345 million passengers in 2018/19
Operate more than 400 stations
Nine billion passenger miles travelled last year
We operate four UK rail franchises - Great Western Railway, South Western Railway, TransPennine Express and Avanti West Coast - and one open access passenger rail service, Hull Trains. We also operate the London Trams service on behalf of Transport for London.

We are an experienced operator of all types of passenger railways - intercity, commuter, regional and sleeper services.

As one of the most experienced operators in the UK, we are uniquely positioned to work with our partners to add value and improve services. Across all our operations, we are working in partnership with industry partners and local stakeholders to provide better rail services, keep people moving and communities prospering across the country.

We are committed to improving the customer experience; all our TOCs are seeing investment in what our passengers tell us they want – more trains, more seats, better Wi-Fi, and more information. In fact, we are investing in new rolling stock to improve our customers’ journeys across all our franchises. By 2020, 90% of our customers will be travelling on a train less than five years old.

Also, we are embracing new technology to enhance the customer experience. The customer app for our operating companies has been downloaded more than one million times; we are working with councils to introduce smart ticketing and we have led one of the largest roll outs of free Wi-Fi on the UK rail network.

We have a great track record in rail that has proven successful through different generations of rail franchising and across a range of passenger rail operations. We remain committed to retaining a leading position in the thriving UK rail market which has seen spectacular growth thanks to privatisation, far outstripping economic growth. The UK rail network’s performance is unmatched in other sectors and is the envy of Europe, with higher passenger kilometres travelled and passenger satisfaction scores than Germany, Holland or France.

Avanti West Coast

Avanti West Coast, serving as part of our joint venture with Trenitalia known as the West Coast Partnership, runs the current intercity services on the West Coast Main Line.

Serving as a vital economic artery, bringing cities and people closer together,  Avanti West Coast links London to cities and towns across England, North Wales and Scotland.

Together with Trenitalia, we're working in partnership with stakeholders, communities and customers along the route to develop and enhance rail services and help stimulate economic growth. The new partnership will build on the existing success and culture of the previous operator by bringing together the best parts of both Virgin Trains and First Trenitalia. Our goal is to deliver a progressive railway service that generates nationwide prosperity and pride.

The partnership also includes West Coast Partnership Development (known during the bidding phase as the ‘Shadow Operator’), preparing for a new era in high speed rail.

Great Western Railway (GWR)

GWR provides high speed, commuter, regional and branch line train services, carrying more than 100 million passengers every year across the Great Western rail franchise area, which includes South Wales, the West Country, the Cotswolds, and large parts of Southern England.

We will run the franchise until at least March 2020, bringing our experience of managing the route over many years to ensure the successful delivery of the major programme of infrastructure upgrades on the network. The £7.5bn Great Western Mainline modernisation programme is the biggest investment on the route since Brunel. During this time, we are introducing new or refurbished trains on every part of the network meaning additional and more frequent services, reduced journey times and more seats, particularly on key commuter routes.

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South Western Railway
The South Western Rail franchise was awarded to FirstGroup and MTR in March 2017. We began operating the network on 20 August 2017 and will continue until at least August 2024.

South Western Railway operates almost 1,700 services per day across the network, providing commuter, inter-urban, regional and long distance services to passengers in south west London and southern counties of England, as well as Island Line services on the Isle of Wight. As well as commuter travellers, SWR transports leisure travellers across the region, to many tourist and heritage sites, and the numerous major sporting and social events that take place along the route every year.

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TransPennine Express
TransPennine Express provides vital connections between key cities in the North of England and Scotland; providing a true intercity for the North.

TransPennine Express operates inter-city services on three main routes:
• North TransPennine - including Newcastle to Manchester Airport, Middlesbrough to Manchester Airport, Scarborough to Liverpool and Hull to Manchester Piccadilly
• South TransPennine from Cleethorpes via Doncaster and Sheffield to Manchester Airport
• North West and Scotland – Edinburgh, Glasgow, Carlisle, Penrith, Oxenholme to Manchester Airport via Preston and Bolton.

We will operate the franchise until at least 2023, and during that time TransPennine Express will oversee an investment which lead to an 80 per cent rise in capacity at the busiest times of the day and increase connections between the largest cities in the North and Scotland by 55 per cent by 2019.

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Hull Trains
Our open access service has regularly achieved first place in Transport Focus's independent National Rail Passenger Survey in recent years.

Since we started services in 2000 Hull Trains has filled a vital gap in the market, making 90 journeys a week between London, Hull and intermediate stations, and transporting more a million people annually – an increase of more than ten times since inception. Our commitment to the service continues; we have ordered five new trains which will deliver more capacity and comfort for our passengers. We have secured track access rights to operate the service until 2029.

Click here for more information about Hull Trains

London Trams
We operate the London Trams network on behalf of Transport for London, which sees patronage of around 29m passengers per year. Passenger numbers have increased by more than 10m since the start of operations.

Click here for more information about London Trams