Serco-Abellio (formerly Serco-NedRailways) is a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between

Serco Serco Group plc is a British company with headquarters based in Hook, Hampshire, England. Serco primarily derives income as a contractor for the provision of government services, most prominently in the sectors of health, transport, justice, ...

and

Abellio Abellio (also Abelio and Abelionni) was a god worshiped in the Garonne Valley in Gallia Aquitania (now southwest France), known primarily by a number of inscriptions which were discovered in Comminges, in the Pyrenees. He may have been a god o ...

, each owning 50%. The joint venture formed and owns one

train operating company A train operating company (TOC) is a business operating passenger trains on the railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993. T ...

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angles, Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Scandinavian York, K ...

. It has operated the

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated el ...

franchise since July 2003 and operated the

Northern Rail Northern Rail, branded as Northern, was an English train operating company owned by Serco-Abellio that operated the Northern Rail franchise from 2004 until 2016. It was the primary passenger train operator in Northern England, and operated th ...

franchise from December 2004 until March 2016. Serco-Abellio also lodged unsuccessful bids for the

Wales & Borders Wales and Borders was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated the Wales & Borders franchise from October 2001 until December 2003. History In October 1996, the Valley Lines franchise commenced oper ...

, West Midlands and

Tyne & Wear Metro The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and the City of Sunderland (together forming Tyne and Wear). The network opened in ...

franchises. Serco is a UK public listed company providing outsourced public sector services internationally, including the operation of

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

systems. Abellio is a subsidiary of the Dutch state railway company,

Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and t ...

Operations

Merseyrail

In April 2003, Serco-NedRailways was awarded the

franchise for 25 years from July 2003.

Northern Rail

In July 2004, Serco-NedRailways was awarded the

franchise for six years and nine months from December 2004 with a two-year extension subject to performance targets being achieved. In May 2010, 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 ...

confirmed that Northern Rail had met the performance targets and the franchise was extended for two years until September 2013. In May 2012, the Department for Transport granted Northern Rail a six-month extension until March 2014. In March 2014, the

Secretary of State for Transport The Secretary of State for Transport, also referred to as the transport secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the policies of the Department for Transport. The incumbent is ...

announced a direct award until 4 February 2016, later extended to 31 March 2016. The franchise was taken over by

Arriva Rail North Arriva Rail North, branded as Northern by Arriva (legal name Arriva Rail North Limited) was a train operating company in Northern England which began operating the Northern franchise on 1 April 2016 and inherited units from the previous operato ...

on 1 April 2016.

History

Bids

The joint venture was also shortlisted for a number of other rail franchises: *

in 2003 *

ScotRail ScotRail Trains Limited, trading as ScotRail ( gd, Rèile na h-Alba), is a Scottish train operating company that is publicly owned by Scottish Rail Holdings on behalf of the Scottish Government. It has been operating the ScotRail franchise ...

in 2003, but withdrew to concentrate on the Northern Rail franchise * West Midlands in 2007 *

in 2009

Partners operating independently

In 2014, it was confirmed that each partner bid independently for the 2016

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

franchise. Only Abellio made the shortlist of three bidders. The joint venture will continue to operate the Merseyrail franchise until its 2028 conclusion. Abellio was shortlisted for the

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a large part of Greater London as w ...

, South Central, Greater Anglia,

InterCity West Coast InterCity West Coast (ICWC) was a 1997–2019 Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain, railway franchise in the United Kingdom for passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line (and branches thereof), between Euston railway station, London E ...

, Essex Thameside and

Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) is a management contract for the provision of passenger services on the Thameslink and Great Northern routes to , , , , , , London Moorgate, Sutton, Wimbledon and Brighton, as well as the whole ...

franchises in its own right. In April 2015, Serco, in its own right, commenced operating the

Caledonian Sleeper ''Caledonian Sleeper'' is the collective name for overnight sleeper train services between London and Scotland, in the United Kingdom. It is one of only two currently operating sleeper services on the railway in the United Kingdom, the other b ...

franchise, while

Abellio ScotRail Abellio ScotRail, operating services under the name ScotRail, was the national train operating company of Scotland. A subsidiary of Abellio, it operated the ScotRail franchise from 1 April 2015, taking over from predecessor First ScotRail. ...

took over the ScotRail franchise. Abellio managed to keep the Greater Anglia franchise and will operate it until 2025. In December 2017,

West Midlands Trains West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trade names: West Midlands Railway (WMR) (within the ...

, a joint venture with

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters ar ...

and

Mitsui is one of the largest ''keiretsu'' in Japan and one of the largest corporate groups in the world. The major companies of the group include Mitsui & Co. ( general trading company), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Nippon Paper Industries ...

in which Abellio owns 70%, commenced operating the West Midlands franchise.

References

{{Abellio, state=collapsed Nederlandse Spoorwegen Railway companies established in 2002 Serco 2002 establishments in England