National Express East Coast
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Image:National Express Logo.gif | |
|---|---|
| Image:NXEC HST 43300 S Crozier.jpg | |
| Franchise(s): | InterCity East Coast 9 December 2007 – 31 March 2015 |
| Main region(s): | East Midlands, Yorkshire, North East England, Central Scotland, Northern Scotland |
| Other region(s): | London |
| Fleet size: | 31 Class 91 electric locomotives 30 InterCity 225 sets |
| Stations called at: | 53 |
| Stations operated: | 12 |
| National Rail abbreviation: | GR |
| Parent company: | National Express Group |
| Web site: | www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com |
National Express East Coast is the name under which the train operating company NXEC Trains Ltd operates the InterCity East Coast rail franchise, which includes services in England and Scotland. NXEC Trains Ltd is a subsidiary of National Express Group and was awarded the East Coast Main Line franchise after the parent company of previous franchise holder GNER, Sea Containers, suffered financial difficulties. GNER continued to operate the franchise under a management contract until the new franchise began on 9 December 2007.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Service patterns
In off-peak times, there are three or four trains per hour to and from Kings Cross. The following details apply to weekday operations.
[edit] Principal routes
[edit] London–Newcastle–Edinburgh
A half-hourly service between Kings Cross and Newcastle operates for most of the day, departing from London on the hour and on the half hour. The ‘top of the hour’ departures continue through to Edinburgh (with the 10:00 keeping the traditional name Flying Scotsman), with some running on to either Glasgow Central, Aberdeen or Inverness. These trains generally run as limited-stop expresses between London and Newcastle: all trains call at York, and most at Peterborough and Darlington, though afternoon and evening departures from Kings Cross run non-stop to Doncaster and/or York. The trains leaving Kings Cross on the half hour generally terminate at Newcastle and serve other intermediate stations such as Grantham, Newark, Retford, Doncaster and Durham as well as Peterborough, York, and Darlington.
[edit] London–Leeds
The service between Kings Cross and Leeds is generally half-hourly, with trains serving most main intermediate stations.
[edit] London-Edinburgh-Glasgow
National Express East Coast operate ten trains per day between Kings Cross and Glasgow. With the upgrade of the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Glasgow to 125mph now complete, National Express East Coast can't compete with Virgin Trains on this route when it comes to journey times (still 5hrs 30mins compared to the new 4hrs 25min time on the WCML), but they do provide a useful link from Glasgow to Newcastle and York and a secondary route for use when the WCML is closed for engineering work.
[edit] Other routes
[edit] Aberdeen
There are three trains per day each way between Kings Cross and Aberdeen, the journey time being just over seven hours. There is also one service per day arriving at Aberdeen from Leeds. These services are operated by HST sets, as the line between Edinburgh and Aberdeen is not electrified.
[edit] Inverness
A daily service operates between Kings Cross and Inverness, called the Highland Chieftain, a journey taking just over eight hours. This route is operated with diesel HSTs, as the line north of Edinburgh is not electrified.
[edit] Hull
National Express East Coast run the Hull Executive between Hull and Kings Cross, with one morning journey to London and one evening journey to Hull. Since the branch to Hull is not electrified, this route too is operated using diesel HST sets. Hull Trains run more direct services between Hull and London.
[edit] Bradford
There are two trains per day between Kings Cross and Bradford Forster Square. These are extensions of the Kings Cross–Leeds services and usually utilise the ‘Mallard’ electric sets.
[edit] Skipton
There is a morning train from Skipton and Keighley to Kings Cross with an early evening return. As is the case with the Bradford trains, this is an extension to the Leeds–London service. Though the line to Skipton is electrified throughout, the National Express East Coast service to/from the town is operated using a diesel HST because the electrical infrastructure on the Leeds to Skipton line is insufficient to support National Express East Coast's trains.
[edit] Harrogate
There is a Monday-Saturday morning HST departure from Harrogate to Kings Cross. However, there is no return journey so passengers are required to change at Leeds or York on to Northern Rail services to Harrogate.
The Saturday running of this service is the week's only National Express East Coast southbound service from Leeds not to call at Wakefield Westgate. This service departs from Leeds and heads along the Selby line to join the East Coast Main Line at Hambleton.
[edit] Future routes
[edit] Lincoln
Also as part of the new franchise, National Express East Coast have promised a direct service to the city of Lincoln. This is due to happen by 2010. [2]
[edit] Rolling stock
The new franchise inherited the rolling stock operated by GNER, which encompasses Class 43 diesel locomotives and Mark 3 coaching stock (InterCity 125), and Class 91 electric locomotives and Mark 4 Mallard coaches (InterCity 225). The InterCity 125 rolling stock is currently undergoing an upgrade to Mallard standard. In addition, the Class 43 locomotives are being re-engined as part of a life-extension upgrade. In line with the additional services in 2010, National Express East Coast will hire four rakes of refurbished locomotive hauled Mark 3 coach sets which according to the Department for Transport will be hauled by Class 90 electric locomotives hired from EWS.[3] However, as part of the new franchise agreement, the franchise holder will be required to take part in the Intercity Express Programme, which will see a new high-speed train replace both the 125 and 225 units.
National Express East Coast offers free Wi-Fi to passengers in both first and standard class.[4]
[edit] Current fleet
| Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Number | Routes operated | Built | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | ||||||
| Class 43 High Speed Train | Image:NXEC HST King's Cross AB1.JPG | Diesel locomotive | 125 | 200 | 14 | London Kings Cross-Aberdeen/Inverness
London Kings Cross- Hull London Kings Cross- Leeds London Kings Cross- Glasgow Central/Edinburgh | 1976 – 1982 |
| Class 91 | Image:91119 at Kings Cross 1.jpg | Electric locomotive | 140 | 225 | 31 | London Kings Cross- Leeds
London Kings Cross- Glasgow Central/Edinburgh | 1988 – 1991 |
| Mark 3 coach | Image:NXEC HST King's Cross AB2.JPG | Passenger carriage | 125 | 200 | 56 | East Coast Main Line | 1975 – 1988 |
| Mark 4 coach | Image:British Rail Mark 4 De-Branded.jpg | Passenger carriage | 140 | 225 | 302 | East Coast Main Line | 1989 – 1991 |
| Image:Mk4DVT-82208 at Kings Cross.jpg | Driving Van Trailer | 140 | 225 | 31 | East Coast Main Line | 1988 | |
[edit] Future fleet
| Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Number | Routes operated | Built | Introduction | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | |||||||
| Class 90 | Image:90017 at Norwich.JPG | Electric locomotive | 110 | 177 | 4 (planned) | London Kings Cross-Leeds | 1987 – 1990 | 2010 |
| Mark 3 coach | Image:Rail-dvt-amoswolfe.jpg | Driving Van Trailer | 110 | 177 | 4 (planned) | London Kings Cross-Leeds | 1988 | 2010 |
| Image:NXEC HST King's Cross AB2.JPG | Passenger carriage | 125 | 200 | 32 (planned) | London Kings Cross-Leeds | 1975 – 1988 | 2010 | |
[edit] References
- ^ National Express Group (August 14, 2007). East Coast Franchise Press Release. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
- ^ London route 'will boost county'. BBC News (2007-08-15). Retrieved on 2007-08-16.
- ^ Tuplin, Richard; Morrison, Brian & Whitehouse, John (August 17, 2007), "New brand image for East Coast as franchise goes to National Express", The Railway Herald: Page 3, <http://www.railwayherald.co.uk/BackIssues/Issue96HIGH.pdf?PHPSESSID=0fc58427443a55af9941c6a77e5517ef>
- ^ NationalExpress > WiFi. National Express. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
[edit] External links
- National Express East Coast official website
- Department for Transport InterCity East Coast franchise
| Preceded by GNER InterCity East Coast franchise | Operator of InterCity East Coast franchise 2007 - present | Incumbent |
Current train operating companies in the United Kingdom | |
|---|---|
| ◄ Defunct • Future ► | |
| National: | Arriva Trains Wales · c2c · Chiltern Railways · CrossCountry · East Midlands Trains · First Capital Connect · First Great Western · First ScotRail · First TransPennine Express · Gatwick Express · Grand Central · Heathrow Connect · Heathrow Express · Hull Trains · London Midland · London Overground · Merseyrail · National Express East Coast · Northern Ireland Railways1 · Northern Rail · 'one'2 · Southeastern · Southern · South West Trains · Virgin Trains |
| International: | |
| Sub-brands: | |
| 1 Operates on the Irish railway network · 2 Becomes National Express East Anglia in February 2008 | |
Current Rail Operators of Scotland Image:Flag of Scotland.svg |
|---|
| CrossCountry - First ScotRail - National Express East Coast - Virgin Trains Glasgow Subway - SPT - Caledonian Sleeper See Also: Transport Scotland |
National Express Group | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom bus operations: | AirLinks · dot2dot · National Express · Travel Coventry · Travel Dundee · Travel London · Travel Surrey · Travel West Midlands |
| International bus operations: | ALSA · Durham School Services · Eurolines · Stock Transportation |
| Railway operations: | c2c · Gatwick Express · 'one' · National Express East Coast |
| Tram operations: | Travel Midland Metro |
| Defunct companies: | Central Trains · Midland Mainline · ScotRail · Silverlink · Valley Lines · WAGN · Wales and Borders · Wales and West · Wessex Trains |
