale via Manchester Victoria; and London Paddington-Paignton. The Sheffield and Glasgow applications have been with the regulator for around a year.

It said that it needs to know the outcome by November 2025, so that it can place a £460 million order with Hitachi for 13 Class 80x units for these routes.

Martijn Gilbert, FirstGroup’s MD for open access operations, told RAIL: “Where we stand today, we have a window to place a follow-up train order up until November 2025. Trains take a good few years to build.”

ORR said track access bids go through a process which involves Network Rail, train operating companies, and other parties “in producing sufficient information to us so that we can be assured there is space on the railway network for any proposal”.

A spokesman added: “There are sometimes delays to receiving the necessary information from the relevant parties throughout the process. Once we review that information and apply it to the criteria and legal framework, we will make a decision.”

Published two weeks after Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told ORR of her concerns about open access operations and their current applications causing capacity issues, revenue abstraction and paying lower access charges, FirstGroup’s report also called on the government to encourage open access.

The report said there was “nothing to fear from a thriving open access sector... it must be encouraged”, adding: “Open access is a vital part of our rail map: it is imperative this new government embraces open access and removes barriers to new services.”

First Rail’s Managing Director Steve Montgomery,said it was “important we have a regulator that is able to regulate, and it has the ability to look, as it does, and evaluate each of the propositions”.

He added: “A strong regulator is something we support and would like to see maintained in the future, whatever the future holds in terms of Great British Railways.”

Gilbert said ORR already examines the issues raised by Alexander, adding: “There has never been a performance risk or capacity issue caused by an open access operator.

“Open access operators don’t have clock-face timetables. They run in gaps there are already trains in, in opposite hours. This whole argument about a performance issue is complete nonsense.”