Cross Country Trains Remembered, from BR Intercity to Virgin and Arriva CrossCountry

A look back at the history of Cross Country Trains, including the British Rail Intercity era, the Virgin and the current Arriva CrossCountry franchises.

In 1982 the regional structure of British Rail was replaced by "business sectors", a process known as sectorisation.

Most of British Rails long haul inter regional services became consolidated within the InterCity sector.

These included the Cross-Country services which were long distance trains running between pairs of cities that ran over a variety main lines.

By the 1990s these InterCity Cross-Country services were being operated by HST sets and Class 47s, with services operating north of Birmingham on the West Coast main line switching to Class 86 or Class 90 electric traction.

The Cross County network served a wide range of cities from Edinburgh and Aberdeen in Scotland to Penzance and Swindon in the Wales and the south west, Bournemouth and Brighton on the south coast and Dover in Kent.

The service to Dover Western Docks was cut back to a summer Saturdays only working in 1994 and the destination subsequently switched to Ramsgate after the closure of the Western Docks station.

The Ramsgate service could produce some interesting traction in place of the normal Class 47. This included a pair of Class 31s on the 22nd July 1995.

The twice daily service from Manchester to Brighton, which began in 1979, would continue running until 2008.

On the 16 May 1988 the Sussex Scot ran for the first time.

This named train ran between Brighton and either Glasgow Central or Edinburgh Waverley via Kensington Olympia, Reading and Birmingham New Street. The last run of the Sussex Scot occurred on the 28th September 2002.

On Summer Saturdays the Liverpool to Weymouth Intercity service would often worked by a parcels sector, later rebranded as Rail Express Systems, Class 47. It ran for the last time in September 2002.

With the coming of privatisation the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise was awarded to Virgin Trains in January 1997.

Virgin Cross Country inherited a fleet of Class 47 and Class 86 locomotives, Mark 2 Carriages, High Speed Trains and Class 158 Express Sprinter diesel multiple units from British Rail.

The fleet soon began to appear in the companies new red corporate livery.

The Summer Saturday service to Ramsgate ran for the last time in September 1999. During that year the train was operated by Class 55 deltic 55022 "Royal Scots Grey" on several occasions.

As part of its franchise commitment Virgin was required to replace the existing trains with new rolling stock.

In December 1998 Virgin signed a deal to lease 78 Voyager diesel–electric multiple units built by Bombardier Transportation.

This order consisted of 34 four-carriage Class 220 Voyagers and 40 five-carriage and four four-carriage Class 221 Super Voyagers.

The Super Voyagers were built with tilting mechanisms to enable higher speeds on curved tracks, including on the West Coast Main Line and between Oxford and Banbury.

The first Voyager arrived in the UK from Belgium in January 2001 and entered service on 21 May 2001. The last of the Class 47s, Class 86s and Mark 2 carriages were withdrawn in August 2002.

In 2006 the Cross Country franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport. It was to incorporate elements of both the existing Central Trains and the Virgin CrossCountry franchises.

On the 10th July 2007 the New Cross Country franchise was awarded to Arriva UK Trains.

The new operator inherited the former Virgin Cross Country Class 220 and Class 221 Voyagers as well as a number of Class 170 Turbostars from Central Trains.

As part of its franchise agreement ten Class 43 power cars and forty Mark 3 carriages were acquired to operate those services that required greater seating capacity.

The HSTs remained in service working Cross Country services to the west country until September 2023.

In December 2008 the services to both Gatwick Airport and Brighton were withdrawn. As a result of these changes all Cross Country services now completely avoid Greater London.

The existing CrossCountry franchise has been extended to run until October 2027 and continues to run services with a fleet consisting of 29 Class 170 Turbostars, 34 Class 220 Voyagers and 24 Class 221 Super Voyagers.