Chiltern Railways - TOC Focus

Good afternoon, this report will give you some information about Chiltern Railways and an insight into their rolling stock, routes and history.

Chiltern Railways are known for being one of the most punctual rail operators in the UK and regularly score the highest passenger satisfaction levels in the UK. Chiltern Railways have held the franchise since July 1996 and have gone from strength to strength and seen phenomenal levels of growth. It operates commuter, regional and InterCity services from its London terminus at Marylebone to destinations such as Gerrards Cross, High Wycombe, Bicester, Aylesbury, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon, Birmingham and even as far as Kidderminster.

At present, there is one train an hour to, High Wycombe, Gerrards Cross and Princes Risborough with trains every half hour to Birmingham, Aylesbury and Bicester North. There is a train direct from London Marylebone to Stratford-upon-Avon every two hours and in the peak hours there are trains direct from London Marylebone to Kidderminster.

Since starting back in 1996, there have been 3 main upgrade and improvement projects; evergreen 1, 2 & 3. Evergreen 1 was a project to redouble the Chiltern Mainline between Princes Risborough and Bicester North in 1998. Evergreen 2 was a project to improve signalling between High Wycombe and Bicester and between Princes Risborough and Aylesbury and the construction of a new depot at Wembley. The final Evergreen project, Evergreen 3, included a £250 million upgrade of the Chiltern Mainline.

Phase 1 of Evergreen 3 included upgrading the Mainline between London Marylebone and Birmingham to permit 100mph running. Phase 2 of Evergreen 3 is still currently active. This project involves rebuilding the railway line between Bicester & Oxford. Writing this report now, there are less than 100 days until the line between London Marylebone and Oxford Parkway opens, creating the first new railway line between London and a major British city in over 100 years.

Chiltern have a variety of rolling stock including DMU's and loco hauled trains. The whole network from London to Aylesbury, Birmingham and Kidderminster is unelectrified meaning all trains operated by Chiltern Railways are diesel. London Marylebone station is now the only terminus in London that is unelectrified.

Chiltern Railways have a fleet of 39 Class 165's which were new in 1991 to Network SouthEast and still remain part of the core fleet. All 39 units were refurbished at Ilford depot between 2003 and 2005 which included the installation of air conditioning. The routes operated by the Class 165's are:

London to Aylesbury/Gerrards Cross/High Wycombe/Bicester North/Banbury/Stratfor-upon-Avon

Leamington Spa to Birmingham.

 

Chiltern Railways also operate a fleet of 19 Class 168's which were introduced between 1998 and 2004. Primarily, the Class 168's operate the Mainline route between London Marylebone and Birmingham as they are higher spec than the 165's. The first few Class 168's were delivered with a Networker style front end as the finished Turbostar front end was still being designed. From late 2013, Chiltern began a refurbishment of the Class 168's which was designed to emulate the prestigious Mk3's.

Chiltern Railways also operate a small fleet of mainline registered Class 121's which currently are used in the peaks on the single branch line between Princes Risborough and Aylesbury. In April 2003, a Class 121 was refurbished for this purpose.

In 2008, Chiltern Railways placed an order for 4, 2 coach Class 172 Turbostars. They didn't enter service until 2011 but still remain the newest DMU to operate in the UK. They were ordered to supplement the Class 165's already in service but can often be found working to Birmingham attached to a Class 168. They aren't fitted with trip cocks which mean they cannot operate on the London to Aylesbury line, which uses London Underground infrastructure. 

Probably the most luxurious trains in Chiltern Railways fleet are the Mk3 loco hauled trains. Originally, a fleet of 5 Class 67's hauling Mk3's and a DVT were acquired by a company called Wrexham and Shropshire. Wrexham and Shropshire began operating a new service between London Marylebone and Wrexham with these especially refurbished loco hauled trains. Unfortunately by 2011 the company were loosing money and were forced to cease operations.

As a result of the closure of Wrexham and Shropshire, Chiltern Railways took on the loco hauled Class 67 trains for use on its Mainline service between London Marylebone and Birmingham. With the increased line speeds to 100mph and new loco hauled trains, Virgin had serious competition on the WCML. In 2012 a start was made to replace the slam doors on the Mk3's with new sliding plug doors which enable speedy boarding times hence reducing dwell times at stations.

From late 2014 a start was made to replace the Class 67's with more fuel efficient, reliable and more powerful Class 68's locomotives which were brand new in the same year. Six Class 68's are with Chiltern, 68010-68015, all of which carry Chiltern Mainline silver and grey livery to match the Mk3's. All are able to work in push/pull mode with a DVT. DRS 68008/68009 have been modified for this as well.

 Chiltern Railways Fleet:

Class 121: 121020 & 121034 (Total: 2)

Class 165: 165001-165039 (Total: 39)

Class 168/0: 168001-168005

Class 168/1: 168106-168113

Class 168/2: 168214-168219 (Total: 19)

Class 172: 172101-172104 (Total: 4)

Class 68: 68010-68015 (Total: 6)

Class 82 (DVT): 82301-82305 & 82309

(Total: 6)

 The iconic heritage bubble car which can be seen from the platform at Aylesbury.

Still the most modern DMU in Britain, 172104 is seen departing Banbury.

Tomorrow, a post focussing on the Abellio Greater Anglia station updates, brought to you by Harry. Cheers, Lewis