New high speed GNER rail services in December 2016 will slash London – Edinburgh journey times
Great North Eastern Railway (GNER), part of Arriva UK Trains' Alliance Rail Holdings, has recently announced its plans to introduce a new high speed express train service on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) between London King’s Cross, Newcastle and Edinburgh in December 2016.
The trains will initially slash journey
times from an average of 4 hours 20 minutes to 3 hours 43 minutes
between London and Edinburgh, and to 2 hours 29 minutes between London
and Newcastle. Passengers won’t have to wait 20 years for the completion
of HS2 to see significant reductions in journey times to the North East
and Scotland.
By reducing journey times, and focusing
on the Newcastle and Edinburgh markets, GNER will encourage many
travellers to and from London to switch from air to rail. The appeal of
the train as being greener and easier than flying will be enhanced by
the speed, and high quality of the on board service that GNER will
deliver.
Shorter journey times will be achieved
using tilting trains, which can travel at higher speeds on curved track.
The new nine-coach trains, with around 500 seats, will be updated
versions of the ‘Pendolino’ train that has been successful in reducing
long distance journey times on the West Coast Main Line (WCML). Purchase
of the new trains will be completely privately funded.
GNER has been working closely with
rolling stock manufacturer Alstom Transport on the speed profile of the
route to accommodate the introduction of the new fleet of trains. The
proposals require investment in the track and line-side equipment to
take advantage of the tilt technology.
Because the new ‘Pendolino’ trains will
be capable of running at 140 mph there is the potential for GNER
eventually to offer a journey between Edinburgh and London in under 3½
hours. This could become reality once Network Rail has modernised the
ECML signalling, the first phase of which is planned for completion at
the end of 2018.
At the same time as announcing its plans,
GNER is commencing consultation with rail industry stakeholders. This
will be followed by a formal application to the Office of Rail
Regulation for rights to operate the new services. Discussions are also
on-going with Network Rail about securing the capacity required to
introduce the new service. There has been significant investment in
additional capacity on the ECML in recent years with a number of
infrastructure upgrades nearing completion and more planned between now
and 2019.
Ian Yeowart, managing director of
Alliance Rail Holdings, GNER’s parent company, said "With the
announcement of these plans, the delivery of the most significant change
on the ECML since the introduction of the iconic High Speed Trains
(HST) has moved a step closer. The significant reduction in journey
times will attract many airline passengers who will now have faster city
centre to city centre journeys."
Tim Bentley, managing director of Alstom Transport Mainline, added: "We have been working with Alliance for some time now, and fully agree that using our Pendolino rolling stock will help to significantly reduce journey times on the ECML just as it has on the WCML. The Pendolino is the only train capable of providing the journey time reductions required to finally challenge air’s dominance of the route, and will bring with it major economic benefits."
Tim Bentley, managing director of Alstom Transport Mainline, added: "We have been working with Alliance for some time now, and fully agree that using our Pendolino rolling stock will help to significantly reduce journey times on the ECML just as it has on the WCML. The Pendolino is the only train capable of providing the journey time reductions required to finally challenge air’s dominance of the route, and will bring with it major economic benefits."
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GNER is a subsidiary of Alliance Rail Holdings (‘Alliance’), which is part of Arriva UK Trains.
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Alliance develops plans for ‘open access’ train services that operate outside the franchise system and are not specified by the Department for Transport or Transport Scotland.
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Alliance has also made an application to operate services on the West Coast Main Line through its company GNWR. A decision on this application is expected imminently from the ORR.
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Around 175 full time equivalent jobs will be created by the new service.