East Coast Main Line

East Coast Main Line

An InterCity 225 on the East Coast Main Line
Overview
Type Commuter rail, Intercity rail
High-speed rail, Heavy rail
System National Rail
Status Operational
Locale Greater London
East of England
East Midlands
North East England
Scottish Borders
Central Scotland
Termini London King's Cross

Edinburgh Waverley
Stations 52
Operation
Opened 1871 (complete line)
Owner Network Rail
Operator(s) East Coast[1]
First Capital Connect
First Hull Trains
East Midland Trains
CrossCountry
First TransPennine Express
Northern Rail
First ScotRail
Grand Central
DB Schenker
FirstGBRf
Freightliner
Freightliner Heavy Haul
Direct Rail Services
Depot(s) Hornsey
Bounds Green
Neville Hill
Heaton
Haymarket
Rolling stock Class 43 "HST"
Class 91
Class 142 "Pacer"
Class 144 "Pacer"
Class 156 "Super Sprinter"
Class 158 "Express Sprinter"
Class 180 Adelante
Class 185 "Pennine"
Class 220 "Voyager"
Class 221 "Super Voyager"
Class 222 "Meridian"
Class 313
Class 317
Class 321
Class 325
Class 365 "Networker"
Technical
Line length 393 miles (632 km)
No. of tracks Two - Four
Track gauge Standard Gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in)
Electrification 25kV 50Hz AC OHLE
Operating speed 125 mph (200 km/h) maximum
Route map
Legend
Edinburgh to Aberdeen 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
Durham Coast Line
Newcastle
Tyne Valley Line
Chester-le-Street
Durham
Tees Valley Line
Darlington
Tees Valley Line
Northallerton-Eaglescliffe Line
Northallerton
Thirsk
Harrogate Line
York-Scarborough Line
York
North TransPennine Line
Leeds City
Wakefield Westgate
York & Selby Lines
Doncaster
Sheffield to Lincoln Line
Retford
Nottingham to Lincoln Line
Newark North Gate
Nottingham to Grantham Line
Grantham
Birmingham to Peterborough Line
Peterborough to Lincoln Line
Peterborough
Ely to Peterborough Line
Nene Valley Railway
Huntingdon
St Neots
Sandy
Biggleswade
Arlesey
Cambridge Line
Hitchin
Stevenage
Hertford Loop Line
Knebworth
Welwyn North
Digswell Viaduct
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
Gospel Oak to Barking Line
Finsbury Park
Northern City Line
London King's Cross

A detailed diagram of the ECML can be
found at East Coast Main Line diagram
This route map:

The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a 393-mile (632 km) long[2] electrified high-speed railway[3] link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh. It is classed as a high-speed railway because most of it meets the speed criterion of 125 mph (200 km/h).

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. The route has ELRs ECM1 - ECM9.

Contents

Route definition and description

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

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 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 several East Coast services from King's Cross to Glasgow Central use this section on a daily basis, although the WCML is the direct route from London to Glasgow.

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 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 and a bottleneck at Selby station. 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 Pacific locomotives designed by Gresley, including the famous steam locomotives "Flying Scotsman" and "Mallard". Mallard achieved a world record speed for a steam locomotive, at 126 miles per hour (203 km/h) and this record was never beaten. It made the run on the Grantham-to-Peterborough section, on the descent of Stoke Bank.

Steam locomotives were replaced by Diesel electrics 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. The Class 55 were powered by two 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 55 was for a time 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, the Deltics were eventually superseded by the High Speed Train (HST), introduced between 1976 and 1981.

A prototype of the HST, the British Rail Class 43 (HST) achieved 143 mph (230 km/h) on the line in 1973.[5] Current UK legislation requires in-cab signalling for speeds of over 125 mph which is the primary reason preventing the InterCity 225 train-sets from operating at their design speed of 140 mph (225 km/h) in normal service.

A secondary factor was that the signalling technology of the time was insufficiently advanced to allow detection of two broken rails on the line on which the train was operating.[6]

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. The fifth aspect is not observable in normal service and appears when the next signal is showing a green (or another flashing green) aspect and the signal section is clear which ensures that there is sufficient braking distance to bring a train to a stand from 140 mph.[5] Locomotives have operated on the ECML at speeds of up to 161.7 mph (260.2 km/h) in test runs.[7]

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.

Infrastructure

The line is mainly four tracks from London to Stoke Tunnel, south of Grantham, except for two twin-track sections; the first of these is near Welwyn North Station as it crosses the Digswell Viaduct and passes through two tunnels, the second is between Huntingdon and Peterborough near 'Stilton Fen'. North of Grantham the route is twin track except for four-track sections at Retford around Doncaster, between Colton Junction (which is south of York), Thirsk and Northallerton, and another at Newcastle.[8]

The main route is electrified along the full route and only the line between Leeds and York (Neville Hill Depot to Colton Junction) is non-electrified.[8]

With most the of the line rated for 125 mph (200 km/h) operation, the ECML was the fastest main line in the UK until the opening of High Speed 1. These relatively high speeds are possible because much of the ECML travels on fairly straight track on the flatter, eastern regions of England, through Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, though there are significant speed restrictions (due to curvature) particularly North of Darlington and between Doncaster and Leeds. By contrast, the West Coast Main Line 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 now match the 125 mph speeds available on the ECML.

Rolling stock

Most passenger services use the InterCity 225 rolling stock. Some diesels still operate on line, including:

Operators

The line's current principal operator is East Coast, whose services include regular trains between King’s Cross, the East Midlands, Yorkshire, the North East of England and Scotland. East Coast is subsidiary of Directly Operated Railways—a holding company owned by the Department for Transport—and took over from National Express East Coast on 14 November 2009.[1] Other operators of passenger trains on the line are:

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.[9]

DB Schenker, FirstGBRf, Freightliner, Freightliner Heavy Haul and Direct Rail Services operate freight services.

Development

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.

There are bottlenecks at the following locations:

Rail services are vulnerable during high winds and there have been several de-wirements over the years due to the unusually wide spacing between the supporting masts of the overhead lines. The other cost-cutting measure was the use of headspan-type catenary systems over the quadruple tracked sections which are not as robust as the older gantry-type design used on the WCML. This was a result of extreme pressure from the Department for Transport (as proxy for the taxpayer) to reduce avoidable costs when the line was originally electrified between 1985 and 1990.[13]

Recent developments

The Allington Chord was constructed near Grantham in 2006, allowing services between Nottingham and Skegness to pass under the line, rather than crossing it at a flat junction. This provided sufficient extra capacity for National Express East Coast to run 12 additional services between Leeds and London each day.[14][15]

Proposed developments

Over the years successive infrastructure managers have developed schemes for route improvements.[8]

These include the following:

Accidents

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

Title Date Killed Injured Note
Hatfield rail crash (1870) 01870-12-2626 December 1870 8 3 Wheel disintegrated causing derailment killing six passengers and two bystanders
Abbots Ripton rail disaster 01876-01-2121 January 1876 13 59 Flying Scotsman crashed during a blizzard.
Morpeth rail crash (1877) 01877-03-2525 March 1877 5 17 Derailment caused by faulty track.
Grantham rail accident 01906-08-1919 August 1906 14 17 Runaway or overspeed on curve - no definite cause established.
Welwyn Garden City rail crash 01935-06-1515 June 1935 14 29 Two trains collided due to a signaller's error.
King's Cross railway accident 01945-02-044 February 1945 2 26 Train slipped on gradient and slid back into station.
Potters Bar rail crash 01946-02-1010 February 1946 2 17 Local train hit buffers fouling main line with wreckage hit by two further trains.
Goswick rail crash 01947-10-2626 October 1947 28 65 Edinburgh-London Flying Scotsman failed to slow down for a diversion and derailed. Signal passed at danger
Doncaster rail crash 01951-03-1616 March 1951 14 12 train derailed south the station and struck a bridge pier
Goswick Goods train derailment 01953-10-2828 October 1953 0 1 'Glasgow to Colchester' Goods train was derailed at Goswick.[20][21]
Connington South rail crash 01967-03-055 March 1967 5 18 Express train was derailed.
Thirsk rail crash 01967-07-3131 July 1967 7 45 Cement train derailed and hit by North bound express hauled by prototype locomotive. DP2
Morpeth rail crash (1969) 01969-05-077 May 1969 6 46 Excessive speed on curve.
Penmanshiel Tunnel collapse 01979-03-1717 March 1979 2 Two workers killed when the tunnel collapsed during engineering works.
Morpeth rail crash (1984) 01984-06-2424 June 1984 35 Excessive speed on curve.
Newcastle Central railway station collision 01989-11-3030 November 1989 15 Two InterCity expresses collided.[22]
Morpeth rail crash (1992) 01992-11-1313 November 1992 1 Collision between two freight trains.
Morpeth rail crash (1994) 01994-06-2727 June 1994 1 Excessive speed led to the locomotive and the majority of carriages overturning.
Hatfield rail crash 02000-10-1717 October 2000 4 70 InterCity 225 derailed due to a failure to replace a fractured rail. The accident highlighted poor management at Railtrack and led to its partial re-nationalisation.
Great Heck rail crash 02001-02-2828 February 2001 10 82 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 (2002) 02002-05-1010 May 2002 7 70 Derailment caused by a badly maintained set of points. Resulted in the end of the use of external contractors for routine maintenance.
Copmanthorpe rail crash 02006-09-2525 September 2006 1 A car crashed through a fence onto the line.

Popular culture

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. The motoring show Top Gear featured a race including LNER A1 60163 Tornado running up this line from London to Edinburgh.

References

  1. ^ a b "East Coast rail change confirmed". BBC News Online. 2009-11-05. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8343769.stm. Retrieved 2009-11-05. 
  2. ^ East Coast Main Line Rail Route Upgrading, United Kingdom
  3. ^ "East Coast Main Line" (PDF). Route Utilisation Strategy. Network Rail. February 2008. p. 5. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/rus%20documents/route%20utilisation%20strategies/east%20coast%20main%20line/east%20coast%20main%20line%20rus.pdf. Retrieved 14 May 2008. "The ECML RUS encompasses all long distance high speed and London commuter services into King’s Cross..." 
  4. ^ Railway Magazine. November 1965. p. 858. 
  5. ^ a b Barnett, Roger (June 1992) (PDF). British Rail's InterCity 125 and 225. UCTC Working Paper No. 114. University of California Transportation Center; University of California, Berkeley. p. 32. http://www.uctc.net/papers/114.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-27. 
  6. ^ Heath, Don (August 1994). Electrification of British Rail's East Coast Main Line. Paper No. 105. Proceedings of the Institute of Civil Engineers (Transportation). p. 232. 
  7. ^ Keating, Oliver. "The Inter-city 225". High Speed Rail. http://www.o-keating.com/hsr/ic225.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-29. 
  8. ^ a b c "Route Business Plan". Network Rail. 2008. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/BusinessPlan2007/PDF/Route%208%20ECML.pdf. 
  9. ^ Millward, David (10 April 2006). "'Phantom trains' haunt drive to improve East Coast line". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1515303/%27Phantom-trains%27-haunt-drive-to-improve-East-Coast-line.html. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 
  10. ^ a b "Misery line cheers up". BBC Track Record. November 1999. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/special_report/1999/11/99/track_record/regions/east.stm. Retrieved 2009-07-28. 
  11. ^ "ECML Route Utilisation Strategy: Railfuture Response". Railway Development Society. 13 September 2007. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/rus%20documents/route%20utilisation%20strategies/east%20coast%20main%20line/consultation%20responses/r/railfuture.pdf. Retrieved 2009-07-28. 
  12. ^ "ECML Route Utilisation Strategy". Network Rail. pp. 66, 134. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/rus%20documents/route%20utilisation%20strategies/east%20coast%20main%20line/east%20coast%20main%20line%20rus.pdf. Retrieved 2009-07-29. 
  13. ^ Wolmar, Christian (2005). "On the wrong line: How ideology and incompetence wrecked Britain's railways". London: Aurum. ISBN 9781854109989. 
  14. ^ "New services are just the ticket". BBC News. 13 October 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/4337682.stm. Retrieved 2007-12-17. 
  15. ^ "Trains get 6,000 more seats a day". BBC News. 21 May 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/6676399.stm. Retrieved 2007-12-17. 
  16. ^ Friends of the Earth proposal
  17. ^ a b c d e Pigott, Nick, ed (March 2010). "Flyovers to go ahead at Hitchin, Ipswich, Shaftholme". The Railway Magazine (London) 156 (1307): 9. ISSN 0033-8923. 
  18. ^ "East Midlands Route Utilisation Strategy Draft for Consultation". Network Rail. 2009. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/rus%20documents/route%20utilisation%20strategies/east%20midlands/east%20midlands%20rus%20draft%20for%20consultation.pdf. 
  19. ^ a b Broadbent, Steve (10 February 2010). "Moving Yorkshire Forward". Rail (Peterborough) (637): p. 62. 
  20. ^ Northumberland Railways - Goswick station
  21. ^ Railways Archive - Ministry report.
  22. ^ "Chronology of rail crashes". BBC News. 10 May 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/465475.stm. Retrieved 2009-12-28.