Highland Chieftain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Highland Chieftain is one of the four named passenger trains operated by Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) on the UK National Rail network. GNER runs one train a day each way between London King's Cross and Inverness on the East Coast Main Line (ECML). Both services are named the Highland Chieftain and are operated by diesel-powered InterCity 125 High Speed Trains (HST) as the route is not electrified north of Edinburgh.

The route is one of the longest in Britain at 581 miles and the train takes just over 8 hours to cover the journey. Longer routes include the Caledonian Sleeper and a Virgin Trains service from Penzance to Dundee, which covers 705 miles.

GNER's three other named services are the Hull Executive, the Northern Lights and, probably the most well-known, the Flying Scotsman.


[edit] External links


Domestic: Arriva Trains Wales - c2c - Central Trains1 - Chiltern Railways - First Capital Connect
First Great Western - First ScotRail - Grand Central2 - GNER - Heathrow Connect
Hull Trains - Island Line3 - Merseyrail - Midland Mainline1 - Northern Rail
Northern Ireland Railways4 - 'one' - Silverlink1 - Southeastern - Southern
South West Trains - TransPennine Express - Virgin Trains (VWC - VXC1)
International: Enterprise4 - Eurostar
Airport Link: Gatwick Express - Heathrow Express - Stansted Express5
Sleeper: Caledonian Sleeper6 - Night Riviera7
1 Ends November 2007 - 2 Starts 20 May 2007 - 3 Operated by South West Trains
4 Operated on the Irish railway network - 5 Operated by 'one' - 6 Operated by First ScotRail
7 Operated by First Great Western


Future passenger train operators and franchises in Great Britain
New Franchises: Cross Country1 - East Midlands1 - InterCity East Coast - London Overground1
West Midlands1
Proposed open-access
operators:
Glasgow Trains2 - Grand Union2 - Humber & City2 - Wrexham & Shropshire3
1 Starts November 2007 - 2 Proposed - 3 Awaiting Approval