Govia Limited is a transport company based in the United Kingdom. It was formed in November 1996 as a joint venture between Go-Ahead Group (65%) and Keolis (35%) to bid for rail franchises during the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...

History

Established in 1986, the Go-Ahead Group has its roots in North East England where it was formed as Go-Ahead Northern during the de-regulation of the bus industry. Keolis is the biggest private operator of public transport in France and a major worldwide operator of transport services. As part of the

, the Thames Trains franchise was awarded to Victory Rail Holdings, a company owned by Go-Ahead (65%) and some ex British Rail managers (35%), with operations commencing on 13 October 1996. Go-Ahead bought the remaining shares it did not own in June 1998. Go-Ahead formed a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

with Keolis and were awarded the Thameslink franchise with operations commencing on 2 March 1997. Upon being retendered, the franchise passed to First Capital Connect on 1 April 2006. Govia also unsuccessfully bid for the Regional Railways North West and ScotRail franchises. In August 2001, Govia commenced operating the South Central franchise adopting the name Southern. In April 2006, Southeastern operated the South Eastern franchise. In November 2007, Govia commenced operating the London Midland franchise and in May 2014, the

Govia Thameslink Railway Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is a British train operating company that operates the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise, TSGN rail franchise. Within the franchise, GTR runs trains under the sub-brands: Thameslink, Great North ...

franchise. Govia unsuccessfully bid for the Northern and TransPennine Express franchises in 2015.Shortlist for Northern and Transpennine Express rail operators revealed
Department for Transport 19 August 2014

Current operations

Govia currently operate one franchise: *

operating the Thameslink, Southern, Gatwick Express & Great Northern franchise under the Southern, Gatwick Express, Thameslink and Great Northern brands from

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

and

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and parts of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, along with lines from

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

, Peterborough and Kings Lynn (via

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

) to London (expires April 2028).

Previous operations

Govia previously ran rail franchises through the following companies: * Thameslink from March 1997 until March 2006. * Southern operating as Southern and Gatwick Express from August 2001 and June 2008 respectively until joining Govia Thameslink Railway in July 2015. * Southeastern operated the South Eastern franchise from

and East Sussex to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

from April 2006 until October 2021 * London Midland on the West Coast Main Line and in the West Midlands from November 2007 until December 2017.

Other operations

The partners have also bid for other franchises separately. Keolis held a 45% shareholding in former train operating company First TransPennine Express since February 2004. In 2012, it bid for the InterCity West Coast franchise in partnership with

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

. Go-Ahead bid for the Greater Anglia franchise. Shortlisted Bidders For Greater Anglia And Intercity West Coast Rail Franchises
Department for Transport 24 March 2011 The partners also lodged an unsuccessful bid for the TransPennine Express franchise in 2015, but this was not being done through Govia, with Keolis holding a majority shareholding.

References

External links

Company website
* {{Keolis Go-Ahead Group companies Keolis 1996 establishments in England