First Harrogate Trains was a proposed

open access operator In rail transport in Europe, an open-access operator is a train operating company that takes full commercial risk, running on infrastructure owned by a third party and buying paths on a chosen route and in countries where rail services run und ...

with ambitions to run passenger services between

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa wate ...

and

London King's Cross King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is in the London station group, one of the busiest stations in the United Kin ...

via

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

. The company proposed to run from

with up to four services each way per day. The application to run trains was rejected by the

Office of Rail Regulation The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the economic and safety regulation of Britain's railways, and the economic monitoring of National Highways. ORR regulates Network Rail by setting ...

in February 2009. It cited that the services would not bring enough new patronage and thus rely on abstracting revenue from existing train operating companies. First Harrogate Trains also applied for four trains per day service from to London, with an additional four trains per day between Lincoln Central and London Kings Cross, and to open a new station at Donnington Parkway. In 2009, it was rejected by the Office of Rail Regulations. Had FHT been successful, it was intended that services would have commenced in the summer of 2009. First Harrogate Trains was a subsidiary of

Hull Trains Hull Trains is an open-access railway operator in England owned by the multinational transport company FirstGroup. It operates long-distance passenger services between Hull / Beverley and London King's Cross. It has a track-access agreement u ...

, owned by

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Renaissance Trains Renaissance Trains is a company formed in August 1997 by former British Rail managers Mike Jones and John Nelson with the purpose of promoting and investing in open access passenger and freight rail businesses in the United Kingdom, as well as prom ...

(20%).

Rolling stock

The preferred rolling stock to be used was Class 180 ''Adelante'' or Class 222 ''Pioneer'' trains, the types used by

previously.Track Application - page 2
Office of Rail Regulation"Hull Trains unveils Harrogate service" ''Today's Railways UK'' issue 85 January 2009 page 10

References

{{Reflist FirstGroup railway companies Open-access train operating companies Renaissance Trains