Regional trains squeezed as ECML congestion heads north

摘要

HOT on the heels of Network Rail remodelling King's Cross comes news of cuts to East Coast Main Line services. From May 2022, TransPennine Express must cut trains between York and Edinburgh to make way for more trains to London, which will use the capacity created at King's Cross. It's bittersweet news for north-east England - hence Gateshead Council Leader Martin Gannon's comments that it was "almost like a disaster scenario for the North East". Transport for the North's rail committee met as this issue of RAIL went to press, so I can't yet report what its members said. But their briefing papers included a bullet point: "Transport for the North and its members are clear that, while we understand the ambition for the ECML timetable revision proposals, long term intra-regional connectivity for the North should be protected and enhanced, and is concerned that the proposals, in their current form, do not do enough to take account of these requirements and therefore do not reflect the 'levelling up agenda'." In essence, the North East is losing trains to Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh in favour of more to London. This allows LNER to trumpet the "benefits of over a decade of planning and investment in the East Coast Main Line".