Platinum Trains was a proposed

open access operator In rail transport in Europe, an open-access operator is a train operating company that takes full commercial risk, running on infrastructure owned by a third party and buying paths on a chosen route and in countries where rail services run under ...

that intended to run limited-stop train services from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

via the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...

. Its plan was to compete with air travel. The company proposed to use two

Class 180 The British Rail Class 180 is a class of 14 Diesel multiple unit#Diesel–hydraulic, diesel-hydraulic Multiple unit, multiple-unit passenger trains manufactured by Alstom at its Washwood Heath factory in 2000/01 for First Great Western (FGW) . T ...

units to operate two outbound and return journeys per day on weekdays and one outbound and return per day at weekends between

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and

London King's Cross King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is in the London station group, one of the busiest stations in the United King ...

, calling at

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. The company anticipated placing an order for new rolling stock in the first year of operation with introduction into service in the third or fourth year. In February 2009, the application to operate trains was denied by the

Office of Rail Regulation The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the economic and safety regulation of Britain's railways, and the economic monitoring of National Highways. ORR regulates Network Rail by setting its ...

, along with that of

First Harrogate Trains First Harrogate Trains was a proposed open access operator with ambitions to run passenger services between Harrogate and London King's Cross via York. The company proposed to run from Harrogate to London King's Cross with up to four services e ...

. Difficulties had been highlighted in finding additional paths for the trains to operate in along the busy East Coast Main Line. In a letter from the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...

to the Office of Rail Regulation in January 2009, it was noted that "the Platinum Trains proposal does not appear to be compatible with Transport Scotland’s franchised service specification between Aberdeen and Edinburgh, and we find it difficult to see how a non-stop path could be achieved south of Edinburgh without use of excessive pathing time which could present operational difficulties due to persistent early running."

References

{{Reflist Open-access train operating companies