Home Rail

Home Rail is a large Train Operating Company, operating rail services across Home City Centre, and the surrounding areas. They also operate more limted services linking the City Centre to the area known as Greater Home, which allows passengers to connect to other rail services across Newleaf Island.

Home Rail were formed in 2007 as part of the larger government owned Home City Transport, however were bought out by Abellio in 2013. Terms of the contract state that the operation is under Abellio hands for 5 years, until October 5, 2018, unless surrendered, at which point bidding for the rail network will commence once again. The Home Rail brand previously used by Home City Transport was retained.

It was announced on September 26th 2015, after months of consultations with both operators, Transport for Home and Home Council, that the Home Trams brand, which at the time was operated by National Express, was to be merged with the Home Rail network, with the rail network being converted to a tramway.

Home Rail maintain their fleet at a large, purpose built facility in the nearby town of Turton.

## History

Home Rail formed in 2007 as part of the government owned Home City Transport, with the aim being to connect areas across Home quicker than the bus services would. Go ahead for this project was given in 2005 with construction starting early on in 2006, before being finished in 2007. The first passenger service ran on the morning of August 19th 2007 and recieved a large amount of press attention.

When it was announced that Home City Transport was to be privatised in 2012, operation of the rail network was subject to a lengthy bidding process, before being awarded to Abellio, who started operation of the network on October 5th 2013, a year after the bidding first started. Much to the surprise of many people, Home Trams was contracted out to National Express for the same period of time.

Easter weekend 2014 saw the biggest engineering project since the network opened, with the entire network being shut down alongside the tram network, and being replaced by a comprehensive bus network.

On September 26th 2015, it was announced by bosses of both Abellio and National Express, with representatives from Home Council present, who remain responsible for the infrastructure of the network, that the two rail networks in Home would be merged into one. Reasons released were varied, however the public were assured that all of the reasons were truthful. Council representatives mentioned that it was no longer financially viable to provide maintenance to two networks of similar length, whilst other reasons provided included the simplification of ticketing for the two networks, with the majority of routes being similar, allowing greater flexibility for the travelling public.

In late 2015, the contract for the running of Home Rail and Home Trams was handed over to City Transport following Abellio and National Express' reluctance to jointly run the operation.

## Routes

Since formation in 2007, Home Rail services have been split into a number of different routes. A major engineering project went underway over the Easter weekend of 2014, where large amounts of track was replaced, with a new timetable and new stations being introduced.

### Current routes

The following routes are operated by Home Rail:

* Home Centre line - services between Home Interchange and Home Centre, with some services extending to Main Gate
* Lake Home line - services between Lake Home railway station and Home Interchange or Freshwater Beach railway station
* Freshwater Beach line (summer only) - services between Home Interchange and Freshwater Beach
* Museum line - services between Home Centre, Waterfall, Freshwater Bridge, Museum,Home Interchange and Home Port
* Main Gate line - services between Home Centre, Main Gate and East Wall
* Greater Home line - services between either Railsworth or Turton, Charnock and either Leeds Road or Runland railway station
* Western Newleaf line - *current services between Main Gate and Leeds Road*, with services extending to Boondox or Runland
* Eastern Newleaf line - services between Leeds Road, Whiteside and Auction

### Past routes

The following routes were once operated by Home Rail, however have now been replaced by another route or cancelled completely:

* Home Centre route - services between Home Interchange, Home Centre and Main Gate or Museum
* Freshwater Beach line - services between Home Interchange, Home Pond and Freshwater Beach
* East Wall line - services between Museum, Home Interchange and East Wall

After the last train arrived at Main Gate at approximately 01:20hrs on Friday, 18 April 2014, the entire rail network shut down for Easter, being replaced by a comprehensive service of Rail Replacement buses. This follows a similar shut down of the Home Trams network on Saturday, 12 April 2014 for major engineering work.

## Stations

Home Rail are responsible for the management of most railway stations within Home, however all are currently served by Home Rail.

### Current stations

* Home Interchange
* Freshwater Bridge
* Palm Coast
* Lake Home
* Freshwater Beach
* Palm Beach
* Home Centre
* Main Gate
* Museum
* North Bridge
* East Wall
* Leeds Road

### Future stations

* Home Port
* Waterfall
* Turton
* Railsworth
* Charnock
* Runland
* Boondox
* Auction
* Whiteside

## Fleet

Home Rail use a diverse fleet of Diesel Multiple Units, to the same specifications as those in use in the United Kingdom.