| Franchise(s): | InterCity East Coast 14 November 2009[1] – December 2013[2] |
|---|---|
| Main region(s): | East Midlands, Yorkshire, North East England, Central Scotland, Northern Scotland |
| Other region(s): | London |
| Fleet size: |
31 Class 91 electric locomotives |
| Stations called at: | 53 |
| Stations operated: | 12 |
| National Rail abbreviation: | GR |
| Parent company: | Directly Operated Railways |
| Web site: | www.eastcoast.co.uk |
East Coast is a British train operating company running high-speed passenger services on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland. It started operations on 14 November 2009.[1]
East Coast is a trading name of East Coast Main Line Company Ltd (ECMLCo), a subsidiary of Directly Operated Railways Limited, formed by the Department for Transport as an operator of last resort when National Express refused further financial support to its National Express East Coast (NXEC) subsidiary and consequently lost its franchise.
The government temporarily re-nationalised the franchise and transferred NXEC's assets to Directly Operated Railways, which would retain existing NXEC service levels, pending re-tendering the franchise in 2010,[3] a date that has now been postponed.
East Coast operates long-distance passenger services principally from London King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley via Newcastle, and from King's Cross to Leeds, with other services reaching into Yorkshire and Northern and Central Scotland.
Secretary of State for Transport Philip Hammond announced on 5 August 2011 that the new Inter City East Coast franchise would commence in December 2013.[2]
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An hourly service runs between King's Cross and Newark, calling at all intermediate stations. This service is extended to York every 2 hours serving Retford and Doncaster.
The service between King's Cross and Leeds is half-hourly, with one train per hour serving: Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate and Leeds, while the other serves: Stevenage, Grantham, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate and Leeds.
A half-hourly service between King's 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 trains to Scotland run as limited-stop expresses between London and Newcastle (as seen below). The half-hour train calls at: Peterborough, Newark, Doncaster, York, Northallerton, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. This train is occasionally extended to Edinburgh and calls at Alnmouth.
There is an hourly service from London to Edinburgh, calling at York, Darlington, Newcastle, Berwick-upon-Tweed and Edinburgh. Some of these trains also call at Peterborough. Occasionally there is a half-hourly service to Edinburgh with some Newcastle trains extended. From 22nd May 2011 a new early morning service runs southbound, departing Edinburgh at 05:40, calling only at Newcastle at 07:03 and arriving at London at 09:40, called the Flying Scotsman. It is operated using an Intercity 225 set with 91001 with Flying Scotsman branding.
There is now only one direct through train per day in each direction between King's Cross and Glasgow Central as an extension of the hourly London-to-Edinburgh service. A faster and much more frequent service to Glasgow operates from London Euston via the West Coast Main Line.
There are three trains per day each way between Aberdeen and King's Cross, departing 10:00 (The Northern Lights), 14:00 and 16:00, the journey time being just over seven hours. There is also one service per day in each direction between Aberdeen and Leeds. These services are operated by HST sets, as the line between Edinburgh and Aberdeen is not electrified. This route makes use of the historic Forth and Tay bridges. These trains are extensions to the hourly London to Edinburgh service.
A daily service operates between Inverness and King's Cross, departing at 12:00, called the Highland Chieftain. The journey takes just over eight hours and is operated with diesel HST sets, as the line between Edinburgh and Inverness is not electrified. As with the Aberdeen services, this is an extension of the London-to-Edinburgh service.
The Hull Executive runs between Hull and King's Cross, with one train per day each way. This service also uses HSTs as the Hull line is not electrified. Much more frequent services between Hull and London are operated by Hull Trains.
From May 2011 there is now a direct train from London to Lincoln Central, with one service per day in each direction as an extension of the London-to-Newark service.
There is a morning train from Skipton and Keighley to King's Cross with an early evening return. Shipley is served towards King's Cross only.
As with the Bradford train, this is an extension of the Leeds–London service. Though the line to Skipton is electrified throughout, the East Coast service to/from the town was operated using a diesel HST because the electrical infrastructure on the Leeds to Skipton line was insufficient to support a Class 91 locomotive in addition to the class 333 EMUs (Electric Multiple Units) that operate the local services from Leeds to Skipton.
However, tests took place on 16 January 2011 for the operation of a Class 91 and Mark 4s on this service. From the timetable starting 22 May 2011, the evening return train from Kings Cross is worked by a Class 91 and Mark 4 set (Monday - Fridays only).[4]
The Saturday run of the outward service is the only East Coast service out of Leeds not to call at Wakefield Westgate: from Leeds, this service takes the route via Micklefield and Hambleton Junctions on to the ECML to Doncaster.
There is a Monday-Saturday morning HST departure from Harrogate to King's Cross also calling at Horsforth (Monday to Fridays only). There is now a return service from London Kings Cross to Harrogate leaving at 17:33.
One train per day in each direction runs between Bradford Forster Square, Shipley and King's Cross via Leeds.
East Coast inherited the rolling stock operated by NXEC, comprising Class 43 diesel sets with their Mark 3 coaching stock (InterCity 125), and Class 91 electric locomotives and Mark 4 coaches (InterCity 225).
The original franchise holder, GNER, undertook a major refurbishment of its rolling stock from 2003, which it titled "Project Mallard". Between 2003 and 2006, every Mark 4 coach in its fleet was upgraded and refurbished, while work started on refurbishing the Mark 3 coaches under GNER in early 2007. This work continued under NXEC, with the final InterCity 125 set completed in October 2009.[5]
Until October 2010, East Coast offered free Wi-Fi to passengers in both first and standard class. From 5 October 2010, a charge of £4.99 per hour or £9.99 for 24 hours was introduced for Standard Class passengers, with a 15-minute free allowance.[6]
As part of an overhaul of the Mark 4 coaches, the coaches and DVTs are being repainted from the current mix of GNER/NXEC interim livery, to a new silver livery dubbed 'Silver link'. The repaint was started in June 2010 with the first full set (excluding loco) being released on 30 July 2010. The idea is that a plain base livery can be easily customised for any future operator of the franchise.[7]
| Trainset | Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Number | Routes operated | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | ||||||
| InterCity 125 | Class 43 | Diesel locomotive | 125 | 200 | 30 | London Kings Cross-Aberdeen
London Kings Cross-Inverness London Kings Cross-Newark North Gate London Kings Cross-York London Kings Cross-Leeds London Kings Cross-Hull London Kings Cross-Skipton London Kings Cross-Lincoln London Kings Cross-Harrogate Leeds-Aberdeen Newcastle-London Kings Cross Edinburgh-London Kings Cross |
|
| Mark 3 coach | Passenger carriage | 125 | 200 | 117 | |||
| InterCity 225 | 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-Skipton London Kings Cross-Newcastle London Kings Cross-York |
|
| Mark 4 coach | Passenger carriage | 140 | 225 | 302 | |||
| Driving Van Trailer | 140 | 225 | 31 | ||||
The decision to not run the planned two-hourly service to Lincoln, with instead just one service per day in each direction, means that the five Class 180 units are no longer required.[8]
The holder of the new East Coast franchise will participate in the Intercity Express Programme along with First Great Western. The project will replace the Intercity 125 fleet with new Hitachi high-speed trains, and provide additional electic trains. The original plans would have also seen the replacement of the InterCity 225 fleet, but these will now remain in operation. By December 2018 trains are planned to be running on the East Coast main line in 9-carriage or 5-carriage sets.[9]
Originally East Coast were to receive 5 Class 180 Adelante DMUs. Due to a reduction in the number of extra services, and with Directly Operated Railways stating its unhappiness with the Class 180 units,[10] they are no longer required, and will not be used by East Coast.
East Coast investigated using one 11-coach Pendolino from July 2011,[11] but decided instead to lease an extra HST set from East Midlands Trains, in use from 22 May 2011 (though it has been used before, in a very mixed set as it was seen with East Coast 43206, East Midlands Trains mk.3s and East Midlands Trains VP185 engined 43074) bringing the number of HSTs leased to 14. [12]
The fleet of Class 91 locomotives inherited by East Coast has carried various names up until 2008. In 2011, in response to customer requests, East Coast resumed the practice. It began by naming No. 91109 as Sir Bobby Robson, unveiled in a ceremony at Newcastle Central Station on 29 March 2011 by his widow Elsie and Alan Shearer, patron of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, which the company was also now a supporter of.[13][14]
The latest performance figures to be released by the Office of Rail Regulation rate East Coast's performance below that of its predecessor. Over the third quarter of the 2010/11 financial year East Coast achieved 81.7% PPM and a moving annual average of 83.3%.[15]
| Preceded by National Express East Coast InterCity East Coast franchise |
Operator of InterCity East Coast franchise 2009 - TBA |
Incumbent |
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