East Coast Line Hand

The line East Coast Hand Line , or ECML (“principal line of the east coast”), is one of principal the line of Railroad of the the United Kingdom. It connects London to Edinburgh in Scotland, via Leeds.

Route

The definition of the ECML of the Network Rail includes/understands four lines disctinctes:

the principal line enters the Gare of King' S Cross to London and the Gare Waverley to Edinburgh, via Stevenage, Peterborough, Grantham, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle upon the Tyne, Berwick-upon-Tweed and Dunbar;
the line of Doncaster with Leeds, via Wakefield Westgate;
the junction of North Berwick towards Edinburgh, and
the suburban junction of the Station of Moorgate in London towards Stevenage, via Finsbury Park and the Loop of Hertford.

In the general use of the railway magazines, one admits that the ECML continues in north, generally along the east coast, towards Kirkcaldy, Dundee, Arbroath and Aberdeen. In the north of Edinburgh, it includes/understands the famous bridge Cantilever of Forth Bridge and in Dundee the curved bridge of Tay Bridge, spanning both of vast estuaries.

The opening of the colliery of Selby involved a deviation of the line between Colton, just in the south of York, and Hirst Temple, just in the north of the crossing of the highway M62. Line ECML is one of the fastest lines of the the United Kingdom, most of the course being authorized to 200 km/h. The trains InterCity 225 which serve this line would be ready to circulate to 225 km/h in normal service if indication were modernized to allow the increase speed. They circulated at the time of trial runs up to 260 km/h. These high speeds are possible because the line crosses the areas more the punts of England, such as the Lincolnshire and the Cambridgeshire, which allows a rectilinear layout. In the south of Leeds/Doncaster, most of the line is rectilinear. By comparison, the West Coast Main Line must cross the valley of the Trent and the mountains of Cumbrie, which imposes more curves and a limit the speed on 180 km/h (although this situation was improved recently by modernization of the West Coast Main Line and the introduction of the pendular trains Pendolino S, allowing a speed of 200 km/h).

History

The line was built per pieces by several small railroad companies, but various acquisitions and fusions reduced to the three only owners of the line, that is to say north towards the south: the North British Railway, the North Eastern Railway and the Great Northern Railway. In 1860, these companies created a pool of rolling stock, the East Coast Joint Stock to exploit services with common vehicles. In 1923, all the three are gathered in the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).

Line ECML was the backdrop of a great number of railway voyages and famous engines. The line was traversed during many years by the famous engines with vapor “Flying Scotsman” and “Mallard”: the latter beat officially the world speed records in steam traction on the section Grantham - Peterborough, a record which it holds still to date. The engines with vapor disappeared with the beginning of the year 1960, to be replaced by machines diesel, initially the legendary engine Deltic with two engines, which remains the most powerful machine electric Diesel ever built with the the United Kingdom. It was then replaced by the InterCity 125 or “HST” ( High Speed Train ), brought into service between 1976 and 1981.

The trenches and the entries of tunnels right in the north of King' S Cross form a memorable decoration smoked out in the Film of 1955, Tueurs of ladies ( The Ladykillers ). In the years 1950 also, the line in a publicity Elizabethan Express train . Later, the British police film Get Casing of 1971 described a voyage of London King' S Cross-country race at the central station of Newcastle.

Decision surprising for many observers on behalf of a preserving government , line ECML was electrified at the end of the year 1980 on public funds. The electrification was completed at the end of the years 1990, allowing the startup of the trains InterCity 225 current. Items of diesel equipment still circulate on the ECML - the Voyager of Virgin (on the connections CrossCountry ) and oldest oars HST ensuring of the services the north of Edinburgh towards Inverness and Aberdeen.

Currently, in spite of the faster trains and the more frequent services, the line does not manage to satisfy the request. Although it has four ways in the south of Peterborough, a serious Bottleneck remains on the level of the Viaduc Welwyn two-track just in the north of London. There is also a crossing on level with the line Nottingham - Lincoln just in the north of the station of Newark. There were others critical - according to the book of Christian Wolmar, One The Wrong Line , the project of electrification of the end of the year 1980 would have been reduced for reasons of cost so much so that the catenary equipment would not have respected the same standards as for WCML. Direct consequence, it frequently arrives at the time of strong winds that the overhead line is cut down with ground causing of serious delays.

Owners

Currently, the principal one exploiting line is Great North Eastern Railway (GNER), whose services include/understand regular trains of King' Cross with Leeds and Edinburgh. The other owners of services travellers on the line are:

Capital First Connect: serices suburban between King' S Cross-country race and Peterborough and Moorgate and Stevenage via Hertford Loop
Hull Trains: between Kings Cross-country race and Doncaster, continuing until Hull,
Central Trains: between Grantham and Peterborough, left the service connecting Liverpool Files Street and Norwich
Virgin Trains: the services cross-country race in the north of Sheffield are directed either via Leeds or Doncaster. The trains of Leeds borrow the ECML between Wakefield Westgate and Leeds and again in the north of York. the trains of Doncaster borrow the ECML from the north of Doncaster. Occasional services circulate of Doncaster with Leeds before joining the ECML in York
Midland Mainline: between Doncaster and Leeds, prolongations of services circulating of or towards Sheffield, Leicester and London Saint-Pancras
TransPennine Express train: between York and Newcastle and York and Northallerton before leaving the ECML towards Middlesbrough via Yarm
Northern Rail: suburban services of Doncaster with Leeds and Chathill in Newcastle via Morpeth
First ScotRail: services between Edinburgh and North Berwick

The Office of the regulator of the rail authorized Grand Exchange Trains to exploit a service of King' S Cross to Sunderland, whose starting is awaited for 2007.

Eurostar also holds rights to make circulate five trains per day on the line for connections since the continental Europe worms of the destinations in the north of London, but these services were never activated.

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