First Harrogate Trains

First Harrogate Trains

Franchise(s)	Open access operator
Main region(s)	Harrogate Line East Coast Main Line
Parent company	FirstGroup (80%) Renaissance Trains (20%)
Other
Website	www.harrogatetrains.co.uk
Route map Legend Harrogate Starbeck Cleethorpes Knaresborough Barnetby Cattal Market Rasen Hammerton Lincoln Poppleton Sleaford York Donnington Parkway (new station) Doncaster Spalding Retford Peterborough Grantham Huntingdon Stevenage London King's Cross This diagram: view talk

First Harrogate Trains^[1] was a proposed open access operator with ambitions to run passenger services between Harrogate and London King's Cross via York.^[2][3][4][5]

The company proposed to run from Harrogate to London King's Cross with up to four services each way per day.^[6] The application to run trains was rejected by the Office of Rail Regulation in February 2009.^[7] It cited that the services would not bring enough new patronage and thus rely on abstracting revenue from existing train operating companies.^[8]

First Harrogate Trains also applied for four trains per day service from Cleethorpes to London, with an additional four trains per day between Lincoln Central and London Kings Cross, and to open a new station at Donnington Parkway. In 2009, it was rejected by the Office of Rail Regulations.^[9][10][11]

Had FHT been successful, it was intended that services would have commenced in the summer of 2009.^[12] First Harrogate Trains was a subsidiary of Hull Trains, owned by FirstGroup (80%) and Renaissance Trains (20%).

Rolling stock[]

The preferred rolling stock to be used was Class 180 Adelante or Class 222 Pioneer trains, the types used by Hull Trains previously.^[6][13]

References[]