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at Durham .]] The East Coast Main Line ('''ECML''') is the electrified high-speed railway link between London , Yorkshire , North East England and Edinburgh . The route forms a key artery on the eastern side of Great Britain it is broadly paralleled by the A1 trunk road. It links London, the South East and East Anglia with Yorkshire, the North East Regions and Scotland . It also carries key commuter flows for the north side of London. It is therefore important to the economic health of a number of areas of the country. It also handles cross-country, commuter and local passenger services, and carries heavy tonnages of freight traffic. ROUTE DEFINITION AND DESCRIPTION The Network Rail definition of the ECML includes five separate lines:
Differing from the Network Rail definition the ECML is sometimes regarded as extending beyond Edinburgh to Aberdeen , running mostly right on the east coast via Kirkcaldy , Dundee and Arbroath . North of Edinburgh it includes the world-famous red Cantilever Forth Bridge , and at Dundee the curved Tay Bridge both crossing wide river estuaries. The Edinburgh to Glasgow Central via Carstairs and Motherwell line is officially part of the West Coast Main Line route, but is often considered part of the ECML because many GNER services from between King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley use this route beyond Edinburgh. The ECML is one of the fastest railway lines in the UK , most of the line being rated for 200 km/h (125 mph) operation. Current UK legislation requires in-cab signalling for speeds of over 200 km/h and prevents the InterCity 225 train-sets from operating at the Class 91 design speed of 225 km/h (140 mph) in normal service. Before the present in-cab regulations came in, British Rail experimented with 225 km/h (140 mph) running by introducing a fifth, ''flashing green'' signalling aspect on track between New England North and Stoke Tunnel. Still observable in normal service, this fifth aspect appears when the next signal is showing a green or flashing green aspect and the signal section is clear. This ensures that there is sufficient Braking Distance to bring a train to a stand from 225 km/h. Locomotives have operated on the ECML at speeds of 260 km/h (160 mph) in test runs. The relatively high speeds are possible because the ECML travels on straight track covering the flatter, eastern areas of England, through Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire . In contrast, the West Coast Main Line (WCML) has to traverse the Trent Valley and the mountains of Cumbria , leading to many more curves and a lower general speed limit of 110 mph (175 km/h). Speeds on the WCML have been addressed in recent years with the introduction of tilting Pendolino trains and upgrades to match the 200 km/h (125 mph) speeds available on the East Coast Main Line. HISTORY The line was built by three railway companies, each serving their own area but with the intention of linking up to form the through route that became the East Coast Main Line. From north to south they were
The boundary between the NER and the GNR was an end-on junction, famously described as in "a ploughed field" at Shaftholme, some way north of Doncaster. Realising that through journeys were an important part of their business, the companies established special rolling stock in 1860 on a collaborative basis; it was called the "East Coast Joint Stock". In 1923 the three companies were grouped into the London And North Eastern Railway (LNER). Numerous alterations to short sections of the original route have taken place, the most notable being the opening of the King Edward Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1906 and the Selby diversion, built to by-pass anticipated mining subsidence from the Selby coalfield. The Selby diversion was opened in 1973 and diverged from the original ECML at Temple Hirst, north of Doncaster, and joined the Leeds to York line at Colton Junction. 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 ". Mallard achieved a world record speed for a steam locomotive, at 126 mph, and this record was never beaten. It made the run on the Grantham - Peterborough section. Steam locomotives were replaced by diesel traction by the mid 1960s, and for a time the D200 series of diesel electric locomotives handled all the express traffic. However their limited power failed to deliver the journey time possibilities that were commercially essential, and the English Electric company built a prototype high power locomotive, the Deltic . The prototype was successful and a fleet of the locomotives was built, to handle all the important express traffic. They were powered by engines originally developed for fast torpedo boat purposes, and the configuration of the engines led to the Deltic name. Their characteristic throaty exhaust roar and chubby body outline made them unmistakeable in service. The class remains the most powerful diesel locomotive in service in Britain, at 3,300 hp. As the demand for higher speed intensified, they were eventually superseded by the High Speed Train (usually referred to as "the HST"), 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 1954 documentary 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 British 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 Stoke, 100 miles from Kings Cross, a major Bottleneck remains in the twin-track section at Welwyn North, crossing Digswell Viaduct (sometimes referred to as Welwyn Viaduct ) and passing through the two Welwyn tunnels, north of London. There is also a long double track section at Stilton Fen, between Huntingdon and Peterborough. A further operating constraint is the flat junction at Hitchin, where numerous down outer suburban trains have to cross three other tracks on the level; at this point long-distance trains should be running at full speed, so that to avoid a signal check, the route needs to be set for a considerable distance ahead of them. There is also a flat crossing with the Nottingham - Lincoln line just north of Newark station. Doncaster station also presents difficulties due to the limited facilities for terminating branch trains on the up side of the station. There is often congestion south of Newcastle, which has led to proposals to reopen the Leamside Line to passenger and freight traffic. When the line was electrified, there was extreme pressure from the Department for Transport (as proxy for the taxpayer) to reduce avoidable costs, and the Overhead Line Equipment (the traction supply to the trains, usually referred to as "the OLE ") was constructed with an unusually wide spacing of support masts, leaving the OLE vulnerable to disruption in the event of high winds. There have been several dewirements over the years from this cause. More can be found on this subject in Christian Wolmar's book ''On The Wrong Line''. Over the years successive infrastructure managers have developed schemes for route improvements; these include
The funding policy of the DfT at present means that it is difficult to be optimistic that many of these proposals will be carried forward. ACCIDENTS The ECML has been witness to a number of incidents resulting in death and serious injury:
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. From December 2007, this InterCity franchise is to be operated by National Express East Coast (NXEC Trains Ltd, a subsidiary of National Express Group ).1 Other operators of passenger trains on the line are:
The Office Of Rail Regulation has given permission for Grand Central Railway to run a service from Kings Cross to Sunderland , which is expected to start in mid 2007. 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 without Title} English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd (EWS) , FirstGBRf , Freightliner Ltd , Freightliner Heavy Haul Ltd and Direct Rail Services Ltd (DRS) operate freight services. REFERENCES |
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