Hull Trains[2] is an open-access railway operator in England owned by the multinational transport company FirstGroup.

A majority stake in the company was acquired by FirstGroup in August 2003, leading to its rebranding as First Hull Trains five years later.

FirstGroup made it a wholly-owned subsidiary by buying out the other shareholder in the venture during August 2014; that same year, the Hull Trains name was readopted.

As of 2022[update], Hull Trains' services are operated by a fleet of five Class 802 Paragon bi-mode multiple units (BMUs).

During May 1999, former British Rail managers Mike Jones and John Nelson lodged an application to operate an open-access service through their Renaissance Trains business.

[4] A joint venture was formed with the train operating company (TOC) GB Railways, which took an 80% shareholding, while Jones and Nelson each held a 10% stake in the new entity.

[8] Furthermore, national infrastructure owner Railtrack had allegedly demonstrated a poor ability in identifying potential paths for the service.

[8] On 25 September 2000, Hull Trains officially launched its operations with its first service departing King's Cross station.

However, an early blow to the company came in the form of widespread disruption resulting from the Hatfield rail crash; months of speed limitations and temporary line closures heavily impacted services, albeit softened somewhat by compensation payments for lost income issued by Railtrack.

[12] In August 2003, through the purchase of GB Railways by the British transport conglomerate FirstGroup in exchange for £22 million, the latter business took possession of their majority shareholding in Hull Trains.

[38][39][40] In September 2001, Hull Trains announced initial proposals for a direct service from Cleethorpes to London King's Cross, calling at Grimsby, Barnetby, Market Rasen, Lincoln, Sleaford, Spalding and Peterborough.

[42][43][44] In January 2009, the Office of Rail Regulation released its decisions on the ECML route planning and rejected First Harrogate Trains' application.

[45][8] On 5 January 2024, Hull Trains announced that it had submitted an application for a new service between London King's Cross and Sheffield.

[8] Brush Traction was approached with a request to build additional Class 43 power cars, but this proved to be uneconomic due to the need for extensive updates to comply with up-to-date safety legislation; instead, successful negotiations were completed to lease 3-car Class 170 Turbostars from sister GB Railways company Anglia Railways.

[75] The Class 180s enabled First Hull Trains to provide more capacity by its additional carriage, but when the units first arrived they were plagued by technical difficulties, and a period of poor reliability for the company followed.

The first two units transferred to Derby Etches Park in January 2020 after a period in storage at Crofton Depot,[79] and the final two followed in summer 2020.

[80][81] Two sets (or occasionally three if there were no sets on maintenance) were stabled and serviced each night in Hull sidings by Hull Trains staff (where there were usually two fitters on at night to undertake basic fault repair and diagnostics) with fuelling and emptying of toilet tanks being undertaken at Arriva Rail North's Botanic Gardens TMD.

The Class 802s are maintained by Hitachi at Bounds Green depot[82] with overnight servicing continuing to take place at Northern Trains Hull Botanic Gardens TMD.