 A TRAIN company has unveiled plans to launch twice-daily services to Glasgow from Liverpool. Renaissance Trains has submitted plans to rail regulators which, if approved, would reinstate a direct link to Scotland which Liverpool has been without for four years. The firm wants to operate on “open access” terms, meaning it would not need a franchise from government and, unlike West Coast Mainline operator Virgin Trains, would not require a subsidy either. Mike Jones, a director at Renaissance, said they planned to run two 150-seater services a day to Liverpool Lime Street, if approval was granted. Services could be operational by 2009. Renaissance helped found the first open access train service, now run by Hull Trains, which links Humberside to London. It is now one of the best-performing operators in Britain, while Renaissance has moved on to try to get track access to operate services between Shropshire and the Capital. Under Renaissance’s plans, people would be able to book up to 12 weeks in advance and the com- pany would use Easyjet-style booking systems, suggesting the earlier people book, the cheaper the ticket. The trains would only stop at Preston and Carlisle en-route. Renaissance also plans a Glasgow to Nottingham service. Mr Jones said: “We have submitted proposals to the Office of the Rail Regulator and at the moment, we are waiting to see what the franchisee, Virgin, plans to do with its time-tables from December, 2008. “Some in the industry say that space can’t be found on the West Coast line for anoth- er operator, but we don’t agree, and we’re confident about that when we sit down and talk with Network Rail about timings. Whenever an open-access operator comes along and suggests a route, the stock response is that there isn’t room.” Virgin axed Liverpool’s last direct link to Scotland, a service to Edinburgh, in 2003, but Mr Jones said: “We’ve done the maths and we be- lieve there is a strong busi- ness case for a twice-daily service between Liverpool and Glasgow. Because we wouldn’t be operating hourly, we would be more like an airline, and people would know to book in advance. “That makes it much easier for us to make the service profitable, if we know how many people are travelling.” | 
News RSS Feed