On 10 July 2007, the Department for Transport announced that Arriva plc had won the rights to the franchise.
The franchise is unusual in that it does not operate any stations, even though there are certain stations served by no operator other than CrossCountry.
Routes
Core
The proposed hourly service from December 2008 will operate on each basic route:| No | Route | Rolling stock | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plymouth to Edinburgh Waverley (via Leeds) | Voyagers & High Speed Trains (From mid-late 2008) | |
| 2 | Reading to Newcastle (via Doncaster) | Voyagers | |
| 3 | Bristol Temple Meads to Manchester Piccadilly | Voyagers | |
| 4 | Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly (via Coventry) | Voyagers | |
| 5 | Cardiff Central to Nottingham | Turbostars & Voyagers | |
| 6 | Birmingham New Street to Leicester and Stansted Airport | Turbostars | |
Extensions
There will also be extensions to the normal service pattern:
- to Penzance from Plymouth
- to Glasgow Central from Edinburgh Waverley
- to Aberdeen from Edinburgh Waverley
- to Cardiff Central from Bristol Temple Meads
- to Paignton from Bristol Temple Meads
- to Guildford from Reading
- to Bournemouth from Reading
Summer Saturdays will see trains to Newquay from various parts of the network.
There are also some other train services which will go from one route to another (eg. from Nottingham to Bournemouth), in order to provide more direct journeys.
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 Services to Brighton
The requirement for the franchise operation did not include retaining the current services from Manchester to Brighton. As a result, these services, and services to intermediate stations on the route - Kensington Olympia, East Croydon, Redhill, Gatwick Airport and Haywards Heath - will be withdrawn in December 2008 .
Rolling Stock
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 British Rail Class 170 Turbostars inherited from Central Trains. In addition, the company has announced that they will re-introduce five upgraded High Speed Trains, principally for use on Plymouth-Edinburgh services. These are currently undergoing refurbishment at Brush Traction in Leicestershire, and are expected to enter service in mid to late 2008.
Note: Class 220 Voyagers 220 017, 220 022, 220 025, 220 028 and Class 170 Turbostars 170 102, 170 107, 170 116 have all been repainted into the new CrossCountry livery.
Current fleet
| Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Number | Unit numbers | Routes operated | Built | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | |||||||
| Class 170 Turbostar | Diesel multiple unit | 100 | 160 | 29 | 170101-170117 170397-170398 170518-170523 170636-170639 | Cardiff–Nottingham Birmingham–Stansted Airport | 1999–2002 | |
| Class 220 Voyager | Diesel-electric multiple unit | 125 | 200 | 34 | 220001-220034 | Cross Country Route | 2001 | |
| Class 221 Super Voyager | Diesel-electric multiple unit | 125 | 200 | 28 | 221118-221141 | Cross Country Route | 2001 | |
Future fleet
| Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Number | Routes operated | Built | Introduction | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | |||||||
| Class 43 High Speed Train | Diesel locomotive | 125 | 200 | 10 | Cross Country Route | 1976 - 1982 | Late 2008 | |
| Mark 3 coach | Passenger coach | 125 | 200 | 40 | Cross Country Route | 1975 - 1988 | Late 2008 | |
See also
References
External links
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Monday March 10, 2008 at 11:09:31 PDT (GMT -0700)
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