Support us on our journey
Our Plan
Many towns in Somerset and Wiltshire have train stations already, but they often have limited services and don’t connect well to each other. Many of the trains passing through are the fast services to London, with only a couple of local stops.
Since 1992, it has been possible to introduce ‘Open Access’ services that are additional to the main rail franchises, and that is what we want to do.
The Office of Rail and Road have now approved our track access application. That means provided we comply with their expectations, we can expect to be able to operate trains and earn revenue on our route.
That means we need more investment to get from where we are – largely volunteer run – to being a fully competent train operator. To cover all the costs of launch, we need £2.6M as a minimum – and we’ve got to raise that by spring 2025 to have enough time meet the ORR’s deadline of full operation by the end of 2026.
Community Shares
The investment Go-op is currently offering are Community Shares.
Community shares are a special kind of shares that Co-operatives and Community Benefit Societies can issue. They are withdrawable but not transferable, and cannot be traded. Unlike shares in other companies, shares in a co-operative entitle you to a vote in general meetings on the basis of one member, one vote.
In our co-operative, we also have some extra rules on voting to make sure that everyone’s interests are protected.
Any investment made is a full risk and must be done based on the information in our Share Offer Document below. If you would like to invest, please use the ‘Invest in Go-op’ form below. You can also request a copy of the full business plan.
As well as interest, currently 8%, shares in Go-op qualify for EIS Tax Relief.
Interest is credited as further share capital, and withdrawals of all shares will be possible once Go-op has achieved profitability in 4-5 years.
We don’t want people to invest more than they can afford, so we are open to small investments as well as large, and have an option for making smaller monthly investments rather than doing it all in one go.
We understand that at this early stage, investment might be too risky for some people. We also have an option for pledging to invest once we have started running trains.
If you have any other questions about investing with us, please get in touch via the contact information below.