Member Article

Arriva’s Grand Central Rail extends 10 year contract to connect Bradford with the capital

Grand Central Rail has announced that its recent application for an extended 10 year contract for the King’s Cross to Bradford route has been agreed by the Office of Rail Regulation.

Grand Central Rail, part of the Arriva Group, is an open access operator which means that it is not subject to franchising, instead purchasing individual slots on the mainline from a railway infrastructure company.

The new contract will allow Grand Central Rail to continue operating services between London King’s Cross and Sunderland and London King’s Cross and Bradford until 2026.

The agreement on the length of the contract term will enable Grand Central Rail to make significant investment in its rolling stock and invest in passenger facilities at the stations it calls at.

Richard McClean, managing director of Grand Central, said: “As an Open Access Operator, the 10 year extension to our rail access is excellent news for our passengers and employees and highly significant for the wider rail industry.

“Not only does this mean we can continue to operate services connecting Sunderland and Bradford to London King’s Cross, but we are also in a position to proceed with significant investments to improve our services and encourage future economic growth.

“For many of the towns on our routes we operate the only direct service to London, so this extension is a big coup for those communities and local businesses as well, who can continue to make connections to the capital.

“Our new access rights give us the opportunity to make significant investment in the rolling stock to improve reliability. We’ll also work with stations along our route to improve facilities like car parks.

“We pride ourselves on our customer service, as recently demonstrated in the latest National Rail Passenger Survey results, and we are looking forward to a further 10 years of linking with these communities and making continued enhancements to our service for our passengers.”

Grand Central provides a direct train service from the North East and Yorkshire to London King’s Cross.

The existing track access contract allowed Grand Central to operate until 2016.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .