Birmingham–Peterborough line
Birmingham–Peterborough line | |||
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standard gauge | |||
Loading gauge | W10 | ||
Operating speed | less than 100 mph (160 km/h) | ||
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The Birmingham–Peterborough line is a cross-country railway line in the England, linking Birmingham, Leicester and Peterborough, via Nuneaton, Oakham and Stamford[1]
Since the
History
The present route is an amalgamation of lines that were built by separate companies. The sections were:
- The route from Birmingham to Whitacre Junction was built for the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway in 1840, which later became part of the Midland Railway.
- The line from Whitacre junction to Nuneaton was built by the Midland Railway, and opened in 1864.[2][page needed]
- The line between Nuneaton and Wigston was built by the South Leicestershire Railway and was also completed in 1864.[3] The South Leicestershire Railway was taken over by the London and North Western Railway in 1867.
- The section between Wigston and Syston via Leicester was built for the Midland Counties Railway (a forerunner of the Midland Railway) in 1840. It is now part of the Midland Main Line.
- The eastern section, the Syston and Peterborough Railway, was built for the Midland Railway and opened in 1846.
The entire route became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in the 1923 grouping, and the LMS was nationalised on 1 January 1948 as part of British Railways.
Most Birmingham-Leicester passenger trains were taken over by diesel units from 14 April 1958, taking about 79 minutes between the two cities.[4][full citation needed]
In 1977 the Parliamentary Select Committee on Nationalised Industries recommended considering
The route was privatised in the 1990s as part of Railtrack and is now part of Network Rail.
Services
In the 1980s, local services were worked by
Central Trains operated the route from privatisation, and for operational convenience combined services on the route either side of Birmingham New Street, which created through services such as Aberystwyth and Chester to Cambridge and Stansted Airport and Liverpool Lime Street to Stansted Airport, although these were subsequently cut back - services to Aberystwyth ceased in 2001, although a few services continued to terminate at Shrewsbury until 2004, whilst Liverpool was removed in 2003 to improve performance.
The service in 2016 consists of two trains per hour between Birmingham and
Cross Country services are exclusively worked by Class 170 Turbostar units, while EMR use Class 158 Express Sprinter trains on services to Norwich and Class 222 Meridian trains for London services. In addition, EMR also operate an evening Spalding to Nottingham service which is worked by a Class 153 SuperSprinter.
Freight trains use the route between the West Midlands and the East Anglia, primarily container trains to the Port of Felixstowe and sand trains to King's Lynn.
2010s developments
Felixstowe and Nuneaton freight capacity scheme
Proposer | Network Rail |
---|---|
Cost estimate | £291 million |
Completion date | 2014 |
The
- Phase 1
- Phase 2a[10]
- Doubling 8 km of the Felixstowe Branch Line[9]
- Doubling the Ipswich to Ely Linebetween Soham Junction and Ely
- Raising speed restrictions for freight trains between Ipswich and Peterborough
- Doubling 8 km of the
- Phase 2b
- Capacity enhancement Peterborough to Nuneaton during CP5[10]
The work, detailed in the
The government is providing £80 million[12] and it will also receive £5 million from Network Rail and £1 million from the East of England Development Agency.[13] It has been estimated that the scheme would take 225,000 lorries off the road.[14]
In February 2010 Network Rail confirmed that it would construct the 1 km
Peterborough to Nuneaton gauge
Enhancement of a section of the Birmingham–Peterborough line involving the reconstruction of 14 bridges, 11 tracking lowering/slewing schemes and one accommodation bridge. The cost is estimated at £40.5 million.[10] The West Coast Main Line is already cleared to W10 and the route from Nuneaton to Birmingham is already cleared to W12.[16] W10 gauge clearance was achieved on 4 April 2011 and GBRf trains requiring W10 gauge began using the route that day.[citation needed]
Nuneaton North Chord
The Nuneaton North Chord was completed and opened on 15 November 2012.[17] The chord allows freight traffic approaching Nuneaton from Felixstowe via the Birmingham–Peterborough line to proceed north on the West Coast Main Line without conflicting with southbound main-line trains.[18] It consists of a one-mile chord from the existing flyover over the West Coast Main Line to join the line to the north.[19] The cost of this work was £25.6 million.[10] A Transport & Works Act Order for the Nuneaton North Chord was granted by the Secretary of State for Transport in July 2010.[20] Work began in mid-2011.[18]
References
- ^ a b "Route 19 – Midland Main Line and East Midlands" (PDF). Network Rail. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
- ^ Pixton, B (2005). Birmingham-Derby: Portrait of a Famous Route. Runpast Publishing.
- ^ [1] Archived 25 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Railway Magazine. No. 245. June 1958. p. 432.
{{cite magazine}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ Anonymous & Winter 1979, p. 0.
- ^ Anonymous & Winter 1979, p. 2.
- ^ Anonymous & Winter 1979, p. 8.
- ^ "£132m boost for rail freight". Archived from the original on 5 October 2011.
- ^ a b "Future development". Port of Felixstowe. Retrieved 11 January 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Presentation to Regional Transport Forum". Network Rail. 10 February 2009. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2009.
- ^ "Enhancements programme: statement of scope, outputs and milestones" (PDF). Network Rail. 31 March 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 September 2009. Retrieved 29 September 2009.
- ^ "Government puts £132M into four rail freight schemes". New Civil Engineer. 30 October 2007. (subscription required)
- ^ "Freight line should boost port". Ipswich Star. 21 November 2007.
- ^ "Rail plan will mean 225,000 fewer HGVs". Evening Telegraph. Peterborough. 9 May 2008.
- ^ a b "£50m rail upgrade gets the go ahead". East Anglian Daily Times. Ipswich. 5 February 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Felixstowe – Nuneaton".[failed verification]
- ^ "Nuneaton North chord freight line now open" (Press release). Network Rail. 15 November 2012. Archived from the original on 6 July 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
- ^ Rail Magazine. 10 August 2011. p. 20.[full citation needed]
- ^ "Nuneaton North Chord". Network Rail. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
- ^ "The Network Rail (Nuneaton North Chord) Order Plans and Sections" (PDF). Network Rail. Retrieved 11 January 2010.[dead link]
Sources
- Railway Electrification. British Railways Board (Central Publicity Unit). Winter 1979. pp. 0–2, 8.