DfT Objects To Eight Open Access Applications
The title of this post is the same as that of an article in the March 2025 Edition of Modern Railways.
Surprise! Suprise! There are no prizes for innovation and risk, to be given out by Starmer’s Government Of All The Lawyers.
- Alliance Rail – Cardiff and Edinburgh – opposed
- Grand Central – London and York – opposed
- Hull Trains – London and Hull – opposed
- Hull Trains – London and Sheffield – opposed
- Lumo – London and Glasgow – opposed
- Lumo – London and Rochdale – opposed
- Virgin Trains – London and Liverpool – opposed
- Virgin Trains – London and Glasgow – opposed
Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway – London and Wrexham – supported.
Splitting And Joining Of Trains
Several of the objections, seem to be on grounds of capacity.
So why not pair up some services and split and join at a convenient station?
Hull Trains – A Hull and a Sheffield service could start together in London and split in Retford.
Lumo – A Newcastle and an Edinburgh service could start together in London and split in Newcastle.
Lumo – An Edinburgh and a Glasgow service could start together in London and split in Edinburgh.
Virgin Trains – A Liverpool and a Glasgow service would start together in London and split in Crewe.
A Bad Decision
I believe the Government’s decision is a very bad one.
At the weekend I wrote Sutton Station To Gatwick Airport By Hydrogen-Powered Bus, about my trip in a hydrogen-powered bus to Gatwick-Airport.
- The quality, performance and roadholding of this new zero-carbon bus was superb.
- I can’t wait to try out Wrightbus’s new hydrogen-powered coach in the next twelve months.
- In the future, I can see high speed hydrogen coaches steaming along the motorways of the UK and Ireland.
Hydrogen-powered coaches will do for cheap travel on the roads of these islands, what Ryanair and easyJet for did above our heads.
The Anonymous Widower 
Thats the same Starmer that wanted to tell us he was keeping jobs at Hitachi for open access operatores
Comment by Nicholas Lewis | February 25, 2025 |
Lawyers don’t do maths or accountancy.
However they talk of capacity and there are more than one way to treat this shower of railway ignoramii.
As a Control Engineer, we have splitting and joining.
I’m sure that Hull Trains could split and join at Retford.
Lumo’s Paignton and Carmarthen services could split and join at Bristol Parkway.
Virgin’s Glasgow and Liverpool services could and join split at Crewe.
Comment by AnonW | February 25, 2025 |
Let’s face it, Labour hates anything that is privatised. In their idealistic Socialist world everything should be taken into state ownership.
Comment by Mauricereed | February 25, 2025 |
Isn’t splitting and joining something the open access operators should have included in their proposals? Why did they not do so?
Comment by JohnC | February 26, 2025 |
Railway Gazette has just published an article on the latest developments, including a letter that DfT has written to ORR https://www.railwaygazette.com/uk/open-access-must-genuinely-add-value-says-dft/69080.article
It’s not just the DfT that’s objecting to open access; NR has recently objected to the Wrexham proposal.
Comment by Peter Robins | July 2, 2025 |
ORR have just rejected several open access applications, based on input from NR https://www.railnews.co.uk/news/2025/07/03-orr-rejects-five-open-access.html
Comment by Peter Robins | July 3, 2025 |
ORR has just approved some limited additions https://www.railnews.co.uk/news/2025/07/29-orr-approves-limited-open-access.html
Comment by Peter Robins | July 29, 2025 |