Grand Central has confirmed that it will not launch its planned Blackpool North to London Euston route after the coronavirus pandemic has made the plans ‘unfeasible’ for the train operating company.
Executives at Grand Central and Arriva, Grand Central’s parent company, said that after months of exploring options, it is now not viable due to the economic uncertainty caused by coronavirus.
Employees who may be affected by the decision have been advised of the potential risk to jobs.
Richard McClean, Managing Director of Grand Central, said: “So much effort has been put into these exciting plans to launch services between London and Blackpool, that it is heartbreaking to have to abandon them at this point but the pandemic and its effect on our expansion plans have just proved too big an obstacle.
“Because Grand Central operates under an Open Access business model, we receive no external financial help and we rely completely on what we generate in ticket sales. Despite months of work to adjust our costs, and monitor travel behaviour for signs of change it became more obvious to us that to invest in what is essentially a start-up enterprise in this climate was simply not feasible and therefore we reluctantly reached the very tough decision to cease the project permanently.
“We will now concentrate on rebuilding our two existing routes, which returned to service earlier this summer, following lockdown.
The WCML services would have linked Blackpool, Kirkham, Preston, Nuneaton and Milton Keynes to London Euston.
The project had already seen Grand Central open offices in Blackpool and take on extra staff, including train drivers.
Additionally, the Class 90s and Mk4s in Grand Central livery had already begun testing on the WCML.
A consultation period has now begun between employees, rail unions and Grand Central.
Mr McClean added: “We have explored every possibility to continue with plans to start the North West route and protect these jobs. The people we took on have shown incredible patience and professionalism during what has been a period of great uncertainty. They have been at the forefront of our motivation to continue with the route and deliver services to new customers.
“The great support we have also received from Blackpool and the other communities along the route has been a massive inspiration for us to find a solution. I want to thank you all so much.”
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Responses
I absolutely still cannot get over how the UK has become a nation of NIMBY’s and have retrenched into such inward Nationalist thinking. HS2 is not really all about having a really realyy fast railway to play with – it is all about freeing up capacity in our existing congested railways. We can all go on about Beeching did that and this… ya de ya de yah. Our existing High Speed Trains have to have a larger number of clear sections ahead of them than slower speed trains and they leave a similar sized vacuum in their wake. So it could be said that to run a HST you take up three to four existing train paths. By removing these and putting them on a separate dedicated network you suddenly gain more freight and passenger paths.
So yeah excellent – ditch Brexit / lets go ahead with HS2 and the links to Scotland and the Northern Powerhouse and have full services to Europe – night and day 🙂
Someone speaking sense at last!
Shame on Grand Central for deliberately axing the London Euston-Blackpool North open access service. Guess that Avanti West Coast will continue to provide the service with the Class 390 Pendolinos. Was looking forward to it. Now it’s been scrapped.
Heard about it on Nodrog Facebook page that he posted. Very devastated to hear that Grand Central is to axe the London Euston-Blackpool North direct service. Instead Avanti West Coast will continue with the London Euston-Blackpool North service with Class 390 and Class 221. With Class 805 and Class 807 scheduled for service from next year.
The Grand Central Class 90’s would have looked far better if the yellow panel on the front were replaced with ‘Speed Whisker’ in orange, running from just below the centerline of the two front windows to connect with the orange body stripe……..with some slight adjustment to the height and location of the locomotive number…….possibly locating it just aft of the cab door….
Better if something could be started on the East Coast Main Line with GC and maybe 90’s?
Where to? And, what would the purpose be? LNER is undertaking, or has undertaken service expansion to Bradford, Harrogate, Skipton, Huddersfield, Lincoln and Middlesborough. Edinburgh, and Newastle are already very well served, and East Coast Trains start operating London to Edinburgh next year on top of that. My home city, Hull is already well servied by both LNER, and Hull Trains. You could say that Scarborough needs a direct London service, but that would require diesel, or bimode traction. Also, Network Rail prefers 125mph stock on the ECML while the 90’s are 110mph loco’s. It only accepts 110mph stock on a short-term basis. Even with the un-cross Kings Cross upgrades, the ECML will be full to capacity by the start of 2022.
it is shame for blackpool
We are currently witnessing a major revolution in terms of transport, commuting, work and lifestyle. This has been taking place for many years and has been accelerated by Coronavirus. Plans made only a few years ago need rethinking, such as HS2, and possibly abandoning.