West Coast Main Line Pendolino Tilting Trains, United Kingdom

Modernisation of the 401-mile rail route between London and Glasgow and its key divergences, serving Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester, is the largest rail project in the United Kingdom, at a cost of around £8bn.

The route has had to meet growing demand against a backdrop of falling investment, consequently requiring an immediate and radical overhaul of the line.

Key points on the network, in particular major junctions just outside London Euston, Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street stations and between Coventry and Birmingham, were in need of drastic measures to increase capacity.

The modernisation of the route was at the heart of the 15-year franchise agreement reached with Virgin Trains in March 1997; also included was a commitment to refurbish existing rolling stock. Virgin announced plans for a new fleet of Class 390 Pendolino electric tilting trains, designed to operate at up to 140mph when route modernisation was completed.

The project now encompasses a 125mph line between London, Birmingham and Manchester, with incremental improvements elsewhere. In September 2006, a new speed record was set on the WCML – a Pendolino train completed the 401-mile Glasgow Central – London Euston run in a record 3 hours 55 minutes, beating the existing record by 20 minutes.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Railtrack's original cost estimate for the project was £2.5bn for upgrading track along the route and installing a new radio transmission-based moving block signalling system. However, during the next five years the cost of the project rose gradually towards £10bn while at the same time reducing in scope from 140mph top speed to 125mph. Moving block signalling was also abandoned early on.

Such a major project created substantial upheaval while work is carried out. In August 2002 the Strategic Rail Authority agreed a new plan to rebuild sections of the route using lengthy ‘blockades’ of up to three months. The new methods proved highly successful from an engineering point of view, with money saved by concentrating work, and with many projects completed on-time or early.

Under its franchise agreement Virgin Trains was to run at 125mph initially, with maximum speed rising to 140mph once the work was completed. However, due to the failure of the West Coast Main Line upgrade to incorporate in-cab signalling, this increase has thus far proved impossible.

TRACK AND SIGNALLING

The main constraint of the West Coast line is the lack of capacity imposed by outdated track layouts and signalling systems. It also crosses challenging terrain in its northern half and is hemmed-in by roads and buildings at its southern end. Attention has concentrated on rebuilding track for 125mph, renewing overhead line equipment and resignalling for higher speeds.

The quality of the upgraded track is claimed by engineers to be to continental high-speed line standards. Contractors have used a lot of innovative equipment and techniques, such as high-tech track renewal and flash-butt welding, more extensively in parts of this project than anywhere else in the world.

ROLLING STOCK

Like the infrastructure, the trains Virgin inherited were from a previous generation, so Virgin quickly entered a deal with train builders Fiat and Alstom to replace the existing fleet with 53 nine-coach fixed-formation tilting trains, based on the Italian manufacturer's 'Pendolino' concept. The first pre-production train carried passengers in August 2002.

Each train has a shop rather than a traditional buffet, selling food and drink, magazines, CDs and headphones for the at-seat entertainment system. Lessons learned from sister franchise CrossCountry’s introduction of new trains, particularly in regard to interiors, were applied to Pendolino.

Despite delays in their entry to traffic, and technical problems caused by the complex nature of the trains, the Class 390 EMUs have been a general success. All 53 have been in service, with Virgin Trains currently in discussions with Alstom and the Department for Transport over increasing their number of carriages.

TRAIN PROTECTION AND WARNING SYSTEM

Initially planned was European Train Control System (ETCS), a new Europe-wide standard signalling system for lines running at more than 125mph, for the 140mph phase of the project. This has now been dropped until the new system has been proven. Alstom is working on ETCS for the UK at its Asfordby test centre near Nottingham.

THE FUTURE

Based on an eight-year timescale, during which government subsidy to main operator Virgin was to fall from £68.4m to a £126.6m premium payment in 2006–07, the smooth continuation of services during the modernisation work is vital to the project's success. To control rising costs and get the project back on track, US project manager Bechtel was called in to help in 2001 and has improved performance. With its reduced scope, WCRM will not provide everything originally promised, but will mean that by 2005 the UK's busiest rail route will have been completely rebuilt.

Quadrupling of the largely double-track Trent Valley line, which runs from Rugby, avoiding congested Birmingham, to Stafford, is still on the cards, and is hoped to be finished by 2009. This extra capacity will be vital if traffic growth forecasts prove accurate.

2007 DERAILMENT

On 23 February 2007, a nine carriage Virgin West Coast Pendolino train, "City of Glasgow", was derailed along the West Coast Mainline in Cumbria, North West England. The train was reported to have been traveling at up to 95mph at the time of derailment. Investigations are ongoing, although evidence points towards the accident being caused by a faulty set of points. There was one fatality and 22 injuries.