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Railways Today

Network Rail is responsible for the rail infrastructure, train operating companies (TOCs) run passenger services, freight operating companies (FOCs) provide freight services and rolling stock companies (ROSCOs) lease rail vehicles to the train operators.

The British rail industry is regulated by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) who are also responsible for the regulation of safety on the railways and setting the strategy for Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate (HMRI). Safety issues are researched and monitored by Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB). Policing of the rail network is undertaken by British Transport Police (BTP).

 
Network Rail (www.networkrail.co.uk)
Network Rail owns and manages the rail network for the Train Operating Companies, who run passenger services in specific regions, and the freight companies. It provides access to the network, plans and co-ordinates train movements and produces a workable timetable.

Train Operating Companies

ARRIVA Trains Wales (www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk)
Arriva Trains Wales operates urban and inter urban services in Wales and the border counties of England.

C2C (www.c2c-online.co.uk)
C2C (Commitment2Customers) operates commuter services from London Fenchurch Street to Tilbury, Southend, Lakeside and Shoeburyness.

Central Trains (www.centraltrains.co.uk)
Central Trains operates local rail services throughout the East and West Midlands, as well as long distance services from the Midlands to South Wales the North West of England, East Anglia and the East Coast.

Chiltern Railways (www.chilternrailways.co.uk)
Chiltern Railways provides train services along the M40 corridor between London Marylebone and Kidderminster via Leamington Spa, Warwick, Solihull and Birmingham Snow Hill. Services are also provided between London Marylebone and Aylesbury as well as Amersham via the Metropolitan underground line.

Eurostar (www.eurostar.com)
Eurostar operates train services between London Waterloo and Paris/Brussels with links through to other European destinations. It uses the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the Channel Tunnel.

First Capital Connect (www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk)
First Capital Connect provides commuter and leisure train services for a large population to the North and South of London with the main route from Bedford to Brighton passing through the heart of London. It also serves the London suburban area on the Wimbledon - Sutton - Carshalton line.

First Great Western (www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk)
First Great Western provides train services between London Paddington and South Wales via Bristol Parkway and South West England via Bristol as well as other services in South and South West England and to and from South Wales. It also operates on the main routes in and out of London Paddington covering the Thames Valley to Slough, Reading, Didcot and Oxford, and the Kennet Valley to Newbury and Bedwyn. It also provides services to Hereford, Worcester, Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick, as well as from Reading, Guildford and Dorking to Gatwick Airport.

First Scotrail (www.firstgroup.com/scotrail)
First ScotRail provides 95% of the train services over the Scottish rail network .The company also caters for the leisure traveller carrying many tourists on its famous railway lines, including The West Highland Line, The Kyle Line and The North Line. It operates the Sleeper services from Scotland to London Euston.


Gatwick Express (www.gatwickexpress.com)
Gatwick Express provides a high-speed, dedicated service between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport.

Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) (www.gner.co.uk)
GNER provides high-speed train services along a route of almost 1,000 miles on the East Coast Main Line between London King's Cross and the East Midlands, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland.

Heathrow Connect (www.heathrowconnect.com)
Heathrow Connect provides train services to Heathrow Airport from London Paddington via Ealing, Hanwell, Southall and Hayes

Heathrow Express (www.heathrowexpress.com)
Heathrow Express provides services to Heathrow Airport direct from London Paddington

Hull Trains (www.hulltrains.co.uk)
Hull Trains provides train services between London King's Cross and Grantham, Doncaster, Selby and Hull.

Island Line (www.island-line.co.uk)
Island Line provides rail services on eight and half miles of track on the Isle of Wight serving the island towns of Ryde, Brading Sandown, Lake and Shanklin.

Merseyrail (www.merseyrail.org)
Merseyrail operates the 6.5-mile underground system in Central Liverpool and the 75 miles of overground lines from Liverpool to Southport, Ormskirk, Kirkby, Hunts Cross on the Northern Line, and New Brighton, West Kirby, Chester and Ellesmere Port on the Wirral Line.

Midland Mainline (www.midlandmainline.com)
Midland Mainline operates train services between Yorkshire (Leeds, Wakefield, Doncaster, Sheffield), the East Midlands (Nottingham, Derby Loughborough, Leicester) Bedfordshire (Bedford, Luton) and London St.Pancras.

Northern Rail (www.northernrail.org)
Northern is the largest train operator in the UK. It operates local and regional passenger services across the North of England and North Wales serving cities such as Leeds, Sheffield, Hull, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Carlisle, Sunderland and Durham.

'one’ (www.onerailway.com)
one railway provides services between London Liverpool Street and the east of England, Essex, East Anglia and Stansted Airport,


Silverlink Trains (www.silverlink-trains.com)
The Silverlink's network is divided into two. Silverlink County runs between London Euston and Northampton stopping at county towns such as Milton Keynes, Hemel Hempstead and Watford. Silverlink Metro provides train services on suburban routes running through West, North and East London.

Southeastern (www.southeasternrailway.co.uk)
Southeastern provides over 1700 train services a day across a large part of South East England. It runs an intensive network of suburban and inter-urban services in South East London, Kent and parts of Sussex. It operates from several London stations- Victoria, Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Blackfriars and London Bridge.

Southern (www.southernrailway.com)
Southern provides a mix of suburban and main line train services in South London and to the South Coast operating out of London Victoria, London Bridge and Charing Cross. Its main service is to Brighton with Gatwick Airport serviced from the same line.

South West Trains (www.southwesttrains.co.uk)
South West Trains has London Waterloo as the hub of its network and operates routes through Hampshire, Surrey, Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Devon, Somerset, Cornwall, East and West Sussex and Greater London, serving a mixture of commuters and longer-distance travellers.

TransPennine Express (www.tpexpress.co.uk)
TransPennine Express operates inter-city train services across the North of England, from the East Coast to the Lake District, from the North East to Yorkshire, and across Lancashire to Merseyside. Major towns and cities served by TransPennine Express include Newcastle, Middlesbrough, York, Scarborough, Hull, Leeds, Huddersfield, Doncaster, Sheffield, Preston, Manchester, Manchester International Airport and Liverpool.

Virgin Trains
(www.virgintrains.co.uk)
Virgin Cross Country provides train services from Birmingham to Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and Bristol with regular services to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Newcastle in the north and Brighton, Bournemouth and Penzance in the south and west. Virgin West Coast provides train services from London Euston to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Scotland.

Freight Train Operating Companies
The three major freight train operating companies are:

English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS) (www.ews-railway.co.uk)
EWS is Britain's largest rail freight company and moves more than 100 million tonnes of freight each year in markets as diverse as coal, timber, cars and steel. Every week, 8,000 rail freight services are operated by EWS across all parts of Britain and into Europe using some 500 locomotives and 14,000 wagons.

Freightliner (www.freightliner.co.uk)
Freightliner’s business has two main divisions. Freightliner Intermodal operates over 100 trains of freight containers a day between freight terminals situated at a variety of ports. Freightliner Heavy Haul moves freight such as cement, coal, cars and waste and operates nearly 1,000 trains per week.

GB Railfreight (www.gbrailfreight.co.uk)
GB Railfreight is Britain’s newest rail freight company that has a variety of customers including ASDA and British Gypsum. It runs an innovative daily service from Felixstowe's North Terminal to the Hams Hall Railfreight Terminal near Coleshill in the West Midlands.

Rolling Stock Companies

The three major rolling stock companies are:

Angel Trains (www.angeltrains.co.uk)
Angel Trains finances the construction and supply of new railway rolling stock as well as the modernising or rebuilding of existing stock. It has invested 3.8 billion euros in new trains and owns and leases 5,000 vehicles in the UK and Continental Europe.

Porterbrook Leasing (www.porterbrook.co.uk)
Porterbrook Leasing has a rolling stock fleet of over 5,000 various vehicles that it leases to train and freight operators. Since 1996, Porterbrook has invested in over 2700 new vehicles with a total value of approximately £1.5 billion.

Eversholt Leasing
Owns and leases passenger and freight rolling stock. The company is owned by Forward Trust.

Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) (www.rail-reg.gov.uk)

The ORR is the integrated safety and economic regulator for the railway industry. As the railway industry's economic regulator, the Office's principal function is to regulate Network Rail's stewardship of the national network. The ORR also licenses operators of railway assets, approves agreements for access by operators to track, stations, and light maintenance depots, and enforces domestic competition law.

 
Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate (HMRI)


The ORR is also responsible for setting the overall strategy of Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate (HMRI). The role of HMRI is to secure the proper control by dutyholders of risks to the health and safety of employees, passengers and others who might be affected by the operation of Britain's railways. They have Inspectors and policy advisors who work together to develop and deliver this strategy.


Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) (www.rssb.co.uk)

RSSB is an independent organisation providing leadership in the development of the long-term safety strategy and policy for the railway industry. The company's prime objective is to lead and facilitate the railway industry's work to achieve continuous improvement in the health and safety performance of the railways in Great Britain, and thus to facilitate the reduction of risk to passengers, employees and the public.

British Transport Police (BTP) (www.btp.police.uk)
British Transport Police is the national police force for the railways providing a policing service to rail operators, their staff and passengers throughout England, Wales and Scotland. The Force is also responsible for policing the London Underground system, Docklands Light Railway, the Glasgow Subway, the Midland Metro tram system and Croydon Tramlink.