Ian Yeowart, who left the post of Managing Director of London-Sunderland open access operator Grand Central at the beginning of June, has come back to the railway with an ambitious bid for fresh open access services from new companies. Audaciously, one of these is entitled Great North Eastern Railway Company (GNER), the name of the Sea Containers subsidiary that used to be East Coast main line franchise holder.
The new GNER is proposing the introduction of four new services each day between London King¹s Cross and Sheffield/Huddersfield and four daily services between King¹s Cross and Grimsby/Cleethorpes. In addition GNER is proposing the introduction of an Œinter-city¹ service between Hull and Liverpool via the Calder Valley.
At the same time, a sister company, Great North Western Railway Company (GNWR), has submitted plans to the Office of Rail Regulation for a trio of new high speed services on the West Coast main line, which would provide new direct services between London Euston and Huddersfield/Leeds; Euston and Halifax/Bradford; and Euston and Carlisle via Barrow and the Cumbrian Coast.

ŒThe proposed services are designed to bring new direct high speed rail links to areas that have been either without such a link for many years, or have recently seen their services downgraded. In addition, they will introduce an element of on-track competition, bringing consumer and passenger benefits¹ says Mr Yeowart.
He continues: ŒThese applications by GNER and GNWR are being made at an early stage to allow full industry consultation to take place, and to ensure that the extra services can be delivered towards the end of the current Control Period (CP4) ­ which runs from 2009-2014¹.

Mr Yeowart says that Œcompetition has already been seen to work¹ on the East Coast main line, with open access services provided by Hull Trains and Grand Central competing against the franchised operator. ŒOn the West Coast, however, passengers have been unable to benefit in the same way due to protection from competition which the current franchisee, Virgin Trains, enjoys until 2011.¹ New hybrid diesel/electric rolling stock is planned for these services. Mr Yeowart says that the minimum lead time for the new rolling stock he intends to use is around three years: ŒGNER and GNWR believe it is important that work on developing new services begins now. With the West Coast franchise due to be re-let in 2012, the establishment of a new operator alongside a new or retained franchisee will bring important benefits to the route without the requirement of funding from the taxpayer¹.
GNER and GNWR are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Alliance Rail Holdings Ltd, of which Ian Yeowart is a director.

Images: Ian Yeowart is investigating the use of Chinese-built trains for the proposed GNER / GNWR services. These images show how the ‘Polaris’ train might look. Courtesy CSRE

Download map which shows the route map proposed by Ian Yeowart.