East Coast Main Line

The East Coast Main Line viaduct at Durham.

East Coast Main Line

Edinburgh Waverley Musselburgh Wallyford Prestonpans Longniddry Drem North Berwick Line North Berwick Dunbar Scotland / England Berwick-upon-Tweed Chathill Alnmouth Acklington Widdrington Pegswood Morpeth Cramlington Manors Newcastle Durham Coast Line Tyne Valley Line Chester-le-Street Durham Tees Valley Line Darlington Tees Valley Line Northallerton-Eaglescliffe Line Northallerton Thirsk York-Scarborough Line York North TransPennine Line Leeds Wakefield Westgate York & Selby Lines Doncaster Retford Newark North Gate Grantham Birmingham to Peterborough Line Peterborough to Lincoln Line Peterborough Ely to Peterborough Line Nene Valley Railway Huntingdon St Neots Sandy Biggleswade Arlesey Hitchin-Cambridge Line Hitchin Stevenage Hertford Loop Line Knebworth Welwyn North Welwyn Garden City Hatfield Welham Green Brookmans Park Potters Bar M25 motorway Hadley Wood New Barnet Oakleigh Park New Southgate Hertford Loop Line Alexandra Palace Hornsey Harringay Finsbury Park Northern City Line London King's Cross

The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is the electrified high-speed railway^[1] link between London and Edinburgh connecting Yorkshire, North East England and Scotland.

The route forms a key artery on the eastern side of Great Britain and is broadly paralleled by the A1 trunk road. It links London, the South East and East Anglia with Yorkshire, the North East Regions and Scotland. It also carries key commuter flows for the north side of London. It is therefore important to the economic health of a number of areas of the country. It also handles cross-country, commuter and local passenger services, and carries heavy tonnages of freight traffic.

Route definition and description

The Network Rail definition of the ECML includes five separate lines:

• The main line between London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley stations, via Stevenage, Peterborough, Grantham, Newark, Retford, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle Central, Berwick-upon-Tweed and Dunbar;
• The line from Doncaster to Leeds, via Wakefield Westgate;
• The North Berwick branch from Drem to North Berwick
• The Northern City Line from Finsbury Park to Moorgate
• The Hertford Loop from Alexandra Palace to Stevenage

In addition to the formal Network Rail definition, the ECML is sometimes regarded as extending beyond Edinburgh Waverley to Aberdeen, running mostly right on the east coast via Kirkcaldy, Dundee and Arbroath. North of Edinburgh it includes the world-famous red cantilever Forth Bridge, and at Dundee the curved Tay Bridge, both crossing wide river estuaries.

The Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Central via Carstairs and Motherwell line is officially part of the West Coast Main Line (WCML) route, but is often considered part of the ECML because many National Express East Coast services from between King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley use this route beyond Edinburgh.

The ECML is one of the fastest railway lines in the UK, most of the line being rated for 125 mph (200 km/h) operation. Current UK legislation requires in-cab signalling for speeds of over 125 mph and prevents the InterCity 225 train-sets from operating at the Class 91 design speed of 140 mph (225 km/h) in normal service. Before the present in-cab regulations came in, British Rail experimented with 140 mph running by introducing a fifth, flashing green signalling aspect on track between New England North and Stoke Tunnel. Still observable in normal service, this fifth aspect appears when the next signal is showing a green or flashing green aspect and the signal section is clear. This ensures that there is sufficient braking distance to bring a train to a stand from 140 mph.^[2] Locomotives have operated on the ECML at speeds of 160 mph (260 km/h) in test runs.^[3]

The relatively high speeds are possible because the ECML travels on straight track covering the flatter, eastern areas of England, through Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. In contrast, the West Coast Main Line (WCML) has to traverse the Trent Valley and the mountains of Cumbria, leading to many more curves and a lower general speed limit of 110 mph (180 km/h). Speeds on the WCML have been increased in recent years with the introduction of tilting Pendolino trains and upgrades to match the 125 mph speeds available on the ECML.

Network Rail's route SC 147 runs for 92.5 kilometers (57 mi) from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Edinburgh.

History

The line was built by three railway companies, each serving their own area but with the intention of linking up to form the through route that became the East Coast Main Line. From north to south they were

• the North British Railway, from Edinburgh to Berwick-on-Tweed, completed in 1846,
• the North Eastern Railway from Berwick-on-Tweed to Shaftholme; the North Eastern Railway was substantially complete in 1871 when the company combined parts of several local railways and built a section to form a direct through route, and
• the Great Northern Railway from Shaftholme to Kings Cross, completed in 1850.

The boundary between the NER and the GNR was an end-on junction, famously described as in "a ploughed field" at Shaftholme, some way north of Doncaster.

Realising that through journeys were an important part of their business, the companies established special rolling stock in 1860 on a collaborative basis; it was called the "East Coast Joint Stock".

In 1923 the three companies were grouped into the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).

Numerous alterations to short sections of the original route have taken place, the most notable being the opening of the King Edward VII Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1906 and the Selby diversion, built to by-pass anticipated mining subsidence from the Selby coalfield. The Selby diversion was opened in 1983 and diverged from the original ECML at Temple Hirst, north of Doncaster, and joined the Leeds to York line at Colton Junction.

The ECML has been the backdrop for a number of famous rail journeys and locomotives. The line was worked for many years by the famous steam locomotives "Flying Scotsman" and "Mallard". Mallard achieved a world record speed for a steam locomotive, at 126 mph, and this record was never beaten. It made the run on the Grantham - Peterborough section, on the descent from Stoke Summit.

Steam locomotives were replaced by diesel traction in the early 1960s, when the purpose-built Deltic locomotive was developed by English Electric. The prototype was successful and a fleet of 22 locomotives was built, to handle all the important express traffic. They were powered by engines originally developed for fast torpedo boat purposes, and the configuration of the engines led to the Deltic name. Their characteristic throaty exhaust roar and chubby body outline made them unmistakable in service. The class remains the most powerful diesel locomotive in service in Britain, at 3,300 hp (2,500 kW).

It was just after the Deltics were introduced that the first sections of the East Coast Main Line were upgraded to officially allow 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) running. The first length to be cleared for the new higher speed was a 17 miles (27 km) stretch between Peterborough and Grantham on the 15 June 1965, the second was 12 miles (19 km) between Grantham and Newark^[4].

As the demand for higher speed intensified, they were eventually superseded by the High Speed Train (HST), introduced between 1976 and 1981.

The cuttings and tunnel entrances just north of King's Cross make a memorable smoky appearance in the 1955 Ealing comedy film The Ladykillers. Also during the 1950s, the line featured in the 1954 documentary short Elizabethan Express. Later, the 1971 British gangster film Get Carter features a journey from London Kings Cross to Newcastle in the opening credits.

Electrification

The ECML was electrified in the late 1980s using state money. The electrification work began in 1985 and the initial section between King's Cross and Leeds went into operational trials in 1988. The full electrification was completed in late 1990, and the current InterCity 225 rolling stock was introduced.

Diesels still operate on the ECML, however:

• CrossCountry's Voyager (operating CrossCountry routes)
• First Hull Trains Pioneers & Adelantes (Kings Cross - Hull)
• HST sets work some services to Edinburgh, and services north of Edinburgh towards Inverness and Aberdeen, as well as daily services to Hull and Skipton.
• East Midlands Trains operate a limited service of HSTs over a portion of the route between Doncaster and Leeds.
• Grand Central's HSTs (Kings Cross - Sunderland)

Capacity Problems

The ECML is one of the busiest lines on the British rail network and there is currently insufficient capacity on parts of the line to satisfy all the requirements of both passenger and freight operators. Although it has four tracks south of Stoke, 23 miles from Kings Cross, a major bottleneck remains in the twin-track section at Welwyn North, crossing Digswell Viaduct (sometimes referred to as Welwyn Viaduct) and passing through the two Welwyn tunnels, north of London. There is also a long double track section at Stilton Fen, between Huntingdon and Peterborough. A further operating constraint is the flat junction at Hitchin, where numerous down outer suburban trains have to cross three other tracks on the level; at this point long-distance trains should be running at full speed, so that to avoid a signal check, the route needs to be set for a considerable distance ahead of them.

There is also a flat crossing with the Nottingham-Lincoln line just north of Newark station. Doncaster station also presents difficulties due to the limited facilities for terminating branch trains on the up side of the station.

There is often congestion south of Newcastle, which has led to proposals to reopen the Leamside line to passenger and freight traffic.

However, in 2006, the Allington Chord was constructed near Grantham, which allowed services between Nottingham and Skegness to pass under the line, rather than crossing it at a flat junction. This provided sufficient extra capacity for GNER to run 12 additional services between Leeds and London each day^[5][6].

When the line was electrified, there was extreme pressure from the Department for Transport (as proxy for the taxpayer) to reduce avoidable costs, and the overhead line equipment (the traction supply to the trains, usually referred to as "the OLE") was constructed with an unusually wide spacing of support masts leaving the OLE vulnerable to disruption in the event of high winds. There have been several dewirements over the years from this cause. More can be found on this subject in Christian Wolmar's book On The Wrong Line^[7].

Proposed Improvements

Over the years successive infrastructure managers have developed schemes for route improvements ^[8] these include

• Quadrupling the Welwyn North section, involving probable double-decking of the viaduct and duplication of the two tunnels ^[9]

• Full reversible signalling over the Stilton Fen section
• Power supply upgrades along the route, including some OLE support improvements
• Power supply enhancement on the diversionary Hertford Loop route
• Provision of an extra platform at Kings Cross (the so-called "platform Y")
• Provision of a grade-separated junction at Hitchin North enabling down Cambridge trains to cross the main line
• Provision of a new Up Bay platform at Doncaster
• Enhanced passenger access to the platforms at Peterborough and Stevenage
• Introduction of 140mph line speeds
• Abolition of the Newark Flat Crossing
• Major remodelling of Peterborough Station
• Reopening of freight diversionary routes

The funding policy of the DfT at present means that it is difficult to be optimistic that many of these proposals will be carried forward.

Accidents

The ECML has been witness to a number of incidents resulting in death and serious injury:

• Abbots Ripton, 21 January 1876 - 14 people died when the Flying Scotsman crashed during a blizzard.
• Grantham, 19 August 1906 - 14 people died, unidentified cause.
• Welwyn Garden City, 15 June 1935 - 13 people died and 81 injured when 2 trains collided due to a signaller's error
• Connington South, 5 March 1967 - 5 people died and 18 were injured when an express train was derailed.
• 4 serious crashes at Morpeth on 7 May 1969, 24 June 1984, 13 November 1992 and 27 June 1994
• Penmanshiel Tunnel collapse on 17 March 1979
• Newcastle Central Station, 30 November 1989 - 15 people were injured when two InterCity expresses collided
• Hatfield rail crash, 17 October 2000 - 4 people killed, 15 injured when an InterCity 225 derailed. The accident's aftermath had grave consequences for the privatised infrastructure company, Railtrack.
• Selby rail crash, 28 February 2001 - 10 people killed, 82 injured when a Land Rover Defender swerved down an embankment off the M62 motorway into the path of a southbound GNER Intercity 225.
• Potters Bar rail crash, 10 May 2002 - 7 people killed, 81 injured caused by loose points on the line.
• Copmanthorpe rail crash, 25 September 2006

Operators

The main provider of services on the line, National Express East Coast

The line's current principal operator is National Express East Coast (NXEC), whose services include regular trains from King's Cross to Leeds and Edinburgh.^[10] Other operators of passenger trains on the line are:

• First Capital Connect: commuter services between King's Cross, Peterborough, Cambridge and King's Lynn and between Moorgate and Stevenage via either Welwyn Garden City or the Hertford Loop.
• First Hull Trains: between Kings Cross and Doncaster, continuing to Hull.
• East Midlands Trains
  • East Midlands Local: between Grantham and Peterborough, part of the service that runs between Liverpool Lime Street and Norwich.
  • East Midlands London services: between Doncaster and York/Scarborough extensions of services running to/from Sheffield, Leicester and London St Pancras.
• CrossCountry: cross-country services north of Sheffield are routed via either Leeds or Doncaster. Leeds trains use the ECML between Wakefield Westgate and Leeds and then again north of York. Doncaster trains use the ECML north of Doncaster. Services run to and beyond Edinburgh. Occasional services run from Doncaster to Leeds before rejoining the ECML at York.
• First TransPennine Express: between York and Newcastle and between York and Northallerton before they divert off the ECML to Middlesbrough via Yarm.
• Northern Rail: suburban services from Doncaster to Leeds and Chathill to Newcastle via Morpeth railway station and infrequent services between Newcastle and Darlington that continue to Middlesbrough and Saltburn. Services between Selby and York also use the line from Hambleton Junction to York.
• First ScotRail: services between Edinburgh and North Berwick. The overnight Caledonian Sleeper occasionally uses the ECML when engineering works prevent it from using its normal train path on the WCML.
• Grand Central: intercity from Kings Cross to Sunderland, branching off the main line at Northallerton

Eurostar previously held the rights to run five trains a day on the line for services from continental Europe to cities north of London, as part of the Regional Eurostar plan, although such services have never been run.^[11]

English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd (EWS), FirstGBRf, Freightliner Ltd, Freightliner Heavy Haul Ltd and Direct Rail Services Ltd (DRS) operate freight services.

References