Christopher Garnett OBE is a retired British businessperson who served as a member of the Board of the Olympic Delivery Authority for London 2012, and was previously the Chief Executive Officer of Great North Eastern Railway and simultaneously Senior Vice President and Chief Executive of the Rail Division of Sea Containers, GNER's parent company.
Before this, Garnett was Regional Manager - Eastern Division for Sealink when it was a Sea Containers subsidiary, before becoming Commercial Director of Eurotunnel. He later returned to Sea Containers to lead their successful bid to operate the InterCity East Coast passenger rail franchise, which commenced as part of the privatisation of British Rail in April 1996. This seven-year contract was extended by two years in 2003, before GNER won a new contract in 2005. Garnett also presided over this deal, which saw GNER commit to paying the UK government GBP1.3 billion in premia - a record transaction for European railways. Beyond GNER, Garnett led Sea Containers' bids for other British passenger rail operations, including the South Western, South Eastern and Greater Western franchises.
Garnett left GNER towards the end of August 2006 amid growing concerns over Sea Containers' financial stability and, consequently, speculation over the future of GNER, with Sea Containers' largest shareholder Conner & Birdwell saying "[Sea Containers] will be liquidated and sold." (seeRail Magazine, 'Culture of fear' grips GNER, issue 546). This was alongside a High Court judgement rejecting GNER's application for a judicial review over Grand Central's access to the East Coast Main Line. However, his departure was apparently of his own volition, [1] despite earlier speculation in Edinburgh Evening News that he would stand down. [2]
He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. [3]
Garnett is the son of (William) John Garnett, CBE, the British industrial relations campaigner, the brother of former Conservative politician Virginia, Baroness Bottomley, the nephew of former Labour politician Peggy, Baroness Jay. [4] Garnett's late wife was The Hon. Su Garnett née Swann, elder daughter of Michael, Baron Swann; she died on 23 April, 2022.
King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is in the London station group, one of the busiest stations in the United Kingdom and the southern terminus of the East Coast Main Line to Yorkshire and the Humber, North East England and Scotland. Adjacent to King's Cross station is St Pancras International, the London terminus for Eurostar services to continental Europe. Beneath both main line stations is King's Cross St Pancras tube station on the London Underground; combined, they form one of the country's largest and busiest transport hubs.
First ScotRail was a train operating company in Scotland owned by FirstGroup. It operated the ScotRail franchise between October 2004 and March 2015.
Great North Eastern Railway, often referred to as GNER, was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, owned by Sea Containers, that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, North East England and Scotland from April 1996 until December 2007.
In the railway system of Great Britain, a train operating company (TOC) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993.
The InterCity 225 is an electric push-pull high speed train in the United Kingdom, comprising a Class 91 electric locomotive, nine Mark 4 coaches and a Driving Van Trailer (DVT). The Class 91 locomotives were built by British Rail Engineering Limited's Crewe Works as a spin-off from the Advanced Passenger Train project, which was abandoned during the 1980s, whilst the coaches and DVT were constructed by Metro-Cammell in Birmingham and Breda in Italy, again borrowing heavily from the Advanced Passenger Train. The trains were designed to operate at up to 140 mph (225 km/h) in regular service, but are limited to 125 mph (200 km/h) principally due to a lack of cab signalling and the limitations of the current overhead line equipment. They were introduced into service between 1989 and 1991 for intercity services on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) from London King's Cross to Leeds, York and Edinburgh.
The British Rail Mark 4 is a class of passenger carriages built for use in InterCity 225 sets on the East Coast Main Line between King's Cross, Leeds and Edinburgh. Withdrawals began in 2019, with some being sold for further use with Transport for Wales between Cardiff and Holyhead.
The Flying Scotsman is an express passenger train service that operates between Edinburgh and London, the capitals respectively of Scotland and England, via the East Coast Main Line. The service began in 1862 as the Special Scotch Express until it was officially adopted in 1924. It is currently operated by the London North Eastern Railway.
Durham is a railway station on the East Coast Main Line, which runs between London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley. The station, situated 14 miles 3 chains south of Newcastle, serves the cathedral city of Durham in County Durham, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by London North Eastern Railway.
Sea Containers was a Bermudan registered company which operated two primary business areas: transport and container leasing.
London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern, was a British train operating company owned by Govia that operated passenger rail services in South East England. It was the key operator of commuter and regional services in South East London and Kent, and also served parts of East Sussex.
Regional Eurostar was a planned Eurostar train service from Paris and Brussels to locations in the United Kingdom to the north and west of London.
ScotRail was a train operating company in Scotland owned by National Express that operated the ScotRail franchise from March 1997 until October 2004. Prior to March 1997 ScotRail ran the trains and after October 2004 First ScotRail ran them.
National Express East Coast (NXEC) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, owned by National Express, that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, North East England and Scotland from December 2007 until November 2009.
Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain is the system of contracting the operation of the passenger services on the railways of Great Britain to private companies, which has been in effect since 1996 and was greatly altered in 2020, with rail franchising being effectively abolished in May 2021. In 2024 rail franchising was formally abolished, with rail contracts set to enter government control at the expiration of their contracts from 2025 onwards.
East Coast, the trading name of the East Coast Main Line Company, was a British train operating company running the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, North East England, and Scotland. East Coast ran long-distance inter-city services from its Central London terminus at London King's Cross on two primary routes; the first to Leeds and the second to Edinburgh via Newcastle with other services reaching into Yorkshire and Northern and Central Scotland. It commenced operations on 14 November 2009 and ceased on 28 February 2015.
InterCity East Coast is a railway franchise for passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom from London King's Cross to Hull, Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen. It was formed during the privatisation of British Rail and transferred to the private sector in April 1996.
Alliance Rail Holdings was a railway company developing plans to operate passenger trains in the United Kingdom through its subsidiaries Great North Western Railway Company Limited (GNWR) and Grand Southern Railway (GSR). Despite various proposals, the company did not run any passenger services.
Virgin Rail Group is a British rail transport company that was formed by the Virgin Group to bid for rail franchises in the United Kingdom during the privatisation of British Rail in the late 1990s.
South Western is a railway franchise for the provision of passenger services from London Waterloo to destinations in Surrey, Hampshire, Somerset, Dorset, Berkshire, Wiltshire and Devon on the South West, Portsmouth Direct and West of England main lines. In 2007, the franchise was combined with the smaller franchise for the Island Line on the Isle of Wight.
An operator of last resort is a business in the United Kingdom that operates a railway franchise, on behalf of the government, when a train operating company (TOC) is no longer able to do so, and are nationalised on an interim basis. Since the last appointment in June 2023, there are now six such operators of seven rail services in England, Wales and Scotland. In December 2024, following new legislation in November, it was announced that the first of the remaining contracted TOCs would be taken back into public ownership in May 2025.