East Coast Main Line Route Utilisation Strategy February 2008 East Coast Main Line Route Utilisation Strategy February 2008 Network Rail 40 Melton Street London NW1 2EE Tel: 020 7557 8000 www.networkrail.co.uk 116/February 2008 Foreword I am pleased to present Network Rail’s The Route Utilisation Strategy proposes a Route Utilisation Strategy for the East Coast number of improvements to increase peak Main Line. This is one of the busiest and capacity on passenger services by making most successful railway lines in Britain. As provision for more or longer trains. These well as being an absolutely vital north-south include power supply upgrades; grade artery for long distance traffic from London separation at key points; additional and longer to Scotland via Yorkshire and the North East, platforms; as well as enhancing the Hertford the line serves many commuter and regional Loop. It proposes upgrading the line from passenger markets and carries significant Peterborough via Spalding to Doncaster for amounts of rail freight. increased freight use to relieve the East Coast Main Line, as well as gauge enhancements In November 2007, Network Rail published on key freight arteries to allow for larger trains. its Strategic Business Plan (SBP) for 2009 Additionally, infrastructure works to prepare for – 2014. This explained the extent to which the Intercity Express Programme will take place. passenger and freight demand is growing, and set out an ambitious agenda for growing These enhancements will deliver improved the capacity of Britain’s railway to meet connectivity between London and Yorkshire, this demand. the North East and Scotland through additional services and reduced journey times. Meanwhile, There are few places where growth will be upgrades such as the Hertford Loop and the more in evidence than on the East Coast freight relief line will be crucial in helping us Main Line. This will need to accommodate offer a consistent timetable to meet passenger a significant growth in passengers on both and freight demand each day of the week. long distance services and London commuter routes. This growth is excellent news, and it Additionally, there will be a progressive presents a real challenge on what is already lengthening of outer suburban services to a busy and capacity-constrained route. twelve cars, as well as additional services as a result of growth on inner suburban flows. This strategy builds on the SBP and offers a more detailed perspective on how to grow This strategy was initially published as capacity, and improve the quality of service, a draft for consultation in June 2007. Its along the East Coast Main Line. production has been led by Network Rail, but it is a strategy developed by the whole industry. A large number of organisations, including our customers, the passenger and freight operators, have been fully involved in getting us to this stage. I would like to thank them, and everyone who responded to the consultation, for their contribution. Iain Coucher Chief Executive Executive summary The East Coast Main Line is an exceptionally The strategy is therefore to use timetable valuable asset in the national transport solutions to optimise the use of existing system. It provides the fastest surface infrastructure in the short term, to invest transport between London and the Yorkshire in longer passenger trains at peak times and Humber region, North East England and where this is practical (for example, local Edinburgh, and is faster than or competitive services in the North East and many of the with air over these distances. It provides a key London commuter services), and to expand route into London from the East Midlands and the infrastructure capacity around the main East of England, two of the fastest growing bottlenecks on the route. The section of the English regions. It is of vital importance for route between King’s Cross/Moorgate and freight, particularly as part of the link from Alexandra Palace is already very congested at major ports to distribution centres in large peak times and requires significant investment conurbations, and to coal-fired power stations. to improve capacity. Further north, there is a It remains the most popular route in the well-known constraint where the four-track country for ‘open access’ (non-franchised) main line becomes two for a short distance passenger operators. And it supports a long- through Welwyn North because of the local distance passenger franchise that is expected topography. It would not be practical in the to pay a substantial premium to Government, next decade to widen the railway at this point, reducing the level of taxpayer support needed but improvements to the timetable and to the for the railway as a whole. capability of the parallel route via Hertford will make maximum use of the main line capacity The challenges on the route are principally and contribute to the flexibility and resilience associated with volume of traffic and reliability of the railway on its approach to London. of the services. Growth over the next 10 years Similarly, on the busy, predominantly two-track is expected to be substantial in almost all the section between Peterborough and Doncaster, markets served by the route. The pressure will improvements to the parallel route via Spalding be felt most where the route is already busiest, and Lincoln will create effectively four tracks on its southern half. Some of the growth over this section. can be accommodated within the existing train services – lengthening of some trains The benefits of this approach are huge. is contained in the strategy – but additional Firstly, it will create sufficient capacity to passenger and freight trains will be required. deliver growth: both the 10-year growth The most effective solution is to invest in a forecast produced during the development way that not only delivers the extra capacity of this strategy, and the growth required up required by the passenger and freight markets, to 2014 by the governments in London and but that also makes the route much more Edinburgh as set out in their High Level flexible on the occasions when parts of it are Output Specifications published in July 2007. not available for traffic, whether because of Secondly, it will allow the railway to operate planned engineering work or an much closer to the normal level of service operational problem. when not all of the infrastructure is available. This will mean more passenger trains at 4 weekends, helping to deliver the ‘7-Day n The route’s ability to carry freight traffic Railway’ concept currently being developed by will be improved. On the East Coast Main Network Rail and train operators. It will mean Line between Peterborough and Yorkshire, more capacity for freight trains at night as well and on routes connecting Peterborough as during the day. It will mean that all services with East Anglian ports and the West can recover faster from an incident that Midlands, structures above the railway requires diversion along one of these parallel are being enlarged so that freight trains routes. It will reduce the railway’s reliance can carry larger standard containers on on replacement bus services, which require standard-height wagons. Priorities for inconvenient interchanges and encourage further improvements to the capacity people to travel by car instead. It will deliver and capability of the infrastructure are all this while providing sufficient access for being considered in the context of the engineers to maintain the railway for the development of a Strategic increased traffic expected to use it. Freight Network. The strategy takes account of the wide Scope variety of changes underway on this long and complex route. The most significant among The aim of the Route Utilisation Strategy these are as follows: (RUS) programme is to identify a strategy for the railway to meet expected future n The Thameslink Programme will be requirements in a way that is deliverable, completed in 201, linking outer suburban affordable and consistent with performance services from the East Coast Main Line and safety improvements. directly via St. Pancras International to the City of London, as well as a wide range of The East Coast Main Line (ECML) RUS sets destinations further south. out the relevant background information on the East Coast Main Line and North East routes, n The new Intercity Express trains will be identifying the issues that are currently faced introduced to the route and by 2020 on these routes and those that are predicted to should be in use on the majority of arise over the next decade. long-distance services. The ECML RUS encompasses all long distance high speed and London commuter services into King’s Cross and Moorgate (via Finsbury Park), all local services in North East England and various other regional and longer distance services covering parts of the route. It includes all freight services within or traversing the RUS area. Approach Medium-term strategy (2009 – 2014) The process has sought to establish In July 2007, High Level Output Specifications agreement within the rail industry wherever (HLOSs) were published for England and possible and is based on openness and Wales, and for Scotland. The HLOSs set out discussion with all stakeholders. the improvements in the safety, reliability Analysis of the railway’s current ability to and capacity of the railway system which the carry passengers and freight reliably, and Secretary of State for Transport and Scottish its ability to cope with predicted demand, Ministers want to secure during the period led to the identification of ‘gaps’. Options 2009 – 2014. to address these gaps were derived from a Network Rail’s Strategic Business Plan standard ‘toolkit’ of option types, such as: identifies the schemes required to meet these timetable solutions to change service patterns outputs: the Plan produced in October 2007 or the mix of trains; deployment of different aligned with the emerging conclusions of the types of rolling stock; train lengthening; and ECML RUS Draft for Consultation and the infrastructure solutions.