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The Pioneer Online

Your journey with First Hull Trains

Over the last few weeks I am all too aware that your journeys with us may have suffered from some disruption. I want to apologise to you personally and assure you that we are doing everything we can to get back to the high standard you rely on.

Your journey with First Hull Trains

So why is it happening?

You may be aware that in 2010 we reach the ten-year point in our agreement to operate our services. In that time we have increased services from three trains per day to seven; helping you to bring opportunity and growth to our region. In order to extend our licence beyond 2010 under the obligations set out for the strategy for the main line to London, we have to provide a significant increase in the numbers of passengers we can carry on each service. Irrespective of this, many of you will be aware that many of our services with the previous trains were very crowded and this was our single largest source of adverse feedback. So we have had no option but to replace our class 222 trains, which simply struggled to cope with current passenger numbers.

The class 180 train is different in many ways from the 222 and our current maintenance supplier has struggled to get to grips with the train's different needs. Many issues have already been resolved and others are still being worked on, nonetheless there are fundamentally no reasons why they cannot provide adequate levels of reliability. However, regrettably we have had a number of incidents where the trains have come into high speed contact with objects on the line, coupled with some initial reliability problems that were at the root of this period of disruption. As a result of one these "third party" incidents, one of our fleet of four trains has had to be taken out of service, and will remain so for some time to come whilst extensive repairs are undertaken. This leaves us in difficulty with no "slack" in the system while we deliver the timetable and maintenance programme from a reduced pool of trains. This is the reason for our current difficulty in delivering the full timetable.

So what are we doing about it?

First, we are working flat out with our suppliers to make sure they meet the service levels they agreed to deliver. We are very anxious to get our reliability back on schedule and, we have drafted in four additional technical experts to iron out the teething problems, with four more to come. Second, we have contracted another train at a significant cost, to supplement the fleet back to full strength in our determination to keeping the fleet working to capacity on the main route. Thirdly, we will redouble our efforts to keep you informed about any timetable changes and we will make every effort possible to keep changes to the minimum. If you have any questions or enquiries you can contact us by email to customer.services@hulltrains.co.uk and we will answer them.

During the past nine years, First Hull Trains has earned a strong reputation as one of the most reliable long distance train operating companies in the UK. I am determined to provide you the service you expect and deserve for our region, and our whole team thanks you for your continued custom.

Yours sincerely
Mark Leving

If you need to call us for tickets, fares & enquiries call 08450 710 222

Telesales Office Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 07:00 to 22:00 and Saturday and Sunday 08:00 to 19:00

Hull Trains Company Limited registered in England and Wales under company number 03715410 - Registered office First Hull Trains, 4th Floor, Europa House, 184 Ferensway, Hull HU1 3UT, England

Direct daily train services between Hull - London, Brough - London, Howden - London, Selby - London, Doncaster - London, Retford - London, Grantham - London, Stevenage - London.