Arriva - Key figures
See also the facebookpage of Mediarail.be, comment on Twitter and LinkedIn
Other key figures - back to Homepage

Great-Britain – Train/bus/light rail/waterbus operator – 14 countries
Subsidiary of DBAG – 55,000 people – 2.2 billion journeys


Since 1997, Arriva is the name of a public transport company established in 1938. In 2010, the company became a subsidiary Deutsche Bahn for the outside operations and is headquartered in Sunderland (UK). Arriva is one of the largest providers of passenger transport in Europe, employing more than 55,000 people and delivering more than 2.2 billion passenger journeys across 14 European countries each year. The company operates a wide range of services including local buses, inter-urban commuter coaches, local, regional and national train services, trams and light rail, waterbuses, demand response, non-emergency patient transport and airport related transport services: 



Rail services
Arriva European rail network spans the UK, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Sweden. The UK is the largest rail market of Arriva, where it operate six different train services, from the CrossCountry route spanning the length of England and Scotland to London Overground Rail Operations. The UK passenger rail market is at a mature stage of liberalisation. It is almost fully contracted and competitively tendered, with local service providers responsible for key areas such as timetabling. GNWR, GNER and Grand Central are part of Arriva. Elsewhere in Europe the market is opening up to tendering at different speeds. In Denmark, where Arriva operate 15 per cent of the regional network, the company was the first and only private company to be awarded a rail contract. In the Netherlands, where the market is mid-way through liberalisation, Arriva have a 60 per cent share of the open market as the sole provider of regional rail services in several areas.

Bus services
Arriva operates 19,500 buses across 14 European countries and cover many services from taking passengers to school and work, to the airport and even on sightseeing tours. The bus market in Europe is characterised by many different regulatory environments, ranging from complete liberalisation to state-run services in countries such as Hungary and Croatia. Having started out in the UK back in 1980, the company began his journey in the mainland Europe bus market with the first acquisition in Denmark in 1997. The largest bus market remains the UK, with a fleet of 5,900 vehicles providing services for customers in London, the rest of England and in Wales. The company have successfully established Arriva as a local market contender in many of these countries and expanded his bus services across Europe as a result. 


Light rail services
Arriva runs tram or light rail services in four countries across Europe. Sweden has a fully deregulated market and the company launched his first tram operations in 2007, while it won the ‘Pågatåg’ light rail contract and a second competitive contract in 2009, to run tram services between Göteborg and Örebro.  Arriva runs in Portugal and started operating the city of Porto’s tram contract, Metro do Porto in 2010, with 126 trams, as shown picture above, and also operate six trams in Italy. In UK, Arriva’s light rail services are based in the heart of the North East, serving some 40 million passengers every year with the Tyne and Wear Metro, which consists of 60 stations on a network shared by national rail passenger and freight services.

Waterbus services
Arriva provides waterbus routes on canals and in harbors within Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, where Arriva run 12 waterbuses to the south of Amsterdam, around half of the routes are competitively tendered. In Italy there are four waterbuses provide essential passenger services for customers in Trieste and in Denmark, the company operates three waterbuses in the capital, Copenhagen.

See many more pictures on this album
Website of Alliance Rail Holdings (Arriva UK) on this link