Arriva UK Trains

Former operations

Arriva Trains Merseyside ran urban rail services on Merseyside from February 2000 until March 2003 and Arriva Trains Northern ran local rail services in Northern England from February 2000 until December 2004. Both franchises were lost to a 50:50 joint venture between Serco and NedRailways.

Arriva Trains Wales operated the majority of rail services in Wales, operating the Wales & Borders franchise from 7 December 2003 until 13 October 2018. This franchise was lost to KeolisAmey Wales.

Arriva Rail North operated the Northern franchise from April 2016 to 29 February 2020. This franchise was terminated and handed to the government-owned Northern Trains.

Arriva Rail London operated the London Overground concession from 13 November 2016 until 3 May 2026. The concession was then handed over to First Rail London.

Chiltern Railways operated commuter and regional routes on the Chiltern Main Line. The Chiltern franchise ran from 21 July 1996 to 20 September 2026, and operations were transferred to the state-owned train operating company of the same name.

Current operations

CrossCountry operates long-distance cross-country routes. The New Cross Country franchise runs from 11 November 2007 until October 2027.

Grand Central is an open-access operator operating from London King's Cross to Bradford Interchange and Sunderland. The operator runs from 18 December 2007 until December 2026.

Arriva TrainCare operates train maintenance depots at Bristol Barton Hill TMD, Cambridge, Crewe, Eastleigh and Newcastle upon Tyne.

Arriva currently runs the following railway companies with operational dates listed:

Franchises:

CrossCountry – 2007–2027

Open-access operators:

Arriva UK Trains wishes to expand the number of UK Rail businesses it operates by developing open access operations and successfully bidding for further Department for Transport Rail Franchises. As part of this strategy in November 2011 Arriva bought open-access operator Grand Central for an undisclosed price. Disappointingly in the last full financial year before the purchase, Grand Central's seven return trains a day lost £8.5m leaving an overall deficit of £35m. Alliance Rail Holdings continues to develop new open access proposals following the rejection of their initial plans by the Office of Rail Regulation in 2011.

During 2012 Arriva's applications to bid for the InterCity West Coast, Greater Anglia, Essex Thameside and Thameslink franchises were all rejected by the Department for Transport. Following this run of failure Arriva was publicly critical of the government's prequalification process and called for it to be abolished. However Arriva was shortlisted to bid for the aborted Greater Western franchise in March 2012 and the Caledonian Sleeper and Crossrail franchises in 2014.

In June 2014 Alliance successfully concluded negotiations with Network Rail for access paths to run between Euston and Blackpool/Huddersfield and Leeds from 2017 using Pendolino trains. However, in January 2015 and despite Network Rail support, the Office of Rail Regulation refused all proposed GNWR services and the application for reasons that included protection of the revenues of Virgin Trains (the operator of the former InterCity West Coast franchise) and thence payments to the Department for Transport. Also because of capacity issues. This followed a proposed in December 2013 to run services between King's Cross and Skipton via Garforth and Keighley, but was rejected in 2014, by the Office of Rail Regulation.

Alliance submitted an amended application which was accepted in August 2015, and plan from 2018 to commence operating services from London Euston to Poulton-le-Fylde after the Office of Rail and Road granted access rights for 10 years.