Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways is a train operating company in England. It was formed by the privatisation of British Rail in 1996, and operates mainline passenger trains from Marylebone station in London to Aylesbury and Birmingham Snow Hill. In 2002, the company began a new franchise of up to twenty years, promising significant investment in the route — the 20-year term is conditional on various investments and improvements over the life of the franchise.
Initially, the line was franchised to a company formed by the British Rail managers of the route, but in 2003 it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Laing Rail, who had owned a much smaller shareholding at privatisation. In 2008, Laing Rail was taken over in turn by Germany's Deutsche Bahn AG.
Ownership
On 6 July 2007, Henderson Fund Managers, the owner of John Laing, announced the sale of its Laing Rail subsidiary, as it wanted to focus on its public infrastructure portfolio. Arriva plc and Go-Ahead Group both expressed an interest in acquiring the company, but the final bidders were Germany's Deutsche Bahn and the Dutch NedRail.
In January 2008 it was announced that the Laing Rail company had been sold to Deutsche Bahn. Once approval from the Department for Transport, Transport for London and the Office of Rail Regulation was granted, the company became part of DB Regio. The Chiltern Railways management and brand remained unchanged.
Performance
Chiltern is considered one of the best operators in Britain, with PPMs regularly over 90% during the past 5 years. Chiltern is the only operating company which has achieved over 95% performance over 12 months. This is even more remarkable as Chiltern operates on much more strict conditions compared with its long-distance rivals, such as Virgin Trains, as Chiltern has a 5-minute window for performance while others have a 10-minute window.
The latest performance figures, published by the ORR (Office of Rail Regulation), rate Chiltern Railways as the third most punctual train operating company in the UK at 95.3% (PPM) and 95.5% (MAA) as of the third quarter of financial year 2009-10 - one of three TOCs to achieve over 95% for this quarter.
Project Evergreen
Evergreen is the name given by Chiltern to the major infrastructure works that the company has committed to over the 20-year duration of its franchise to improve the routes and services. Up to 2009, this has been divided into three distinct phases.
Evergreen 1
The main focus of phase 1 was the redoubling of the Chiltern Main Line between Aynho Junction and Princes Risborough, which also saw the reconstruction of Haddenham and Thame Parkway from a single platform to two platforms, the installation of a new platform at Princes Risborough, and the speed limit raised.
Evergreen 2
Phase 2 began after the award of Chiltern's new 20-year franchise. This saw a realignment of the route through Beaconsfield to allow speeds to be increased to 75 mph, improved signalling between High Wycombe and Bicester and between Princes Risborough and Aylesbury, the construction of two new platforms at London Marylebone (located on the old carriage sidings) and the construction of a new maintenance depot near Wembley Stadium.
Evergreen 3
The Department of Transport, Chiltern Railways and Network Rail agreed on 15 January 2010 to a £250m upgrade of the Chiltern main line. A quarter-of-a-mile double track will be constructed joining the Oxford to Bicester Line at Bicester Town to the Chiltern Main Line, allowing a new Oxford to London Marylebone service to operate. This will call at Bicester Town and High Wycombe. Part of the track between Wolvercote Tunnel (on the outskirts of Oxford) and Bicester Town will be restored to double track, and a new station constructed at Water Eaton Park-and-Ride. The scheme will include additional platforms at Bicester Town, Islip and Oxford. This part of the Evergreen project is subject to a Transport and Works Act application being approved by the Secretary of State, and is expected to be completed by 2013.
The second part of the Evergreen 3 project will upgrade the Marylebone - Birmingham Chiltern Main Line to permit 100 mph running on 50 more miles of track. Junctions at Neasden, Northolt and Aynho will be rebuilt to permit higher speeds. The 'up' through track will be restored at Princes Risborough, the existing 'up' line becoming a platform loop, a new turnback siding provided at Gerrards Cross and a new 'down' through track built from Northolt Junction to Ruislip Gardens, the existing 'down' track will continue to serve South Ruislip station. The current speed restrictions through Bicester station will be removed to permit 100 mph running. There will also be additional platforms at Birmingham Moor Street. Accelerated services are planned to start in May 2011.
Due to the proposed speed increases on large parts of the line, journey times will be reduced significantly. From Marylebone, the fastest peak-hour journey time to Birmingham Moor Street will be 92 minutes, instead of the 117 minutes it currently takes. The table below outlines the proposed peak timetable improvements.
Chiltern Railways chairman Adrian Shooter said, "This is the biggest passenger rail project for several generations not to call on the taxpayer for support. Working closely with Network Rail, we are going to create a new main-line railway for the people of Oxfordshire and the Midlands. This deal demonstrates that real improvements to rail services can be paid for without public subsidy by attracting people out of their cars and on to trains."
Network Rail said its investment will be reimbursed by a "facility charge" over the next 30 years—initially by Chiltern Railways, whose franchise expires in 2022, and then by the future franchisee. The infrastructure upgrade will be carried out by main contractor BAM Nuttall, in partnership with Jarvis and Atkins.
The £200m project, which is being promoted by Chiltern Railways, had originally proposed doubling the entire route from Oxford to Bicester; however, structural problems found in September 2009 may mean that the section from Bicester and Islip remains single-track. This would not affect the Evergreen plans but would limit intended services between Oxford and Milton Keynes as part of the East West Rail Link.[citation needed] Oxfordshire County Council supports the scheme but remains to be convinced of the benefits to be gained from building the new station at Water Eaton, which would be in the Green Belt.
All signalling on the route (including the new platforms at Oxford) would be controlled by Marylebone Signalling Centre.
Rollingstock
Chiltern Railways operates services using a fleet of Class 165 "Turbo" and 168 "Clubman" units. The "Turbo" units have undergone refurbishment work at Bombardier's Ilford Works, and the Class 168s have recently been lengthened. Chiltern also operates a single Class 121 "Bubble Car" on its Aylesbury to Princes Risborough line. This heritage unit was extensively refurbished, and operates the majority of the services on the line. In 2008, Chiltern ordered four 2-car Class 172 "Turbostar" units to increase capacity.
When starting in 1996, Chiltern inherited 34 Class 165/0 (Networker) diesel multiple units fitted with Automatic Train Protection and a tripcock so they could be used on London Underground lines on the approach to London Marylebone. The trains were originally used for both suburban and commuter services, including to Birmingham. However the class 165 was designed for suburban travel and not intercity services, unlike its sister, the Class 166, and so, following healthy growth, Chiltern took order of Class 168 units, leaving the Class 165s to be concentrated on stopping services to Banbury and Aylesbury, although they are still sometimes seen on the runs to Birmingham. Chiltern now runs all 39 Class 165/0 made after the five First Great Western units were transferred over.
The first Class 168s ("Clubman") to arrive was the 168/0, which externally resembles the Networker Turbo but is better suited for the intercity service to Birmingham, and was, in fact, the basis for the Class 17x Turbostars. The Clubman trains were the first to be delivered after privatisation, and allowed Chiltern to intensify the commuter services, whilst also providing more comfort on the intercity runs. Later orders of the Class 168 provided the 168/1 and 168/2, which had the Turbostar wiring and external design, and so can be considered to be Turbostars. The Class 168 differs from the rest of the Turbostar family in that it is fitted with the tripcock and ATP, the same as the Class 165/0.
Chiltern is in the process of building up a fleet of Mark 3 coaches, which it intends to use on its planned main line services from London to Birmingham that will use the newly reopened platforms at Birmingham Moor Street. The intention is that they will be completely refurbished, and will have both sliding doors (similar to those of the Mark 3s operated by Iarnród Éireann) and toilet rentention tanks fitted. Deutsche Bahn owns 12 coaches and a number of DVTs already, with options on others from ROSCOs. Introducing these on the Birmingham express trains will then allow Chiltern to cascade the Class 168s currently used on to other services.