Who will win row on the tracks?

ON the face of it, it sounds great. An ambitious new train operator laying on three new budget train services through York to London every day - and offering to ferry passengers between their home and the railway station to boot.

Pressure group Transport 2000 has welcomed the competition represented by York-based Grand Central's proposals. And the Office of Rail Regulation seemed to agree when it announced last month it was "minded to approve" the three services.

Established train operator GNER is less happy, however. It has nothing against competition, says spokesman John Gelson. "Competition already exists between us and low-cost airlines and the private car."

But at the same time as giving the green light to Grand Central's three new services through York to London, the rail regulator turned down GNER's bid to run an extra 12 trains between Leeds and London.

The regulator argued that the East Coast Main Line between Leeds and Doncaster was already too busy and could not accommodate 12 more trains every day.

But those extra services are a Government priority, and it is committed to providing them under the terms of its franchise, says GNER. It is challenging the rail regulator's ruling, claiming that, thanks to changes to freight timetables, there is now enough room on the Leeds to Doncaster stretch of the line for its dozen extra services.

South of Doncaster, however, there is a bottleneck, GNER claims. The line could accommodate GNER's extra 12 trains, but not those and Grand Central's three York-to-London services.

The rail regulator could make his final decision as early as the end of this week.

Here, we weigh up the proposals...

Grand Central

Who are they?

New train company set up in 2000 with the "aim of bringing new services" to the rail network. Managing director Ian Yeowart is a former senior British Rail manager, whose responsibilities in the past included being in charge of British Rail's South Yorkshire region. The company does not yet operate any train services.

Grand Central proposals

Ultimately, Grand Central hopes to operate eight services a day - four from Sunderland to London, calling at York: and four from Bradford to London. The rail regulator says he is "minded to approve" three services a day from Sunderland to London, via York. North of York, these trains would stop at stations not served by GNER, including Thirsk and Hartlepool. There would be no stops between York and London.

If the company does win the right to run the three services it will be an "open access" operator. That means it will not take out a franchise and will not be contractually bound to operate them.

Timetable

If the rail regulator confirms approval of the three services, Grand Central will have to negotiate with Network Rail - which manages the railway lines - as to when it can run its services. The aim, however, says Mr Yeowart, is to have services leaving York for London at about 8.45am, just after 2pm, and at about 6pm. Trains would leave London for York and the north at about 8am, 11.30am and between 4 and 5pm.

Price

A simple fare-pricing scheme. A single to London from York, bought on the day of travel - or even on the train itself - would be £30. A return ticket would be £55. First class prices would be double that: £60 and £110 respectively. There would be no discounts for advanced booking, and no restrictions on which train you travelled on. If the train was full, and a member of staff was unable to find you a seat, you would be entitled to a 50 per cent refund.

The trains

The trains will be new, each with five carriages (including a restaurant car) and capable in theory of reaching 125mph and doing the York to London run in one hour and 35 minutes, according to Ian Yeowart. In reality, because of the bottlenecks on the East Coast Main Line (see graphic), trains are likely to take considerably longer than that to reach London, says Roger Bastin, of Transport 2000.

Passenger benefits

Increased competition for GNER; simple-to-buy and fairly cheap tickets; a direct service for the first time between York and Sunderland, plus stations in between. Not only will that mean potentially opening up York as a tourist destination to more visitors from the north - it will also make it easier for York passengers to make the journey to Wearside.

Grand Central also has innovative plans to help passengers get to York Railway Station. These include plans for a taxi-style ferry service operated by the train company to bring passengers from their homes to the station and back.

The cost would be competitive with the cost of parking at York station, Mr Yeowart says. The company is also in negotiations with City of York Council to open a dedicated railway park-and-ride site within the ring road to the north of York, from which passengers could be ferried to the station by bus or people carrier.

GNER

Who are they?

Established York-based train operator who have been running services on the East Coast Main Line since 1996.

At the moment, GNER run 61 trains a day to London through York, and 53 trains each day from Leeds to London.

The company won a new ten-year franchise in May last year. Over the next ten years, it will pay £1.3 billion into central Government coffers for the right to operate the franchise. The money will effectively be used to subsidise less economic rail routes.

GNER proposals

GNER wants to run an extra 12 trains every day between Leeds and London, bringing the number up to 65 a day and ensuring a half-hourly service throughout the day, even at off-peak times.

That, the company says, is a commitment made in its new franchise.

Leeds, says GNER, is seen by the Government as being a crucial transport hub connecting West Yorkshire to the south.

The 12 extra services have been a Government policy objective since 2001, and Network Rail has already made substantial investment (including £240 million on revamping Leeds station with new platforms and other facilities) so as to cater for the extra trains.

GNER will be investing more than £125 million on modernising the 12 stations it manages down the East Coast Main Line.

GNER corporate affairs manager Alan Hyde insists GNER has no problem with competitors such as Grand Central - but says there is insufficient capacity on the line south of Doncaster for both GNER's new services and those Grand Central wishes to provide.

He also claims competition with "open access" operators such as Grand Central is unfair, because they do not have to pay the same charges as a franchise operator such as GNER. Those charges, paid to access the railway lines, amount to about £2 million per train per year for GNER.

Timetable

GNER trains run frequently from York and Leeds throughout the day and late into the evening. The aim of the new services would be to ensure a half-hourly service from Leeds to London.

Price

Book in advance with GNER and you can, in theory, get from York to London for as little as £19 return standard class, £59 first class. Such tickets are, however, limited in number.

In 2004, GNER claims, one tenth of its passenger journeys were made using such cheap "advance purchase tickets".

That doesn't mean one in ten seats on each train will be that cheap. It depends how busy the train is likely to be.

You are more likely to get a cheap ticket on a train running at an off-peak time than on a peak-time train. The more flexible you can be about when you travel, and the further in advance you book, the more likely you are to get such a ticket.

There are a range of other discounted ticket prices available. The standard saver return, bought when you reach the station, is £72. This ticket cannot be used on certain peak time services.

For unrestricted travel, including peak time trains, the cost of a standard return can be up to £160.

The trains

GNER recently spent £30 million on refurbishing its fleet of 30 15-year-old electric trains. It plans to spend a further £25 million upgrading its fleet of 13 even older diesel trains.

The average journey time York to London with GNER is less than two hours.

Passenger benefits

No direct benefit to York passengers of GNER running 12 extra services from Leeds to London, although there clearly are benefits for anyone travelling from Leeds or the West Riding.

Adding the 12 extra Leeds-to-London trains would make economic sense for GNER to then press ahead with the £70 to £100 million electrification of the lines between Leeds and York, according to the company. This would benefit York travellers by possibly leading to an improved York-Leeds service.

The Transport 2000 view

Pressure group Transport 2000 is keen for Grand Central to run its three trains a day. Competition from small open access train operators is healthy, says the organisation's North Yorkshire treasurer Roger Bastin.

Just how healthy is illustrated by the case of Hull Trains, he says. Until 2000, when Hull Trains entered the market, there was only one through service from Hull to London - provided by GNER. Hull Trains now runs six a day.

"We hope that the railway regulator upholds its decision to allow Grand Central services from Sunderland (through York to London) - with more destinations to follow once infrastructure investment has taken place," he said.

Transport 2000 is not opposed to GNER's plans to run extra services from Leeds, Mr Bastin said - but he did not think the rail capacity was there at the moment.

GNER disagrees, saying that there is now the capacity for the extra trains, thanks to changes to freight timetables on that stretch of line introduced in December.

Updated: 10:18 Thursday, February 16, 2006