Chapter 13: Intercity in 2000s
The 1990s had seen Intercity pour their heart and soul into their new trunk line (now formerly known as NTL-1) from London to the Midlands and North. Trains initially ran at 200km/h for the first 3 months, in order to avoid the type of PR disaster that had occurred previously when the APT (Advanced Passenger Train) had promised much, and delivered little, and thus a gentle start promised the capability to get going on the line when services started on 1st February, before ramping up for the summer period. By the time that 2001 had come around, the full 250km/h operation of trains brought journey times down further then previous promised, allowing Intercity a second wind in advertising; London - Birmingham was 1:00, - Manchester was 1:50, and - Leeds was 1:35)
British Rail's new
Velocity services were banishing the failure of the earlier APT attempt from memory with it's successes.
Credit: Ben Gamble
The rapid adoption by the public of the new Intercity Velocity services provided the springboard for just that. Post-2000, passenger numbers soared on the rail network generally, ironically due to the rapid adoption of the car which now caused increasing congestion. On the other hand, the speed, comfort and reliability of the new services provided a vivid contrast to the car and appealing mode of transport; revenue consequently soared at Intercity, with the London - Manchester route experiencing rapid growth in particular. The public impression of the services was that of a fast, sleek and comfortable express, with the London-Manchester route in particular being an early British Rail adopter of Wifi technology for passengers as standard. Catering was also carefully looked after, and fried breakfast proved extremely popular on early morning services; other catering was also popular, with analysts pointing to the longer train trips taken as well as longer runs between stations (and so less risk of losing your seat when grabbing some food!).
The growth and popularity of the services led to the backing by Prime Minister Michael Portillo of number of extensions to the network, although critics would flag it as an ailing attempt to woo northern voters as opinion polls showed a swing away from the Conservative Party. Several new additions to the network were authorised:
- A new branch from Wakefield to York to connect to Newcastle; mostly re-engineering the Dearne Valley Line.
- A new line from Birmingham to Nottingham, to allow a new generation of CrossCountry services to operate from Birmingham north, which would also feature a station at East Midlands Airport.
- The extension from Leeds to Carlisle using the existing Settle-Carlisle route (which longer distance Leeds services rerouted via Burnley & Preston to Blackpool), which would be dedicated to Intercity usage to connect to Edinburgh and Glasgow.
- 2 new stations to be built; the first at Leeds Holbeck to allow IC-V services to run through Leeds on their way to Scotland (linked to both Leeds and Bradford by the above Metro), and a new combined station at Birmingham Moor Street with platforms for both Intercity Velocity services and NSE terminating services on the top level, and "classic" Intercity services and other New Street bound services on the lower level. The Intercity Velocity service from Birmingham was popular, but there were concerns from both the West Midlands County Council and British Rail that the separate stations severely impeded interchange at the "Rail crossroads of England" and acted to handicap patronage of the services.
The new alignment to connect to the ECML at York would diverge just north of Sheffield, where the new branch would run along a newly
Velocity dedicated Dearne Valley Line, crossing past Ferrybridge Power Station on a new viaduct to maintain grade separation, and then some new stretches of lines before merging into the ECML just south of York next to the A64 ring road. The 2 trains per hour service to Newcastle was to be maintained, with both trains stopping at Nottingham, Pontefract Parkway (next to the M62/A1 junction, following the closure of Pontefract Baghill station), York and terminating at Newcastle, but with alternating trains stopping at either Darlington or Durham (1tph each).
The new NTL-2 route would interlink to East Midlands Airport, allowing a new generation of passengers to train & fly.
The new Birmingham to Nottingham line (named NTL-2) would stretch from Birmingham, diverging from the Birmingham-Wolverhampton line at Wednesbury, and using the remains of the South Staffordshire Line to run through Walsall (with a station stop), and then to Lichfield using the disused alignment again. The Birmingham Cross City Line would be pulled back to terminate at Lichfield City, with the route north of it dedicated to
Velocity services, which would run through Burton on dedicated tracks without stopping and then running east using existing lines (dedicated again), and a new alignment running through the East Midlands Airport. Although Birmingham and Manchester Airports had been successful, authorisation was given by Westminster for a large expansion to East Mids Airport - it was an airport with little surrounding residential areas, close to a motorway. Intercity would link the airport with fast services to Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield, Manchester & Leeds - all large cities with a travel time to the airport less then an hour. A new "Plane & Train" marketing arrangement was signed with air operator BMI, who would be able to sell Intercity tickets to their air passengers and receive commission on the sale. This would be operated via a new Crosscountry style service operating from Birmingham to the East Midlands Airport and then on northwards to either Manchester or Leeds.
One of the biggest changes was the new station in West Yorkshire, with the building of the new Leeds Holbeck station to allow through services via the Settle-Carlisle line which would be temporarily closed for engineering works in order to upgrade it to 90-100mph running throughout (and faster where possible), linking to the West Coast Main Line at Carlisle. The Ribbehead Viaduct in particular would need significant engineering works (hence the temporary closure) in order to make it completely structurally sound again after years of neglect and adapt it for at-speed operation. As part of the works, the Scottish line from Carstairs Junction on the WCML to Edinburgh would finally be electrified, and the Scottish capital would finally welcome London expresses under electric power. The Scottish Government was in the initial processes of planning for a new high speed line between Edinburgh and Glasgow which could eventually be used by
Intercity Velocity, but for the time being it was much slower, with London-Glasgow at 04:30 (down from 05:15), and London-Edinburgh at 04:45 (down from 05:30).
The Leeds Holbeck station, just to the west of the existing station would feature elevated platforms for the
Velocity services, preserving grade separation, and lower platforms for the conventional trains running through the junction, allowing the maximum level of interchange. There would also be funding for a Leeds Underground system, which would involve the transfer of portions of the Leeds-Bradford urban railway network to a new metro system, in order to free up capacity between Leeds and Skipton, as well as the junction to the west of Leeds Central station. The new Holbeck station would also be a stop on the new "White Rose Metro", which would bring in quick and frequent connections from across Leeds (including the central station) as well as from Bradford. The Metro system would later informally become known as the "Tyke Train" or "The Worm", as the formal name "White Rose Metro" didn't particularly roll off the tongue.
By 2005 the Prime Minister Portillo had been replaced by Anthony Blair, and new Labour Prime Minister authorised initial work to begin in to extending the system to Liverpool, whose residents had fought a highly public campaign to be connected - "The only major city to not be connected!", "Liverpool Unplugged!", and "Merseyside Adrift" were all slogans banded about. The 2008 economic downturn took effects across the country, and the Merseyside extension was seen as a way to keep construction firms in business and continue improving the national infrastructure. The route would be extended from Manchester Victoria west to Liverpool Lime Street via a new and continued separated high speed line adjacent to the M62. Importantly, the NTL-3 at Wolverhampton would also be extended north, allowing an improved West Midlands service (to be 4 trains per hour) to be extended further north to Manchester and Liverpool (2 trains per hour each) in order to keep up with growing demand at Manchester.
The vision for the new "Birmingham Central" railway station.
Birmingham would also receive a new railway station, at the crossing point of it's two major rail corridors allowing passengers to easily interchange between the two routes. The station, largely built and extended out of the existing Moor Street station would also allow the closure of the Snow Hill station for Velocity services, which as a lightweight construction (needed in order to control costs at the time, when the Velocity project was still uncertain) was struggling with passenger numbers despite it's remote location compared to other rail services.
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Notes: The name "New Trunk Line" is from Japan - it's the literal translation of "Shinkansen", upon which the famous Bullet Trains run. I was bloody impressed with those during my time in Japan.
So....
- Extension to Newcastle via the Dearne Valley Line (from Rotherham to York), with a flyover at Ferryhill Power Station....don't want those slow coal trains getting in the way. A new Pontefract Parkway station, fulfilling the same kind of role that Bristol Parkway does; a useful express station stop for those in the area (ideally situated next to the M62 & A1(M) ) on a route which would other speed through Yorkshire.
- A Birmingham to Nottingham line to take in CrossCountry services, part of linking the northern cities together to improve their economies. I swear I wrote this before Osborne starting talking about HS3 OTL! A rail hub at East Midlands Airport though, in part to centralise a "big airport" for the East Midlands which can also cater for several other nearby cities and relieve some pressure on London. I expect Birmingham Airport to rapidly downsize, as East Midlands has lots more space and importantly much fewer residents to peeve off. The fact it also has a Velocity station is icing on the cake. This would run from Birmingham north-west, diverging along the South Staff Line to run through Walsall, then Lichfield and via Burton-upon-Trent. Takeover of the freight route east that runs close to East Mids anyway, then across the countryside to link back into the main high speed route south of Nottingham.
- Dedication of the Settle-Carlisle route (Leeds-Lancaster services rerouted to Blackpool via Skipton & Burnley along a rebuild Skipton-Colne link) to Velocity services. The dedication means that signalling can be completely revamped from Skipton to Carlisle, although Leeds-Skipton will need to be shared with a few commuter trains along that stretch. The Metro will relieve a lot of trains from the corridor, so there should be enough capacity with Velocity trains running at up to 100mph to Skipton. The rest of the route is around 90-110mph depending on the curves, as it was built to be an express route.
- The station stop for Leeds is moved west out of Leeds Central station, to a new one at Holbeck - I'm imagining this as high speed platforms
above the standard rail lines, above Holbeck junction which would have several sets of platforms built to create a station there. Next chapter we'll have a quick look at "The Worm".
- And finally Birmingham rebuilt as a large station on both routes; Arup proposed something similar a few years ago while as "Birmingham Grand Central" (although all online data referring to it seems long gone).
