Idea: CrossCountry overhaul

[freetoview33]

Lets face it, the current CrossCountry network is no longer fit for purpose and needs a major overhual! This is the third incarnation of my CrossCountry plan as certain things have changed in the real world since my last post in 2022 and to add in more explination than before.

I propose an hourly service on each of the 10 below routes, which provides a half hourly service to the majority of the network, some of the routes might first come across as radical but I believe that is what is needed to finaly fix the network and make it useable, explinations are given. I propose a minimum of new 7 car bimode 125mph capable rolling stock as a minimum.

Also I am aware of other TOC's services I have changed but there are plans to fits those in.

Service 1: Liverpool Lime Street - Birmingham New Street - Cambridge
Liverpool Lime Street - Liverpool South Parkway - Runcorn - Crewe - Stafford - Wolverhampton - Smethwick Galton Bridge - Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International - Coventry - Rugby - Rugby Parkway - Northampton - Bedford - Tempsford - Cambridge

Liverpool Lime Street - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing one of the two an hour London Northwestern Railway services between Birmingham New Street and Liverpool Lime Street but with fewer stops.
• A new hourly Northern stopping service introduced between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street.
• Additional stops on existing services at Cosely and Penkridge.

Birmingham New Street - Cambridge
• Replacing the current Birmingham New Street - Leicester - Peterborough - Cambridge - Stansted Airport service.
• A new hourly stopping service from Birmingham Moor Street to Corby (Via Leicester).
• A new hourly stopping service from Birmingham Moor Street to Peterborough (Via Leicester).
• Extend the current East Midlands Railway service from Doncaster/Lincoln to Peterborough to Stansted Airport.
• Providing an additional service between Birmingham New Street and Rugby and reinstating direct services to Liverpool Lime Street.
• Providing a new rail link from Northampton to Bedford.
• Maintaining a direct Birmingham New Street to Cambridge service via East West rail.
• Cambridge for links to Stanstead, Norwich and Ipswich.

Service 2: Liverpool Lime Street - Birmingham New Street - Southampton Central - Bournemouth
Liverpool Lime Street - Liverpool South Parkway - Runcorn - Crewe - Stafford - Wolverhampton - Smethwick Galton Bridge - Birmingham New Street - Solihull - Warwick Parkway - Leamington Spa - Banbury - Oxford - Didcot Parkway - Newbury - Whitchurch - Winchester - Southampton Airport - Southampton Central - Brockenhurst - Christchurch - Bournemouth

Liverpool Lime Street - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing one of the two an hour London Northwestern Railway services between Birmingham New Street and Liverpool Lime Street but with fewer stops.
• A new hourly Northern stopping service introduced between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street.
• Additional stops on existing services at Cosely and Penkridge.

Birmingham New Street - Southampton Central - Bournemouth
• Two hourly extension from Southampton Central to Bournemouth.
• Replacing the Birmingham New Street to Southampton and Bournemouth section of the Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth service.
• Providing a new rail link between Didcot Parkway to Winchester, this also provides much needed frieght capacity on the Southampton - Midlands corridor, avoiding capacity issues around Reading.
• Extend one the current Basingstoke to Reading services to Oxford (to maintain links).
• Extend one the current Basingstoke to Reading services to London Paddington.

Service 3: Manchester Piccadilly - Birmingham New Street - Gatwick Airport
Manchester Piccadilly - Stockport - Macclesfield - Stoke-on-Trent - Stafford - Wolverhampton - Sandwell & Dudley - Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International - Coventry - Leamington Spa - Banbury - Oxford - Didcot Parkway - Reading - Wokingham - Farnborough - Guildford - Dorking - Gatwick Airport

Manchester Piccadilly - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing the Manchester Piccadilly to Reading section of the Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth service.

Birmingham New Street - Gatwick Airport
• Replacing the Manchester Piccadilly to Reading section of the Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth service.
• Replacing the former Virgin CrossCountry service to Gatwick Airport and mirroring part of the proposed Grand Central route from Reading to Gatwick Airport.
• Capacity improvements would have to be made on the North Downs line to accomadate the additional services.

Service 4: Manchester Piccadilly - Birmingham New Street - Exeter St Davids - Paignton
Manchester Piccadilly - Stockport - Macclesfield - Stoke-on-Trent - Stafford - Wolverhampton - Sandwell & Dudley - Birmingham New Street - - Bromsgrove - Worcestershire Parkway - Cheltenham Spa - Bristol Parkway - Bristol Temple Meads - Taunton - Tiverton Parkway - Exeter St Davids - Dawlish - Newton Abbot - Torquay - Paignton

Manchester Piccadilly - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing the current CrossCountry service from Manchester Piccadilly to Bristol Temple Meads.

Birmingham New Street - Exeter St Davids - Paignton
• Replacing the current CrossCountry service from Manchester Piccadilly to Bristol Temple Meads.
• Two hourly extension from Exeter St Davids to Paignton.
• Services extended from Bristol Temple Meads to Exeter St Davids as has been previously planned.
• More services to call at Paignton, an expansion of the current services on this route.

Service 5: Harrogate - Leeds - Birmingham New Street - Cardiff Central
Harrogate - Leeds Bradford Airport - Leeds - Wakefield Westgate - Sheffield - Chesterfield - Derby - Burton-on-Trent - Lichfield Trent Valley - Birmingham New Street - Bromsgrove - Worcestershire Parkway - Cheltenham Spa - Bristol Parkway - Newport - Cardiff Parkway - Cardiff Central

Harrogate - Leeds - Birmingham New Street
• Two hourly extension from Leeds to Harrogate.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• Replacing the Leeds to Birmingham New Street section of the Edinburgh to Plymouth service.
• Services onwards to York, Newcastle and Scotland provided by TransPennine Express.
• TransPennine Express Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle Central services to be extended back to Edinburgh.

Birmingham New Street - Cardiff Central
• Replacing the current Birmingham New Street to Cardiff Central service.
• A new hourly service from Birmingham Moor Street to Gloucester to compliment the planned hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Hereford service.

Service 6: Harrogate - Leeds - Birmingham New Street - Cambridge
Harrogate - Leeds Bradford Airport - Leeds - Wakefield Westgate - Sheffield - Chesterfield - Derby - Burton-on-Trent - Lichfield Trent Valley - Birmingham New Street - - Birmingham International - Coventry - Rugby - Rugby Parkway - Northampton - Bedford - Tempsford - Cambridge

Harrogate - Leeds - Birmingham New Street
• Two hourly extension from Leeds to Harrogate.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• Reintroducing a second hourly service from Birmingham New Street to Leeds.
• Services onwards to York, Newcastle and Scotland provided by TransPennine Express.
• TransPennine Express Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle Central services to be extended back to Edinburgh.

Birmingham New Street - Cambridge
• Replacing the current Birmingham New Street - Leicester - Peterborough - Cambridge - Stansted Airport service.
• A new hourly stopping service from Birmingham Moor Street to Corby (Via Leicester).
• A new hourly stopping service from Birmingham Moor Street to Peterborough (Via Leicester).
• Extend the current East Midlands Railway service from Doncaster/Lincoln to Peterborough to Stansted Airport.
• Providing an additional service between Birmingham New Street and Rugby and reinstating direct services to Liverpool Lime Street.
• Providing a new rail link from Northampton to Bedford.
• Maintaining a direct Birmingham New Street to Cambridge service via East West rail.
• Cambridge for links to Stanstead, Norwich and Ipswich.

Service 7: Newcastle Central - Birmingham New Street - Exeter St Davids - Plymouth
Newcastle Central - Durham - Darlington - York - Doncaster - Derby - Burton-on-Trent - Birmingham New Street - Bromsgrove - Worcestershire Parkway - Cheltenham Spa - Bristol Parkway - Bristol Temple Meads - Taunton - Tiverton Parkway - Exeter St Davids - Dawlish - Newton Abbot - Totnes - Ivybridge - Plymouth

Newcastle Central - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing the Newcastle Central to Exeter St Davids section of the Edinburgh to Plymouth service.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• Avanti services are faster and cheaper between Birmingham New Steet and Edinburgh.
• Introduce a second Avanti service per hour from Birmingham New Street to Scotland.
• Allows the TransPennine Express Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle Central services to be extended back to Edinburgh.
• Services between Newcastle Central and Scotland provided by LNER, Transpennie Express and Lumo.

Birmingham New Street - Exeter St Davids - Plymouth
• Two hourly extension from Exeter St Davids to Plymouth.
• Replacing the Newcastle Central to Exeter St Davids section of the Edinburgh to Plymouth service.

Service 8: Newcastle Central - Birmingham New Street - Southampton Central - Bournemouth
Newcastle Central - Durham - Darlington - York - Doncaster - Derby - Burton-on-Trent - Birmingham New Street - Solihull - Warwick Parkway - Leamington Spa - Banbury - Oxford - Didcot Parkway - Newbury - Whitchurch - Winchester - Southampton Airport - Southampton Central - Brockenhurst - Christchurch - Bournemouth

Newcastle Central - Birmingham New Street
• Reintroducing a second hourly service from Newcastle Central and Birmingham New Street.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• Avanti services are faster and cheaper between Birmingham New Steet and Edinburgh.
• Introduce a second Avanti service per hour from Birmingham New Street to Scotland.
• Allows the TransPennine Express Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle Central services to be extended back to Edinburgh.
• Services between Newcastle Central and Scotland provided by LNER, Transpennie Express and Lumo.

Birmingham New Street - Southampton Central - Bournemouth
• Two hourly extension from Southampton Central to Bournemouth.
• Replacing the Birmingham New Street to Southampton and Bournemouth section of the Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth service.
• Providing a new rail link between Didcot Parkway to Winchester, this also provides much needed frieght capacity on the Southampton - Midlands corridor, avoiding capacity issues around Reading.
• Extend one the current Basingstoke to Reading services to Oxford (to maintain links).
• Extend one the current Basingstoke to Reading services to London Paddington.

Service 9: Lincoln - Birmingham New Street - Cardiff Central
Lincoln - Newark Castle - Nottingham - Castle Donington - Burton-on-Trent - Tamworth - Birmingham New Street - Bromsgrove - Worcestershire Parkway - Cheltenham Spa - Bristol Parkway - Newport - Cardiff Parkway - Cardiff Central

Lincoln - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing the current Nottingham to Cardiff Central service.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• The flat crossing at Newark would finally need to be replaced.

Birmingham New Street - Cardiff Central
• Providing an additional hourly service from Birmingham New Street to Cardiff Central.
• A new hourly service from Birmingham Moor Street to Gloucester to compliment the planned hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Hereford service.

Service 10: Lincoln - Birmingham New Street - Gatwick Airport
Lincoln - Newark Castle - Nottingham - Castle Donington - Burton-on-Trent - Tamworth - Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International - Coventry - Leamington Spa - Banbury - Oxford - Didcot Parkway - Reading - Wokingham - Farnborough - Guildford - Dorking - Gatwick Airport

Lincoln - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing the current service from Nottingham to Birmingham New Street.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• The flat crossing at Newark would finally need to be replaced.

Birmingham New Street - Gatwick Airport
• Reintroducing a secondly hourly service between Birmingham New Street and Reading.
• Replacing the former Virgin CrossCountry service to Gatwick Airport and mirroring part of the proposed Grand Central route from Reading to Gatwick Airport.
• Capacity improvements would have to be made on the North Downs line to accomadate the additional services.

 

[m79900]

Scotland no longer served then?

 

[freetoview33]

Scotland no longer served then?

I see little point to be honest. If you're south or around Birmingham then going via the West Coast is quicker, cheaper and has nicer trains, that is if you don't fly! North of Doncaster/Leeds an improved TransPennine Express or by the time you get onto the East Coast then LNER.

 

[m79900]

What about getting to or from the East Midlands and South Yorkshire though?

 

[Magdalia]

Service 1: Liverpool Lime Street - Birmingham New Street - Cambridge
Liverpool Lime Street - Liverpool South Parkway - Runcorn - Crewe - Stafford - Wolverhampton - Smethwick Galton Bridge - Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International - Coventry - Rugby - Rugby Parkway - Northampton - Bedford - Tempsford - Cambridge

Service 6: Harrogate - Leeds - Birmingham New Street - Cambridge
Harrogate - Leeds Bradford Airport - Leeds - Wakefield Westgate - Sheffield - Chesterfield - Derby - Burton-on-Trent - Lichfield Trent Valley - Birmingham New Street - - Birmingham International - Coventry - Rugby - Rugby Parkway - Northampton - Bedford - Tempsford - Cambridge

From a Fenland perspective no thanks to both of these.

East West Rail is for Cambridge-Oxford, not unreliable long distance routes drawn with blue and orange crayons.

Especially routes that require a reversal at Bletchley.

After East West Rail opens the Cambridge-Birmingham route will be by change of trains at Bletchley dispensing with the need for through trains via Peterborough.

Extend the current East Midlands Railway service from Doncaster/Lincoln to Peterborough to Stansted Airport.

What Cambridge needs is a complete divorce from the Cross Country network replaced with a robust and resilient Stansted-Cambridge-Peterborough service. This is the nearest that you have got to suggesting anything for Stansted and Cambridge that might fit with what they need.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Lets face it, the current CrossCountry network is no longer fit for purpose and needs a major overhual! This is the third incarnation of my CrossCountry plan as certain things have changed in the real world since my last post in 2022 and to add in more explination than before.

I propose an hourly service on each of the 10 below routes, which provides a half hourly service to the majority of the network, some of the routes might first come across as radical but I believe that is what is needed to finaly fix the network and make it useable, explinations are given. I propose a minimum of new 7 car bimode 125mph capable rolling stock as a minimum.

Also I am aware of other TOC's services I have changed but there are plans to fits those in.

Service 1: Liverpool Lime Street - Birmingham New Street - Cambridge
Liverpool Lime Street - Liverpool South Parkway - Runcorn - Crewe - Stafford - Wolverhampton - Smethwick Galton Bridge - Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International - Coventry - Rugby - Rugby Parkway - Northampton - Bedford - Tempsford - Cambridge

Liverpool Lime Street - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing one of the two an hour London Northwestern Railway services between Birmingham New Street and Liverpool Lime Street but with fewer stops.
• A new hourly Northern stopping service introduced between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street.
• Additional stops on existing services at Cosely and Penkridge.

Birmingham New Street - Cambridge
• Replacing the current Birmingham New Street - Leicester - Peterborough - Cambridge - Stansted Airport service.
• A new hourly stopping service from Birmingham Moor Street to Corby (Via Leicester).
• A new hourly stopping service from Birmingham Moor Street to Peterborough (Via Leicester).
• Extend the current East Midlands Railway service from Doncaster/Lincoln to Peterborough to Stansted Airport.
• Providing an additional service between Birmingham New Street and Rugby and reinstating direct services to Liverpool Lime Street.
• Providing a new rail link from Northampton to Bedford.
• Maintaining a direct Birmingham New Street to Cambridge service via East West rail.
• Cambridge for links to Stanstead, Norwich and Ipswich.

Service 2: Liverpool Lime Street - Birmingham New Street - Southampton Central - Bournemouth
Liverpool Lime Street - Liverpool South Parkway - Runcorn - Crewe - Stafford - Wolverhampton - Smethwick Galton Bridge - Birmingham New Street - Solihull - Warwick Parkway - Leamington Spa - Banbury - Oxford - Didcot Parkway - Newbury - Whitchurch - Winchester - Southampton Airport - Southampton Central - Brockenhurst - Christchurch - Bournemouth

Liverpool Lime Street - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing one of the two an hour London Northwestern Railway services between Birmingham New Street and Liverpool Lime Street but with fewer stops.
• A new hourly Northern stopping service introduced between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street.
• Additional stops on existing services at Cosely and Penkridge.

Birmingham New Street - Southampton Central - Bournemouth
• Two hourly extension from Southampton Central to Bournemouth.
• Replacing the Birmingham New Street to Southampton and Bournemouth section of the Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth service.
• Providing a new rail link between Didcot Parkway to Winchester, this also provides much needed frieght capacity on the Southampton - Midlands corridor, avoiding capacity issues around Reading.
• Extend one the current Basingstoke to Reading services to Oxford (to maintain links).
• Extend one the current Basingstoke to Reading services to London Paddington.

Service 3: Manchester Piccadilly - Birmingham New Street - Gatwick Airport
Manchester Piccadilly - Stockport - Macclesfield - Stoke-on-Trent - Stafford - Wolverhampton - Sandwell & Dudley - Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International - Coventry - Leamington Spa - Banbury - Oxford - Didcot Parkway - Reading - Wokingham - Farnborough - Guildford - Dorking - Gatwick Airport

Manchester Piccadilly - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing the Manchester Piccadilly to Reading section of the Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth service.

Birmingham New Street - Gatwick Airport
• Replacing the Manchester Piccadilly to Reading section of the Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth service.
• Replacing the former Virgin CrossCountry service to Gatwick Airport and mirroring part of the proposed Grand Central route from Reading to Gatwick Airport.
• Capacity improvements would have to be made on the North Downs line to accomadate the additional services.

Service 4: Manchester Piccadilly - Birmingham New Street - Exeter St Davids - Paignton
Manchester Piccadilly - Stockport - Macclesfield - Stoke-on-Trent - Stafford - Wolverhampton - Sandwell & Dudley - Birmingham New Street - - Bromsgrove - Worcestershire Parkway - Cheltenham Spa - Bristol Parkway - Bristol Temple Meads - Taunton - Tiverton Parkway - Exeter St Davids - Dawlish - Newton Abbot - Torquay - Paignton

Manchester Piccadilly - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing the current CrossCountry service from Manchester Piccadilly to Bristol Temple Meads.

Birmingham New Street - Exeter St Davids - Paignton
• Replacing the current CrossCountry service from Manchester Piccadilly to Bristol Temple Meads.
• Two hourly extension from Exeter St Davids to Paignton.
• Services extended from Bristol Temple Meads to Exeter St Davids as has been previously planned.
• More services to call at Paignton, an expansion of the current services on this route.

Service 5: Harrogate - Leeds - Birmingham New Street - Cardiff Central
Harrogate - Leeds Bradford Airport - Leeds - Wakefield Westgate - Sheffield - Chesterfield - Derby - Burton-on-Trent - Lichfield Trent Valley - Birmingham New Street - Bromsgrove - Worcestershire Parkway - Cheltenham Spa - Bristol Parkway - Newport - Cardiff Parkway - Cardiff Central

Harrogate - Leeds - Birmingham New Street
• Two hourly extension from Leeds to Harrogate.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• Replacing the Leeds to Birmingham New Street section of the Edinburgh to Plymouth service.
• Services onwards to York, Newcastle and Scotland provided by TransPennine Express.
• TransPennine Express Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle Central services to be extended back to Edinburgh.

Birmingham New Street - Cardiff Central
• Replacing the current Birmingham New Street to Cardiff Central service.
• A new hourly service from Birmingham Moor Street to Gloucester to compliment the planned hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Hereford service.

Service 6: Harrogate - Leeds - Birmingham New Street - Cambridge
Harrogate - Leeds Bradford Airport - Leeds - Wakefield Westgate - Sheffield - Chesterfield - Derby - Burton-on-Trent - Lichfield Trent Valley - Birmingham New Street - - Birmingham International - Coventry - Rugby - Rugby Parkway - Northampton - Bedford - Tempsford - Cambridge

Harrogate - Leeds - Birmingham New Street
• Two hourly extension from Leeds to Harrogate.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• Reintroducing a second hourly service from Birmingham New Street to Leeds.
• Services onwards to York, Newcastle and Scotland provided by TransPennine Express.
• TransPennine Express Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle Central services to be extended back to Edinburgh.

Birmingham New Street - Cambridge
• Replacing the current Birmingham New Street - Leicester - Peterborough - Cambridge - Stansted Airport service.
• A new hourly stopping service from Birmingham Moor Street to Corby (Via Leicester).
• A new hourly stopping service from Birmingham Moor Street to Peterborough (Via Leicester).
• Extend the current East Midlands Railway service from Doncaster/Lincoln to Peterborough to Stansted Airport.
• Providing an additional service between Birmingham New Street and Rugby and reinstating direct services to Liverpool Lime Street.
• Providing a new rail link from Northampton to Bedford.
• Maintaining a direct Birmingham New Street to Cambridge service via East West rail.
• Cambridge for links to Stanstead, Norwich and Ipswich.

Service 7: Newcastle Central - Birmingham New Street - Exeter St Davids - Plymouth
Newcastle Central - Durham - Darlington - York - Doncaster - Derby - Burton-on-Trent - Birmingham New Street - Bromsgrove - Worcestershire Parkway - Cheltenham Spa - Bristol Parkway - Bristol Temple Meads - Taunton - Tiverton Parkway - Exeter St Davids - Dawlish - Newton Abbot - Totnes - Ivybridge - Plymouth

Newcastle Central - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing the Newcastle Central to Exeter St Davids section of the Edinburgh to Plymouth service.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• Avanti services are faster and cheaper between Birmingham New Steet and Edinburgh.
• Introduce a second Avanti service per hour from Birmingham New Street to Scotland.
• Allows the TransPennine Express Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle Central services to be extended back to Edinburgh.
• Services between Newcastle Central and Scotland provided by LNER, Transpennie Express and Lumo.

Birmingham New Street - Exeter St Davids - Plymouth
• Two hourly extension from Exeter St Davids to Plymouth.
• Replacing the Newcastle Central to Exeter St Davids section of the Edinburgh to Plymouth service.

Service 8: Newcastle Central - Birmingham New Street - Southampton Central - Bournemouth
Newcastle Central - Durham - Darlington - York - Doncaster - Derby - Burton-on-Trent - Birmingham New Street - Solihull - Warwick Parkway - Leamington Spa - Banbury - Oxford - Didcot Parkway - Newbury - Whitchurch - Winchester - Southampton Airport - Southampton Central - Brockenhurst - Christchurch - Bournemouth

Newcastle Central - Birmingham New Street
• Reintroducing a second hourly service from Newcastle Central and Birmingham New Street.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• Avanti services are faster and cheaper between Birmingham New Steet and Edinburgh.
• Introduce a second Avanti service per hour from Birmingham New Street to Scotland.
• Allows the TransPennine Express Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle Central services to be extended back to Edinburgh.
• Services between Newcastle Central and Scotland provided by LNER, Transpennie Express and Lumo.

Birmingham New Street - Southampton Central - Bournemouth
• Two hourly extension from Southampton Central to Bournemouth.
• Replacing the Birmingham New Street to Southampton and Bournemouth section of the Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth service.
• Providing a new rail link between Didcot Parkway to Winchester, this also provides much needed frieght capacity on the Southampton - Midlands corridor, avoiding capacity issues around Reading.
• Extend one the current Basingstoke to Reading services to Oxford (to maintain links).
• Extend one the current Basingstoke to Reading services to London Paddington.

Service 9: Lincoln - Birmingham New Street - Cardiff Central
Lincoln - Newark Castle - Nottingham - Castle Donington - Burton-on-Trent - Tamworth - Birmingham New Street - Bromsgrove - Worcestershire Parkway - Cheltenham Spa - Bristol Parkway - Newport - Cardiff Parkway - Cardiff Central

Lincoln - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing the current Nottingham to Cardiff Central service.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• The flat crossing at Newark would finally need to be replaced.

Birmingham New Street - Cardiff Central
• Providing an additional hourly service from Birmingham New Street to Cardiff Central.
• A new hourly service from Birmingham Moor Street to Gloucester to compliment the planned hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Hereford service.

Service 10: Lincoln - Birmingham New Street - Gatwick Airport
Lincoln - Newark Castle - Nottingham - Castle Donington - Burton-on-Trent - Tamworth - Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International - Coventry - Leamington Spa - Banbury - Oxford - Didcot Parkway - Reading - Wokingham - Farnborough - Guildford - Dorking - Gatwick Airport

Lincoln - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing the current service from Nottingham to Birmingham New Street.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• The flat crossing at Newark would finally need to be replaced.

Birmingham New Street - Gatwick Airport
• Reintroducing a secondly hourly service between Birmingham New Street and Reading.
• Replacing the former Virgin CrossCountry service to Gatwick Airport and mirroring part of the proposed Grand Central route from Reading to Gatwick Airport.
• Capacity improvements would have to be made on the North Downs line to accomadate the additional services.

So what replaces East Midlands (Derby), South Yorkshire (Sheffield) and West Yorkshire (Leeds) to Scotland?

Also what replaces the current half-hourly Birmingham to Liverpool service at Hartford (0.2 million station users a year)?

 

[NCT]

I'd go the complete opposite way and do Dutch-style rationalisation. Keep services simple and operate on a strict half-hourly rhythm so it's easy to establish some Swiss-style nodes but in a Treasury friendly way.

There are cost and operational benefits to maximising pure electric traction.

Liverpool - Birmingham should stay self contained, and that is the only realistic service group to call at Winsford, Hartford and Acton Bridge so should keep regional rolling stock.

Manchester - Birmingham I'd pair with Birmingham - Northampton and operate with pure electric rolling stock. South West would all go towards Derby and the North East - this is the only service group to keep inter-city rolling stock. This way everything Birmingham New Street operates as two independent sides with no reversals. If it's possible to time the two sets of services 15 minutes apart at New Street, then everyone gets 2 opportunities to travel per hour.

The Reading service I'd standardise to run via Solihull and terminate at Moor Street for HS2 connection.

Let the NSE area be served by standardised regional electric services with key nodes like Reading working like Swiss ones.

 

[Magdalia]

I'd go the complete opposite way and do Dutch-style rationalisation. Keep services simple and operate on a strict half-hourly rhythm so it's easy to establish some Swiss-style nodes but in a Treasury friendly way.

Let the NSE area be served by standardised regional electric services with key nodes like Reading working like Swiss ones.

For those of us not familiar with Dutch and Swiss railways, can you give examples?

I'm definitely in favour of simple services though capacity constraints probably mean that hourly is a more achievable objective on many routes.

There are cost and operational benefits to maximising pure electric traction.

But I don't agree here. There are various cross country routes where battery bimodes are going to be the way forward, saving on expensive new electrification.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Gatwick Airport is a non-starter - it is a long trundle around from Reading and what would the target market be? It is primarily a low-cost airport (40% EasyJet according to Wiki) to destinations that Manchester, Birmingham Airports etc. serve equally well. Harrogate and Lincoln, nice as they are, aren't exactly major traffic centres either.

With GBR I suspect we are going to see retrenchment of the XC network, with some of the peripheral destinations chopped back - Aberdeen, Penzance, Paignton etc. New, longer bi-mode stock is the priority to eliminate the extensive diesel running under the wires on the core network.

 

[Farnborough]

Service 3: Manchester Piccadilly - Birmingham New Street - Gatwick Airport
Manchester Piccadilly - Stockport - Macclesfield - Stoke-on-Trent - Stafford - Wolverhampton - Sandwell & Dudley - Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International - Coventry - Leamington Spa - Banbury - Oxford - Didcot Parkway - Reading - Wokingham - Farnborough - Guildford - Dorking - Gatwick Airport

• Capacity improvements would have to be made on the North Downs line to accomadate (sic) the additional services.

While I'd be quite pleased, for obvious reasons, to see an improved service on the North Downs route, it should be pointed out that Farnborough North is only served by the GWR stoppers, while neighbouring Blackwater and North Camp get the semi-fast services.

And at a (very generous) maximum platform length of 90m, selective door opening will be necessary, even with the four-car Voyagers... I doubt it would be cost-effective to extend, even if possible!

 

[Topological]

I'd go the complete opposite way and do Dutch-style rationalisation. Keep services simple and operate on a strict half-hourly rhythm so it's easy to establish some Swiss-style nodes but in a Treasury friendly way.

There are cost and operational benefits to maximising pure electric traction.

Liverpool - Birmingham should stay self contained, and that is the only realistic service group to call at Winsford, Hartford and Acton Bridge so should keep regional rolling stock.

Manchester - Birmingham I'd pair with Birmingham - Northampton and operate with pure electric rolling stock. South West would all go towards Derby and the North East - this is the only service group to keep inter-city rolling stock. This way everything Birmingham New Street operates as two independent sides with no reversals. If it's possible to time the two sets of services 15 minutes apart at New Street, then everyone gets 2 opportunities to travel per hour.

The Reading service I'd standardise to run via Solihull and terminate at Moor Street for HS2 connection.

Let the NSE area be served by standardised regional electric services with key nodes like Reading working like Swiss ones.

The only loss with this is Oxford et al. to the North. Since terminating at Moor Street would mean walking between the two.

Otherwise, all seems very sensible. Manchester should really be operated with higher capacity EMUs like Liverpool (though probably more doubles)

Since you just saved a lot of voyagers, how about coupling one of the Reading corridor trains with the faster of the two Shrewsbury trains such that interchange to Manchester or the North East can still be made at Birmingham New Street (or Wolverhampton for Manchester)?

 

[The Planner]

Lets face it, the current CrossCountry network is no longer fit for purpose and needs a major overhual! This is the third incarnation of my CrossCountry plan as certain things have changed in the real world since my last post in 2022 and to add in more explination than before.

I propose an hourly service on each of the 10 below routes, which provides a half hourly service to the majority of the network, some of the routes might first come across as radical but I believe that is what is needed to finaly fix the network and make it useable, explinations are given. I propose a minimum of new 7 car bimode 125mph capable rolling stock as a minimum.

Also I am aware of other TOC's services I have changed but there are plans to fits those in.

Service 1: Liverpool Lime Street - Birmingham New Street - Cambridge
Liverpool Lime Street - Liverpool South Parkway - Runcorn - Crewe - Stafford - Wolverhampton - Smethwick Galton Bridge - Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International - Coventry - Rugby - Rugby Parkway - Northampton - Bedford - Tempsford - Cambridge

Liverpool Lime Street - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing one of the two an hour London Northwestern Railway services between Birmingham New Street and Liverpool Lime Street but with fewer stops.
• A new hourly Northern stopping service introduced between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street.
• Additional stops on existing services at Cosely and Penkridge.

All the Liverpool services stop at Penkridge anyway, so you are making the service worse. Lime St to Cambridge would a performance dogs breakfast. Is this an additional service on top of what is along the Coventry corridor? If so, that isn't fitting. Why isn't it stopping at Milton Keynes? That is bonkers. Where is the capacity coming from for this new Northern service?

• Providing an additional service between Birmingham New Street and Rugby and reinstating direct services to Liverpool Lime Street.

See above, the previous Liverpool to Euston service was a failure.

Service 2: Liverpool Lime Street - Birmingham New Street - Southampton Central - Bournemouth
Liverpool Lime Street - Liverpool South Parkway - Runcorn - Crewe - Stafford - Wolverhampton - Smethwick Galton Bridge - Birmingham New Street - Solihull - Warwick Parkway - Leamington Spa - Banbury - Oxford - Didcot Parkway - Newbury - Whitchurch - Winchester - Southampton Airport - Southampton Central - Brockenhurst - Christchurch - Bournemouth

Liverpool Lime Street - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing one of the two an hour London Northwestern Railway services between Birmingham New Street and Liverpool Lime Street but with fewer stops.
• A new hourly Northern stopping service introduced between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street.
• Additional stops on existing services at Cosely and Penkridge.

I am lost already. Is this another service replacing a LNWR New St to Liverpool service, if so, what is now serving Penkridge as you have got rid of them both?

Birmingham New Street - Southampton Central - Bournemouth
• Two hourly extension from Southampton Central to Bournemouth.
• Replacing the Birmingham New Street to Southampton and Bournemouth section of the Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth service.
• Providing a new rail link between Didcot Parkway to Winchester, this also provides much needed frieght capacity on the Southampton - Midlands corridor, avoiding capacity issues around Reading.
• Extend one the current Basingstoke to Reading services to Oxford (to maintain links).
• Extend one the current Basingstoke to Reading services to London Paddington.

Newbury to Winchester is never reopening. Why have you split this second Liverpool to Bournemouth in two?

Service 3: Manchester Piccadilly - Birmingham New Street - Gatwick Airport
Manchester Piccadilly - Stockport - Macclesfield - Stoke-on-Trent - Stafford - Wolverhampton - Sandwell & Dudley - Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International - Coventry - Leamington Spa - Banbury - Oxford - Didcot Parkway - Reading - Wokingham - Farnborough - Guildford - Dorking - Gatwick Airport

Is this another service via Coventry? where is all this capacity coming from?

Manchester Piccadilly - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing the Manchester Piccadilly to Reading section of the Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth service.

Birmingham New Street - Gatwick Airport
• Replacing the Manchester Piccadilly to Reading section of the Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth service.
• Replacing the former Virgin CrossCountry service to Gatwick Airport and mirroring part of the proposed Grand Central route from Reading to Gatwick Airport.
• Capacity improvements would have to be made on the North Downs line to accomadate the additional services.

As above, is this a new service again, and why is it split?

Service 4: Manchester Piccadilly - Birmingham New Street - Exeter St Davids - Paignton
Manchester Piccadilly - Stockport - Macclesfield - Stoke-on-Trent - Stafford - Wolverhampton - Sandwell & Dudley - Birmingham New Street - - Bromsgrove - Worcestershire Parkway - Cheltenham Spa - Bristol Parkway - Bristol Temple Meads - Taunton - Tiverton Parkway - Exeter St Davids - Dawlish - Newton Abbot - Torquay - Paignton

Manchester Piccadilly - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing the current CrossCountry service from Manchester Piccadilly to Bristol Temple Meads.

Birmingham New Street - Exeter St Davids - Paignton
• Replacing the current CrossCountry service from Manchester Piccadilly to Bristol Temple Meads.
• Two hourly extension from Exeter St Davids to Paignton.
• Services extended from Bristol Temple Meads to Exeter St Davids as has been previously planned.
• More services to call at Paignton, an expansion of the current services on this route.

Why is it split? Doesn't this now make 4tph Manchester to New St? Where is the capacity coming from?

Service 5: Harrogate - Leeds - Birmingham New Street - Cardiff Central
Harrogate - Leeds Bradford Airport - Leeds - Wakefield Westgate - Sheffield - Chesterfield - Derby - Burton-on-Trent - Lichfield Trent Valley - Birmingham New Street - Bromsgrove - Worcestershire Parkway - Cheltenham Spa - Bristol Parkway - Newport - Cardiff Parkway - Cardiff Central

Harrogate - Leeds - Birmingham New Street
• Two hourly extension from Leeds to Harrogate.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• Replacing the Leeds to Birmingham New Street section of the Edinburgh to Plymouth service.
• Services onwards to York, Newcastle and Scotland provided by TransPennine Express.
• TransPennine Express Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle Central services to be extended back to Edinburgh.

Birmingham New Street - Cardiff Central
• Replacing the current Birmingham New Street to Cardiff Central service.
• A new hourly service from Birmingham Moor Street to Gloucester to compliment the planned hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Hereford service.

Why have you split this?

Service 6: Harrogate - Leeds - Birmingham New Street - Cambridge
Harrogate - Leeds Bradford Airport - Leeds - Wakefield Westgate - Sheffield - Chesterfield - Derby - Burton-on-Trent - Lichfield Trent Valley - Birmingham New Street - - Birmingham International - Coventry - Rugby - Rugby Parkway - Northampton - Bedford - Tempsford - Cambridge

Harrogate - Leeds - Birmingham New Street
• Two hourly extension from Leeds to Harrogate.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• Reintroducing a second hourly service from Birmingham New Street to Leeds.
• Services onwards to York, Newcastle and Scotland provided by TransPennine Express.
• TransPennine Express Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle Central services to be extended back to Edinburgh.

Where is the capacity coming from again?

Birmingham New Street - Cambridge
• Replacing the current Birmingham New Street - Leicester - Peterborough - Cambridge - Stansted Airport service.
• A new hourly stopping service from Birmingham Moor Street to Corby (Via Leicester).
• A new hourly stopping service from Birmingham Moor Street to Peterborough (Via Leicester).
• Extend the current East Midlands Railway service from Doncaster/Lincoln to Peterborough to Stansted Airport.
• Providing an additional service between Birmingham New Street and Rugby and reinstating direct services to Liverpool Lime Street.
• Providing a new rail link from Northampton to Bedford.
• Maintaining a direct Birmingham New Street to Cambridge service via East West rail.
• Cambridge for links to Stanstead, Norwich and Ipswich.

I'm really lost now, is this ANOTHER via the Cov corridor?

Service 7: Newcastle Central - Birmingham New Street - Exeter St Davids - Plymouth
Newcastle Central - Durham - Darlington - York - Doncaster - Derby - Burton-on-Trent - Birmingham New Street - Bromsgrove - Worcestershire Parkway - Cheltenham Spa - Bristol Parkway - Bristol Temple Meads - Taunton - Tiverton Parkway - Exeter St Davids - Dawlish - Newton Abbot - Totnes - Ivybridge - Plymouth

Newcastle Central - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing the Newcastle Central to Exeter St Davids section of the Edinburgh to Plymouth service.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• Avanti services are faster and cheaper between Birmingham New Steet and Edinburgh.
• Introduce a second Avanti service per hour from Birmingham New Street to Scotland.
• Allows the TransPennine Express Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle Central services to be extended back to Edinburgh.
• Services between Newcastle Central and Scotland provided by LNER, Transpennie Express and Lumo.

Birmingham New Street - Exeter St Davids - Plymouth
• Two hourly extension from Exeter St Davids to Plymouth.
• Replacing the Newcastle Central to Exeter St Davids section of the Edinburgh to Plymouth service.

Service 8: Newcastle Central - Birmingham New Street - Southampton Central - Bournemouth
Newcastle Central - Durham - Darlington - York - Doncaster - Derby - Burton-on-Trent - Birmingham New Street - Solihull - Warwick Parkway - Leamington Spa - Banbury - Oxford - Didcot Parkway - Newbury - Whitchurch - Winchester - Southampton Airport - Southampton Central - Brockenhurst - Christchurch - Bournemouth

Is this another service via Solihull? Again where is it fitting, ignoring the never to be built Newbury Winchester line.

Newcastle Central - Birmingham New Street
• Reintroducing a second hourly service from Newcastle Central and Birmingham New Street.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• Avanti services are faster and cheaper between Birmingham New Steet and Edinburgh.
• Introduce a second Avanti service per hour from Birmingham New Street to Scotland.
• Allows the TransPennine Express Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle Central services to be extended back to Edinburgh.
• Services between Newcastle Central and Scotland provided by LNER, Transpennie Express and Lumo.

Birmingham New Street - Southampton Central - Bournemouth
• Two hourly extension from Southampton Central to Bournemouth.
• Replacing the Birmingham New Street to Southampton and Bournemouth section of the Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth service.
• Providing a new rail link between Didcot Parkway to Winchester, this also provides much needed frieght capacity on the Southampton - Midlands corridor, avoiding capacity issues around Reading.
• Extend one the current Basingstoke to Reading services to Oxford (to maintain links).
• Extend one the current Basingstoke to Reading services to London Paddington.

Again, what capacity?

Service 9: Lincoln - Birmingham New Street - Cardiff Central
Lincoln - Newark Castle - Nottingham - Castle Donington - Burton-on-Trent - Tamworth - Birmingham New Street - Bromsgrove - Worcestershire Parkway - Cheltenham Spa - Bristol Parkway - Newport - Cardiff Parkway - Cardiff Central

Lincoln - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing the current Nottingham to Cardiff Central service.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• The flat crossing at Newark would finally need to be replaced.

Birmingham New Street - Cardiff Central
• Providing an additional hourly service from Birmingham New Street to Cardiff Central.
• A new hourly service from Birmingham Moor Street to Gloucester to compliment the planned hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Hereford service.

Service 10: Lincoln - Birmingham New Street - Gatwick Airport
Lincoln - Newark Castle - Nottingham - Castle Donington - Burton-on-Trent - Tamworth - Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International - Coventry - Leamington Spa - Banbury - Oxford - Didcot Parkway - Reading - Wokingham - Farnborough - Guildford - Dorking - Gatwick Airport

Lincoln - Birmingham New Street
• Replacing the current service from Nottingham to Birmingham New Street.
• Introduce an hourly Birmingham Moor Street to Derby service.
• The flat crossing at Newark would finally need to be replaced.

Birmingham New Street - Gatwick Airport
• Reintroducing a secondly hourly service between Birmingham New Street and Reading.
• Replacing the former Virgin CrossCountry service to Gatwick Airport and mirroring part of the proposed Grand Central route from Reading to Gatwick Airport.
• Capacity improvements would have to be made on the North Downs line to accomadate the additional services.

I give up
What services are you actually proposing to run, can you list them as end to end journeys with how many tph?

 

[SynthD]

Service 8: Newcastle Central - Birmingham New Street - Southampton Central - Bournemouth
Newcastle Central - Durham - Darlington - York - Doncaster - Derby - Burton-on-Trent - Birmingham New Street - Solihull - Warwick Parkway - Leamington Spa - Banbury - Oxford - Didcot Parkway - Newbury - Whitchurch - Winchester - Southampton Airport - Southampton Central - Brockenhurst - Christchurch - Bournemouth

…

Birmingham New Street - Southampton Central - Bournemouth
…
• Providing a new rail link between Didcot Parkway to Winchester, this also provides much needed frieght capacity on the Southampton - Midlands corridor, avoiding capacity issues around Reading.

Is this a hidden proposal for a new 60km (plus meeting east-west stations) electrified rail line for 125mph passenger use plus freight?

 

[A S Leib]

I propose a minimum of new 7 car bimode 125mph capable rolling stock as a minimum

Does that mean ordering some new 7-car rolling stock and some 9-11-car trains, since I think 8+ is necessary in some cases but I think 14 carriages would be excessive (and impractical with current platform lengths?).

I'd go the complete opposite way and do Dutch-style rationalisation. Keep services simple and operate on a strict half-hourly rhythm so it's easy to establish some Swiss-style nodes but in a Treasury friendly way.

Agreed, with a few exceptions (I don't entirely understand why the Reading services skip(ped) Chesterfield, but I think somewhere between 0 and 2tph XC at Dunbar, Berwick, Alnmouth and Morpeth is needed, and I think at a bare minimum there should be a York – Doncaster – Sheffield – Birmingham service faster than via Leeds (unless HS2's eastern leg is revived and Birmingham – Leeds can be moved to that)).

These proposals seem more like what I think Germany's normal system of alternating hours for intercity destinations is; lack of investment rather than that alone might lead to unreliability, but I wouldn't say that CrossCountry has had enough focus either.

 

[freetoview33]

All the Liverpool services stop at Penkridge anyway, so you are making the service worse. Lime St to Cambridge would a performance dogs breakfast. Is this an additional service on top of what is along the Coventry corridor? If so, that isn't fitting. Why isn't it stopping at Milton Keynes? That is bonkers. Where is the capacity coming from for this new Northern service?

See above, the previous Liverpool to Euston service was a failure.

I am lost already. Is this another service replacing a LNWR New St to Liverpool service, if so, what is now serving Penkridge as you have got rid of them both?

Newbury to Winchester is never reopening. Why have you split this second Liverpool to Bournemouth in two?

Is this another service via Coventry? where is all this capacity coming from?

As above, is this a new service again, and why is it split?

Why is it split? Doesn't this now make 4tph Manchester to New St? Where is the capacity coming from?

Why have you split this?

Where is the capacity coming from again?

I'm really lost now, is this ANOTHER via the Cov corridor?

Is this another service via Solihull? Again where is it fitting, ignoring the never to be built Newbury Winchester line.

Again, what capacity?

I give up
What services are you actually proposing to run, can you list them as end to end journeys with how many tph?

I purely for the interventions split North and South there are 10 clearly listed services each with an hour frequency.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Aug 2025 ==

What about getting to or from the East Midlands and South Yorkshire though?

So what replaces East Midlands (Derby), South Yorkshire (Sheffield) and West Yorkshire (Leeds) to Scotland?

Also what replaces the current half-hourly Birmingham to Liverpool service at Hartford (0.2 million station users a year)?

By the Crewe to Liverpool service mentioned above.

For Leeds you'd get the TransPennine Express service that would be extended back to Edinburgh.
For East Midlands/South Yorkshire you'd get the CrossCountry service to York or Newcastle then change to LNER or Lumo for Scotland.

 

[The Planner]

I purely for the interventions split North and South there are 10 clearly listed services each with an hour frequency.

That still doesn't really answer my question. What is serving Penkridge if you are saying something else is. Same goes for all the trains heading south out of New St, you currently have 2tph for XC, how many are you now proposing, ignoring the impossibility of Didcot Winchester?

 

[Farnborough]

IMHO, Cross Country is a perfect example of "You wouldn't start from here..."

Rather than tweak existing routes, start with a blank sheet of paper, and list the aims and objectives, and then work out the routes - then we can work out how feasible they are...

 

[HamworthyGoods]

By the Crewe to Liverpool service mentioned above.

But you’ve only proposed that service hourly, Hartford is a busy station. So you propose a 50% reduction in service and cutting it back from Birmingham to Crewe.

The service at Hartford wasn’t increased to half-hourly for a reason….

 

[A S Leib]

list the aims and objectives,

Which, especially without HS2, means deciding if that's providing most or all (semi)fast services on some routes or providing intercity links to Birmingham, and what to prioritise when both can't be done.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

For Leeds you'd get the TransPennine Express service that would be extended back to Edinburgh.
For East Midlands/South Yorkshire you'd get the CrossCountry service to York or Newcastle then change to LNER or Lumo for Scotland.

So you propose cutting off a huge purpose of the XC network - East Midlands and Yorkshire to Scotland?

Thought this was supposed to be about improving connectivity? This seems to be very Birmingham (and Harrogate) centric.

 

[freetoview33]

Also the general gist

But you’ve only proposed that service hourly, Hartford is a busy station. So you propose a 50% reduction in service and cutting it back from Birmingham to Crewe.

The service at Hartford wasn’t increased to half-hourly for a reason….

Hartford is only hourly as it stands ..... other than an extra service in each peak.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Aug 2025 ==

So you propose cutting off a huge purpose of the XC network - East Midlands and Yorkshire to Scotland?

Thought this was supposed to be about improving connectivity? This seems to be very Birmingham (and Harrogate) centric.

Purpose of CrossCountry is long distance routes from Birmingham .....

 

[A S Leib]

I'm not saying that Liverpool should never have CrossCountry services again, especially whilst you're proposing a bunch of infrastructure improvements of diverse likelihoods to occur, but I'd argue that the Liverpool – Birmingham – Northampton – Euston services were, for a TOC-agnostic passenger, Liverpool's parallel to Manchester – Bournemouth services, and a disaster from a timetabling standpoint.

 

[Trainbike46]

For those of us not familiar with Dutch and Swiss railways, can you give examples?

Before COVID, the Dutch railways ran using a "Basishalfuurpatroon", or base half-hourly pattern. What this meant is that on weekdays, there is an half-hourly pattern repeated throughout the day. Almost all services run every 30 minutes exactly, and multiple half-hourly services come together on key corridors.

For example, there are these 4 key corridors:
- Eindhoven-Utrecht
- Arnhem-Utrecht
- Utrecht-Amsterdam Centraal
- Utrecht-Amsterdam South-Schiphol Airport

These are served by, all 2tph, not all stops listed:
- Maastricht-Eindhoven-Utrecht-Amsterdam Centraal-Alkmaar
- Heerlen-Eindhoven-Utrecht-Amsterdam Centraal-Enkhuizen
- Venlo-Eindhoven-Utrecht-Amsterdam South-Schiphol-The Hague HS-Rotterdam-Dordrecht
- Arnhem-Utrecht-Amsterdam South-Schiphol-The Hague HS-Rotterdam
- Nijmegen-Arnhem-Utrecht-Amsterdam South-Schiphol-The Hague Central
- Nijmegen-Arnhem-Utrecht-Amsterdam Centraal-Alkmaar-Den Helder

The key corridors therefore all get 6tph, with transfers between the two legs at Utrecht.

The whole timetable is written around making key connections easy, and this drives many things including platform allocation. An extreme example of this is at Zwolle station, where almost every service arrives in the in the 5 minutes before .15 and .45, and departs in the 5 minutes after.

Because of the ease of connections, generally passengers take the next available service to the next node, and then change there onto the next train towards their final destination.

In the context of XC, this would mean having the services from different legs (e.g. ex-Reading and ex-Bristol) arrive within minutes of each other at opposite sides of the same island platform, and depart within minutes of each other towards their respective destinations (e.g. Manchester and Newcastle). This way, there is a very limited penalty for passengers wanting to make the journey that requires changing trains.

 

[rapmastaj]

How about just ordering some new rolling stock to replace the Voyagers with trains that allow a quality passenger experience, minimum 8 carriages long, and running a full hourly timetable on all standard existing routes (incl. Newcastle - Reading).

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Purpose of CrossCountry is long distance routes from Birmingham .....

And other regional cities such as Sheffield, Derby, Bristol etc

 

[NCT]

For those of us not familiar with Dutch and Swiss railways, can you give examples?

The easiest place to start is probably this map:

https://www.treinreiziger.nl/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Het-Aanbod-van-ProRail-2030.pdf

This is Prorail's example 2030 capacity statement (Prorail is the Dutch equivalent of Network Rail). The Netherlands is in the process of implementing their 'timetable redesign' aimed at making the network simpler, frequencies higher and the infrastructure more reliable and cheaper to maintain. Prorail went to Japan and decided to copy their model of simple routes, minimising trains crossing each other's paths and greatly reducing switches and crossings.

The best example of the rebuild of Utrecht Centraal

Utrecht Centraal station - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

After the rebuild:
- Den Bosch and Arnhem fasts are locked to Amsterdam fasts
- Gouda fasts are locked to Amersfoort fasts
- Woerden slows are locked to Houten slows
- Breukelen slows are locked to Veenendaal slows
- Overvecht slows have to terminate at Utrecht Centraal

Notice how of the possible 8tph from Den Bosch, all are expected to go to Amsterdam (half Centraal half Schiphol). The British (and German) temptation would be to send 2tph each to Gouda (and then 1tph each to Rotterdam and The Hague), Amsterdam Schiphol, Amsterdam Centraal, and Amersfoort.

The current timetable is quite what's on that Prorail's map but it's already not a million miles away. Every NS timetable change seems to get closer to this Prorail vision. Currently Amsterdam Zuid and Centraal are undergoing extensive rebuild aimed at simplifying routings - so that in the future what gos to Zuid and what goes to Centraal will be much more obvious.

The main difference between the Dutch and Swiss approach to network design is the Dutch prioritise frequency a bit more, but this is mainly a function of the respective countries' population densities.

The Swiss prioritise concentrated arrivals and departures around nodal symmetries (either xx:00/30 or xx:15/45). At key nodes services tend to arrive no earlier than xx:25/55 and depart no later than xx:05/35. This means most people have an interchange time of no more than 10 minutes. Where they run a joint 4tph service over a segment the Swiss instinct is to flight them - do a journey planner search for Bern - Spiez - as operating services in the 'wrong' 15 minutes makes interchanges longer.

The Dutch take, in my view, a more pragmatic approach - they prioritise spreading services around the clockface to maximise turn-up-and-go - and this model makes sense for the Netherlands because if multiple corridors around a node are high frequency then most people will have a short interchange regardless - like at Utrecht Centraal.

Where the local frequencies are greater than 2tph the Dutch model requires less infrastructure than the Swiss one. Take Groningen where they've just finished the station rebuild. There's 8tph on the through lines being served by 3 platforms - 1 Up 1 Down one central turnback. There's a combined 4tph stopping service between Sauwerd and Zuidbroek - and there's a combined ~15-minute frequency. This means one set of 2tph services connect with Zwolle intercity services better than the other. The Swiss would have had these services flighted with an overlapping dwell at Groningen built with 2 island platforms for cross-platforming interchanges. The Dutch do 'do Swiss' where it makes sense - Zwolle being a classic Swiss-type node.

Given that the core areas of England mostly have 2tph services often combined to give 4tph, it wouldn't take much to be able to successfully emulate the Dutch model. Places like Shrewsbury are obvious candidates for becoming Swiss-style nodes.

 

[A S Leib]

Places like Shrewsbury are obvious candidates for becoming Swiss-style nodes

Especially in cases like Carlisle where it's already almost always one route using one platform (southbound WCML using platform 4, northbound WCML using 1 or 3, Cumbrian Coast using 2, Tyne Valley using 5, Settle using 6, Dumfries using 7 or 8).

 

[swt_passenger]

And other regional cities such as Sheffield, Derby, Bristol etc

But not Liverpool, since about 2007. Is there a rule that every new proposal to wreck the existing XC network has to reintroduce Liverpool, (and sometimes Brighton)?

 

[tbtc]

For East Midlands/South Yorkshire you'd get the CrossCountry service to York or Newcastle then change to LNER or Lumo for Scotland.

... Except that both of the Newcastle services appear to run non stop from York to Derby?

So no trains from Sheffield to York other than a couple of painfully slow Northern stoppers via Pontefract (on the line that looks direct on a map but has speeds restricted due to mining)?

Sheffield to Edinburgh would mean a change at Doncaster AND Newcastle, although there's currently a direct train every hour?

There's also the fairly large problem that, if all these corridors are meant to be effectively half hourly between Birmingham and the terminus then is the only way to do that for XC to occupy five platforms at New Street at the same time (which might just have an impact on other operators)?

Or, if you want simple half hourly on e.g. the Liverpool leg then does that mean something like a 15/45 split on the Cambridge leg?

Great if you live in Coventry though

 

[A S Leib]

Is there a rule that every new proposal to wreck the existing XC network has to reintroduce Liverpool, (and sometimes Brighton)?

How many speculative CrossCountry threads so far have reached their thirtieth post without mentioning Portsmouth?