REG-FirstGroup PLC: Statement re East Coast rail services <Origin Href="QuoteRef">FGP.L</Origin>

FirstgroupAnnouncement

12/05/2016 07:10

FIRSTGROUP PLC STATEMENT RE: EAST COAST RAIL SERVICES             

New London-Edinburgh Low Fares Rail Service To Offer Choice For Passengers And 
                             Boost Economic Growth                             

FirstGroup plc ('the Group') has been granted approval to launch open access
rail services between London, north-east England and Edinburgh offering great
value fares and high-quality service, whilst giving passengers on the route a
new travel choice.

The ten-year track access rights application approved by the Office of Rail and
Road (ORR) will enable the Group's East Coast Trains Limited to begin operating
five trains a day each way from London King's Cross to Edinburgh, via
intermediate stations at Stevenage, Newcastle and Morpeth, by 2021. Passengers
will benefit from an average fare of less than £25, free Wi-Fi and on-board
catering, all offered in one high-quality class of travel.

The new service is designed to provide choice for passengers looking to travel
between London, north-east England and Scotland, and will encourage travellers
to switch from air or coach travel to rail.

Tim O'Toole, Chief Executive, commented:

"I'm pleased that the ORR has granted track access rights for our unique
low-cost service between London, the North East of England and Edinburgh. This
is great news for passengers, as our new service will widen the choice of
travel options between these cities and offer an attractive alternative to
those available today.

"We will offer genuinely low fares at half the average price of today, while
adding significant benefits to the UK economy. Our brand new trains will be
cheaper than other rail services, greener than the plane, quicker than the
coach and will get passengers from London to Edinburgh earlier than they can
arrive today, all for an average fare of less than £25.

"Now that our application has been approved and we have been granted rights we
will implement the next steps to deliver our proposals which include
discussions with Network Rail and rolling stock manufacturers."

ENDS

Notes:

FirstGroup's application was approved at a meeting of the ORR board in April
after an extensive industry consultation lasting more than a year.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) reported in March on competition in
passenger rail services, suggesting that further open access operations could
realise even greater benefits for rail passengers.

Low fares will persuade many passengers to make the greener switch to rail, and
business travellers will benefit from the first service of the day from London
arriving in Edinburgh by 10am, one hour earlier than is possible now by current
rail services. Five brand new state-of-the-art intercity electric trains will
be introduced, offering an additional 1.5m seats on the route every year.

FirstGroup also operates TransPennine Express services to Newcastle and
Edinburgh and recently began a new franchise on the route which will see more
than £500m invested to transform rail services across the North of England and
into Scotland.

FirstGroup already has extensive experience running an open access operation
that fills a vital gap in the market. First Hull Trains regularly receives
amongst the highest customer satisfaction scores in the country - scoring 97
per cent in the autumn 2015 Transport Focus National Rail Passenger Survey.
First Hull Trains makes 90 journeys a week on the East Coast Mainline between
London and Hull and transports more than 750,000 people annually - a ten-fold
increase since inception.

FirstGroup plc (LSE: FGP.L) is the leading transport operator in the UK and
North America and our services help to create strong, vibrant and sustainable
local economies. During the last year around 2.4 billion people relied on us to
get to work, to education, to visit family and friends and much more and, each
day, every one of our 110,000 employees works hard to deliver vitally important
services for our passengers. 

Our vision is to provide solutions for an increasingly congested world… keeping
people moving and communities prospering.

First Rail

FirstGroup is one of the most experienced rail operators in the UK and the only
one to run every sort of railway - long distance, regional, commuter and
sleeper operations. We carried more than 280 million passengers in 2014/15. We
operate two passenger franchises - Great Western Railway (GWR) and TransPennine
Express - and one open access operator, First Hull Trains. We operate the
Tramlink network on behalf of Transport for London carrying more than 32
million passengers a year and the Heathrow Connect service in partnership with
Heathrow Airport.

Contacts at FirstGroup:
Faisal Tabbah, Head of Investor Relations
Stuart Butchers, Group Head of Media
Tel: +44 20 7725 3354

Contacts at Brunswick PR:
Michael Harrison / Andrew Porter, Tel: +44 20 7404 5959



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