List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom explained

There are many companies operating trains in the United Kingdom, including the operators of franchised passenger services, officially referred to as train operating companies (TOCs), as distinct from freight operating companies.

Passenger operators in Great Britain

width=120	Operator	Type	width=120	Franchise	Parent(s)	Passenger satisfaction[1]	Start date	Replaced	Code
Arriva Rail London (Trading as: London Overground)	TfL concession	London Overground	Arriva UK Trains	87%	[2] [3] [4]	London Overground Rail Operations	LO
Avanti West Coast	Franchise	West Coast Partnership	FirstGroup (70%) Trenitalia (30%)	84%		Virgin Trains West Coast	VT
c2c		Essex Thameside	Trenitalia	84%		Network SouthEast (London, Tilbury & Southend Division)	CC
Caledonian Sleeper		Caledonian Sleeper	Scottish Rail Holdings	—		Caledonian Sleeper (Serco)	CS
Chiltern Railways		Chiltern Railways	Arriva UK Trains	88%		Network SouthEast (Chiltern Division)	CH
CrossCountry		New CrossCountry		85%		Central Trains (Birmingham – Stansted), (Cardiff – Nottingham) Virgin CrossCountry	XC
East Midlands Railway		East Midlands	Transport UK Group	83%		East Midlands Trains Northern Trains (Barton-on-Humber – Cleethorpes)	EM
Elizabeth line	TfL concession	Crossrail	MTR Elizabeth line	89%	(as TfL Rail)	Greater Anglia (Liverpool Street – Shenfield) Great Western Railway (Paddington – Reading) Heathrow Connect Heathrow Express (Heathrow Central – Heathrow T4 shuttle)	XR
Eurostar	Open access	—	Eurostar Group	—		—	ES
Govia Thameslink Railway (Trading as: Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern and Thameslink)	Franchise	Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern	Govia	80%		First Capital Connect Southern	SN, TL, GN, GX
Grand Central[5]	Open access	—	Arriva UK Trains	95%		—	GC
Greater Anglia (also operating Stansted Express)	Franchise	East Anglia	Transport UK Group (60%) Mitsui (40%)	77%	[6]	National Express East Anglia	LE
Great Western Railway		Greater Western	FirstGroup	86%		First Great Western First Great Western Link Wessex Trains	GW
Heathrow Express	Open access	—	Heathrow Airport Holdings	94%		—	HX
Hull Trains		—	FirstGroup	92%		—	HT
	Franchise	InterCity East Coast	DfT OLR Holdings	91%		Virgin Trains East Coast	GR
Lumo	Open access	—	FirstGroup	—		—	LD
Merseyrail	Merseytravel contract	Merseyrail	Serco-Abellio	90%		Arriva Trains Merseyside	ME
Northern Trains	Franchise	Northern	DfT OLR Holdings	77%		Arriva Rail North	NT
ScotRail		ScotRail	Scottish Rail Holdings	—		Abellio ScotRail	SR
Southeastern		South Eastern	DfT OLR Holdings	—		Southeastern (Govia)	SE
South Western Railway (also operating Island Line)		South Western	FirstGroup (70%) MTR Corporation (30%)	75%		South West Trains	SW, IL
TransPennine Express		TransPennine Express	DfT OLR Holdings			TransPennine Express (FirstGroup)	TP
Transport for Wales Rail		Wales & Borders	Transport for Wales	—		KeolisAmey Wales	AW
West Midlands Trains (Trading as: West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway)		West Midlands	Transport UK Group (70%) JR East (15%) Mitsui (15%)	79%	[7]	London Midland	LM

There are also a number of light rail systems.

Defunct operating companies

Operating companies have ceased to exist for various reasons, including withdrawal of the franchise, the term of the franchise has expired, bankruptcy or merger.

width=160	Operator	Type	Franchise	Parent(s)	Date started	Date ceased	Replaced by	Code
Abellio ScotRail	Franchise	ScotRail	Abellio			ScotRail (Scottish Government)	SR
Anglia Railways		Anglia	GB Railways			One	AR
Arriva Trains Wales		Wales & Borders	Arriva UK Trains		[8]	KeolisAmey Wales	AW
Arriva Trains Merseyside	Merseytravel contract	Merseyrail				Merseyrail	ME
Arriva Trains Northern	Franchise	Regional Railways North East				First TransPennine Express Northern Rail	AN
Arriva Rail North		Northern				Northern Trains	NT
Caledonian Sleeper (Serco)		Caledonian Sleeper	Serco			Caledonian Sleeper (Scottish Rail Holdings)	CS
Central Trains		Central	National Express			CrossCountry East Midlands Trains London Midland	CT
Connex South Central		Network SouthCentral	Connex			Southern	CX
Connex South Eastern		South Eastern				South Eastern Trains
East Coast		InterCity East Coast	Directly Operated Railways			Virgin Trains East Coast	GR
East Midlands Trains		East Midlands	Stagecoach			East Midlands Railway	EM
First Capital Connect		Thameslink Great Northern	FirstGroup			Govia Thameslink Railway	FC
First Great Eastern		Great Eastern	FirstGroup			National Express East Anglia	GE
First Great Western Link		Thames	FirstGroup			First Great Western	FK
First North Western		North West Regional Railways	FirstGroup			Arriva Trains Wales First TransPennine Express Northern Rail	NW
First ScotRail		Scotrail	FirstGroup			Abellio ScotRail	SR
First TransPennine Express		TransPennine Express	FirstGroup (55%) Keolis (45%)			TransPennine Express	TP
Gatwick Express		Gatwick Express	National Express			Southern	GX
Great North Eastern Railway		InterCity East Coast	Sea Containers			National Express East Coast	GR
Great Western Trains		Great Western	Great Western Holdings			First Great Western	GW
Heathrow Connect	Open Access	—	Heathrow Airport Holdings, FirstGroup			TfL Rail	HC
Island Line	Franchise	Island Line	Stagecoach			South West Trains	IL
London Midland		West Midlands	Govia			West Midlands Trains	LM
London Overground Rail Operations	TfL concession	London Overground	Arriva UK Trains (50%) MTR Corporation (50%)		[9]	Arriva Rail London	LO
Merseyrail Electrics	Merseytravel contract	Merseyrail	MTL			Arriva Trains Merseyside	ME
Midland Mainline	Franchise	Midland Main Line	National Express			East Midlands Trains	ML
National Express East Anglia		Greater Anglia				Greater Anglia	LE
National Express East Coast		InterCity East Coast				East Coast	GR
Northern Rail		Northern Rail	Serco-Abellio			Arriva Rail North	NT
Northern Spirit		Regional Railways North East	MTL			Arriva Trains Northern	NS
North Western Trains		North West Regional Railways	Great Western Holdings			First North Western	NW
ScotRail		ScotRail	National Express			First ScotRail	SR
Silverlink		North London Railways				London Midland London Overground Rail Operations	SS
Southeastern		Integrated Kent	Govia			Southeastern	SE
South Eastern Trains		South Eastern	Strategic Rail Authority			Southeastern	SE
South West Trains		South Western	Stagecoach		[10]	South Western Railway	SW
Southern		South Central	Govia			Govia Thameslink Railway	SN
Thames Trains		Thames	Go-Ahead Group			First Great Western Link	TT
Thameslink		Thameslink	Govia			First Capital Connect	TR
TransPennine Express		TransPennine Express	FirstGroup			TransPennine Trains (trading as TransPennine Express)	TP
KeolisAmey Wales		Wales & Borders	Keolis/Amey			Transport for Wales Rail	AW
Valley Lines		Valley Lines	National Express			Wales & Borders	VL
Virgin Trains East Coast		InterCity East Coast	Virgin Group (10%) Stagecoach (90%)			London North Eastern Railway	GR
Virgin CrossCountry		CrossCountry	Virgin Rail Group			CrossCountry First TransPennine Express Virgin Trains West Coast	VXC
Virgin Trains West Coast		InterCity West Coast			[11]	Avanti West Coast	VT
West Anglia Great Northern (West Anglia Main Line and Lea Valley Lines)		West Anglia Great Northern	National Express			One	WN
West Anglia Great Northern (Great Northern and Fenline routes)		West Anglia Great Northern	National Express			First Capital Connect
Wales & Borders		Wales & Borders	National Express			Arriva Trains Wales	WB
Wales & West		Wales & West	National Express			Wales & Borders Wessex Trains	WW
Wessex Trains		Wessex	National Express			First Great Western	WE
Wrexham & Shropshire	Open access	Wrexham to London	DB Regio			Ceased due to lack of profitability	WS

Passenger operators in Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, passenger trains are NI/Ireland government-owned by Translink or the National Transport Authority. The following brands are used:

• Northern Ireland Railways
• Enterprise service from Dublin Connolly to Belfast Lanyon Place on the Belfast-Dublin line joint venture between Northern Ireland Railways and Iarnród Éireann.
• Iarnród Éireann, Operates 2 Northern Commuter services a day to/from Newry.

UK Railtour operators

See also: Railtour.

• Pathfinder Tours
• Scottish Railway Preservation Society
• Venice-Simplon Orient Express (British Pullman and Northern Belle services)
• Vintage Trains
• West Coast Railways
• Locomotive Services Limited (Including Steam Dreams, InterCity, Blue Pullman, Saphos Trains, and Statesman Rail)
• Hanson and Hall

Luxury railtours

• Belmond Royal Scotsman
• Belmond Brittanic Explorer (From 2025)

In Northern Ireland

• Enthusiast railtours
• Railway Preservation Society of Ireland
• Irish Railway Record Society
• The Modern Railway Society of Ireland

Defunct:

• Compass Tours
• Belmond Grand Hibernian

Freight operators

• Colas Rail
• DCRail
• Direct Rail Services
• DB Cargo UK (formerly English Welsh & Scottish Railway)
• Freightliner
• GB Railfreight
• Mendip Rail
• RailAdventure

Franchised passenger operator structure in Great Britain

Sector of British Rail	Franchise	Pre-grouping company	Original privatised operator	Current operator(s)
InterCity	Caledonian Sleeper	N/A	ScotRail	Caledonian Sleeper
	East Midlands	Midland Railway	Midland Mainline	East Midlands Railway
	Greater Western	Great Western Railway	Great Western Trains	Great Western Railway
	InterCity East Coast	Great Northern Railway	Great North Eastern Railway	London North Eastern Railway
	New CrossCountry	N/A	Virgin CrossCountry	CrossCountry
	West Coast Partnership	London & North Western Railway	Virgin Trains West Coast	Avanti West Coast
Network SouthEast	Chiltern	Great Central Railway	Chiltern Railways
	East Anglia	Great Eastern Railway	Anglia Railways	Greater Anglia
	Essex Thameside	London, Tilbury & Southend Railway	LTS Rail	c2c
	South Eastern	South Eastern & Chatham Railway	Connex South Eastern	Southeastern
	South Western	London & South Western Railway	South West Trains	South Western Railway
	Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern	London, Brighton & South Coast Railway	Thameslink Connex South Central West Anglia Great Northern (Great Northern and Fenline routes)	Thameslink Southern Great Northern (Govia Thameslink Railway)
	West Midlands	N/A	Central Trains	West Midlands Railway London Northwestern Railway (West Midlands Trains)
Regional Railways	Wales & Borders	Predominantly London & North Western Railway	Wales & Borders	Transport for Wales Rail
	TransPennine Express		North Western Trains	TransPennine Express
	Northern		Northern Spirit	Northern Trains
	ScotRail	Caledonian Railway, Glasgow & South Western Railway, Great North of Scotland Railway, Highland Railway and North British Railway	ScotRail	ScotRail

See also

• Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain (for detailed information about the history of each franchise)

External links

• List of Train Operating Companies on the National Rail website
• Map of Train Operating Companies on the National Rail website
• Barry Doe's colour-coded map showing operator(s) on each route (Large PDF)

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2 July 2020. National Rail Passenger Survey Spring 2020. 12 August 2020. Transport Focus. en-GB.
2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35841733 Arriva wins £1.5bn London Overground contract
3. http://www.arriva.co.uk/media/news/2016/18-03-2016 Transport for London announces intention to award London Overground contract to Arriva
4. http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Rail-News/tfl-confirm-london-overground-contract-with-arriva-signed TfL confirm London Overground contract with Arriva signed
5. In May 2010 Grand Northern services began, branded Grand Central to allow a single fleet pool to be used.
6. Web site: Railway plan puts new focus on passengers . Department for Transport . 26 March 2013 .
7. Web site: Rail franchise schedule . Department of Transport . 19 July 2017 . 23 August 2017 . 17 June 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180617194648/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/630238/rail-franchise-schedule.pdf . dead .
8. Web site: ASLEF - Franchise Information . 25 December 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120124052255/http://www.aslef.org.uk/information/102222/102407/franchise_information/ . 24 January 2012 .
9. Web site: Media. Transport for London. tfl.gov.uk.
10. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/533363/swf-itt.pdf
11. Web site: FirstGroup replaces Virgin to run West Coast route . BBC Sport . 14 August 2019 . 14 August 2019.