The West Coast Main Line is a key strategic railway line in the United Kingdom. It links the cities of London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, Lancaster and Carlisle. Virgin Trains took on the franchise to run train services on the routes in 1997 and as part of the agreement wanted an upgrade to the railway line to allow for faster more frequent trains to grow the business.[1] The upgrade started in 1998 and was completed in 2009.[2] It came under parliamentary and media scrutiny because of cost and schedule overruns.[3] Further improvements such as the Norton Bridge rail flyover were completed after these dates.[4] The project is sometimes given the acronym WCRM - West Coast Route Modernisation.[5]

West Coast Main Line

Previous modernisations

In the middle of the twentieth century the line was upgraded substantially as part of the 1955 Modernisation Plan.[6][7] Further electrification was discussed in 1968.[8] The line north of Crewe was modernised by further electrification from Weaver Junction to Glasgow in the 1970s.[9][10] Some innovative electrical engineering technology was used on the project including lighter catenary and extensive use of headspans.[11] Substantial new signaling also took place in this timeframe.[12] The Advanced Passenger Train concept was in effect a part of that upgrade. It relied on tilting trains to increase speed on the route rather than major civil engineering interventions.[13][14]

Post privatisation modernisation

The late 20th and early 21st century modernisation began without public sector involvement but with Railtrack. However, the Strategic Rail Authority was concerned about cost overruns. Railtrack asked the government for more money to complete the project but the Labour Party Secretary of State for Transport Stephen Byers put the company into liquidation. This and other problems with this project and its cost and time overruns, is usually considered the cause of the liquidation of Railtrack.[15][16] In 2002 Bechtel was invited to join the project.[17] The upgrade went substantially over budget.[18][19] Regular updates were then conducted by the UK Parliament accounts department.[20] The Strategic Rail Authority published a document in June 2003 which re-examined and clarified many of the assumptions and specified the direction and scope of the whole project.[21]

Technical aspects

The upgrade involved:[22]

  • Major remodeling of Rugby railway station[23]
  • Proof House Junction in Birmingham was also remodelled.
  • Many Level crossings were either removed or modernised - 77 in total.
  • Over 800 points, switches and crossings renewed, improved or removed
  • Overhead line renewals
  • Power supply upgrade to autotransformer system
  • Track renewals- 430 miles[24]
  • Over 2000 signals modified or renewed with better line of sight etc.[25]
  • Quadrupling the two track section in the Trent Valley including TAME viaduct[26][27][28]
Preston North WCML AT ready
Barton WCML AutoTransformer ready
WCML Broughton wicketkeeper electrification anchor

Benefits

The benefits of the project are claimed to be capacity improvements, journey time reductions of up to 28% in some cases and improved safety.[29] Although Virgin Trains were part of the driver for the project, the client is actually listed as the Department for Transport. The length of the project was just short of 11 years (110 months) and the final contract cost of approximately 9 billion pounds.[30] The Campaign for Better Transport (United Kingdom) has stated that the benefits are 1) Road congestion reduction. 2) Carbon emissions reduction. 3) Economic and 4) Passenger benefits. It is claimed it was part of the reason that the BBC decided to move its main operations from London to the north.[31]

Capacity enhancements

The Campaign for Better Transport (United Kingdom) in their paper entitled "Transformation of the West Coast Main Line" stated there are 40% more long distance services overall. There are 25% more between London and Scotland; 50% more between London and Birmingham and 150% more between London and Manchester.[32]

Safety

The removal and reduction of level crossings during the modernisation was one factor in improving the safety. A spokesperson for UK Railway Inspectorate made the statement in 2004 that "level crossings create the greatest potential for catastrophic risk on the railways".[33] Other crossings were also removed with subsequent reduction and modernisation of the overhead line. This also reduced maintenance costs.

Road congestion

Road congestion reduction has been harder to quantify but modeling that has been done suggests 26,000 less car journeys on the M1 and M40 motorways as a direct result along with as many as 7 million less car journeys between the cities of London and Manchester.[34]

Carbon emissions

On the London to Manchester route alone between 2009 and 2017, the modernisation resulted in a 77% increase in rail passengers; 23,000 tonnes of carbon saving and a 27% reduction in air passengers. The air passenger reduction was between Manchester and Heathrow, Gatwick, Stanstead and London City Airports. The number of flights between cities served by the WCML declined 67% since 2004 pre-COVID.[35]

Passenger benefits

In addition to journey time reductions, another result of the modernisation was an increase in capacity such that a 20 minute frequency of trains (3 per hour) between London and Manchester and London and Birmingham at key hours resulted.[36]

Issues - future work still needed

During modernisation, much of the signaling was renewed and concentrated in Rugby. However, money ran out and so the south end of the line still uses Wembley which controls assets that fail frequently.[37] This point of failure will need to be addressed in the future. Other upgrades are continuing.[38]

2020 onwards ongoing improvements

Carstairs has long being considered a bottleneck on the WCML and improvements including signaling, track renewal and other work finished in October 2022. Further work continued in 2023 and included work on the drains and also embankments.[39] The work also included substantial realligning of tracks and platforms to give line speed increases[40] and needed a 12-week closure but was completed on time.[41][42][43]

More power-hungry trains and further electric freight means at many times there is an overload of the power supply on the WCML. Parts of the route, including Preston- Carlisle is sometimes called congested infrastructure due to power supply constraints. Future upgrades will be planned to enhance these.[44]

Timeline

Timeline
DateEvent
1998Agreement between Railtrack and Virgin Trains to upgrade the line.
October 2001Railtrack goes into liquidation.[45][46]
January 2002Secretary of State for Transport Stephen Byers ask SRA to intervene and get project back on track.
May 2002Estimate of programme cost increases from £2.5 billion to £14.5 billion.
December 2005High-speed tilting trains introduced.[47]
October 2007First section of Trent Valley four-tracking scheme opened.[48]
December 2008Work mainly completed.[49]
2014Works start on the Norton Bridge project.
April 2015Work to replace bridge at Watford completed to enable line speed increase from 90 mph to 125 mph.[50]
March 2016First trains use the Norton Bridge rail flyover completed on budget and 18 months ahead of schedule.[51][52]
October 2022Major track renewal, signaling and simplification of track layout at Carstairs completed.
March 2023Further simplification of Carstairs and passing loop installed.[53]
May 30 2023Carstairs station reopens after a 12 week closure and blockade.[54]
July 20239 day closure of the route in the Trent Valley-Colwich Junction area for upgrades, resignalling, new track etc.[55]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "UK West Coast Route Modernisation Project - SEBoK". www.sebokwiki.org. Archived from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  2. ↑ "Transformation of the West Coast Mainline" (PDF). Campaign for better transport. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  3. ↑ "The Modernisation of the West Coast Main Line - National Audit Office (NAO) Report". National Audit Office. 22 November 2006. Archived from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  4. ↑ "First trains use Norton Bridge rail flyover". A Little Bit of Stone. 29 March 2016. Archived from the original on 9 September 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  5. ↑ "West Coast Main Line - Railway Technology". Railway Technology. Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  6. ↑ Evans, Andrew W. (1969). "Intercity Travel and the London Midland Electrification". Journal of Transport Economics and Policy. 3 (1): 69–95. ISSN 0022-5258. JSTOR 20052126.
  7. ↑ Nock, O.S. (1965). Britain's new railway: Electrification of the London-Midland main lines from Euston to Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Crewe, Liverpool and Manchester. London: Ian Allan. OCLC 59003738.
  8. ↑ "Route Improvements Weaver Junction to Glasgow" (PDF). Railway Archives. April 1968.
  9. ↑ Nock, O.S. (1974). Electric Euston to Glasgow. Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0711005303.
  10. ↑ "Electric all the way" (PDF). Railways archive. May 1974.
  11. ↑ "BR electrifies West-Coast extension". Electronics and Power. 20 (11): 469. 1974. doi:10.1049/ep.1974.0354.
  12. ↑ DEM, David Shirres BSc CEng MIMechE (2 May 2023). "Remodelling Carstairs Junction". Rail Engineer. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  13. ↑ Jones, S. (1975). "The Advanced Passenger Train: An economic alternative to the construction of new track for High Speed". Rail International (7). Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  14. ↑ "APT tilting train: The laughing stock that changed the world". BBC News. 18 December 2015. Archived from the original on 25 April 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  15. ↑ "Blood on the tracks". The Economist. 11 October 2001. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  16. ↑ "Railtrack makes final departure from stock market". The Independent. 14 November 2013. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  17. ↑ "West Coast Main Line". Bechtel Corporate. Archived from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  18. ↑ "The Modernisation of the West Coast Main Line - National Audit Office (NAO) Report". National Audit Office. 22 November 2006. Archived from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  19. ↑ "The Modernisation of the West Coast Main Line" (PDF). National Audit Organisation. 22 November 2006. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 November 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  20. ↑ "The Modernisation of the West Coast Main Line" (PDF). UK Parliament. 4 June 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 June 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  21. ↑ "West Coast Main Line Strategy" (PDF). Railways archive. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 December 2007. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  22. ↑ "West Coast Route Modernisation". www.networkrailconsulting.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  23. ↑ "MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS FOR RUGBY STATION GIVEN APPROVAL". Network Rail Media Centre. Archived from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  24. ↑ Spoors, Richard; Martin, James (2005). "Modernising the UK's west coast main line railway". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil Engineering. 158 (3): 112–119. doi:10.1680/cien.2005.158.3.112. ISSN 0965-089X.
  25. ↑ "Gantry Pole | Crown International". Crown International | Expertise in innovative road and rail infrastructure. 25 August 2010. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  26. ↑ "MAKING TRACKS IN TRENT VALLEY". Network Rail Media Centre. Archived from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  27. ↑ "Lichfield Trent Valley Four Tracking Project". Abacus. Archived from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  28. ↑ Baker, A. H. W.; Webb, D.; Fearnhead, R. (2007). "West Coast route modernisation: River Tame viaduct". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Bridge Engineering. 160 (4): 163–172. doi:10.1680/bren.2007.160.4.163. ISSN 1478-4637.
  29. ↑ "West Coast Route Modernisation". www.networkrailconsulting.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  30. ↑ "West Coast Route Modernisation" (PDF). Network Rail. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  31. ↑ "Transformation of the West Coast Mainline" (PDF). Campaign for Better Transport. p. 5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  32. ↑ "Transformation of the West Coast Main Line" (PDF). Campaign for Better Transport. March 2019. p. 7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  33. ↑ "Rail level crossings discouraged". BBC. 7 November 2004. Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  34. ↑ "Transformation of the West Coast Mainline" (PDF). Campaign for better transport. p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  35. ↑ "Transformation of the West Coast Main Line" (PDF). Campaign for Better Transport. March 2019. p. 12. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  36. ↑ "West Coast Route Modernisation". www.networkrailconsulting.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  37. ↑ Abbott, James (March 2022). "Keeping the premier line up to scratch". Modern Railways. Vol. 79. Key Publishing. pp. 56–59.
  38. ↑ "West Coast Main Line upgrades to continue during August Bank Holiday". Rail Technology Magazine. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  39. ↑ "Carstairs junction upgrade is key to modernising network". Network Rail Media Centre. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  40. ↑ DEM, David Shirres BSc CEng MIMechE (2 May 2023). "Remodelling Carstairs Junction". Rail Engineer. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  41. ↑ "Take a look at the new Carstairs Junction after 12-week remodelling project". Rail Technology Magazine. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  42. ↑ "Carstairs Junction remodelling". Scotlands Railway. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  43. ↑ "Carstairs Junction fully reopened". Network Rail Media Centre. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  44. ↑ Shirres BSc CEng MIMechE, David (10 July 2023). "The future of electrification". Rail Engineer. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  45. ↑ "Blood on the tracks". The Economist. 11 October 2001. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  46. ↑ "CNN.com - Railtrack investors annoyed but better off - June 27, 2002". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  47. ↑ "High-speed tilting train on track". 12 December 2005. Archived from the original on 30 July 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  48. ↑ "MAKING TRACKS IN TRENT VALLEY". Network Rail Media Centre. Archived from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  49. ↑ "West Coast rail works completed". 14 December 2008. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  50. ↑ "Orphanage Road bridge to be replaced as work to upgrade railway at Watford continues". Network Rail Media Centre. Archived from the original on 22 November 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  51. ↑ "Passengers benefiting from £250m railway upgrade between Stafford and Crewe". Network Rail Media Centre. Archived from the original on 30 July 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  52. ↑ "First trains use Norton Bridge rail flyover". A Little Bit of Stone. 29 March 2016. Archived from the original on 9 September 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  53. ↑ "£164m overhaul for key cross-border rail line". Network Rail Media Centre. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  54. ↑ Johnson, Thomas (30 May 2023). "Carstairs station reopens ending three-month blockade of West Coast Main Line junction". New Civil Engineer. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  55. ↑ "Railway upgrades to close Trent Valley line for nine days from Saturday". Network Rail Media Centre. Retrieved 12 July 2023.

Further reading

External websites

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