Company type | Holding company |
---|---|
Industry | Rail transport |
Founded | 2018 |
Headquarters | , England |
Area served | United Kingdom |
Key people |
|
Services | Train operating company management |
Revenue | £2.2 billion (2022) |
£20 million (2022) | |
£22 million (2022) | |
Number of employees | 11 (2022) |
Parent | Department for Transport |
Subsidiaries | |
Website | www |
DfT OLR Holdings Limited (DOHL) is a holding company established by the Department for Transport in the United Kingdom to act as operator of last resort for rail franchises that are nationalised.
DfT OLR Holdings was established in 2018 by the Department for Transport to operate rail franchises should it become necessary to bring them into public ownership and operate as an operator of last resort in accordance with section 30 of the Railways Act 1993. [1] As at May 2023, the company has four active subsidiaries; London North Eastern Railway, Northern Trains, Southeastern and TransPennine Express. In May 2023 DfT OLR Holdings superseded FirstGroup as the largest operator of passenger services in the United Kingdom, generating 23% of passenger revenue and 26% of passenger miles. [2]
DOHL has a number of active and dormant subsidiaries.
On 24 June 2018, London North Eastern Railway took over the InterCity East Coast franchise from Virgin Trains East Coast after the latter ran into financial difficulty. [3] [4]
Train Fleet (2019) Limited was established in August 2019 to take ownership of 40 Class 365 units from Eversholt Rail Group. This arose from a complex financial arrangement, struck during the privatisation of British Rail by the British Railways Board when the trains were financed by financial institutions, that gave Eversholt the option to pass on their lease liabilities back to the government. [5] [6] In July 2021, all were sold back to Eversholt after termination of their leases with Govia Thameslink Railway was agreed. [7]
On 1 March 2020, Northern Trains took over the Northern franchise from Arriva Rail North after the latter became financially unviable. [8] [9]
On 17 October 2021, Southeastern took over the South Eastern franchise from Govia after financial irregularities were uncovered. [10] [11]
On 28 May 2023, TransPennine Express took over the operation of Transpennine services after FirstGroup's TransPennine Express contract was not renewed after repeated customer complaints of poor service and cancelled trains, as well as having the highest rate of cancellations of any train operating company in January and February 2023 with about a quarter of services being cancelled. [12] [13]
Arriva Trains Northern was a train operating company in England owned by Arriva that operated the Regional Railways North East franchise from March 1997 until December 2004. Arriva resumed operating Northern train services again on 1 April 2016 under the Northern brand but ceased again on 29 February 2020.
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 Go-Ahead Group Limited is a multi-national transport group based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. While the majority of its operations are within Great Britain, it also operates services in Ireland, Australia, Singapore, and Norway. Go-Ahead was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange prior to being purchased by Kinetic Group and Globalvia by 2022.
The British Rail Class 170 Turbostar is a British diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger train designed and built by Adtranz, and later by Bombardier Transportation, at Derby Litchurch Lane Works.
The British Rail Class 365 Networker Express was a class of dual-voltage electric multiple unit passenger train built by ABB at Holgate Road Carriage Works in 1994 and 1995.
Northern Rail, branded as Northern, was an English train operating company owned by Serco-Abellio that operated the Northern Rail franchise from 2004 until 2016. It was the primary passenger train operator in Northern England, and operated the most stations of any train operating company in the United Kingdom. Northern Rail was replaced on 1 April 2016 by Arriva Rail North.
First TransPennine Express was a British train operating company jointly owned by FirstGroup and Keolis which operated the TransPennine Express franchise. First TransPennine Express ran regular Express regional railway services between the major cities of Northern England as well as Scotland.
Seamer railway station serves the village of Seamer in North Yorkshire, England. It lies near the end of the Scarborough branch on the TransPennine Express North TransPennine route, 39 miles (63 km) east of York at its junction with the northern end of the Yorkshire Coast Line. Seamer station is managed by TransPennine Express, with services being run by both Northern Trains and TransPennine Express.
Govia is a transport company based in the United Kingdom. It was formed in November 1996 as a joint venture between Go-Ahead Group (65%) and Keolis (35%) to bid for rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail.
Eversholt Rail Group is a British rolling stock company (ROSCO). Together with Angel Trains and Porterbrook, it is one of the three original ROSCOs created as a result of the privatisation of British Rail.
TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, was a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operated the TransPennine Express franchise. It ran regional and inter-city rail services between the major cities and towns of Northern England and Scotland.
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.
The South Eastern franchise, also known as the Integrated Kent franchise, is a railway franchise for the provision of passenger services between London and Kent in South East England.
Directly Operated Railways Ltd. (DOR) was a holding company set up by the Department for Transport in the United Kingdom in July 2009 to operate rail franchises should it become necessary to bring them into public ownership. From November 2015, its function was taken over by the Department for Transport, who set up DfT OLR Holdings Limited to carry out that function. A partnership of Arup Group, Ernst & Young and SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit were appointed temporarily to support them in that function.
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is a British train operating company that operates the TSGN rail franchise. Within the franchise, GTR runs trains under the sub-brands: Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern, and Gatwick Express. GTR is a subsidiary of Govia, which is itself a joint venture between the British Go-Ahead Group (65%) and French company Keolis (35%).
Arriva Rail North, branded as Northern by Arriva, was a train operating company in Northern England which began operating the Northern franchise on 1 April 2016 and inherited units from the previous operator Northern Rail. A subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains, Northern was the largest train franchise in the United Kingdom in terms of the size of the network and the number of weekly services run. Its trains called at 528 stations, about a quarter of all stations in the country; of these stations 476 were operated by Northern. On 1 March 2020, Arriva Rail North Limited ceased to operate and all operations were handed to HM Government's Operator of Last Resort.
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 is no longer able to do so. Since May 2023, there are six such operators in England, Wales and Scotland.
Northern Trains, trading as Northern, is a British train operating company owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT), after the previous operator Arriva Rail North had its franchise terminated at the end of February 2020.
SE Trains Limited, trading as Southeastern, is a British train operating company owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport, that took over operating the South Eastern franchise in South East England from privately owned London & South Eastern Railway on 17 October 2021.
TransPennine Trains Limited, trading as TransPennine Express (TPE), is a British train operating company that has operated passenger services in the TransPennine Express franchise area since May 2023. It runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major cities and towns of Northern England and Scotland. The company, which is government-owned, was established following poor performance by the previous commercially-owned operator, also called TransPennine Express. It has carried over the rolling stock, passenger services, and branding.