National Express East Coast
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| 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. [1] National Express took over the franchise from the Great North Eastern Railway (GNER).
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[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] Other routes
[edit] Scotland
Trains operating beyond Edinburgh continue to Glasgow, Aberdeen or Inverness.
Ten trains per day operate between Kings Cross and Glasgow. There are three trains per day each way between Kings Cross and Aberdeen, including the The Northern Lights, 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. 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] East Yorkshire
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.
[edit] Yorkshire
Services to Leeds extend to various destinations in West and North Yorkshire, principly Harrogate, Bradford and Skipton.
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.
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 a Class 91 locomotive.
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] Named trains
NX East Coast operates the following named passenger trains in their timetable:
- The Hull Executive Hull - London - Hull
- The Northern Lights London - Aberdeen / Aberdeen - London
- The Highland Chieftain London - Inverness / Inverness - London
- The Flying Scotsman London - Edinburgh (10:00 departure from London) / Glasgow Central - London (11:50 departure from Glasgow Central)
[edit] Rail based competitors
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.
The East Coast franchise has become the significant target of competition from the granting of licenses to the first open-access operators, at Hull from Hull Trains, and from York directly and the North East indirectly from Grand Central.
The Scotrail London to Scotland Caledonian Sleeper offers an evening service alternative to the East Coast destinations of Aberdeen and Inverness (Highland Sleeper) and Edinburgh and Glasgow (Lowland Sleeper), although it runs from London Euston instead of Kings Cross.
[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] Performance
The initial performance figures for December (end of third quarter of 2007/8) put National Express at a PPM of 86%[3] for the East Coast route.
[edit] Rolling stock
[edit] Current fleet
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).
National Express East Coast offers free Wi-Fi to passengers in both first and standard class.[4]
[edit] Intercity 125
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.
| Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Number | Routes operated | Built | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | ||||||
| Class 43 |  |
Diesel locomotive | 125 | 200 | 18 (14 operational) | London Kings Cross-Aberdeen
London Kings Cross-Inverness London Kings Cross-Hull London Kings Cross-Skipton Harrogate-London Kings Cross Leeds-Aberdeen London Kings Cross-Newcastle |
1976 – 1982 |
| Mark 3 coach |  |
Passenger carriage | 125 | 200 | 56 | 1975 – 1988 | |
[edit] Intercity 225
| Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Number | Routes operated | Built | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | ||||||
| Class 91 |  |
Electric locomotive | 140 | 225 | 31 | London Kings Cross-Leeds
London Kings Cross-Edinburgh London Kings Cross-Glasgow Central London Kings Cross-Bradford Forster Square London Kings Cross-Newcastle |
1988 – 1991 |
| Mark 4 coach |  |
Passenger carriage | 140 | 225 | 302 | 1989 – 1991 | |
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Driving Van Trailer | 140 | 225 | 31 | 1988 | ||
[edit] Future fleet
[edit] Proposed Leeds stock
In line with the additional services in 2010, National Express East Coast will be expanding its fleet. Initially to meet this need, NXEC intended to 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.[5] In March 2008 National Express made an application for additional track access to a number of destinations. In this application they indicated that the additional services would be operated using Class 180 Adelante DMUs.[6] In the event that National Express is able to procure the Adelantes, it will then not proceed with its plan for the Class 90 hauled trains.
| Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Number | Routes operated | Built | Introduction | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | |||||||
| Class 90 |  |
Electric locomotive | 110 | 177 | 4 (planned) | London Kings Cross-Leeds | 1987 – 1990 | 2010 |
| Mark 3 coach |  |
Driving Van Trailer | 110 | 177 | 4 (planned) | 1988 | 2010 | |
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Passenger carriage | 125 | 200 | 32 (planned) | 1975 – 1988 | 2010 | ||
[edit] Future High Speed Train
As part of the new franchise agreement, National Express will participate in the Intercity Express Programme, which will see a new high-speed train enter service. The project is intended to replace all of the remaining InterCity 125 and InterCity 225 rolling stock in operation, and will see National Express be one of several operators from 2012 onwards.
[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.
- ^ Office of Rail Regulation - National Rail Trends, (2008), p. 24
- ^ NationalExpress > WiFi. National Express. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
- ^ 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/issues/RHUK/Issue96.pdf#page=3>
- ^ National Express East Coast- Track Access Rights on the East Coast Main Line, Office of the Rail Regulator, 28/03/08
[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 |
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