Making rail progress

Mar 1 2008 by Sam Wood, The Journal

EXTRA trains between London and the North East and Scotland could be on the way after Network Rail yesterday unveiled plans for more services.

The improvements are proposed by Network Rail for the East Coast Main Line under a new strategy document aimed at getting the most from the route.

Longer and more frequent trains are a major part of the proposals, providing a boost to passengers in the North East. And the plans were broadly welcomed by rail user groups in the region last night.

In a statement Network Rail said it was seeking to meet the growing demands on the East Coast Main Line, which could see passenger numbers increase by 40% by 2016.

The proposals include:

• Increasing the number of long-distance trains from King’s Cross in London to eight trains per hour at peak times, and six services per hour off-peak allowing faster journeys to the principal destinations in Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland;

• Redevelopment at King’s Cross, coupled with the completion of the Thameslink upgrade will increase capacity once both schemes are completed;

• Power upgrades to enable extra and longer services;

• Boosting capacity between Peterborough and Doncaster by upgrading the parallel route through Lincoln.

A number of other infrastructure schemes to improve capacity, performance and journey times for passengers and freight were also announced.

Network Rail’s route director Dyan Crowther said: “This strategy sets out how we will make the necessary investment to improve reliability while meeting the demands of rising passenger numbers and freight growth over the coming years.”

Peter Wood, Secretary of the Railfuture North East pressure group welcomed the increased capacity on the line but said infrastructure needed to be improved as well. He said: “Many passengers, especially at peak times are forced to stand for long stretches of their journey and extra carriages and trains will make things better. We obviously welcome anything which will make life better for rail passengers in the region.

“But we would also say there has to be some investment into infrastructure. There are already problems with freight trains clashing with passenger services and extra trains will only make that worse. There needs to be extra lines opened. We want to see the Leamside Line from Pelaw to Ferryhill reopened to take some of the pressure off.”