And in that decade my thoughts on Virgin Trains was proven incorrect as they too suffered the same fate as their predecessors (bar East Coast) and the InterCity East Coast franchise (which is now technically no longer a thing) passed back to what was DFTO (Department for Transport Operator) trading as LNER (London North Eastern Railway, not to be confused with the historic company London and North Easter Railway), the TransPennine franchise also failed but for poor punctuality so it also was took over by DFTO but retained the TransPennine Express name, Northern also failed and became part of DFTO but retain the name and most rolling stock (the Pacers are now gone from the main line), Southeastern was also another failure that became part of DFTO because of financial misconduct, however in the intervening decade subsequent governments decided to bring back British Rail, but they're going to call it Great British Railways, effectively Network Rail and DFTO will fall under this, the trains are still owned by rolling stock leasing companies.
Because of this franchises were not renewed and DFTO took over operations of remaining train operators, South Western Railway was the first in May 2025, followed by c2c in July 2025, Greater Anglia followed suit in October 2025 with West Midlands Trains following suit in February this year, Govia Thameslink Railway's contract expired on the 31st May this year and from then on became known as Greater Thameslink Railway (retaining the GTR initials).
Chiltern Railways and Great Western Railway are scheduled to become part of DFTO later this year, leaving East Midlands Railway, Avanti West Coast (who took over from Virgin Trains in December 2019) and CrossCountry (who have been repainting and refurbishing their Voyager fleet), CrossCountry may survive until late next year, Avanti West Coast may last until October as could East Midlands Railway.
There has also been significant changes to rolling stock, LNER operate a fleet of Class 800 and Class 801 trains dubbed Azuma (I've not travelled on one yet), these replace InterCity 125 and InterCity 225 however LNER are still operating some of the latter, GWR also has some Class 800s but were using until very recently shortened InterCity 125s, which were possibly replaced by Claass 802. TransPennine Express also operates Class 802 trains on some of its routes but has (for what reason I do not know) retained the awful Class 185 Desiro DMUs, they did operate some loco hauled services using Class 68 Diesel locomotives and Mark 5 carriages (though these are not a BR design as they never built Mark 5 before 1997, instead these were built by CAF) but they stopped using them in 2023 and they got used elsewhere and they opted for the Class 802s, the TransPennine route is currently undergoing upgrades and electrification which would make the 802s a better choice as these trains are bi-mode so can run the whole route using the electrification where this is available or the Diesel engines where not.
Northern replaced all the Pacers with Sprinters, Class 158 (which is also part of the Sprinter family), Class 170 and class 195, some Pacers have ended up in museums or as working trains on heritage railways, these were disposed of by Northern in 2020.
The only National Rail operators of InterCity 125 as of posting date is ScotRail, other InterCity 125 vehicles operating on Network Rail lines are privately owned or part of the Network Rail New Measurement Train, power car (locomotive) 43002 is in the Natiomal Railway Museum, it was named after its designer Sir Kenneth Grange, 43302 (original number 43102 before MTU engine fitment) is located at Locomotion in Shildon, being the fasted Diesel locomotive on record (though service speed was always 125MPH as no in-cab signalling was available), several are, as expected, at 125 Group including 43159 which was the rear loco in the set with 43102 on the Diesel record attempt in 1987) in all 19 are preserved and ScotRail run 52, 11 were shipped to Mexico and 10 to Nigeria and a total (including the 5 destroyed in accidents) number scrapped is 32, the prototype 41001 is back with the National Railway Museum after they terminated their lease with 125 Group in 2018, various Mark 3 carriages have also entered preservation or been shipped overseas as well.
Infrastructure has also been upgraded or is undergoing upgrades, Darlington railway station has recently opened a new concourse, multi-story car park and 2 new platforms behind the original station connected via a footbridge with stairs, escalators and lifts at both ends, the station retains its avoiding lines allowing freight and the Flying Scotsman service to pass the station without having to slow down and enter it, these are visible from the new platform 5 but are a distance from it, there is also rollout of in-cab signalling ongoing as well on parts of the network, based on ETCS but not all trains are fitted for it yet so the standard colour light signals remain for now, this would allow a line speed of up to 140MPH, a speed planned but ultimately not implemented for InterCity 225 due to the inability of drivers to reliably read lineside signals, the TransPennine Route is currently undergoing upgrades to be electrified and have the same ETCS system as noted above.
With the dawn of Great British Railways (which I refer to as the return of British Rail) the trains will all be getting repainted into a standard livery that uses the colours of the Union Jack, the trains will be branded with the "Great British Railways" logo and the operator name, currently only two trains have received this paint job, other DFTO train operators have retained their standard liveries for the time being though many trains have special liveries as well related to places in which these trains operate, for the 200th Anniversary of the Darlington & Stockton Railway (and thus the birth of the railways) LNER named Azuma set 801207 after the town in January 2025), they also have a Pride livery on 801226, along with GWRs 800008, Avanti's 390119, CrossCountry's 220005 and West Midlands Trains 730018 all carrying some variation of the Pride flag (usually the progress Pride flag, in fact 390119 is named Progress), whether all these Pride liveries survive the (Great) British Rail(ways) rebranding remains to be seen. Northern have pained 158844 into a special livery and called the train "The Northumbrian" and 158903 was painted to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the railways, it would be a shame if special liveries like these would be lost to the generic branding about to be rolled out because it gives the trains a bit more character, a generic livery harkens back to the days of BR Blue on everything and while I barely remember that there are preserved rolling stock items in this, the generic (G)BR livery that's to come isn't characterful at all.
Train fares have gone up as expected over the intervening 11 years, for an advance to Kings Cross from Darlington I paid nearly £125, though I travel in August, that was for 2 singles as no return was available for my trip (it's a day trip, my last day trip to London by train was in the mid 2000s), I doubt they're going to come down with the return of British Rail, however booking in advance still remains cheaper than buying on the day.
Buffet cars have been removed from trains, these all now have a cafe bar or trolley service or a facility to order at your seat, visiting the cafe bar if the train has it does involve walking down the train to it (on trains that use two sets to create a longer train this facility is duplicated for both halves of the train), for trains where you can order from your seat you would most likely scan a QR code or similar and pay online.
Railway strike action also took place in the intervening decade causing much disruption to the railways as that industry is one of the most unionised industries in the UK with 3 unions representing railway workers, much of it was about pay and conditions and the disputes were resolved to a degree.
A lot has happened on the railways of this country, I could post more but I'd be here all night as it has took me the best part of 3 hours just to type this as I needed to check information as I was typing, a new era of railways under (Great) British Rail(ways) will soon be upon us, however not all trains will fall under this, Grand Central will continue to operate as it did along with Hull Trains, the new open access operator Lumo will also continue and as will Eurostar with its services between London and European cites via the Channel Tunnel, ScotRail passenger services will remain independent from (G)BR as these are under control of the Scottish Government, Transport for Wales Rail will also remain independent from (G)BR as it is under control of Transport for Wales owned by the Welsh Government, metro systems and certain devolved passenger railway services will also be independent from (G)BR.
As I have a train journey potentially on a class 800/801 Azuma coming up in August I will report on if I lke the train or not.
I best get to bed, it's midnight
