Chiltern Railways
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Chiltern Railways is a train operating company in England. It was formed by the privatisation of British Rail in 1996 and it operates train mainline services from Marylebone station in London, to Aylesbury and Birmingham Snow Hill. Initially the line was franchised to a company formed by the British Rail managers of the route, but since 2003 has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Laing Rail, who owned a much smaller shareholding at privatisation. In 2002 a new 20 year franchise began which promises significant investment in the route.
Going by the "peak time" punctuality statistics published by the Strategic Rail Authority, they are the 5th most punctual train operating company.
Routes
Chiltern operate services on four routes.- Chiltern Main Line
- London to Aylesbury Line
- Princes Risborough to Aylesbury Line
- Leamington to Stratford Line
Some trains continue beyond Birmingham Snow Hill station to Stourbridge or Kidderminster, where the preserved steam Severn Valley Railway starts at the adjacent Kidderminster station. On certain Bank Holiday Mondays services are extended from Aylesbury to the Buckinghamshire Railway Heritage Centre facilities at Quainton Road, a short way south of Verney Junction. These services are often run by Chiltern's Class 121 diesel multiple unit, referred to as a "bubble car".
A shuttle service operates on the branch line from Aylesbury to Princes Risborough on the line to Birmingham via High Wycombe. Certain services from Marylebone via High Wycombe also provide a limited through service to Aylesbury.
Chiltern Railways also recently took over operations on the Leamington Spa to Stratford-upon-Avon branch line.
Services
The "core" off-peak Chiltern Railways timetable currently comprises the following services:
- Half-hourly London Marylebone - Aylesbury via Amersham stopping service
- Hourly London Marylebone - High Wycombe stopping service
- Hourly London Marylebone - Princes Risborough stopping service
- Half-hourly London Marylebone - Birmingham Snow Hill via High Wycombe semi-fast service
- Hourly London Marylebone - Bicester North via High Wycombe semi-fast service (extended to Stratford-upon-Avon in even hours)
It should be noted that the core timetable will be subject to alteration when the two new platforms at London Marylebone and additional signalling throughout the route, being installed as part of Chiltern's "Evergreen 2" project, are fully commissioned in December 2006.
Rolling Stock
Chiltern Railways operates services using a modern fleet of Class 165 "Turbo" and 168 "Clubman" units. The "Turbo" units have undergone refurbishment work at Bombardier's Ilford Works, and the Class 168s have recently been lengthened. Chiltern also operates a single Class 121 "Bubble Car" on its Aylesbury to Princes Risborough shuttle. This unit was extensively refurbished, and provides cover for "Turbo" units away undergoing refurbishment.Since mid-April 2006, the "Bubble Car" has been diagrammed to operate all of the shuttle services between Aylesbury and Princes Risborough, rather than just those at peak times.
As well as the passenger rolling stock, Chiltern have a number of additional former Class 121 units, in a range of liveries, which are used for things such as route learning, Sandite duties, towing failed trains and test trains. In addition, they have a Class 960, formerly Class 117 unit 117 308, which has been converted for use as a water-cannon unit, and is used in conjunction with the Sandite units.
Gerrards Cross incident
A tunnel being constructed near the Gerrards Cross railway station to enable the construction of a new Tesco store collapsed at 19:30 on 30 June 2005. Nobody was injured but the line was closed for over six weeks. It eventually reopened on 20 August 2005. Compensation by Tesco to Chiltern is believed to have cost at least £8.5m and the retailer has pledged to fund a media campaign to win back passengers lost by the closure of its route.
Future
There are several plans [link] [link] and for this route;
- All services to and from Birmingham Snow Hill station could be operated by Chiltern Railways from 2007. Chiltern services would continue past Kidderminster to Malvern.
- The restoration of the quadruple track between South Ruislip (Northolt Junction) and West Ruislip, allowing trains to call at both stations without blocking the line. Triple track currently exists at West Ruislip, with the up platform loop still in situ, and at South Ruislip, with the Down Main through line also in situ. This would involve the reconstruction of the down platform at West Ruislip, the reconstruction of the up platform at South Ruislip, and the demolition of West Ruislip signalbox.
- Restoration of fast through lines at Beaconsfield. This project has been shelved; the existing lines have been realigned and can now be traversed by locomotive-hauled trains at 50 miles an hour, and by the Chiltern DMUs at 75 miles an hour.
- Double track the line from Princes Risbourgh to Aylesbury.
- Remodelling Banbury Station and tracks.
- Building of the West Hampstead Interchange to allow easy interchange with the Silverlink Metro, Jubilee Line, Metropolitan Line and First Capital Connect service. This would also give Chiltern Railways an interchange with the future Orbirail line.
- New Chiltern Metro Service that would operate 4+tph for Wembley Stadium, Sudbury & Harrow Road, Sudbury Hill Harrow, Northolt Park, South Ruislip and West Ruislip. This would require a reversing facility at West Ruislip, passing loops at Sudbury Hill Harrow and a passing loop at Wembley Stadium (part of the old down fast line is in use as a central reversing siding, for stock movements and additionally for 8-car football shuttles to convey passengers to the stadium for events). See [link]
- A new railway built between Oxford and Princes Risborough, which would provide an alternative to the Oxford Paddington route. The Oxford to Banbury spur would then be handed over to the Chiltern Main Line to create a diversionary loop from Princes Risborough to Banbury via Oxford. This option requires an expensive crossing of the M40 motorway.
- Re-opening the passenger line between Aylesbury and Bedford via Milton Keynes.
- A new station is proposed at Aylesbury Vale to serve a planned residential development in the area. This station will also improve access from those parts of Buckinghamshire not at present directly served by the rail network.
- Building of a spur south of Gerrards Cross following a route just east of the M25 to Heathrow Airport. This would give Birmingham a direct rail link with the largest airport in the United Kingdom.
See also
External links
- [Chiltern Railways official home page]
- [Railnews, Report on Gerrard Cross closure]
- [Information on the Gerrards Cross Tunnel]
| Current scheduled passenger train operators in Great Britain and Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|
| Domestic: | Arriva Trains Wales - c2c - Central Trains - Chiltern Railways - First Capital Connect First Great Western - First ScotRail - First TransPennine Express - Grand Central Railway1 Great North Eastern Railway>GNER - Heathrow Connect - Hull Trains - Island Line - Merseyrail - Midland Mainline Northern Rail - Northern Ireland Railways2 - one - Silverlink - Southeastern - Southern South West Trains - Virgin Trains |
| International: | Enterprise 2 - Eurostar |
| Airport Link: | Gatwick Express - Heathrow Express - Stansted Express3 |
| Sleeper: | Caledonian Sleeper4 - Night Riviera5 |
| 1 Starts December 2006 – 2 Operated on the Irish railway network - 3 Operated by one 4 Operated by First ScotRail – 5 Operated by First Great Western | |
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