Renaissance Trains
Encyclopedia
Renaissance Trains is a company formed in 1997 with the purpose of promoting and investing in "open access"
Open access operator
An open access operator is a train operating company that is not subject to franchising.- Open access operators in Great Britain :*Eurostar*Grand Central Railway*Heathrow Connect*Heathrow Express*Hull Trains*Nexus*Pre Metro Operations -In development:...

 passenger and freight rail businesses in the United Kingdom, as well as promoting and investing in rail industry innovation. Its shareholders are John Nelson, Peter Wilkinson, Mike Jones and Mary Bonar. It is based in York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

.

Two shareholders of Renaissance — Mike Jones and John Nelson — formed Hull Trains with GB Railways
GB Railways
GB Railways was a company created in 1995 by Michael Schabas, Jeremy Long, Jim Morgan and Max Steinkopf to bid for British railway franchises. The company won the Anglia Railways rail franchise in 1997. In 1999 it successfully acquired the passenger services of Australian National Railways, in a...

, and took a 10% stake each, which they continued to hold when FirstGroup took over GB Railways.

Hull Trains

  • First Hull Trains - trains between London and Hull
    Kingston upon Hull
    Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

    , operated in conjunction with First

WSMR

  • Wrexham & Shropshire - trains between London and Wrexham
    Wrexham
    Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...

    . Joint venture between Renaissance and Laing Rail, subsequently bought by DB Regio
    DB Regio
    DB Regio AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates short and medium distance passenger train services in Germany, and operates light and heavy rail infrastructure in the United Kingdom.-Germany:...

    .

This service ceased operations on 28 January 2011 as it was not financially viable.

Humber Coast and City Railway



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The success of Hull Trains and its services from London to Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

 led Renaissance Trains to develop a proposal to run trains from Lincolnshire to London, with stops at Grimsby
Grimsby
Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...

, Lincoln
Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....

, Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...

 and Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

. To avoid increasing congestion on the East Coast Main Line
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...

, Humber & City would use the Nottingham-Grimsby route as far as Lincoln Central, then the Peterborough to Lincoln Line
Peterborough to Lincoln Line
The Peterborough to Lincoln Line is a railway line linking and , via and .-History:The section between Peterborough and Spalding closed to passengers on 5 October 1970 and re-opened on 7 June 1971. North of Spalding, Ruskington re-opened on 5 May 1975. Metheringham followed on 6 October...

 to Peterborough, then to Cambridge via Ely before joining the West Anglia Main Line
West Anglia Main Line
The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main lines which run from London Liverpool Street, the other being the Great Eastern Main Line. It runs generally north from London, through the towns of Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Harlow, Bishop's Stortford and Audley End station before reaching Cambridge,...

 and terminating at Stratford
Stratford, London
Stratford is a place in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located east northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham, which transformed into an industrial suburb...

.

As of 2007, Humber & City is no more than a proposal. Renaissance Trains has had discussions with Network Rail
Network Rail
Network Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...

 with regard to the structure and form of the track access agreement. Humber & City has proposed using 100 mph diesel multiple-unit trains with both First Class and Standard Class accommodation.

This service has been shown to take more than 3 hours from Lincoln to London, whereas by changing at Newark North Gate the journey would usually take no more than 2 hours. In addition, Lincoln is already served by a daily service to London St Pancras via Nottingham and Bedford (East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains is a British passenger train operating company. Based in Derby, it provides train services in the East Midlands, chiefly in the counties of Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire, and between the East Midlands and London...

), and East Coast
East Coast (train operating company)
East Coast is a British train operating company running high-speed passenger services on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland...

 now runs a daily direct train between Lincoln and . Both St Pancras and King's Cross are more central than Stratford and provide links to Eurostar at St Pancras International, but the Stratford City
Stratford City
Westfield Stratford City is a shopping centre in Stratford, London, owned by the Westfield Group. The centre opened on 13 September 2011. With a total retail floor area of , it is one of the largest urban shopping centres in Europe. It is the 3rd largest shopping centre in the United Kingdom by...

 development will open in 2010 and Stratford is nearer to Docklands. In addition, in 2010 it was announced that, as a money saving option, East Coast will only run one service a day in each direction between London and Lincoln.

Glasgow Trains

  • Glasgow Trains
    Glasgow Trains
    Glasgow Trains is a proposed open access rail operator in Great Britain from Renaissance Trains. They would offer a twice daily direct service between Liverpool and Glasgow with intermediate stops at Preston and Carlisle...

     - proposed. A service that may, if the proposal is accepted, run between Glasgow
    Glasgow
    Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

     and Blackpool
    Blackpool
    Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...

    , Liverpool
    Liverpool
    Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

     and Nottingham
    Nottingham
    Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

    .

First Harrogate Trains

  • First Harrogate Trains
    First Harrogate Trains
    First Harrogate Trains was a proposed open-access UK train operating company. They planned to run regular direct rail services between Harrogate and London....

     - rejected. A service in conjunction with First, as per Hull Trains, between Harrogate
    Harrogate
    Harrogate is a spa town in North Yorkshire, England. The town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters, RHS Harlow Carr gardens, and Betty's Tea Rooms. From the town one can explore the nearby Yorkshire Dales national park. Harrogate originated in the 17th...

    and London. The application for this service was rejected by the Office of Rail Regulation in early 2009.

External links

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