Hull Trains

Hull Trains is an open-access railway operator in England owned by the multinational transport company FirstGroup / Beverley and London King's Cross. It has a track-access agreement until December 2032.

Hull Trains was originally established in 1999 in the aftermath of the privatisation of British Rail in response to the low volume of trains between Hull and London King's Cross operated by the incumbent franchise. Their initial track-access agreement was granted in December 1999, permitting operations to be launched on 25 September 2000. Hull Trains' track-access agreement has been extended multiple times since commencing operations. Ownership was originally divided between an 80 percent stake held by the train operating company (TOC) GB Railways, while the former British Rail managers Mike Jones and John Nelson held the remainder. A majority stake in the company was acquired by FirstGroup in August 2003, leading to its rebranding as ''First Hull Trains'' five years later. FirstGroup made it a wholly-owned subsidiary by buying out the other shareholder in the venture during August 2014; that same year, the Hull Trains name was readopted.

Hull Trains initially ran three services per day, this was progressively expanded in response to passenger numbers to as many as seven services per day by December 2006. In addition to increasing service frequency, the number of cars per train was also raised to boost capacity. Hull Trains initially operated a small fleet of three-car Class 170 ''Turbostar'' diesel multiple units (DMUs); six years later, it exchanged these for four-car Class 222 ''Pioneer'' DMUs, followed by several five-car Class 180 ''Adelante'' DMUs and InterCity 125 HST sets. Early services were limited to a maximum speed of , the introduction of the Class 222 enabled speeds to be raised to . , all of Hull Trains' services are operated a fleet of five Class 802 ''Paragon'' bi-mode multiple units (BMUs). In 2020 and 2021, multiple temporarily suspensions of service were enacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Regular services were resumed on 12 April 2021.

History

In 1999, there was only one through train per day each way between Hull and London King's Cross, GNER's ''Hull Executive''. During May 1999, former British Rail managers Mike Jones and John Nelson lodged an application to operate an open-access service through their Renaissance Trains business. A joint venture was formed with the train operating company (TOC) GB Railways, which took an 80% shareholding, while Jones and Nelson each held a 10% stake in the new entity.

In December 1999, a four-year track-access agreement was granted to Hull Trains by the Office of Rail Regulation. According to rail industry periodical ''Rail Express'', the application had been vigorously resisted by the incumbent train operators, such as West Anglia Great Northern. Furthermore, national infrastructure owner Railtrack had allegedly demonstrated a poor ability in identifying potential paths for the service. In Hull Trains' favour was the support of several prominent figures, including members of parliament, who were keen to support an initiative that would provide Hull with improved transportation.

On 25 September 2000, Hull Trains officially launched its operations with its first service departing King's Cross station. Early passenger numbers were encouraging. However, an early blow to the company came in the form of widespread disruption resulting from the Hatfield rail crash; months of speed limitations and temporary line closures heavily impacted services, albeit softened somewhat by compensation payments for lost income issued by Railtrack.

In its first year of operation, Hull Trains reportedly carried roughly 80,000 passengers. During September 2002, Hull Trains' track-access agreement was extended by ten years.

In August 2003, through the purchase of GB Railways by the British transport conglomerate FirstGroup