rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

, an open-access operator is an operator 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 under franchises, are not subject to franchising.

Passenger open-access operators by country

Austria

* RegioJet * WESTbahn

In development

* Silverstar Railways

Czech Republic

* LEO Express * RegioJet

Belgium

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service in Western Europe, connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The service is operated by the Eurostar Group which was formed from the merger of Eurostar, ...

European Sleeper European Sleeper (stylised as european sleeper) is a Belgian–Dutch cooperative which operates a thrice-weekly Open-access operator, open-access night train service between Brussels and Prague, with plans to expand to daily service in the near ...

France

* Trenitalia France *

Renfe Renfe (, ), officially Renfe-Operadora, is Spain's national state-owned railway company. It was created in 2005 upon the split of the former Spanish National Railway Network (RENFE) into the Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias ( ...

In development

* Le Train * Proxima * Kevin Speed

Former operators

* Izy

Germany

* FlixTrain * Harz-Berlin-Express *

Nightjet Nightjet (stylised as nightjet) is a brand name given by the ÖBB, Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) to its overnight passenger train services. ''Nightjet'' operates in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Switze ...

* WESTbahn *

Former operators

* Hamburg-Köln-Express taken over by Flixtrain * Locomore Stuttgart-Berlin route taken over by Leo Express

Hungary

* RegioJet

Italy

* DB/ÖBB Italia *

* NTV (Italo) * Arenaways

Netherlands

Arriva Arriva Ltd. is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. The company was originally established on 24 October 1938 as T Cowie Ltd. Initially focused on the sale of motorcycles, it relaunched shortl ...

night services

In development

* GoVolta * Heuro * Qbuzz international services

Poland

* LEO Express

In development

* FlixTrain

Romania

* Astra Trans Carpatic * Regio Călători * Softrans * Transferoviar Grup

Slovakia

* RegioJet (all services except those on

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

—

Komárno Komárno (, , ), colloquially also called ''Révkomárom'', ''Öregkomárom'', ''Észak-Komárom'' in Hungarian language, Hungarian, is a town in Slovakia at the confluence of the Danube and the Váh rivers. Historically it was formed by the "old ...

mainline, which are franchised)

Slovenia

* Adria transport

Spain

* Ouigo España *

Iryo Iryo is the brand of ''Intermodalidad de Levante S.A.'' (ILSA), a private high-speed rail operator in Spain. The company is jointly owned by the Italian state-owned railway company Trenitalia (51%), the Spanish regional airline Air Nostrum (25%), ...

Sweden

* VR Snabbtåg Sverige (formerly MTRX) * Snälltåget (

Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a France-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. Transdev was formed on 3 April 2011 via the merg ...

) (Malmö–Stockholm–Åre) * TÅGAB *

SJ AB SJ is the primary passenger train operator in Sweden. A wholly List of government enterprises of Sweden, state-owned company operated for-profit under market conditions, SJ operates various services across Sweden. SJ's operations include High-spee ...

Former operators

* Blå Tåget * Saga Rail * FlixTrain
Sydvästen

United Kingdom

* Grand Central *

Heathrow Express Heathrow Express is a high-frequency airport rail link operating between London Heathrow Airport and . Opened in 1998, trains run non-stop, with a journey time of 15 minutes. The service is operated jointly by Great Western Railway (train operat ...

Hull Trains Hull Trains is an open access operator, open-access railway operator in England owned by the multinational transport company FirstGroup. It operates long-distance passenger services between Hull Paragon Interchange, Hull Paragon / Beverley rai ...

Lumo In chemistry, HOMO and LUMO are types of molecular orbitals. The acronyms stand for ''highest occupied molecular orbital'' and ''lowest unoccupied molecular orbital'', respectively. HOMO and LUMO are sometimes collectively called the ''frontie ...

In development

* Go-op * Lumo (London-Stirling) * Lumo (Edinburgh-Glasgow extension) * Lumo (London-Carmarthen) * Lumo (London-Paignton) * Lumo (London-Rochdale) * Grand Central (Newcastle-Brighton) * Grand Central (London-Cleethorpes) * Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands Railway) * Virgin Trains (London-Manchester) * Virgin Trains (London-Rochdale) * Virgin Trains (London-Liverpool) * Virgin Trains (London-Birmingham) * Virgin Trains (London-Glasgow) * Virgin Trains (Channel Tunnel Services) * Hull Trains (London-Sheffield) * Gemini Trains * Evolyn * FS Italiane * Eurostar (London-Frankfurt) * Eurostar (London-Geneva) * Alliance Rail (Marchwood-Southampton)

Former operators

Wrexham & Shropshire Wrexham & Shropshire (legally ''Wrexham, Shropshire & Marylebone Railway Company Limited'') was an open access operator that provided passenger rail services in the United Kingdom. Services between Wrexham General railway station, Wrexham Gen ...

(ceased trading January 2011)

Former proposals

* Alliance Rail Holdings (company dissolved) * First Harrogate Trains *

Grand Union A grand union is a rail track junction where two double-track railway or tramway lines cross at grade, often in a street intersection or crossroads. A total of sixteen railroad switches (sets of points) allow streetcars (or in rarer install ...

(purchased by

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Glasgow Trains *

Platinum Trains Platinum Trains was a proposed open access operator that intended to run limited-stop train services from Scotland to London via the East Coast Main Line. Its plan was to compete with air travel. The company proposed to use two Class 180 unit ...

Notes

References

Rail transport operators {{rail-transport-stub