Cross Country Route


The Cross Country Route is a long-distance rail route in the United Kingdom that has in its central part superseded the Midland Railway. It runs from Bristol to York via, Birmingham, Derby, Sheffield and Leeds. It facilitates some of the longest passenger journeys in the UK such as to.
The line is classed as a high-speed line because its sections from Birmingham to Wakefield and from Leeds to York have a speed limit of, though the section from Birmingham to Bristol is limited to due to there being numerous level crossings, especially half-barrier level crossings, and the section from Wakefield to Leeds has the same limit owing to a number of curves.

History

The Birmingham to Bristol section was built as the Birmingham and Gloucester and Bristol and Gloucester Railways before joining the Midland Railway, the southern forerunner to the cross-country route. From Birmingham to the north-northeast, the line had three separately owned sections, namely the:
From the Labour Government's nationalisation in 1948 until privatisation in 1990 it ran through six regions of British Rail but had priority in none of them and therefore the services were poorly promoted and thus not always well-patronised.
Most Derby-Nottingham local passenger trains were taken over by diesel units from 14 April 1958, taking about 34 minutes between the two cities.
In the 1990s most services were operated by British Rail's InterCity business unit. As part of the privatisation of British Rail, these were taken over by Virgin CrossCountry in 1997 with the Class 47 hauled Mark 2 and High Speed Train sets replaced by Class 220 and Class 221 diesel multiple units in the early 2000s.
The use of the route for freight has decreased, due to the bulk of haulage switching to roads and the building of the M5, M6 and M1 motorways.

Abortive British Rail proposals for complete electrification

In the 1960s the route was considered for electrification. In the early 1980s, electrification was again discussed at length and documentation for various proposals was produced in 1981. This would have been particularly beneficial for climbing the Lickey Incline between Cheltenham and Birmingham, as many of the early diesels were under-powered. In 1977 the Parliamentary Select Committee on Nationalised Industries recommended considering electrification of more of Britain's rail network, and by 1979 BR presented a range of options that included electrifying the cross-country route by 2000. Under the governments that succeeded the 1976–79 Labour government the proposal was not implemented.

Route

The route is well connected, and aside from its own alignment it uses parts of the South Wales Main Line, Midland Main Line, Swinton–Doncaster line, and the East Coast Main Line. Major cities and towns served along the route include:
;Nominal start-point at Derby
Milepost zero for the main predecessor Derby to Bristol route has always been Derby, hence a train travelling the whole route starts out going "up" then becomes "down". The Birmingham to Derby section of the route has a line speed of, while Birmingham to Bristol is restricted to due to a number of half-barrier level crossings.

Electrification

The line is not fully electrified, but some sections are overhead electrified at 25 kV AC such as Bromsgrove to Grand Junction, with further electrified sections around and the East Coast Main Line near. The section between Leeds and York is due to be fully electrified by 2022 with the electrification of the North TransPennine from Liverpool Lime Street to York via, as is the section between Westerleigh Junction and as part of the 21st-century modernisation of the Great Western main line.
Network Rail stated in 2014 that the line between and would be electrified as part of the Midland Main Line upgrade. However, the electrification programme was severely cut back in July 2017.

Services

Most long distance services on the route are operated by Class 220/221 Voyagers, although a few services operate using High Speed Trains. These trains are capable of achieving, compared to the previous Class 47s and Mk 2 coaching stock, which had a top speed of.