While the government’s  HS2 railway project continues to spend millions just on preparations there are other – and much sooner – changes being proposed by commercial operators. Alliance Rail, part of the Arriva group (and so part of Deutsche Bahn) have been putting out proposals offering new services along the existing East and West Coast main lines.

The latest proposal is for direct express train services on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) between London King’s Cross and stations in West Yorkshire / Lincolnshire starting in December 2017. The headline points for them being a two-hourly service to Leeds calling at a new East Leeds Parkway station with 6 trains a day continuing to Bradford and one to Ilkley, all 7 calling at Leeds’ Kirkstall Forge station. Also up to 4 trains a day to Cleethorpes via Doncaster, Scunthorpe and Grimsby. These new services expect to use the latest Hitachi Super Express trains capable of running at the route’s maximun speeds.

However this is not the only bid on the table. Last month Alliance Rail also proposed an hourly express train service on the East Coast Main Line from London King’s Cross to Newcastle and Edinburgh starting in December 2016.  This service would use new nine-coach Pendolino trains to cut the present Edinburgh journey time from an average 4 hours 20 min to 3 hours 43 min (compared to 3 hours 38 min via HS2 but that’s not available until 2033).

Both of these routes are under the GNER brand – but Alliance Rail have further proposals under their GNWR brand covering the West Coast Main Line. There are no less than three new services here for 2016 – a 2 hourly train from London Euston to Leeds (via Milton Keynes, Rugby, Lichfield, Crewe, Stockport, Huddersfield); a 2 hourly train from London Euston to Bradford Interchange (via Milton Keynes, Rugby, Lichfield, Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Manchester Victoria, Halifax) and up to 7 trains per day split between London Euston to Carlisle (via the Cumbrian coast) and London Euston to Blackpool.

Now parent company Arriva have had a hard time with train service submissions to the government. According to our calculations they have had 5 franchise bids rejected over the past two years. But at least these proposals by Alliance Rail are framed under Open Access rules and so might have a slightly better chance of success.

Hopefully they do succeed since they have a lot going for them. They are strictly commercial offerings with no tax payer’s money committed that will provide improved services on new routes that could be available decades before HS2 has spent all of its £43,000 million budget (excluding power and operating costs). But the downside is that other Open Access services have not always been a commercial success with Grand Central loosing money every year and the Wrexham & Shropshire services lasting less than 3 years before closure.