Plans for East Coast high speed trains on track
PLANS to introduce new high speed trains between London, Newcastle and Edinburgh have taken a step forward as a formal application was put forward.
York-based Alliance Rail Holdings unveiled plans last year to resurrect the Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) brand and launch a new ‘high-speed’ service between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh in 2016.
A formal application has now be submitted to the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) for permission to introduce an hourly new high speed express train service on the East Coast Main Line from December 2016.
Alliance Rail said the new “pendolino” trains would slash journey times from an average 4 hours 20 minutes to 3 hours 43 minutes between London and Edinburgh, and to 2 hours 29 minutes between London and Newcastle.
Shorter journey times will be achieved using tilting trains, which can travel at higher speeds on a curved track.
The new nine-coach trains, with around 500 seats, will be updated versions of the Pendolino train that has been successful in reducing long distance journey times on the West Coast Main Line (WCML).
The purchase of the new trains will be completely privately funded, Alliance Rail said.
Ian Yeowart, managing director of Alliance Rail Holdings, GNER’s parent company, said: “We have been very encouraged by the support we have received from a number of consultees, and by the more progressive view coming from Government. With so many northern communities like Hull, Sunderland, Bradford, Halifax, Teesside and Hartlepool benefiting from open access services, it would be extremely unfortunate if the opportunity to introduce a new open access high speed service by 2016 was not taken – particularly as it would provide Scotland with its first open access rail service and create a significant number of new jobs in Scotland and the North East of England.”
