East Coast Main Line Services
Whilst RAGES main aim is the re-instatement of the local service between Edinburgh and Berwick, we maintain a watchful eye on the East Coast main line services run by CrossCountry and LNER and take any action as appears necessary.
HST Farewell
As part of the farewell tours of the High Speed Train, "The Northumbrian" ran from Edinburgh to Leeds on 20th December 2019. The HST set had been specially re-painted in its original Inter-City 125 blue and grey livery.
The train stopped at Dunbar's platform 1 and our photographer was there to catch the action.
One of his photographs can be seen on the Dunbar page.
These diesel trains have had a long association with Dunbar and the east coast main line.
In the early 1980s they replaced the Deltic locomotive-hauled trains on the east coast main line and have seen many different liveries with as many operators: British Rail; GNER; National Express East Coast; East Coast; Virgin Trains East Coast; and latterly London North Eastern Railway.
Many HST's were displaced in the early 1990s by the InterCity 225 electic trains on the ECML, but some were still needed for the services to Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen where the electric overhead wires had not reached.
Now that the Azumas, which can change to diesel operation for the non-electrified parts of the network, are in service, the HST's are no longer required on the ECML.
However, some HSTs are being upgraded to run on the ScotRail network.
Berwick Station
Our Berwick Representative, Barrie Forrest BEM, photographed the new booking office in October 2018, reporting that it had been reduced from two windows to one.
His photographs taken at his visit are seen opposite.
East Coast Main Line Franchise Now LNER
On 16th May 2018, David Horne, Managing Director of
Virgin Trains East Coast, wrote to RAGES to update us on their East
Coast Main Line services following the Secretary of State for
Transport’s statement.
"The Government has announced that our contract will come to an end on
24th June 2018 and that the services we currently run will be delivered
by the Operator of Last Resort (OLR). We are deeply disappointed at the
Government’s decision and that we cannot continue to deliver our
transformational plans for the franchise, building on our £75 million
worth of investment since 2015.
"We are very proud of the VTEC team’s exceptional contribution in
transforming the passenger experience on the East Coast Main Line –
achieving the highest levels of customer satisfaction of any franchised
operator in the UK. In less than three years, we have undertaken a full
refurbishment of our existing fleet, created 48 new services between
London and Edinburgh and delivered industry-leading initiatives for our
customers, including Advance Purchase on the day tickets. We have laid
the groundwork for the rollout of the 65 new state-of-the-art Intercity
Express Programme (IEP) trains, which will be entering service from
December, adding thousands more seats for passengers. Our colleagues
will continue to support the successful delivery of the franchise and
the IEP rollout, working for London North Eastern Railway, and we wish
them every success.
"Virgin and Stagecoach are privileged to have operated trains on behalf
of the UK Government for the past 22 years. In doing so, we have always
met in full our contractual commitments. While we have highlighted our
track record of innovation, investment and customer improvements, we of
course regret that our plans and ambitions for the East Coast franchise
have not proceeded as we originally envisaged.
"I wanted to take this opportunity to echo the Secretary of State’s
reassurances that the changes to the contract will not impact on the
day-to-day operation of train services and ticketing, and customers can
continue their travel plans with complete confidence."
See the "new" livery in the gallery opposite.
Franchise - VTEC
Virgin Trains East Coast took over the east coast main line franchise on 1 March 2015. More details are in The Rages Rag issue 64.
Meet the Manager
Prior to the new franchisee takeover, in February 2015, Barrie Forrest met Jonny Holdcroft, Stakeholder Communications Manager, at Berwick.
Tom Thorburn met the Manager at Dunbar on the same day.
The points raised can be seen in The Rages Rag issue 64.
RAGES Meeting with East Coast MD
In the hope to get improved services at Dunbar with
East Coast, a meeting with Karen Boswell, Managing Director of East Coast to
discuss their service in our area took place on 19th March 2012 and is
reported in The Rages Rag Issue 53.