CrossCountry

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This article is about the train operating company in the United Kingdom. For Cross country, see CrossCountry (disambiguation).
File:Crosscountrylogosmall.png
Overview
Franchise(s)Cross Country
11 November 2007 – 1 April 2016
Main route(s)South West England/South East Wales - Birmingham - North East England - Central Scotland / Northern Scotland (selected services)
Southern England - Birmingham - Manchester
Cardiff - Birmingham - Nottingham
Birmingham - Leicester - Stansted Airport
Fleet size29 Turbostars
34 Voyagers
23 Super Voyagers
5 High Speed Trains (5 in use)
Stations called at100
Parent companyArriva plc
Reporting markXC
Other
Websitewww.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/

CrossCountry is a train operating company, the brand name of XC Trains Limited owned by Arriva, that has operated Great Britain’s Cross Country rail franchise since 11 November 2007. The franchise was formed through the amalgamation of most of the former Cross Country franchise previously held by Virgin Trains (which consisted of inter-city services that do not terminate in London) with some of the longer-distance routes (including some former Central Citylink services) operated by the former Central Trains.

On 10 July 2007, the Department for Transport announced that Arriva plc had won the rights to the franchise.[1]

Unlike most other franchise operators, CrossCountry does not manage any stations, even though there are certain stations served by no operator other than CrossCountry.

Routes

See also: CrossCountry Network Map

Core

The hourly service operates on each basic route:

No Route Rolling stock
1 Plymouth to Edinburgh Waverley (via Leeds) (Super) Voyagers & HSTs
2 Reading to Newcastle (via Doncaster) (Super) Voyagers
3 Bristol Temple Meads to Manchester Piccadilly (Super) Voyagers
4 Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly (via Coventry) (Super) Voyagers
5 Cardiff Central to Nottingham (via Birmingham New Street) Turbostars
6 Birmingham New Street to Leicester and Stansted Airport Turbostars
CrossCountry SuperVoyager 221 128 at Bristol Temple Meads with a service to Manchester Piccadilly.
Interior of a refurbished CrossCountry High Speed Train on the East Coast Main Line en-route from Exeter St David's to Edinburgh Waverley

Extensions

There are extensions to the normal service pattern:

Summer Saturdays see trains to Newquay from various parts of the network.

CrossCountry, 4 & 5 car SuperVoyagers joined at Bristol Temple Meads a sight which will become more common on the CrossCountry network.

Frequency

Typically, during weekday daytimes, each of these six routes sees one CrossCountry train per hour, with the exception of Birmingham–Leicester and Birmingham–Nottingham (which each see two). These services combine to provide higher frequencies on the following sections:

  • Bristol to Birmingham: 2 trains per hour
  • Cheltenham to Birmingham: 3 trains per hour
  • Reading to Birmingham: 2 trains per hour
  • Birmingham to Derby: 4 trains per hour
  • Derby to Sheffield: 2 trains per hour
  • York to Newcastle: 2 trains per hour
  • Birmingham to Leicester: 2 trains per hour


Withdrawal of Brighton services

The requirement for the franchise operation did not include retaining the current services south east of Reading/Guildford to Brighton. As a result all CrossCountry services to Kensington Olympia, East Croydon, Redhill, Gatwick Airport and Haywards Heath ceased on 13 December 2008. Passengers for Gatwick Airport now have to change at Reading onto First Great Western's services. [2]

Future services

Plans were included by CrossCountry to reopen the railway station at Kenilworth. In April 2008, they agreed with Warwickshire county council to draw up a business case[3].

There are proposals for a station at Worcester (Norton) Parkway near the city of Worcester, which is currently by-passed by CrossCountry's trains. If this station is built, then it may be served by CrossCountry services.

Performance

Initial performance figures released by the ORR rate the new operator slightly better than their predecessor with a PPM of 89.9%[4] over the second quarter of the 2008/9 financial year.

Criticism

CrossCountry have been criticised for its overcrowding on services between Leamington Spa and Birmingham.[5]

Rolling Stock

Multiple Unit fleet

Virgin CrossCountry previously operated the Class 220 and Class 221 DEMUs. Now some 21 Class 221 units have been transferred to the Virgin West Coast franchise to operate the North Wales route and the West Midlands to Scotland services. CrossCountry also use Class 170 Turbostars inherited from Central Trains. Class 220s and 221s are undergoing refurbishment at Bombardier, Derby. This includes removing the shop and extra luggage space. The refurbishment is due to be completed in late 2009

 Class  Image  Type   Top speed   Number   Built 
 mph   km/h 
Class 170 Turbostar Diesel multiple unit 100 160 29[6] 1999–2002 (2008*)
Class 220 Voyager Diesel-electric
multiple unit 		125 200 34 2001 (2008 - 2009*)
Class 221 Super Voyager Diesel-electric
multiple unit 		125 200 23 2001 (2008 - 2009*)

HST Fleet

The first CrossCountry-livered HST powercar was released from its overhaul at Brush, Loughborough on 16 July 2008. To identify its fleet, CrossCountry is renumbering all of its HST units by adding an extra 200 to the old number, the newly repainted HST being 43301 (originally 43101). 43301 had to be completely rebuilt by Brush, as it has been out of service for more than 5 years. As a standard, CrossCountry is installing MTU engines to replace the old Paxman Valenta ones, and is repainting the units into the two-tone CrossCountry livery of grey/silver and chocolate brown.

 Class  Image  Type   Top speed   Number   Built   Introduced
 mph   km/h 
Class 43 High Speed Train Diesel locomotive 148 238 5 sets[7] 1976 - 1982 (2008*) May 2008 (2x 7+2 Unrefurbished sets)

Sept 2008 (1x Full refurbished set, 1x Unrefurbished set) Now 2008 (2x Fully refurbished sets) Dec 2008 (5 Refurbished sets)

Mark 3 coach Passenger coach 148 238 40[8] 1975 - 1988 (2008*) May 2008 (2x 7+2 Unrefurbished sets)

Nov 2008 (2x Fully refurbished sets) Dec 2008 (5 Refurbished sets)

(*) This shows the date refurbished.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Department for Transport announces winner of New Cross Country franchise". Department for Transport. 2007-07-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ CrossCountry. "Frequently Asked Questions: How will the timetable change and when?". Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  3. ^ "Kenilworth Station stays on track". Warwickshire County Council. 2008-04-07. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
  4. ^ PPM actual "Office of Rail Regulation - National Rail Trends". ORR. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  5. ^ "Overcrowded Trains - Your comments". BBC Inside Out West Midlands.
  6. ^ CrossContry FAQ - What trains do we operate
  7. ^ CrossCountry FAQ - What trains do we operate
  8. ^ Deal to refurbish high speed carriages

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to CrossCountry.


Preceded by
Central Trains
Central franchise
 Operator of Cross Country franchise
2007 - present 		Incumbent
Preceded by
Virgin Trains
Cross Country franchise


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