Train operating company

1994

The privatisation process began when BR's passenger sectors were divided into 25 train operating units which were gradually incorporated as state-owned subsidiaries of the British Railways Board. They acted as shadow franchises prior to being put to tender:

InterCity

Network SouthEast

Regional Railways

The opening of the Channel Tunnel saw operations by Eurostar begin from Waterloo International to Paris and Brussels.

1996/97

The franchising process was implemented, with various private companies taking over the shadow franchises. Three were awarded to management buyouts. The Great Western Holdings' management also were awarded the North West Regional Railways franchise. The remainder were divided between a handful of major transport operators:

In Northern Ireland, NIR stopped using its own branding on the Enterprise service between Belfast and Dublin, when it purchased new rolling stock in conjunction with IÉ, instead launching Enterprise as a separate brand name.

1998

• Great Western Holdings, which operated Great Western Trains and North West Trains, became a wholly-owned subsidiary of FirstGroup when the 24.5% shareholder bought out its partners. The TOCs were renamed First Great Western and First North Western.
• Go-Ahead Group bought the remaining 35% share in Thames Trains.
• Virgin Group sold a 49% share in Virgin Rail Group that operated the CrossCountry and West Coast franchises to Stagecoach.
• The completion of the rail link to Heathrow Airport led to Heathrow Express, an open-access operator outside the franchising system, beginning its services from London Paddington to Heathrow with operating rights until 2023.

1999

• The shareholdings of M40 Trains were restructured with John Laing owning 84% of the company, with the remaining 16% held by former BR managers.

2000

• MTL, which operated Merseyrail Electrics and Northern Spirit and Prism Rail that operated c2c (renamed from LTS Rail earlier in the year), Valley Lines Trains, Wales & West, and West Anglia Great Northern were purchased by Arriva and National Express respectively, resulting in the latter owning nine franchises. The two companies transferred to Arriva were renamed Arriva Trains Merseyside and Arriva Trains Northern.
• The first open-access operator using the National Rail brand, Hull Trains, commenced running its services between King's Cross and Hull Paragon Interchange.

2001

• Connex, which had operated two franchises in the south-east of England, were replaced as the operator of the Network SouthCentral franchise by Govia, which began operating it under the name South Central.
• A new franchise, the Wales & Borders franchise was created by the amalgamation of Valley Lines and the majority of services in Wales and the Borders held by Wales & West. The new franchise was initially operated under the name Wales & Borders. The remainder of Wales & West's services in the west of England were renamed Wessex Trains.

2002

• John Laing bought out its partners in M40 Trains.

2003

• Connex, having already lost the South Central franchise in 2001, was removed as franchisee of the South Eastern franchise on the grounds of poor financial management. It was replaced as the franchise holder by South Eastern Trains, a company wholly owned by the Strategic Rail Authority, which would operate the franchise until it could be tendered again.
• New franchise holder Arriva Trains Wales and new concession holder Merseyrail Electrics 2002 began operating.
• FirstGroup purchased GB Railways, which owned the Anglia Railways and Hull Trains businesses.

2004

• A policy where the majority of services (both long-distance and commuter) from each London terminal would all be operated by the same franchise was partially enacted. In April, One commenced operating the Greater Anglia franchise that combined the Anglia Railways and First Great Eastern franchises with the West Anglia Great Northern services radiating out from London Liverpool Street. The remainder continuing to be operated as WAGN.
• In the North of England, prior to 2004, there were two regional franchises, the North East Regional franchise and the North West Regional franchise. In 2004, these were altered into the TransPennine franchise, for inter-city services, and the Northern franchise, for local services that were awarded to First TransPennine Express and Northern Rail respectively. Some North West services were transferred to the Arriva Trains Wales franchise.
• Thames Trains was superseded by First Great Western Link and ScotRail (National Express) by First ScotRail.

2005

• A new operator, Heathrow Connect, jointly run by BAA and First Great Western, began operating stopping services between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport, complementing the Heathrow Express.

2006

Three new integrated franchises began operating in April 2006:

• First Capital Connect, began operating the Thameslink/Great Northern franchise, on the cross-London Thameslink route and suburban services from London King's Cross and London Moorgate.
• First Great Western began operating the Greater Western franchise that combined express and local services from London Paddington to the West of England by amalgamating it with First Great Western Link and Wessex Trains.
• London & South Eastern Railway commenced operating the Integrated Kent franchise taking over services from London Victoria, London Charing Cross, London Cannon Street and London Blackfriars to south-east London and Kent; responsibility for high speed domestic services operated on High Speed 1 from London St Pancras was included in the franchise.

2007

• The South Western franchise was created, merged with the original South West Trains franchise and Island Line Trains franchise on the Isle of Wight; it began operating in February, under the name South West Trains, with Island Line retained as a separate brand.

• In November, three new integrated franchises began operating:
  • CrossCountry, took over from Virgin CrossCountry and parts of Central Trains, and operates regional inter-city services that bypass the major London terminals.
  • East Midlands Trains replaced Midland Mainline and parts of Central Trains encompassing inter-city services from London St Pancras as well as local services in the East Midlands.
  • London Midland began operating the West Midlands franchise replaced Silverlink County and parts of Central Trains; it ran stopping services between London Euston and Northampton, in addition to local services in the West Midlands.
• In addition to these three, a further new operator, London Overground Rail Operations, took control of the routes operated by Silverlink in London, which were combined with the extended East London line in 2011. Services are controlled directly by TfL, with running of the trains themselves contracted to a private company as an operating concession. This is different from an ordinary franchise, as the train operator is not given control of the strategic aspects of the operation, such as pricing, timetabling and rolling stock procurement.
• In December, National Express East Coast took over the running of the InterCity East Coast franchise from GNER. Grand Central also began operating its services between London and Sunderland as an open-access operator.

2008

• In January, Laing Rail, which owned M40 Trains and a 50% shareholding in London Overground Rail Operations, was sold to Deutsche Bahn, becoming part of the DB Regio Group.
• In February, One was rebranded by National Express as National Express East Anglia to bring it into line with the East Coast franchise.
• In April, Wrexham & Shropshire began operating open-access services between Wrexham and London Marylebone.
• In June, the Gatwick Express franchise was integrated with the South Central franchise operated by Southern.

2009

• The government announced that National Express East Coast would have its franchise to operate inter-city services terminated, along the ECML; that the franchise would pass into the hands of state-owned company, Directly Operated Railways, which acted as the parent for East Coast.

2010

• Grand Central open-access services from London to Bradford Interchange began on 23 May 2010.

2011

• DB Regio's operations in the UK were integrated into those of Arriva following the acquisition of the latter by Deutsche Bahn in the previous year.
• Owing to continuing losses, Wrexham & Shropshire ceased operating on 28 January 2011.

2012

• Abellio Greater Anglia began operating the Greater Anglia franchise on 5 February 2012.
• In September, FirstGroup was awarded the right to operate the West Coast franchise, which provoked a backlash from incumbent Virgin Trains West Coast. As a result of the Department for Transport having provided incorrect information during the bid process, the offer was withdrawn in October 2012 and £40 million of bid costs were refunded.

2014

• In September, Govia Thameslink Railway took over services formerly operated by First Capital Connect as part of the Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern franchise and branded them as Thameslink and Great Northern. Services operated by Southern, another Govia subsidiary, were merged into the new franchise in the following year.
• Hull Trains became a wholly-owned subsidiary of FirstGroup, when the 80% shareholder bought out its partners.

2015

• In March, a Stagecoach and Virgin joint venture, trading as Virgin Trains East Coast, commenced operating the InterCity East Coast franchise.
• In April, the ScotRail franchise was split with the Caledonian Sleeper services becoming a stand-alone franchise operated by Serco while the remaining services remained as the Abellio ScotRail franchise.
• In May, a number of metro routes run by Abellio Greater Anglia from London Liverpool Street were transferred to TfL to run as a concession similar to both London Overground and Crossrail (under the name, TfL Rail). The routes transferred were those to Shenfield, Enfield Town, Chingford, Cheshunt, Romford and Upminster.

2016

• In April, FirstGroup trading as TransPennine Express commenced operating the TransPennine Express in its own right, previously having done so in a joint venture with Keolis. On the same date, Arriva Rail North commenced operating the Northern franchise.
• In November, Arriva Rail London took over the London Overground concession from London Overground Rail Operations.

2017

• In February, National Express sold its subsidiary c2c to Trenitalia.
• In March, Abellio sold a 40% share in Abellio Greater Anglia to Mitsui.
• In August, a FirstGroup/MTR joint venture trading as South Western Railway commenced operating the South Western franchise.
• In December, an Abellio, East Japan Railway Company and Mitsui joint venture, trading as West Midlands Trains, commenced operating the West Midlands franchise.

2018

• In May, the Government announced that Virgin Trains East Coast's contract would be terminated early due to financial difficulties. In June 2018, the company was replaced by the state-owned operator of last resort London North Eastern Railway.
• In May, TfL Rail took over the Heathrow Connect services, which led to the introduction of Oyster and Contactless payment to Heathrow Airport for the first time on National Rail.
• In October, Transport for Wales took over the Wales & Borders franchise from Arriva Trains Wales.

2019

• In August, East Midlands Railway took over the East Midlands franchise from East Midlands Trains.
• In December, Avanti West Coast began operating the new West Coast Partnership replacing Virgin Trains.

2020

• On 1 March, operation of the Northern franchise transferred from Arriva Rail North to the UK state-owned Northern Trains.
• The UK government took emergency action to support train operating companies by assuming their financial risks; this was because the COVID-19 pandemic caused passenger numbers to reduce to near zero. TOCs were not allowed to make timetable or staffing changes without government approval. The Office for National Statistics reclassified the companies as public non-financial corporations so borrowing and employees are counted in the public-sector. They were viewed as effectively temporarily renationalised.

2021

• On 7 February, the day-to-day operations of the Wales & Borders franchise were transferred to the Welsh state-owned operator of last resort, Transport for Wales Rail, a subsidiary of Transport for Wales.
• On 17 October, the South Eastern franchise was taken over from London & South Eastern Railway by government-owned operator of last resort Southeastern.
• On 25 October, Lumo commenced operating open-access services on the East Coast Main Line between London King's Cross and Edinburgh.

2022

• On 1 April, ScotRail, owned by Scottish Rail Holdings for the Scottish Government, commenced operating the ScotRail franchise.
• On 24 May, TfL Rail, operated by MTR, was rebranded as Elizabeth line, following the opening of the core section between Paddington and Abbey Wood.
• In December, Grand Union, an open-access operator, was authorised by the Office of Rail and Road to operate trains between London Paddington and Carmarthen starting in December 2024.

2023

• On 28 May, after months of continued cancellations and service disruptions, FirstGroup's TransPennine Express contract was not renewed. DfT OLR Holdings's TransPennine Express took over the service.
• On 25 June, Scottish Rail Holdings took over the Caledonian Sleeper service from Serco.

2024

• In December, after the Starmer government passed legislation to renationalise passenger rail in Great Britain, the government announced that all operators would be taken back into state ownership, starting with three in 2025.

2025

• On 25 May, First MTR South Western Trains Limited's contract expired and it was taken over by DfT Operator, the new name for DfT OLR Holdings. The new nationalised operator is also trading as South Western Railway.
• On 20 July, c2c services were taken over by the DfT Operator subsidiary operator of the same name.
• On 12 October, Greater Anglia services were taken over by the DfT Operator subsidiary operator of the same name.

2026

• On 1 February, West Midlands Trains services were taken over by the DfT Operator subsidiary operator of the same name.
• On 3 May, First Rail London took over from Arriva Rail London as the operator of London Overground services.
• On 31 May, DfT Operator company Greater Thameslink Railway took over from Govia Thameslink Railway as the operator of the Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern, and Gatwick Express services.
• On 20 September, Chiltern Railways services were taken over by the DfT Operator subsidiary operator of the same name.