Cumbrian Coast line

Cumbrian Coast Line
Overview
Status	Open
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Cumbria
Termini	Barrow Carlisle
Stations	26
Service
Type	Rural Line
System	National Rail Network
Services	1
Operator(s)	Northern Rail
Rolling stock	Class 153 and Class 156
History
Opened	1844
Technical
Line length	Template:Mi to km

Cumbrian Coast line
West Coast Main Line to Glasgow and Edinburgh Carlisle Tyne Valley line Settle–Carlisle line Cummersdale West Coast Main Line to London Euston Dalston Curthwaite Crofton Wigton Brookfield Leegate High Blaithwaite Carlisle & Silloth Bay Rly Mealsgate Solway Junction Railway Carlisle & Silloth Bay Rly Allhallows Colliery Brayton Baggrow Aspatria Arkleby Bullgill Maryport and Carlisle Railway branch to Brigham Dearham Bridge Maryport Flimby St Helens Colliery Halt Siddick Junction Calva Junction Workington North Cleator & Workington Jn Rly to Great Broughton Cockermouth and Workington Railway River Derwent Steel Works Cleator & Workington Jn Rly to Distington Workington Harrington Whitehaven, Cleator & Egremont Railway Parton Whitehaven Whitehaven Harbour Preston Street Corkickle Corkickle Brake Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway St Bees St Bees Golf Halt Nethertown Braystones Cleator & Furness Rly River Ehen Sellafield Sellafield sidings River Calder Seascale Drigg Low Level Waste Repository Drigg River Irt River Mite Ravenglass for Eskdale Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway River Esk Eskmeals Monks Moors Halt Bootle Whitbeck Crossing Halt Silecroft Kirksanton Halt Hodbarrow Millom Underhill Halt Green Road River Duddon Coniston Railway Foxfield Kirkby-in-Furness Dunnerholme Gate Askam-in-Furness Goldmire mines Sandscale mines Barrow-in-Furness Barrow loop line Port of Barrow Roosecote Power Station Salthouse Halt Roose Rampside Furness Abbey Piel Dalton Furness line

The Cumbrian Coast Line is a rail route in North West England, running from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness via Workington and Whitehaven. The line forms part of Network Rail route NW 4033, which continues (as the Furness Line) via Ulverston and Grange-over-Sands to Carnforth, where it connects with the West Coast Main Line.

History

The Cumbrian Coast Line is an amalgamation of a series of earlier routes:

• Carlisle to Maryport, Maryport and Carlisle Railway opened 1845
• Maryport to Whitehaven, Whitehaven Junction Railway (acquired by London and North Western Railway 1866)
• Whitehaven to Kirkby-in-Furness, Whitehaven and Furness Railway (acquired by Furness Railway 1865)
• Kirkby-in-Furness to Barrow-in-Furness, Furness Railway opened 1844

All the above constituents were absorbed into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923.

Towns and villages along the route

• Carlisle
• Dalston
• Wigton
• Aspatria
• Maryport
• Flimby
• Workington North
  • A temporary station, opened in November 2009, following flood damage to road bridges.
• Workington
• Harrington
• Parton
• Whitehaven
• Corkickle
• St Bees
• Nethertown
• Braystones
• Sellafield
• Seascale
• Drigg
• Ravenglass
  • Connection for the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway (La'al Ratty)
• Bootle
• Silecroft
• Millom
• Green Road
• Foxfield
• Kirkby-in-Furness
• Askam-in-Furness
• Barrow-in-Furness

Services

Train services are operated by Northern Rail. As of the December 2009-May 2010 timetable, eight trains per weekday southbound and ten northbound run along the entire line from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness; two further southbound services run from Maryport and Whitehaven to Barrow. In addition, a few services run in both directions between Carlisle and Whitehaven to the north of the line, and Millom and Barrow-in-Furness to the south. Additionally, one Northern Rail local service each way operates between Barrow and Sellafield mainly for the benefit of workers at the BNFL nuclear complex. In the aftermath of the 2009 floods, an extra hourly service between Maryport and Workington is in operation stopping at all stations in between.

There are relatively few through services on the line. A few Northern Rail trains continue to Lancaster or beyond via the Furness Line, and one train a day runs to Whitehaven from Newcastle via the Tyne Valley Line.

At Carlisle the lines connects to the: West Coast Mainline; the Settle-Carlisle Line; the Tyne Valley Line; the Glasgow South Western Line; and the Caledonian Sleeper service. At Barrow, there are connections to the Furness Line.

Due to restricted clearances on the northern section of this line, Class 150 and class 158 Diesel multiple units are barred from the route, therefore services are normally operated by Class 153 or Class 156 units. Although since 2006 Network Rail have eased clearance restrictions to allow Mark2, Mark3 coaching stock to operate the full route, although under strict instructions that all drop-light windows must be stewarded between Maryport-Carlisle. This has allowed many charter services to operate the full length of the Cumbrian Coast.

The Cumbrian Coast was given Community Rail status in 2008, and has an active Community Rail Partnership working hard to develop the route. Should the Nuclear new build be sited in West Cumbria, it is hoped that rail will provide most of the transportation requirements to the sites.

Route description

Network Rail's route NW 4033 runs for Template:Km to mi from Carnforth North Junction, near Carnforth, to Carlisle South Junction, near Carlisle, by way of Sellafield.

NW 4033	M-Ch	km
Carnforth North Junction	0-00	0.00
Carnforth	0-12	0.25
Carnforth Station Junction	0-19	0.40
Silverdale	3-36	5.55
Arnside	6-10	9.85
Grange-over-Sands	9-12	11.85
Kents Bank	11-08	14.75
Cark and Cartmel	13-29	21.50
Ulverston	19-09	30.75
Dalton	23-46	37.95
Dalton Junction	24-19	39.00
Roose	26-74	43.35
Salthouse Junction	27-38	44.20
Barrow-in-Furness	28-66	46.40
Park South Junction	32-57	52.65
Askam	34-64	56.00
Kirkby-in-Furness	38-00	61.15
Foxfield	40-21	64.80
Green Road	42-15	67.90
Millom	44-68	72.20
Silecroft	47-73	77.10
Bootle	53-18	85.65
Ravenglass	57-60	92.95
Drigg	59-59	96.15
Seascale	61-73	99.65
Sellafield	63-57	102.55
Braystones	65-57	105.75
Nethertown	67-13	108.10
St Bees	70-03	112.70
Corkickle	73-59	118.65
Whitehaven	74-47	120.05
Bransty Junction	74-54	120.15
Parton	75-79	122.30
Harrington	79-08	127.30
Workington	81-27	130.90
Workington North
Flimby	85-00	136.80
Maryport	86-64	139.70
Aspatria	94-36	152.00
Wigton	102-63	165.40
Dalston	110-06	177.15
Currock Junction	113-37	182.60
Carlisle South Junction	114-19	183.85

The following lines all previously connected to the Cumbrian Coast Line, but have now been closed

• Silloth branch, from Aspatria
• Brigham branch, near Maryport
• Cleator and Workington Junction Railway, near Workington
• Cockermouth and Workington Railway, near Workington
• Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway, near Corkickle
• Cleator and Furness Railway, near Sellafield
• Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, at Ravenglass. This is a narrow gauge railway but there was formerly a standard gauge line from Ravenglass to Murthwaite for freight.
• Coniston Branch, near Foxfield
• Sandscale branch, at Barrow in Furness

External links

• Network Rail: Rules of the Route and Rules of the Plan