Great Western Coffee Shop

Arriva's Grand Central arm are apparently applying to run five trains daily each way between Newcastle and Brighton, via Banbury, Oxford, Reading and Gatwick:

https://news.arriva.co.uk/news/arriva-group-submits-open-access-rail-application-to-connect-newcastle-and-brighton-via-london-gatwick

Given that CrossCountry don't show any signs of bringing their own Newcastle–Reading service back up to full strength, good luck to them. Suspect it will be deemed too abstractive though.

(via the Oxford Clarion - https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:sehe5pdc7ptfh5ayttdusqpp/post/3lnmxy7cfqk2x )

That looks like it would be an attractive alternative for getting to Gatwick from Reading compared to the current GWR Turbo service - assuming decent rolling stock. 

Indeed - and maybe too extractive....I wonder what rolling stock they have identified?

They're saying trains with 300 seats which puts it into 5-car Class 80x territory (302-326 seats), or perhaps the ex-TransPennine Mk5+loco (291 seats)?

Arriva's order of 9 new 'tri-mode' Hitachi units for their East Coast route might be part of the long-term plan, but even they aren't due in service until 2028.

Chiltern has/had its eyes on the ex-TPE stock....

I saw someone say it was planned to use class 180 units.

For a lot of the route Arriva would be abstracting revenue from Arriva...

On the extraction point, there's plenty of local traffic between the stations missed out by this proposed service to keep the current GWR service well used throughout its length. Indeed,  it might even encourage more who live along the North Downs route to use the train to get to Gatwick even if it means changing trains at one of the proposed service's stopping points.

Which is excellent if your government XC contract runs out in 202x and you want to continue to use your expertise in providing train services to a customer base with similar metrics - snd indeed the same customer base.

Brigthon snd Gatwick to the Midlands and north of England is a known / identified market from the past - noting the 1S76 - http://www.1s76.com


Fond memories of a summer day in 1997 or 1998 when I was on a narrow boat at Hatton with a gang of teenagers and Lisa flew in from there then-home of Florida with Freddy Laker to Gatwick and took the trains to join us at Hatton, where we had worked up the flight first thing in the morning snd were waiting on the Grand Union.