Cross Country Route

This page is about the line built by the Midland Railway. For other services see Cross Country services

Cross Country Route
A class 221 Super Voyager leaving Bristol Temple Meads station
Overview
Type	Suburban rail, Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Termini	York Bristol Temple Meads
Stations	19
Operation
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	CrossCountry (principal operator)
Rolling stock	Class 220 "Voyager" (main stock) Class 221 "Super Voyager" (main stock) Class 43 "HST"
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Standard gauge

[v · d · e]Cross Country Route
Legend York Leeds Wakefield Westgate Sheffield Dronfield Chesterfield Derby Willington Burton upon Trent Tamworth Wilnecote Water Orton Birmingham New Street Bromsgrove Ashchurch for Tewkesbury Cheltenham Spa Gloucester Bristol Parkway Bristol Temple Meads

The North-East/South-West route (sometimes simply The Cross-Country Route) is the major British rail route running from South West England via Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds to North-East England. It facilitates some of the longest inter-city rail journeys in the UK such as Penzance to Aberdeen. It was also a major freight route, although in this role it has now largely been usurped by the M5, M6 and M1 motorways.

History

The Birmingham to Bristol section was originally built as the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway and the Bristol and Gloucester Railway, which then briefly amalgamated as the Birmingham and Bristol Railway before joining the Midland Railway. From Birmingham northwards, the line originated as the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway to Derby, then the North Midland Railway to Leeds, then the York and North Midland Railway.

It ran through several regions of British Rail and had timetabling priority in none of them, and as a result the services were poorly promoted and thus not always well-patronised. This was offset somewhat on privatisation when the route was awarded as a single franchise to Virgin Trains.

In the 1960s the route was understood to be pencilled in for electrification — this would have been particularly beneficial for climbing the Lickey Incline into Birmingham from Cheltenham, as many of the early diesels were underpowered. However, this improvement did not take place, and modern, more powerful multiple-units such as the new Turbostars and Voyagers have made this unnecessary.^{[citation needed]}

During the 1990s and early 2000s, the network was served by High Speed Trains, and Class 47s, which hauled various types of coaching stock.

Route

The route is well-connected, meeting amongst others the Great Western Main Line, West Coast Main Line, Midland Main Line, Sheffield to Hull Line, and the East Coast Main Line. Places served along the route include:

• Bristol
• Cheltenham
• Birmingham
• Derby
• Sheffield
• Leeds
• York

Milepost zero for Derby to Bristol is at Derby, hence a northbound train, for instance, will start out going "up" then change to "down". The Birmingham to Derby section of the route has a line speed of 125 mph (200 km/h), however Birmingham to Bristol is restricted to 100 mph (160 km/h) due to a number of half barrier level crossings.

Services

Most long distance services on the route are operated by Class 220/221 Voyager Trains, although a few services operate using Class 43 HSTs. These trains are capable of achieving 125 mph (200 km/h), compared to the previous Class 47s and Mk 2 coaching stock, which had a top speed of 100 mph (160 km/h). Since the Voyager trains arrived the XC network has stopped serving Inverness, Blackpool, Portsmouth, London Paddington and Liverpool.

See also

• Rail services in Bristol
• Transport in Wales
• Virgin CrossCountry
• CrossCountry

References