East Coast Main Line
Encyclopedia : E : EA : EAS : East Coast Main Line
| East Coast Main Line |
| Principal stations (from south to north) London King's Cross Stevenage Peterborough Grantham Newark North Gate Retford Doncaster >Wakefield Westgate >Leeds York Northallerton Darlington Durham Newcastle upon Tyne Morpeth Alnmouth Berwick-upon-Tweed Dunbar Edinburgh Waverley |
Route
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a major railway line in the United Kingdom, linking London and Edinburgh on a 396 mile route which runs via the East of England, Yorkshire, North East England and the Scottish Borders. The Network Rail definition of the ECML includes four separate lines:
- The main line between King's Cross station in London and Waverley Station in Edinburgh, via Stevenage, Peterborough, Grantham, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne, Berwick-upon-Tweed and Dunbar;
- The line from Doncaster to Leeds, via Wakefield Westgate;
- The branch line from North Berwick to Edinburgh, and
- The suburban branch line from London's Moorgate station to Stevenage, via Finsbury Park and the Hertford Loop.
In 1983 the opening of the Selby coalfield saw the line diverted between Colton, just south of York, and Temple Hirst, just north of the M62 motorway crossing.
The ECML is one of the fastest railway lines in the UK, with most of the line rated at 125 mph (200 km/h). The InterCity 225 trains which serve the line would be capable of 140 mph (225 km/h) in normal service if in-cab signalling was installed; they have operated at speeds of up to 260 km/h (161 mph) in test runs. British Rail experimented with 140 mph running by introducing a fifth flashing green aspect to existing signalling between New England North and Stoke Tunnel; this is still available for special test runs. The high speeds are possible because the line goes through the flatter eastern areas of England such as Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, allowing for a straight track. In contrast, the West Coast Main Line has to traverse the Trent Valley and the mountains of Cumbria, which means more curves, and used to mean a lower speed of 110mph (177 km/h). This has been addressed in recent years by the upgrade of the West Coast Main Line and the introduction of Pendolino tilting trains, leading to 125mph running.
History
The line was built piecemeal by many small railway companies, but mergers and acquisitions led to only three companies controlling the route, north to south the North British Railway, the North Eastern Railway and the Great Northern Railway. In 1860 the companies established the East Coast Joint Stock for through services using common vehicles. In 1923 all three were grouped into the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).The ECML has been the backdrop for a number of famous rail journeys and locomotives. The line was worked for many years by the famous steam locomotives "Flying Scotsman" and "Mallard": the latter was officially declared the world's fastest steam locomotive on the Grantham - Peterborough stretch, a title it holds to this day. Steam locomotives disappeared in the early 1960s, being replaced by diesels, firstly the legendary dual-engined Deltic locomotive, which remains the most powerful diesel electric engine ever built in the UK. This was replaced by the InterCity 125 or "HST" (High Speed Train), introduced between 1976 and 1981.
The cuttings and tunnel entrances just north of King's Cross make a memorable smoky appearance in the 1955 Ealing comedy film The Ladykillers. Also during the 1950s, the line featured in the advertising short Elizabethan Express. Later, the 1971 British gangster film Get Carter features a journey from London Kings Cross to Newcastle Central Station in the opening credits.
In what was seen by many as a surprising action for a Conservative government, the ECML was electrified in the late 1980s using state money. The electrification work began in 1985 and the initial section between King's Cross and Leeds went into operational trials in 1988. The full electrification was completed in late 1990, and the current InterCity 225 rolling stock was introduced. Diesels still operate on the ECML - Virgin's Voyager (operating CrossCountry routes), Hull Train's Pioneers (Kings Cross - Hull) and the older HST sets working services north of Edinburgh towards Inverness and Aberdeen. Midland Mainline also operate a limited service of HST's over a portion of the route between Doncaster and Leeds.
The ECML is one of the busiest lines on the rail network and there is currently insufficient capacity on parts of the line to satisfy all the requirements of both passenger and freight operators. Although it has four tracks south of Peterborough, a bad bottleneck remains in the twin-track Welwyn viaduct just north of London. There is also a flat crossing with the Nottingham-Lincoln line just north of Newark station. There have been other criticisms - according to Christian Wolmar's book On The Wrong Line, the late '80s electrification project was allegedly cost cut to the point wherea the overhead line equipment was simply not built to the same standard as that on the WCML. As a result, heavy winds frequently bring down the power lines along the route causing serious delays.
Railtrack (now Network Rail) proposed an upgrade of the Route in the late 1990s. This was to have included among other things:
- Four-tracking of the Welwyn Viaduct - Electrification supply upgrades along the route - Introduction of 140mph linespeeds - Abolition of the Newark Flat Crossing - Major remodelling of Peterborough Station
However with the escalation of costs in the Industry - particularly caused by the overspend on the WCML modernisation - this was scaled back by the SRA. The only major parts of this to survive were 'Leeds 1st' and the Allington Chord Line. The Newark Dyke Bridge was also replaced. Some minor incremental capacity improvements may also take place at a later date.
Accidents
The ECML has been witness to a number of serious incidents resulting in death and serious injury:
- Welwyn Garden City 15 June 1935 13 people died and 81 injured when 2 trains collided due to a signaller's error
- 4 serious crashes at Morpeth on 7 May 1969, 24 June 1984, 13 November 1992 and 27 June 1994
- King's Cross fire 18 November 1987
- Newcastle upon Tyne Central Station 30 November 1989 15 people were injured when two interCity expresses collided
- Hatfield rail crash 17 October 2000
- Selby rail crash 28 February 2001
- Potters Bar rail crash 10 May 2002
Operators
The line's current principal operator is Great North Eastern Railway (GNER), whose services include regular trains from King's Cross to Leeds and Edinburgh. Other operators of passenger trains on the line are:- First Capital Connect: commuter services between King's Cross, Peterborough, Cambridge and King's Lynn and between Moorgate and Stevenage via either Welwyn Garden City or the Hertford Loop.
- Hull Trains: between Kings Cross and Doncaster, continuing to Hull
- Central Trains: between Grantham and Peterborough, part of the service that runs between Liverpool Lime Street and Norwich
- Virgin Trains: cross-country services north of Sheffield are routed via either Leeds or Doncaster. Leeds trains use the ECML between Wakefield Westgate and Leeds and then again north of York. Doncaster trains use the ECML north of Doncaster. Services run to and beyond Edinburgh. Occasional services run from Doncaster to Leeds before rejoining the ECML at York
- Midland Mainline: between Doncaster and Leeds, extensions of services running to/from Sheffield, Leicester and London St Pancras
- First TransPennine Express: between York and Newcastle and between York and Northallerton before they divert off the ECML to Middlesbrough via Yarm
- Northern Rail: suburban services from Doncaster to Leeds and Chathill to Newcastle via Morpeth railway station and infrequent services between Newcastle and Darlington that continue to Middlesbrough and Saltburn
- First ScotRail: services between Edinburgh and North Berwick
Eurostar also hold the right to run five trains a day on the line for services from continental Europe to cities north of London, although such services have never been run. [link]
| Main line railways in Great Britain:''' | |
|---|---|
| High-speed main lines: | Channel Tunnel Rail Link |
| Cross-Country Route East Coast Main Line Great Eastern Main Line Great Western Main Line Midland Main Line West Coast Main Line | |
| Railway lines in the East of England:''' | |
|---|---|
| Main lines: | East Coast Main Line Great Eastern Main Line Fen Line>Cambridge-King's Lynn "Fen" Line Cambridge-Norwich "Breckland" Line Colchester-Clacton Line Ely-Peterborough Line Ipswich-Ely Line London-Cambridge Line London, Tilbury & Southend Line Manningtree-Harwich "Mayflower" Line West Anglia Main Line |
| Commuter lines: | Hertford Loop Line Lea Valley Lines Northern City Line Romford to Upminster Line>Romford-Upminster Line Shenfield-Southend Victoria Line Witham-Braintree Line |
| Rural lines: | Cambridge-Ipswich Line Crouch Valley Line East Suffolk Line Grantham-Skegness Line Ipswich-Felixstowe Line Marks Tey-Sudbury Line Norwich-Sheringham "Bittern" Line Peterborough-Lincoln Line Thorpe le Soken-Walton Line Wherry Lines |
| Railway lines in Scotland | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main lines: | East Coast - West Coast - Ayrshire Coast, Glasgow-Dundee (via Perth) - Glasgow-Edinburgh (via Carstairs) - Glasgow-Edinburgh (via Falkirk) - Edinburgh-Aberdeen - Glasgow South Western - Highland | |
| Glasgow commuter lines: | █ Argyle - █ Ayrshire Coast - █ Cathcart Circle - █ Croy - █ Cumbernauld - █ Inverclyde - █ Maryhill - █ Motherwell-Cumbernauld - █ North Clyde - █ Paisley Canal - █ Shotts - █ South Western - █ Whifflet | |
| Edinburgh commuter lines: | █ Bathgate - █ Crossrail - █ Dunblane - █ Fife Circle - █ North Berwick - █ Shotts | |
| Rural lines: | Aberdeen-Inverness - Far North - Kyle of Lochalsh - West Highland | |
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