First Harrogate Trains

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First Harrogate Trains: quick overview

First Harrogate Trains was a proposed private rail company aiming to run passenger services from Harrogate to London King’s Cross via York. It was connected to Hull Trains and owned by FirstGroup (80%) and Renaissance Trains (20%). The plan called for up to four trains a day in each direction between Harrogate and London, and it also proposed four trains daily from Cleethorpes to London and four from Lincoln to London, plus a new Donington Parkway station.

In February 2009, the Office of Rail Regulation rejected the Harrogate plan, saying it would not bring enough new passengers and would take business away from existing train companies. The related proposals for Cleethorpes to London and Lincoln to London were also rejected. If approved, services were expected to start in the summer of 2009. The preferred trains were Class 180 Adelante or Class 222 Pioneer, the types Hull Trains had used.