- 6 UK train operating companies
- 5,000+ route kilometres
- 100s of stations across England, Scotland and Wales
The provision of alternative transport solutions during times of disruption on the railway is a critical element of the customer journey experience. First Travel Solutions (FTS) is one of the UK’s leading rail replacement operators, providing managed passenger transport from single vehicle operation to hundreds of buses and coaches for sporting and cultural events.
North Star was engaged by FTS to support their tenders for the provision of rail replacement services to various train operating companies. North Star bid writers developed robust and well-evidenced bid plans covering all aspects of rail replacement service delivery. FTS were successful in their bids to provide rail replacement services for six railway operators – Great Western Railway, South Western Railway, TransPennine Express, Avanti West Coast, Lumo and Hull Trains. Following the success of the tenders, North Star was re-engaged to support the contract mobilisation activities.
“North Star provided us with bid writing support to various tenders between 2021 and 2022, including our successful bid for five train operating company rail replacement contracts. They have helped us to improve the quality of our bid plans and case studies to reflect what First Travel Solutions has achieved and the robustness of our processes. We also asked North Star to provide project management support during the mobilisation of our new rail replacement contracts, and to support data reporting on the taxi side of our business. The North Star consultants have been a pleasure to work with and really became part of our team.”
Andrew Scholey, Managing Director, First Travel Solutions
