British Rail Mark 4
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| British Rail Mark 4 | |
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 Mark 4 at Kings Cross |
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| In service | 1989 - present |
| Manufacturer | GEC-Alsthom |
| Number built | 302 vehicles |
| Operator | National Express East Coast |
| Specifications | |
| Maximum speed | 140 mph (225 km/h) |
British Rail's fourth and final design of passenger carriages was designated Mark 4, designed for use in InterCity 225 sets on the newly-electrified East Coast Main Line between London, Leeds, and Edinburgh.
[edit] History and construction
A small build compared to the earlier Mark 2 and Mark 3 designs, the coaches were built between 1989 and 1991 by GEC-Alsthom at its Washwood Heath works in Birmingham. The whole fleet of 302 vehicles is currently operated by National Express East Coast in 30 fixed formations of nine coaches with a Driving Van Trailer and Class 91 locomotive.
The Mark 4 incorporated a number of improvements over the Mark 3 stock that preceded it, notably the inclusion of automatic pushbutton operated plug-type doors in place of the earlier manually operated slam-doors. Disabled access was another priority of the design, so the door vestibules were enlarged to allow a more generous turning circle for a wheelchair. With the ever-increasing spectre of overcrowding the so-called ‘gangway passenger’ had become an important consideration, so the vestibule environment was improved with carpeted walls, better lighting, more attention paid to draught-proofing from the carriage doors, and flip-down seats.
Many of these innovations came courtesy of the abandoned Advanced Passenger Train, upon which the Mark 4 was heavily based. This influence was most obvious with the Mark 4's profiled sides, which were intended to allow the retrofitting of the APT's much-criticised tilting mechanism, but this never came to fruition. British Rail's initial business case for the Mark 4 anticipated them also being operated on the West Coast Main Line as a follow-on order after the East Coast Main Line electrification. After the failure of the InterCity 250 project to gain Treasury support, British Rail ordered a small number of Class 91 locomotives, but the manufacture of Networker rolling stock at the time precluded these being built.
The Mark 4 was the first BR vehicle not to use the iconic Rail Alphabet typeface for any of its interior signage and operating notices.
The Mark 4, like the Mark 3 before it, has gained widespread praise in the railway industry for its exceptional crashworthiness, something that was proven in the Hatfield and Great Heck crashes, where experts identify the integral construction of the vehicles as a key factor in restricting the death toll.
The Class 158 and Class 159 diesel multiple units, although superficially similar, are not based on the Mark 4 bodyshell.
Unlike Mark 2 and Mark 3 carriages, the Mark 4 design was not adopted by Iarnrod Eireann (Irish Rail); the IÉ Mark 4 push-pull carriages introduced in mid-2006 are of a different design, manufactured by the Spanish manufacturer CAF.
VIA Rail use carriages derived from British Rail’s Mark 4 on some of their inter-city and sleeper services in Canada. These carriages were built for the abortive Nightstar services to Europe, and adapted by Bombardier Transportation to meet Canadian service requirements.
[edit] Project Mallard
Between late 2003 and April 2006, GNER (the former franchise owner) and Bombardier Transportation undertook a rebuilding and refurbishment programme for the Mark 4 stock, called Project Mallard. Trains with these rebuilt coaches became known as Mallards, to distinguish them from unrefurbished sets during the upgrade programme, named after the Mallard steam locomotive, which was built in the 1930s by GNER’s predecessor, the London and North Eastern Railway, and holds the world speed record for steam locomotives.
The Mallard refit gave the Mark 4s all-new interiors with new seats and carpeting, and power points at every seat for charging laptops and powering appliances. The vestibule areas lost their flip-down seats near the entrances, and perch-type seats were put in their place. As part of the Mallard programme, the buffet coach in each set was turned around and half-converted to provide more standard-class seating. Wheelchair-width doors were fitted and the overall seating capacity of a full-length train was increased.
The buffet was remodelled as ‘cafe-bar’ in a similar style to the ‘shop’ concept developed by Virgin on their Voyager and Pendolino trains. However, the range of products offered by GNER is smaller than on Virgin trains: they do not sell CDs or magazines, for example.
GNER introduced wireless Internet connectivity as a trial from December 2003, and introduced it into service from April 2004, making it the first service of its kind in the United Kingdom (similar services are now offered by Virgin Trains and Southern). All Mallard trains now offer 802.11b/g wireless LAN access to the Internet. Prior to National Express East Coast (NXEC) taking over the franchise with effect from Sunday 9 December 2007, access to the internet was free in first class and chargeable in standard class. With the advent of the new franchise, access to the internet is now free for all passengers.
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