Chiltern Railways

From Freepedia

Chiltern Railways is a train operating company in England. It was formed by the privatisation of British Rail in 1996 and it operates train mainline services from Marylebone station in London, to Aylesbury and Birmingham Snow Hill. Initially the line was franchised to a company formed by the British Rail managers of the route, but since 2003 has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Laing Rail, who owned a much smaller shareholding at privatisation. In 2002 a new 20 year franchise began which promises significant investment in the route.

The London to Birmingham route used by Chiltern Railways goes via High Wycombe, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Warwick and Solihull. The line to Aylesbury via Amersham shares tracks with London Underground's Metropolitan Line between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Amersham.

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 station. On certain summer weekends special services are extended from Aylesbury to the Buckinghamshire Railway Heritage Centre facilities at Quainton Road, a short way south of Verney Junction.

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.

Chiltern Railways operates services using a modern fleet of Class 165 "Turbo" and 168 "Clubman" units. The "Turbo" units are currently undergoing refurbishment work at Bombardier's Ilford Works. Chiltern also operates a single Class 121 "Bubble Car" on its Aylesbury to Princes Risborough shuttle. This unit was extensively refurbished, and provides cover for "Turbo" units away undergoing refurbishment.

Going by the "peak time" punctuality statistics published by the SRA, they are the 5th most punctual train operating company.

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

There are several plans [1] [2] for this route;

• All services to and from Birmingham Snow Hill station could be operated by Chiltern Railways from 2007. Chiltern services would continue past Kidderminster to Malvern.

• Building of the West Hampstead Interchange to allow easy interchange with the Silverlink Metro, Jubilee Line, Metropolitan Line and Thameslink service. This would also give Chiltern Railways an interchange with the future Orbirail line.

• A new railway built between Oxford and Princes Risborough, 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.

• Re-opening the passenger line between Aylesbury and Bedford via Milton Keynes.

• Opening a rail line from Aylesbury to a M6-M1 Parkway Station near Rugby.

• Re-opening the Oxford to Bedford line. This would form part of a future East-West Railway. (See Varsity Line.)

• Plans that are at an early stage have proposed a "Crossrail" scheme to link Marylebone and Fenchurch Street station. This would give extra east-west capacity through London and link two of the smaller rail franchises that could then be amalgamated.

External links

• Chiltern Railways official home page
• Railnews, Report on Gerrard Cross closure
• Information on the Gerrards Cross Tunnel

British train operating companies
InterCity:	Eurostar - First Great Western - First TransPennine Express - GNER - Hull Trains - Midland Mainline - one - Virgin Trains
London & South East:	c2c - Chiltern Railways - First Great Western Link - Gatwick Express - Heathrow Express - Island Line one - Silverlink - South Eastern Trains - South West Trains - Southern - Thameslink - WAGN
Regional:	Arriva Trains Wales - Central Trains - First ScotRail - Merseyrail - Northern Rail - Wessex Trains