All FirstGroup articles – Page 2

  • tickets
    Rail Business UK

    Compensation after FirstGroup delay repay problems

    2022-06-27T11:00:00Z

    UK: FirstGroup is to compensate passengers who were affected by an IT error which wrongly rejected claims for train delay repay compensation. When a passenger submits a delay repay claim to the wrong train company, the claim should be redirected to the appropriate operator for processing. ...

  • Department for Transport and incumbent FirstGroup have agreed a three-year National Rail Contract for the operation of Great Western Railway services (Photo: Hitachi)
    Rail Business UK

    National Rail Contract for Great Western Railway services aims to meet changing needs

    2022-06-14T09:30:00Z

    UK: FirstGroup’s three-year National Rail Contract to operate Great Western Railway services is designed to accommodate changing needs following the pandemic, with a return to a growth-led approach, progress with MetroWest and a diesel rolling stock review.

  • Martijn Gilbert
    Rail Business UK

    Managing Director of both Lumo and Hull Trains appointed

    2022-06-07T16:12:00Z

    UK: FirstGroup has announced the appointment of Martijn Gilbert to the new role of Managing Director of its two open access operators Lumo and Hull Trains.

  • Graham Sutherland
    Rail Business UK

    FirstGroup CEO appointed

    2022-04-21T13:40:00Z

    UK: Graham Sutherland has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of FirstGroup with effect from May 16. He succeeds Matthew Gregory, who stepped down last year following pressure from FirstGroup’s largest shareholder, New York-based hedge fund Coast Capital. Interim Executive Chairman David Martin will resume the ...

  • Open access operations Hull Trains and Lumo are both ‘marginally ahead’ of  FirstGroup’s expectations
    Rail Business UK

    First Rail’s management fee operations meet expectations and open access is ahead

    2022-02-28T09:49:00Z

    UK: Performance at First Rail’s four management fee-based train operating companies is in line with expectations for the second half of the financial year, while open access operators Hull Trains and Lumo are marginally ahead of expectations, FirstGroup said in a trading update on February 25. ...

  • Lumo MD Helen Wylde
    Rail Business UK

    Lumo Managing Director steps down

    2022-01-05T09:30:00Z

    UK: Helen Wylde stepped down as Managing Director of recently launched London – Edinburgh open access operator Lumo on January 4, in order to take up a position outside the rail industry. Phil Cameron, First Rail’s Commercial Projects Director, will act as Interim Managing Director until ...

  • Avanti 390123 at Manchester Piccadilly 250820 TM1
    Rail Business UK

    West Coast Partnership Development MD to retire

    2021-11-26T11:20:00Z

    UK: Caroline Donaldson is to retire as Managing Director of West Coast Partnership Development at the end of March, FirstGroup announced on November 25. WCPD is the ‘shadow operator’ for High Speed 2, providing HS2 Ltd and the Department for Transport with design and development services ...

  • Lumo 803001 at Edinburgh Waverley (Photo: Tony Miles)
    Rail Business UK

    Ticket sales ahead of expectations as low-cost Lumo launches

    2021-10-27T13:03:00Z

    UK: FirstGroup reports that initial ticket sales at its newly launched London – Edinburgh open access operator Lumo are ahead of expectations, with weekend services proving to be particularly popular. ‘We have always said we intend to reimagine rail travel and we are glad people ...

  • Hull Trains Paragon station
    Rail Business UK

    Hull Trains MD appointed

    2021-09-29T14:12:00Z

    UK: David Gibson has been appointed as Managing Director of open access operator Hull Trains with effect from October 1. Gibson left the Royal Air Force in 2003, joining Hull City Council as Assistant Chief Executive before moving to Capita’s Consulting & Transformation division as a ...

  • FirstGroup has unveiled Lumo as the brand name for the East Coast Trains open access service between Edinburgh and London which is set launch on October 25
    Rail Business UK

    Lumo aims to be the green alternative to Edinburgh – London flights

    2021-09-06T23:01:00Z

    Having unveiled Lumo as the brand name for its Edinburgh to London open access service, FirstGroup explains to Rail Business UK how it is taking a different approach to rail travel with the aim of winning passengers from air and coach.

  • gb Transpennine Express Class 185 between Stalybridge and Huddersfield (Tony Miles)
    Rail Business UK

    Rail needs to be ‘relevant and wanted’ in an era of changed travel demand

    2021-05-28T06:00:00Z

    UK: ‘How we go about our daily lives and conduct our businesses has changed for a lot of people’, said Steve Montgomery, Managing Director of FirstGroup’s First Rail business at the TransPennine Express RE-Connect 2021 conference. Before the coronavirus ‘we were seeing customer numbers at record ...

  • TransPennine Express train (Photo: Tony Miles).
    Rail Business UK

    FirstGroup agrees National Rail Contracts for SWR and TransPennine Express

    2021-05-24T05:00:00Z

    UK: The Department for Transport has finalised the first of the National Rail Contracts under which formerly franchised passenger services are to be operated over the next few years. The directly-awarded NRCs are envisaged as an interim step between the current Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements and ...

  • Matthew Golton
    Rail Business UK

    Matthew Golton to lead TransPennine Express

    2021-05-21T10:52:00Z

    UK: FirstGroup has announced the appointment of Matthew Golton as Managing Director of TransPennine Express from June 1. He will take over from Acting Managing Director Liz Collins, who is retiring from her current full-time role and taking up a new part-time position as Finance & ...

  • FirstGroup has reached agreement with the Department for Transport on the fee payable for termination of the TransPennine Express franchise (Photo: Tony Miles).
    Rail Business UK

    FirstGroup agrees £6m termination fee for TransPennine Express

    2021-05-12T09:44:00Z

    UK: FirstGroup plc announced on May 11 that it had reached agreement with the Department for Transport on the fee payable for termination of the TransPennine Express franchise. The move is part of the process agreed with DfT as the Covid-19 pandemic saw operators moving into ...

  • FirstGroup and the Department for Transport have reached agreement on the termination of the South Western Railway and West Coast Partnership franchise agreements
    Rail Business UK

    South Western and West Coast franchise termination payments agreed

    2020-12-10T11:21:00Z

    UK: FirstGroup and the Department for Transport have reached agreement on payments for the termination of the South Western Railway and West Coast Partnership franchise agreements, which were signed before the pandemic, and are negotiating new directly-awarded management contracts which would come into effect when the current ...

  • gb SWR Claire Mann
    Rail Business UK

    Claire Mann named South Western Railway Managing Director

    2020-12-03T11:34:00Z

    UK: Claire Mann has been appointed as the next Managing Director of South Western Railway, and will take up the post in early 2021. Mark Hopwood, currently Interim Managing Director of SWR, will return to his former role as Managing Director of Great Western Railway on ...

  • The Department for Transport has exercised its option to extend the Emergency Measures Agreement covering FirstGroup’s Great Western franchise until at least June 26 2021.
    Rail Business UK

    GWR Emergency Measures Agreement extended

    2020-09-01T09:47:00Z

    UK: On September 1 the Department for Transport exercised its option to extend the Emergency Measures Agreement covering FirstGroup’s Great Western franchise until at least June 26 2021. FirstGroup Chief Executive Matthew Gregory said this ‘provides important clarity and continuity for our customers, employees and wider stakeholders’. ...

  • us Fort-Carson-autonomous-vehicle-First-Transit-Perrone-Robotics
    Metro Report International

    Autonomous shuttles to be tested in US army base

    2020-08-17T06:00:00Z

    USA: The US Ignite smart city accelerator has selected First Transit and Perrone Robotics to provide autonomous shuttles for a Smart Transportation Testbed project at the Fort Carson army base in Colorado. The $4m project is being funded and managed by the US Army Engineer Research & ...

  • 1st day of face coverings Man Picc 150620 TM16
    Rail Business UK

    Messaging rethink urged as rail faces slow recovery

    2020-07-13T13:25:00Z

    UK: Rail industry insiders are urging a rethink of government messaging to avoid using public transport, amid suggestions that a recovery of rail traffic to pre-Covid levels may not be achieved within two years.

  • tn gb-firstgroup-eastcoast-hitachi-at300-kgx-impression2
    Rail Business UK

    Edinburgh – London open access service takes shape

    2020-05-01T06:00:00Z

    UK: With the first of five Hitachi-built trainsets delivered to the UK for fitting out, FirstGroup has appointed the leadership team for its low-cost open access service between Edinburgh and London, which is scheduled to start running from October 2021. Helen Wylde has been appointed as Managing ...