company . for the form of free flow tolling for queensland motorways in australia see go via . govia type limited company industry public transport founded november 1996 headquarters newcastle upon tyne area served united kingdom products train services owner go ahead 65 % keolis 35 % website www.govia.info govia 1 is a transport company based in the united kingdom . it was formed in november 1996 as a joint venture between go ahead 65 % and keolis 35 % to bid for rail franchises during the privatisation of british rail . contents 1 history 2 current operations 3 previous operations 4 other operations 5 references 6 external links history edit southern class 377 at battersea park station in june 2010 southeastern class 395 javelin at st pancras in august 2012 london midland class 350 at kidsgrove station in june 2015 thameslink class 319 at st albans station in november 2014 established in 1986 the go ahead group has its roots in north east england where it was formed as go ahead northern during the de regulation of the bus industry . keolis is the biggest private operator of public transport in france and a major worldwide operator of transport services . as part of the privatisation of british rail the thames trains franchise was awarded to victory rail holdings 2 a company owned by go ahead 65 % and some ex british rail managers 35 % with operations commencing on 13 october 1996 . 3 go ahead bought the remaining shares it did not own in june 1998 . 4 go ahead formed a joint venture with keolis and were awarded the thameslink franchise with operations commencing on 2 march 1997 . upon being retendered the franchise passed to first capital connect on 1 april 2006 . govia also unsuccessfully bid for the regional railways north west and scotrail franchises . in august 2001 govia commenced operating the southern franchise adopting the southern . 5 6 in april 2006 govia commenced operating the southeastern franchise . in november 2007 govia commenced operating the london midland franchise and in may 2014 the govia thameslink railway franchise . 7 8 govia unsuccessfully bid for the northern franchise in 2015 . 9 10 current operations edit govia currently operate three franchises 11 govia thameslink railway 12 operating the thameslink southern and great northern franchise under the southern gatwick express and thameslink and great northern brands from east and west sussex surrey and parts of kent and hampshire along with lines from bedford peterborough and kings lynn via cambridge to london expires september 2021 . london midland 13 on the west coast main line and in the west midlands expires october 2017 . southeastern 14 from kent and east sussex to london expires june 2018 . previous operations edit govia previously ran rail franchises through the following companies thameslink from march 1997 until march 2006 . 15 southern 16 operating as southern and gatwick express from august 2001 and june 2008 respectively until joining govia thameslink railway in july 2015 . other operations edit the partners have also bid for other franchises separately . keolis has held a 45 % shareholding in first transpennine express since february 2004 and in 2012 bid for the intercity west coast franchise in partnership with sncf . go ahead bid for the greater anglia franchise . 17 the partners also lodged an unsuccessful bid for the transpennine express franchise in 2015 but this was not being done through govia with keolis holding a majority shareholding . 10 references edit companies house extract company no 3278419 govia limited companies house extract company no 3147927 victory rail holdings limited go ahead annual report 1997 go ahead group plc 28 june 1997 go ahead annual report 1998 go ahead group plc 27 june 1998 retention of south central franchise go ahead 9 june 2009 more frequent and more secure rail services for london and the south east department for transport 9 june 2009 about us govia govia wins thameslink rail franchise bbc news 23 may 2014 northern govia a b shortlist for northern and transpennine express rail operators revealed department for transport 19 august 2014 our companies govia companies house extract company no 7934306 govia thameslink railway limited companies house extract company no 5814584 london & birmingham railway limited companies house extract company no 4860660 london & south eastern railway limited department for transport announces winner of thameslink gn franchise department for transport press release 13 december 2005 companies house extract company no 6574965 southern railway limited shortlisted bidders for greater anglia and intercity west coast rail franchises department for transport 24 march 2011 external links edit company website govia companies grouped at opencorporates v t e go ahead group united kingdom bus companies anglian bus brighton & hove carousel buses go ahead london blue triangle docklands buses london central london general go north east go south coast bluestar marchwood motorways uni link damory coaches southern vectis wilts & dorset more salisbury reds tourist group hedingham chambers konectbus metrobus oxford bus company plymouth citybus thames travel singapore bus companies go ahead singapore united kingdom railway companies as govia govia thameslink railway including gatwick express great northern southern thameslink london midland southeastern defunct uk operations aviance uk east thames buses meteor parking solent blue line thames trains thameslink govia retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title govia & oldid 739207417 categories go ahead group companiessncf1996 establishments in englandhidden categories opencorporates groupings navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout 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