Cross Country
CrossCountry is the brand name of XC Trains Ltd., a British train operating company owned by Arriva. The company operates a network of express and long-distance train services between a variety of towns and cities outside London.
Formation
The CrossCountry franchise was formed through the amalgamation of most of the former Cross Country franchise held by Virgin Trains with some of the longer-distance routes operated by Midlands-based Central Trains. On 10 July 2007, the Department for Transport announced that Arriva plc had won the rights to the franchise, with the company taking control on 11 November 2007.
Routes
The company operates a number of key inter-city routes outside London including the Cross Country Route from the North East to the South West, as well as a range of shorter-distance regional expresses.
Unlike most other franchise operators in Great Britain, CrossCountry does not manage any stations, even though there are certain stations served by no operator other than CrossCountry.
Services withdrawn or transferred
All of the services operated via the West Coast Mainline by the previous Cross Country franchisee, Virgin Trains, passed to other operators: trains between Manchester and Scotland transferred to First Transpennine Express, while trains between Birmingham and Glasgow became part of an enlarged West Coast franchise operated by Virgin Trains.
The tender for the franchise did not include retaining services south east of Guildford to Brighton and Gatwick Airport and all such services ceased on 13 December 2008. Passengers for Gatwick Airport now have to use connecting services from Reading.
Future Services
Plans were included by CrossCountry to reopen the railway station at Kenilworth. In April 2008, they agreed with Warwickshire county council to draw up a business case.
There are proposals for a station at Worcester (Norton) Parkway near the city of Worcester, which is currently by-passed by CrossCountry's trains. If this station is built, then it may be served by CrossCountry services.
There are talks taking place that may see Cross Country services go through from Edinburgh to Glasgow via Carstairs, replacing the services currently provided by East Coast Trains.
Furthermore CrossCountry wish to extend their Birmingham New Street to Leicester services to Cambridge. Also the operator has ambitions to increase frequency on its Bournemouth to Reading route to every 30 minutes by extending its Reading to Newcastle service to Bournemouth.
Performance
Latest performance figures released by the ORR rate the new operator somewhat better than their predecessor with a PPM of 88.5% over the third quarter of the 2009/10 financial year and a Monthly Annual Average (MAA) up to 31 December 2009 of 90.8%.
Criticism
Under the control of the previous franchisee, Virgin Trains, Cross Country services were increased in frequency, but using shorter trains. Intended to provide a more attractive service without reducing overall capacity, this strategy has left the company struggling to accommodate peak loads on popular services or the ongoing growth in passenger numbers. It also led to the withdrawal of services from previously-served destinations such as Poole as the company concentrated its rolling stock on its core network.
The now defunct Strategic Rail Authority refused to underwrite the cost of Virgin Trains ordering additional rolling stock. CrossCountry has since added five refurbished high speed train sets to its fleet. The removal of on-board shops to create additional luggage space has attracted criticism from passengers and MPs in the Westcountry. The removal of bays of seating around tables and the addition of more seats with reduced legroom has been criticised, after Arriva promised to increase the seating capacity of their trains, which was believed to refer to lengthening of the trains themselves.
CrossCountry was also criticised for introducing the first £1,000 fare in Britain in November 2009, for a first class return between Newquay and Kyle of Lochalsh. A little over a year earlier, the same fare had cost under £500. Commentators noted that CrossCountry were charging over £100 for the trip between Par and Newquay, even though the trains operating it have no first class compartments, and First Great Western, which operates the service, charges as little as £3.90 for a days unlimited travel on the line.
Rollingstock
Multiple unit fleet
Virgin CrossCountry previously operated the Class 220 and Class 221 DEMUs. Twenty one Class 221 units have been transferred to the Virgin West Coast franchise to operate the North Wales route and the West Midlands to Scotland services. CrossCountry also use Class 170 Turbostars inherited from Central Trains. Class 220s and 221s are undergoing refurbishment at Bombardier, Derby. This includes removing the shop and adding extra luggage space. The refurbishment was completed in August 2009.
HST Fleet
The first CrossCountry-liveried HST powercar was released from its overhaul at Brush Traction, Loughborough on 16 July 2008. To identify its fleet, CrossCountry is renumbering all of its HST units by adding an extra 200 to the old number, the newly repainted HST being 43301 (originally 43101). 43301 had to be completely rebuilt by Brush Traction, as it has been out of service for more than 5 years. As a standard, CrossCountry is installing MTU Friedrichshafen engines to replace the old Paxman Valenta ones, and is repainting the units into the two-tone CrossCountry livery of grey/silver and chocolate brown. At present 5 x Mark 3 TSO's (1 out of each HST set) are currently stored and 1 set (XC01) went on loan to East Coast for 2 Months between January and March 2010. From the December 2009 timetable change the number of weekday HST diagrams was reduced, from 4 to 2 (3 on Mondays/Fridays). All HST's are currently 2+7.