rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

, an open-access operator is an operator 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 franchises, are not subject to franchising.

Passenger open-access operators by country

Austria

* RegioJet * WESTbahn

In development

* Silverstar Railways

Czech Republic

* LEO Express * RegioJet

Belgium

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service in Western Europe, connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The service is operated by the Eurostar Group which was formed from the merger of Eurostar, ...

* European Sleeper

France

* Trenitalia France * Renfe

In development

* Le Train * Proxima * Kevin Speed

Former operators

* Izy

Germany

* FlixTrain * Harz-Berlin-Express * Nightjet * WESTbahn * European Sleeper

Former operators

* Hamburg-Köln-Express taken over by Flixtrain * Locomore Stuttgart-Berlin route taken over by Leo Express

Hungary

* RegioJet

Italy

* DB/ÖBB Italia * Nightjet * NTV (Italo) * Arenaways

Netherlands

* European Sleeper *

Arriva Arriva Ltd. is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. The company was originally established on 24 October 1938 as T Cowie Ltd. Initially focused on the sale of motorcycles, it relaunched shortl ...

night services

In development

* GoVolta * Heuro * Qbuzz international services

Poland

* LEO Express

In development

* FlixTrain

Romania

* Astra Trans Carpatic * Regio Călători * Softrans * Transferoviar Grup

Slovakia

* RegioJet (all services except those on

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

—

Komárno Komárno (, , ), colloquially also called ''Révkomárom'', ''Öregkomárom'', ''Észak-Komárom'' in Hungarian language, Hungarian, is a town in Slovakia at the confluence of the Danube and the Váh rivers. Historically it was formed by the "old ...

mainline, which are franchised)

Slovenia

* Adria transport

Spain

* Ouigo España * Iryo

Sweden

* VR Snabbtåg Sverige (formerly MTRX) * Snälltåget (

Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a France-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. Transdev was formed on 3 April 2011 via the merg ...

) (Malmö–Stockholm–Åre) * TÅGAB *

SJ AB SJ is the primary passenger train operator in Sweden. A wholly List of government enterprises of Sweden, state-owned company operated for-profit under market conditions, SJ operates various services across Sweden. SJ's operations include High-spee ...

Former operators

* Blå Tåget * Saga Rail * FlixTrain
Sydvästen

United Kingdom

* Grand Central * Heathrow Express * Hull Trains *

Lumo In chemistry, HOMO and LUMO are types of molecular orbitals. The acronyms stand for ''highest occupied molecular orbital'' and ''lowest unoccupied molecular orbital'', respectively. HOMO and LUMO are sometimes collectively called the ''frontie ...

In development

* Go-op * Lumo (London-Stirling) * Lumo (Edinburgh-Glasgow extension) * Lumo (London-Carmarthen) * Lumo (London-Paignton) * Lumo (London-Rochdale) * Grand Central (Newcastle-Brighton) * Grand Central (London-Cleethorpes) * Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands Railway) * Virgin Trains (London-Manchester) * Virgin Trains (London-Rochdale) * Virgin Trains (London-Liverpool) * Virgin Trains (London-Birmingham) * Virgin Trains (London-Glasgow) * Virgin Trains (Channel Tunnel Services) * Hull Trains (London-Sheffield) * Gemini Trains * Evolyn * FS Italiane * Eurostar (London-Frankfurt) * Eurostar (London-Geneva) * Alliance Rail (Marchwood-Southampton)

Former operators

* Wrexham & Shropshire (ceased trading January 2011)

Former proposals

* Alliance Rail Holdings (company dissolved) * First Harrogate Trains * Grand Union (purchased by FirstGroup) * Glasgow Trains *

Platinum Trains Platinum Trains was a proposed open access operator that intended to run limited-stop train services from Scotland to London via the East Coast Main Line. Its plan was to compete with air travel. The company proposed to use two Class 180 unit ...

Notes

References

Rail transport operators {{rail-transport-stub