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| Franchise(s): | Chiltern 1996 – 2002 2002 – 2022* |
| Main route(s): | Chiltern Main Line |
| Other route(s): | London to Aylesbury Line Princes Risborough to Aylesbury Line Leamington to Stratford Line |
| Fleet size: | 39 Class 165 Turbo sets 19 Class 168 Clubman sets 1 Class 121 ‘Bubble Car’ |
| Stations called at: | 62 |
| National Rail abbreviation: | CH |
| Parent company: | Deutsche Bahn AG |
| Web site: | www.chilternrailways.co.uk |
Chiltern Railways is a train operating company in England. It was formed by the privatisation of British Rail in 1996, and operates mainline passenger trains from Marylebone station in London to Aylesbury and Birmingham Snow Hill. In 2002, the company began a new franchise of up to twenty years, promising significant investment in the route — the 20-year term is conditional on various investments and improvements over the life of the franchise.
Initially, the line was franchised to a company formed by the British Rail managers of the route, but in 2003 it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Laing Rail, who had owned a much smaller shareholding at privatisation. In 2008, Laing Rail was taken over in turn by Germany's Deutsche Bahn AG.
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Routes
Chiltern operate services on four routes.
- Chiltern Main Line
- London to Aylesbury Line
- Princes Risborough to Aylesbury Line
- Leamington to Stratford Line
The London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill route used by Chiltern Railways goes via High Wycombe, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Warwick Parkway, Dorridge and Solihull. Although the fastest timetabled journey between London and Birmingham via this route is 1 hour and 56 minutes, most express services take 2 hours and 5 minutes with semi-fast services sometimes taking up to 2 hours and 30 minutes (compared with approximately 1 hour and 35 minutes using Virgin Trains services between London Euston and Birmingham New Street). Some trains continue beyond Birmingham Snow Hill station to Stourbridge Junction or Kidderminster, where the preserved steam Severn Valley Railway starts at the adjacent Kidderminster Town.
The line to Aylesbury via Amersham shares its route with London Underground's Metropolitan Line between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Amersham. On certain Bank Holiday Mondays services are extended from Aylesbury to the Buckinghamshire Railway Heritage Centre facilities at Quainton Road, a short way south of Verney Junction. These services are often run by Chiltern's Class 121 diesel multiple unit, referred to as a "bubble car".
A shuttle service operates on the branch line from Aylesbury to Princes Risborough on the line to Birmingham via High Wycombe. Certain services from Marylebone via High Wycombe also provide a limited through service to Aylesbury.
In 2004 Chiltern Railways took over the operation of passenger services on the Leamington Spa to Stratford-upon-Avon branch line.
Chiltern's newly formed sister company, Wrexham & Shropshire, runs services from North Wales along the Chiltern route to London. The service began on the 28th April 2008.
Chiltern was also asked to bid for the Snow Hill Lines of the former Central Trains area of Birmingham as part of the new West Midlands Franchise competition. However the bid was unsuccessful.
Chiltern is the first train operator to pilot - and subsequently implement - a full system for purchasing, retailing, fulfilling and validating train tickets electronically in the United Kingdom. As of April 2008, over 18,000 "E-Day" customers have registered to use the service and more than 40,000 electronic tickets have been sold; mainly as barcodes delivered as text messages to the mobile phones of their customers and also as 'Self-Print' tickets. Chiltern's electronic ticketing system is specified, built, operated and maintained by YourRail, based in Barnsley, Yorkshire.
Services
The "core" off-peak Chiltern Railways timetable currently comprises the following services:
- Half-hourly London Marylebone - Aylesbury via Amersham stopping service
- Hourly London Marylebone - High Wycombe stopping service
- Hourly London Marylebone - Princes Risborough stopping service
- Half-hourly London Marylebone - Birmingham Snow Hill via High Wycombe semi-fast service
- Hourly London Marylebone - Bicester North via High Wycombe semi-fast service (extended to Stratford-upon-Avon in even hours)
In addition, Chiltern Railways runs one train a day to and from London Paddington to keep traincrew route knowledge up-to-date, as the route is regularly used for diversions during periods of engineering work, one train a day from Birmingham Snow Hill to Oxford, and a single train per week from Stratford to Oxford.
Performance
Chiltern is considered one of the best operators in the whole of Britain with PPMs regularly over 90% during the past 5 years. Chiltern is the only operating company which has achieved over 95% performance over 12 months.[1] This is even more remarkable as Chiltern operates on much more stricter conditions compared with its long distance rivals, such as Virgin Trains, as Chiltern has a 5 minute window for performance while others have a 10 minute window.
The latest performance figures, published by the ORR (Office of Rail Regulation), rate Chiltern Railways as the third most punctual train operating company in the UK at 94.8% (PPM) and 95.1% (MAA) as of the first quarter of the financial year 2008/9.[2]
Rolling stock
Chiltern Railways operates services using a modern fleet of Class 165 "Turbo" and 168 "Clubman" units. The "Turbo" units have undergone refurbishment work at Bombardier's Ilford Works, and the Class 168s have recently been lengthened. Chiltern also operates a single Class 121 "Bubble Car" on its Aylesbury to Princes Risborough heritage route. This unit was extensively refurbished, and operates the majority of the services on the line. In 2008, Chiltern ordered four 2-car Class 172 "Turbostar" units to increase their capacity.
When first starting in 1996, Chiltern inherited 37 Class 165/0 (Networker) diesel multiple units which were fitted with Automatic Train Protection and a tripcock so they could be used on London Underground lines on the approach to London Marylebone. The trains were originally used for both suburban and commuter services, including to Birmingham. However the class 165 was designed solely for suburban travel and not the intercity service to Birmingham unlike its sister, the Class 166, and so, following healthy growth, Chiltern took order of Class 168 units, leaving the Class 165's to be concentrated on the stopping services to Banbury and Aylesbury, although they are still sometimes seen on the runs to Birmingham. Chiltern now run all 39 Class 165/0 made.
The first Class 168's (Clubman) to arrive was the 168/0, a train deigned to externally look like the Networker Turbo, but be better suited for the intercity services to Birmingham, and was, in fact, the basis for the Class 17x Turbostars. The Clubman trains were the first to be delivered post privatisation, and allowed Chiltern to intensify the commuter services, whilst also providing more comfort on the intercity runs. Later orders of the Class 168 provided the 168/1 and 168/2, which had the Turbostar wiring and external design, and so can be considered to be Turbostars. The Class 168 differs from the rest of the Turbostar family in that they are fitted with the tripcock and ATP, the same as the Class 165/0.
Current fleet
| Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Cars per set | Unit Numbers | Number | Routes operated | Built | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | ||||||||
| Class 121 ‘Bubble Car’ | |
diesel multiple unit | 70 | 112 | 1 | 121020 | 1 | Princes Risborough to Aylesbury Line | 1959-60 |
| Class 165/0 Networker Turbo |  |
diesel multiple unit | 75 | 120 | 2/3 | 165001-165039 | 39 | Chiltern Main Line London to Aylesbury Line |
1990 - 1992 |
| Class 168/0 Clubman |  |
diesel multiple unit | 100 | 160 | 4 | 168001-168005 | 5 | Chiltern Main Line London to Aylesbury Line |
1997-1998 |
| Class 168/1/2 Clubman | |
diesel multiple unit | 100 | 160 | 3/4 | 168106-168113 168214-168219 |
14 | Chiltern Main Line London to Aylesbury Line |
2000-2004 |
Future Fleet
| Class | Type | Top speed | Number | Cars per set | Seat layout | Routes operated | Built | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | |||||||
| Class 172/1 Turbostar | diesel multiple unit | 75 | 120 | 4 | 2 | 2+3 | Chiltern Main Line London to Aylesbury Line |
2009 |
Diagram
Gerrards Cross incident
A tunnel being constructed near the Gerrards Cross railway station to enable the construction of a new Tesco store collapsed at 19:30 on 30 June 2005. Nobody was injured but the line was closed for over six weeks. It eventually reopened on 20 August 2005. Compensation by Tesco to Chiltern is believed to have cost at least £8.5m and the retailer has pledged to fund a media campaign to win back passengers lost by the closure of its route.
Future
Ownership
On 6th July 2007, Henderson Fund Managers, the owner of John Laing, announced the sale of its Laing Rail subsidiary, as it wanted to focus on its public infrastructure portfolio.[3] Arriva plc and Go-Ahead Group both expressed an interest in acquiring the company,[4][5]but the final bidders were Germany's Deutsche Bahn and the Dutch NedRail.[6]
In January 2008 it was announced that the Laing Rail company had been sold to Deutsche Bahn[7]. Once approval from the Department for Transport, Transport for London and the Office of Rail Regulation was granted, the company became part of DB Regio. The Chiltern Railways management and brand remained unchanged.
Route
There are several suggested plans for this route:
- The High Speed 2 mainline route is under consideration, and preliminary budgets have been made using the M40 / Chiltern Railways route between London and Birmingham. If this goes ahead, a new line will be built between Aynho (just south of Banbury) and the existing High Speed 1 line, joining it between St. Pancras International and Stratford International. A spur to Heathrow Airport has also been proposed. The remainder of the line will be upgraded to French TGV standard and will split from the mainline again to serve Birmingham International Airport and will terminate at Birmingham Moor Street. This would allow passengers from Birmingham and other places (Coventry, Warwick, Banbury, Bicester, Aylesbury, Oxford) a direct train link to High Speed 1, previously known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, with the passenger only having to get off at St. Pancras or Stratford to board a Eurostar train.[8]In June 2008 it was revealed that Network Rail were indeed seriously looking into the proposal of building high speed lines shadowing 5 routes (WCML, ECML, MML, GWML) one of them being the Chiltern Main Line.[9][10]
- Lengthening of platforms at South Ruislip, West Ruislip, Saunderton, Kings Sutton, Sudbury Hill Harrow, Sudbury and Harrow Road and Northolt Park to accommodate eight vehicles, thereby obviating the need for vehicles to be locked out of use on departure from London Marylebone
- The restoration of the quadruple track between South Ruislip (Northolt Junction) and West Ruislip, allowing trains to call at both stations without blocking the line. Triple track currently exists at West Ruislip, with the up platform loop still in situ, and at South Ruislip, with the Down Main through line also in situ. This would involve the reconstruction of the new down platform at West Ruislip, and the reconstruction of the up platform at South Ruislip. This 'Chiltern Metro' service was not programmed in to the last round of franchising agreements.
- Restoration of fast through lines at Beaconsfield as part of a longer term aspiration for a 90 minute journey time between London and Birmingham.[11]
- Double track the line from Princes Risborough to Aylesbury.
- Remodelling Banbury Station and tracks[12].
- Building of the West Hampstead Interchange to allow easy interchange with the London Overground, Jubilee Line, Metropolitan Line and First Capital Connect service. This would also give Chiltern Railways an interchange with the future Orbirail line.
- New Chiltern Metro Service that would operate 4+tph for Wembley Stadium, Sudbury & Harrow Road, Sudbury Hill Harrow, Northolt Park, South Ruislip and West Ruislip. This would require a reversing facility at West Ruislip, passing loops at Sudbury Hill Harrow and a passing loop at Wembley Stadium (part of the old down fast line is in use as a central reversing siding, for stock movements and additionally for 8-car football shuttles to convey passengers to the stadium for events).[13]
- Re-opening the line between Oxford and Princes Risborough[14][15], which would provide an alternative to the Oxford-Paddington route. The Oxford to Banbury spur would then be handed over to the Chiltern Main Line to create a diversionary loop from Princes Risborough to Banbury via Oxford. This option requires an expensive crossing of the M40 motorway.
- Building a connection at Bicester to the Oxford to Bicester Line, allowing direct trains from Marylebone to Oxford via Bicester Town[14].
- Re-opening the passenger line between Aylesbury and Bedford via Milton Keynes[14]. Two miles of the line north of Aylesbury re-opened on 14 December 2008 terminating at a new station, Aylesbury Vale Parkway[16].
- Re-opening the Oxford to Bedford line. This would form part of a future Varsity Line[14].
- Re open the former Great Western Railway branch line to Uxbridge High Street, continuing the route to Heathrow Airport. This would give Birmingham a direct rail link with the largest airport in the United Kingdom.
- Extending Oyster Pay-as-you-go to High Wycombe and Aylesbury.[18]
- If the Croxley Rail link gets the go ahead from TfL and Hertfordshire County Council, direct services into Watford junction from Aylesbury will be likely, as it will link the Chilterns to the important commercial centre at Watford and the important transport connections at the Junction.
See also
References
- ^ "Chiltern Railways sets new record for punctuality". Chiltern.
- ^ "PPM actual Office of Rail Regulation - National Rail Trends". ORR.
- ^ "Chiltern Railways is on the market", Railnews (2007-07-31). Retrieved on 10 September 2007.