Open access enthusiasm grows, as Arriva joins in

Another operator is bidding to expand the range of open access services.

Arriva, which owns Grand Central, says an application has been submitted to the Office of Rail and Road to run two additional daily return services between Bradford and London, with up to eight intermediate station calls. This would bring the daily total of trains on the route to six. The latest development until Arriva’s proposals had been an application from Virgin for new services from London Euston to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. Before that, plans for more routes had been unveiled recently by Grand Union, Alstom and FirstGroup.