Grand Central Railway
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This article or section contains information about a planned or expected public transportation infrastructure. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the infrastructure approaches, and more information becomes available. |
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| Franchise(s): | Not subject to franchising; Open-access operator 20 May 2007 - 2011 |
| Main route(s): | London Kings Cross – Sunderland |
| Other route(s): | None |
| Fleet size: | 3 (planned) |
| Stations: | 7 (planned) |
| Parent company: | Fraser Eagle |
| Web site: | www.grandcentralrail.co.uk |
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The Grand Central Railway Company Ltd (Grand Central) is an "open-access" railway company that plans to run trains from Sunderland and Hartlepool to London from 2007. Rather than operating under a franchise (from the Department for Transport) like most other National Rail train operators in Britain, Grand Central will be run on a fully commercial, unsubsidised basis similar to that of Hull Trains. The company was formed in the mid-1990s and originally planned to operate high-speed train services between Newcastle and Manchester across the Calder Valley. This proposal was rejected by the Rail Regulator in 2004.
On 23 March 2006, Grand Central received approval from the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) for a contract with Network Rail, lasting a minimum of five years, allowing it to operate three passenger services per day in each direction between London and Sunderland, expected to start no later than December 2006. However problems in obtaining suitable rolling stock have led to the date for the start of service being put back to May 2007. [1]
The East Coast Main Line is one of the busiest lines on the rail network and there is currently insufficient capacity on parts of the line to satisfy all the requirements of both passenger and freight operators. The principal long-distance passenger train operator on the east coast is Great North Eastern Railway (GNER), which in March 2005 signed a ten-year franchise with the Department for Transport, committing to pay annual premiums to the government totalling £1.3 billion over the life of the contract. Many observers at the time believed that to be too expensive, and GNER has since encountered financial difficulties in making the payments.
As a result of capacity uncertainties, Grand Central was not given regulatory approval to run the originally proposed service to Bradford. They had proposed splitting and joining the Sunderland and Bradford trains at Doncaster, with a single service to and from London Kings Cross but the plan was rejected following concerns expressed by Network Rail.
Grand Central have promised to give an immediate 50% refund to any passenger unable to find a seat at any time during the journey.
GNER has vigorously opposed the prospect of on-rail competition on the east coast main line from Grand Central. The regulatory hearing at ORR saw strong objections to Grand Central's services from GNER, but these were rejected. GNER then challenged the legality of ORR's decisions by bringing a judicial review of ORR's decision in the High Court. On 27 July 2006, GNER's case failed and the High Court ruled that the ORR's decision to allow Grand Central access to the national railway network - paying access charges which are structurally different from (and lower than) those payable by franchised passenger train operators - was legal.[2]
The Grand Central service will link parts of the North East that have not had a direct service to London for many years.
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[edit] Rolling stock
Grand Central originally planned to use a fleet of five of Bombardier Transportation’s five-carriage Class 222 diesel-electric multiple-unit 125-mph (200-km/h) trains, similar to those already in use by Hull Trains and Midland Mainline, and related to the Class 220/221 units used by Virgin Trains. However, difficulties in securing leases on these units led to them being leased elsewhere. On October 5, 2006, it was announced that Grand Central had secured the use of six Class 43 power cars, 6 HST Trailer vehicles (3 TRSB and 3 TGS) and 18 former loco hauled Mark 3 coaches to form three complete train sets. However the former loco hauled Mark 3 will need a complete rewiring in order to work with the Class 43 power cars as they have different electrical requirements.[3] This has led to the company's start date being pushed back to 20 May 2007.[4]
[edit] Planned route
Grand Central intend to operate services from London Kings Cross to Sunderland.
Grand Central has announced that two of its trains will be named. On Monday-Saturday, the first departure from Sunderland (06.56) will be named The Zephyr, the final departure from Kings Cross (16.50) will be known as The 21st Century Limited.[5]
[edit] Proposed future services
In addition to its services to Sunderland, Grand Central also has plans for a number of other routes:
[edit] London-Bradford
As part of its original proposal, Grand Central also sought to run services between Kings Cross and Bradford. The company has maintained this ambition, with a proposal to run 4 services per day each way.
[edit] Grand Union
Under the name Grand Union, Grand Central has developed a case for running services over two additional routes; Doncaster to Bradford Interchange, and London Euston to Bradford Interchange via Huddersfield.
[edit] Other proposed routes
Grand Central was originally linked with a proposal to run shortened HSTs between Newcastle and Preston, via the Durham Coast, York, Wakefield, Brighouse, Rochdale and Manchester. They later suggested a York to Chester service to be run by DMUs (probably Class 158s displaced from TransPennine Express). Neither of these proposals were approved.
[edit] References
- ^ IC Newcastle Story on Delay to Grand Central Services, IC Newcastle".
- ^ "Guardian article on High Court judgement", Guardian Unlimited
- ^ Grand Central Railway to operate HST power cars and loco-hauled Mk3s. The RailwayCentre.Com.
- ^ New rail service launch delayed. BBC News.
- ^ Grand Central announces Safety Case acceptance. Grand Central (2007-03-09).
[edit] External links
- Grand Central Trains web site
- Map showing the Sunderland service along with GNER, Hull Trains, and the rejected Bradford route
- BBC News article on the topic
| Domestic: | Arriva Trains Wales - c2c - Central Trains1 - Chiltern Railways - First Capital Connect First Great Western - First ScotRail - Grand Central2 - GNER - Heathrow Connect Hull Trains - Island Line3 - Merseyrail - Midland Mainline1 - Northern Rail Northern Ireland Railways4 - 'one' - Silverlink1 - Southeastern - Southern South West Trains - TransPennine Express - Virgin Trains (VWC - VXC1) |
|---|---|
| International: | Enterprise4 - Eurostar |
| Airport Link: | Gatwick Express - Heathrow Express - Stansted Express5 |
| Sleeper: | Caledonian Sleeper6 - Night Riviera7 |
| 1 Ends November 2007 - 2 Starts 20 May 2007 - 3 Operated by South West Trains 4 Operated on the Irish railway network - 5 Operated by 'one' - 6 Operated by First ScotRail 7 Operated by First Great Western |
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| Future passenger train operators and franchises in Great Britain | |
|---|---|
| New Franchises: | Cross Country1 - East Midlands1 - InterCity East Coast - London Overground1 West Midlands1 |
| Proposed open-access operators: |
Glasgow Trains2 - Grand Union2 - Humber & City2 - Wrexham & Shropshire3 |
| 1 Starts November 2007 - 2 Proposed - 3 Awaiting Approval | |
