East Coast (train operating company)

East Coast

Overview
Franchise(s)	InterCity East Coast 14 November 2009 – TBA
Main region(s)	East Midlands, Yorkshire, North East England, Central Scotland, Northern Scotland
Other region(s)	London
Fleet size	31 Class 91 electric locomotives 30 InterCity 225 sets 14 InterCity 125 (HST) sets
Stations called at	53
Stations operated	12
Parent company	Directly Operated Railways
Reporting mark	GR
Other
Website	www.eastcoast.co.uk

East Coast Route
Inverness Carrbridge Aviemore Kingussie Newtonmore Blair Atholl Pitlochry Dunkeld & Birnam Perth Gleneagles Dunblane Stirling Falkirk Aberdeen Stonehaven Montrose Arbroath Dundee Leuchars Kirkcaldy Inverkeithing Glasgow Central Motherwell Haymarket Edinburgh Waverley Dunbar Reston Berwick-upon-Tweed Alnmouth Morpeth Newcastle Durham Darlington Northallerton York Skipton Keighley Bradford Forster Square Shipley Harrogate Horsforth Leeds Wakefield Westgate Hull Brough Selby Doncaster Retford Lincoln Newark North Gate Grantham Peterborough Stevenage London King's Cross

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.

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, 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 Central, and from King's Cross to Leeds, with other services reaching into Yorkshire and Northern and Central Scotland.

It is currently unknown when or if the franchise will be re-let while the government conducts a review on rail franchising.

Principal routes

London–Leeds

The service between King's Cross and Leeds is generally half-hourly, with most trains serving Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster and Peterborough, and some serving Newark, Retford, Grantham and Stevenage.

London–Newcastle

A half-hourly service between King's Cross and Newcastle Central operates for most of the day, departing from London on the hour and on the half-hour. These trains generally run as limited-stop expresses between London and Newcastle: all trains call at York, and most at Peterborough and Darlington, though afternoon and evening departures from King's Cross run non-stop to Doncaster or York. The trains leaving London on the half-hour generally terminate at Newcastle Central and serve other intermediate stations such as Grantham, Newark, Retford, Doncaster and Durham as well as Peterborough, York, and Darlington.

London-Edinburgh-Glasgow

The 'top of the hour' departures from London continue through to Edinburgh (with the 10:00 keeping the traditional name Flying Scotsman), with a two-hourly extension to Glasgow Central. In November 2009, it was revealed that the Department for Transport was considering ending the through services to Glasgow Central, and terminating all services at Edinburgh, on the basis of the increased frequency and shorter journey times (4hrs 31mins versus 5hrs 45mins) now available between London and Glasgow on the West Coast route.

A Map of East Coast Services showing the service pattern each hour and extensions due to come into effect from 22 May 2011.

Other routes

Aberdeen

There are three trains per day each way between Aberdeen and King's Cross, departing 10:30 (The Northern Lights), 14:00 and 16:00, the journey time being just over seven hours. There is also one service per day arriving at Aberdeen from Leeds. These services are operated by HST sets, as the line between Aberdeen and Edinburgh is not electrified. This route makes use of the historic Forth and Tay bridges.

Inverness

A daily service operates between Inverness and King's Cross called the Highland Chieftain. The journey takes just over eight hours and is operated with diesel HST sets, as the lines to Dunblane and Inverness are not electrified.

Hull

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.

Skipton

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 to the Leeds–London service. Though the line to Skipton is electrified throughout, the East Coast service to/from the town is operated using a diesel HST because the electrical infrastructure on the Leeds to Skipton line is 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.

Tests took place on 16 January 2011 for the operation of a Class 91 and Mark 4s on this service. From the new timetable on 22 May 2011, the evening return train from Kings Cross will be worked by a Class 91 and Mark 4 set.

Harrogate

There is a Monday-Saturday morning HST departure from Harrogate to King's Cross also calling at Horsforth. However, there is no return journey so passengers are required to change at Leeds or York on to Northern Rail services to Harrogate. The Saturday running of this service is the week's only East Coast southbound service from Leeds not to call at Wakefield Westgate. This service departs from Leeds and heads along the Selby line to join the East Coast Main Line at Hambleton.

From 22 May 2011 there will be a return service from London Kings Cross to Harrogate leaving at 17:33.

Bradford Forster Square

One train per day in each direction runs between Bradford Forster Square, Shipley and King's Cross via Leeds.

Rolling stock

Current fleet

East Coast has inherited the rolling stock operated by NXEC, which encompasses 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.

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.

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. A picture of the new livery can be seen here.

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-Edinburgh London Kings Cross-Hull London Kings Cross-Skipton London Kings Cross-Harrogate Leeds-Aberdeen London Kings Cross-Newcastle Central
	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-Newcastle Central
	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 will no longer be required.

Future High Speed Train

As part of the new InterCity East Coast franchise agreement, East Coast will participate in the Intercity Express Programme along with First Great Western, which will see new high-speed trains enter service. The project will replace all of the Intercity 125 fleet with new Hitachi built Bi-Mode trains. These new trains will run in electric mode as far as Edinburgh Waverley before switching to diesel mode and serving destinations beyond the wires. The original plans would have also seen the replacement of the InterCity 225 fleet but these will now remain in operation.

Class	Type	Top speed		Number	Introduction
		mph	km/h
Hitachi Super Express	Electro-diesel multiple unit	125	200	30+	2015

Cancelled Future fleet

Originally East Coast were to receive 5 Class 180 Adelante DMUs, however, due to a reduction in the number of extra services, and with Directly Operated Railways stating its unhappiness with the Class 180 units they are no longer required, and will not be used by East Coast.

East Coast investigated using one 11-coach Pendolino from July 2011, however, they decided to lease an extra HST set from East Midlands Trains, which will be in use from 22 May 2011, instead, bringing the number of HST's leased to 14.

Locomotive naming

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.

Performance

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 77.9% PPM and a moving annual average of 84.4%.

External links

• East Coast official website
• Department for Transport Directly Operated Railways
• Department for Transport InterCity East Coast franchise