High Speed Trains of The United Kingdom

High Speed Trains Of The United Kingdom

There are three types of trains in Britain that have been traditionally viewed as high speed trains:

• Advanced Passenger Train (APT) - Tilting trains which never entered into regular revenue-earning service.
• InterCity 125, also called HST (High Speed Train) - diesel trains consisting of two Class 43 power cars with a rake of Mark 3 coaches between.
• InterCity 225 - electric trains consisting of a Class 91 locomotive and a rake of Mark 4 coaches and Driving Van Trailer.

More recent 125 mph (201 km/h) trains that could be classed as high speed trains include:

• Class 180 Adelante
• Class 220 Voyager
• Class 221 Super Voyager
• Class 222 Meridians and Pioneers
• Class 390 Pendolino

A lot of money and resources were put into fundamental research into vehicle dynamics which, among other benefits, led to the development of the APT. This was designed to travel at high speeds around curves by tilting. Although the prototype was deemed successful and production units were built, they never entered regular service.

By this time, development was underway of another high speed train, which became the InterCity 125.

The origins of the InterCity 125 are steeped in irony, because it was planned as a stop-gap. Research had begun for the tilting Advanced Passenger Train (APT) but it was not possible to predict when it could enter service. The HST would apply what had been learned so far to traditional technology - a parallel project based on conventional principles but incorporating the newly discovered knowledge of wheel/rail interaction and suspension design. Although the APT never achieved all its design objectives the InterCity 125 was an outstanding success.

The InterCity 125 was introduced by British Rail between 1976 and 1982, when the maximum speed had been 100 mph (160 km/h). The increased speed and its rapid acceleration and deceleration slashed journey times around the country. The prototype class 252 (power cars 43000 and 43001) took the world record for diesel traction, achieving 143.2 mph (230 km/h) on 12 June 1973 on the East Coast Main Line between Northallerton and Thirsk. On 1 November 1987 the record was raised to 148.4 mph (238 km/h) by a shortened class 254 set running speed trials between Darlington and York. On 27 September 1985 a shortened class 254 set carrying passengers ran non-stop from Newcastle to London King's Cross, averaging 115.4 mph. HSTs were originally identified as Class 253 (seven trailer cars) used on the GWML and Class 254 (eight trailer cars) used on the ECML.

The InterCity 125 is still in use, and many people consider it to be the best train that Britain has manufactured in recent years - ironically the tilting trains it was supposed to complement and ultimately be replaced by only began to appear on British railways in the early 2000s.

However, the aim for the Advanced Passenger Train was to achieve 155 mph (250 km/h) running. Although this was achieved during trials, even then, it has still not been possible, in normal service, in the UK, apart from the dedicated CTRL, due to the shortness of British signal spacing.

The earliest replacement of InterCity 125s started with the introduction of the InterCity 225, between 1988 and 1991 in conjunction with electrifacation of the East Coast Main Line.

More recently, some InterCity 125s have been replaced or supplemented by:

• Class 180 Adelante - built 2000-2001 for First Great Western.
• Class 220 Voyager - built 2000-2001 for Virgin Trains.
• Class 221 Super Voyager - built 2001-2002 for Virgin Trains.
• Class 222 Meridian - built 2002-2004 for Midland Mainline.