Open Access
This is your platform.
There’s much debate at the moment about useful electric trains being rendered surplus by the new trains ‘bubble’.
While the rolling stock companies are doubtless working furiously behind the scenes to place units such as the Class 365s, ‘379s’, ‘707s’ and ‘350/2s’ with new operators and ensure they continue to earn their keep, it appears that some are destined for storage (‘warm’ or otherwise).
In the absence of a rolling programme of electrification, attention will inevitably turn to how they can be used on the existing electric network.
London Northwestern’s Class 350/2s are among the most modern (and reliable) of the threatened fleets, but look to be struggling to find a new home in the early 2020s.
London Midland (now LNR) and TransPennine Express have proved that there’s a strong market for long-distance semi-fast trains on the West Coast Main Line. Trading all-out speed for lower fares, they also provide many smaller towns along the route with a direct service to London and other major cities.
Could the same be achieved on the East Coast Main Line, using 110mph Class 350/2s? Ideally, they would need to be reseated from the current high-density 3+2 to a more comfortable 2+2 layout, but otherwise they are an extremely capable train that could provide an alternative to existing ECML services. Sold on guaranteed low prices rather than speed, the semi-fast trains could attract budget-conscious travellers such as students back onto rail.
Such trains could also provide better connectivity between towns along the route, by giving stations such as Potters Bar and Huntingdon faster links to London (as well as to the North) without having to change, as at present.
Virgin Trains East Coast’s current skip-stop pattern can make it difficult to travel between intermediate stations such as Newark, Grantham and Retford. Semi-fasts could provide regular services between these points - and others along the route.
Semi-fast services could also relieve pressure on long-distance expresses by allowing Newcastle and Anglo-Scottish trains to stop only at Peterborough and/or Doncaster and York before continuing their regular patterns further north.
Further north, they could provide improved services to stations such as Thirsk, Northallerton, Chester-le-Street and Morpeth, all of which serve large rural hinterlands. Between Newcastle and Edinburgh, the semi-fasts could replace Northern’s sporadic local service to Alnmouth and Berwick and provide better links to Dunbar.
Capacity is already an issue at King’s Cross and at various points along the ECML. But to avoid soaking up further capacity at ‘the Cross’, the trains could start from Finsbury Park, which has excellent local transport connections.
Or, more radically, they could run from Stratford via the North London Line and the Canonbury-Finsbury Park link to reach the ECML, opening up further journey options.
From personal experience, many of VTEC’s slower trains to York and Newark (apparently introduced to soak up paths and deter open access operators) run largely empty during the day, and could be sacrificed by the proposed East Coast Partnership to accommodate the new semi-fast services.
As always with the modern railway, there are likely to be many reasons why this isn’t possible, but could it be worth considering as the East Coast Main Line approaches another major reorganisation? Ben Jones, Grantham