Cardiff to Edinburgh - open access proposal

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From Railway Gazette

Grand Union has begun industry consultation over a proposal to operate five open access services a day between Cardiff and Edinburgh, and separately is looking at rolling stock options for its planned London – Carmarthen and London – Stirling services.

Grand Union Managing Director Ian Yeowart has told Rail Business UK^▸ (United Kingdom) that the issue of connectivity between Cardiff and Edinburgh had come up many times during discussions with stakeholders in Wales and Scotland.

The proposed services would call at Cardiff, Newport, Severn Tunnel Junction, Gloucester, Birmingham New Street, Derby, Sheffield, Doncaster, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh. The target start date is December 2025, using Class 22x trainsets.

To me, Cross Country feels like it provides for the medium distance traveller along the South West to Scotland axis, but for the long distance passengers the product feels expensive and lacking in confort, marred by lots of people getting on and off at dozens of stops along the way.  A Cardiff to Edinburgh product deigned for the long distance market is worth a look.  Considering its siblings, perhaps a Carmarthen to Stirling product, though I get the Capital Connection focus of the headlines.

[paul7575]

From Railway Gazette

Grand Union has begun industry consultation over a proposal to operate five open access services a day between Cardiff and Edinburgh, and separately is looking at rolling stock options for its planned London – Carmarthen and London – Stirling services.

Grand Union Managing Director Ian Yeowart has told Rail Business UK^▸ (United Kingdom) that the issue of connectivity between Cardiff and Edinburgh had come up many times during discussions with stakeholders in Wales and Scotland.

The proposed services would call at Cardiff, Newport, Severn Tunnel Junction, Gloucester, Birmingham New Street, Derby, Sheffield, Doncaster, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh. The target start date is December 2025, using Class 22x trainsets.

To me, Cross Country feels like it provides for the medium distance traveller along the South West to Scotland axis, but for the long distance passengers the product feels expensive and lacking in confort, marred by lots of people getting on and off at dozens of stops along the way.  A Cardiff to Edinburgh product deigned for the long distance market is worth a look.  Considering its siblings, perhaps a Carmarthen to Stirling product, though I get the Capital Connection focus of the headlines.

How would this possibly pass a revenue abstraction test?   

And isn’t it the northern ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) between York and Newcastle where TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) have just been binned because of track capacity issues?  What happens if the franchised operator reinstates the hourly all day Reading - Newcastle service?

Paul

[grahame]

How would this possibly pass a revenue abstraction test?   

And isn’t it the northern ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) between York and Newcastle where TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) have just been binned because of track capacity issues?  What happens if the franchised operator reinstates the hourly all day Reading - Newcastle service?

I noted the lack of calls at Cheltenham Spa, Leeds, Darlington and Berwick upon Tweed. I was surprised at the Birmingham New Street call.   I wondered about Worcestershire Parkway, Bromsgrove and Tamworth.  Pick up only as far as Worcestershire Parkway, set down only north of Doncaster?

Wasn't the TPE cut due to lack of staff not lack of paths?

Technically - don't think XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) is actually a franchise any more?

[ChrisB]

There are NO franchises any more. XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) has the same type of contract as GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).

[paul7575]

There are NO franchises any more. XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) has the same type of contract as GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).

Fair call but I’d assume DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) still won’t want abstraction from their contracted routes.

[paul7575]

Wasn't the TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) cut due to lack of staff not lack of paths?

There’s overlapping reasons, I think.  AFAICT^▸ ('as far as I can tell') a few years ago TPE asked for 2 tph^▸ (trains per hour) to Newcastle, and then tried to extend one of them to Edinburgh, but the second train and the extension were not in their ITT^▸ (Invitation to Tender).  Later on NR^» (Network Rail - home page) worked out the second TPE service York to Newcastle was in the way of the higher priority 3rd Newcastle to Kings Cross service every hour.  This latter service had already been agreed with successive ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) operators.

There’s still a few TPE Edinburgh to Berwick or Newcastle extras that are there to serve Reston, I’m not sure of their long term position.  TPE don’t really seem the appropriate operator for that, but who else would be, maybe it should be Scotrail.

Paul

[grahame]

Very interesting story I have just picked up from Railtech on 10th October 2023

As part of its new contract, the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) passenger train operators CrossCountry, have stated their intention to introduce a direct Edinburgh – Cardiff service, linking the two capital cities for the first time. However the service is not expected to run until late in 2024. The operator recently retired its ageing “Intercity 125” fleet – the trains originally introduced by British Railways in the 1970s under the designation HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) – or High Speed Train. Although past their prime, the loco-hauled push-pull units offered a high capacity to the significant overcrowding on the CrossCountry network, and the apparent reluctance of the UK government to sanction any further investment in a larger fleet for the operator.