HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The British Rail Mark 4 is a class of passenger carriages built for use in InterCity 225 sets on the
East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
between King's Cross,
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
and
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. Withdrawals began in 2019, with some being sold for further use with
Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...
between
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
and
Holyhead Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...
.


History and construction

A small build compared with the
Mark 2 Mark 2 is the second chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. In this chapter, the first arguments between Jesus and other Jewish religious teachers appear. Jesus heals a paralyzed man and forgives his sins, m ...
and
Mark 3 Mark 3 is the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It relates a conflict over healing on the Sabbath, the commissioning of the Twelve Apostles, a conflict with scribes and a meeting of Jesus with h ...
designs, 314 Mark 4s coaches were built between 1989 and 1992 by
Metro-Cammell Metro-Cammell, formally the Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company (MCCW), was an English manufacturer of railway carriages, locomotives and railway wagons, based in Saltley, and subsequently Washwood Heath, in Birmingham. Purchased ...
's
Washwood Heath Washwood Heath is a ward in Birmingham, within the formal district of Hodge Hill, roughly two miles north-east of Birmingham city centre, England. Washwood Heath covers the areas of Birmingham that lie between Nechells, Bordesley Green, Stechf ...
factory to operate services on the newly electrified
East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
. They were operated by
London North Eastern Railway London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is a British train operating company. It is owned by the DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT). The company's name echoes that of the London and North Eastern Railway, one of the Big Four ...
and its predecessors in 30 fixed formations of nine carriages, with a Class 91 locomotive and
Driving Van Trailer A Driving Van Trailer (DVT) is a Great Britain, British purpose-built control car railway vehicle that allows the driver to operate with a locomotive in Push-pull train, push-pull formation from the opposite end of a train. A key benefit of ...
. The Mark 4 is an all-steel coach incorporating a number of improvements over the Mark 3 stock - notably the inclusion of automatic push-button operated plug-type doors, in place of manually operated slam-doors, fully sealed gangways and controlled emission toilets (CET). Body shells were built by
British Rail Engineering Limited British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) was the railway systems engineering subsidiary of British Rail. Established in 1970, the maintenance arm was split as British Rail Maintenance Limited in 1987, and the design and building of trains was pr ...
(BREL) and
Società Italiana Ernesto Breda Società Italiana Ernesto Breda (), more usually referred to simply as Breda, was an Italian mechanical manufacturing company founded by Ernesto Breda in Milan in 1886. History The firm was founded by Ernesto Breda in Milan in 1886. It original ...
. After a period of evaluation in 1988, Swiss
SIG Sig used as a name may refer to: * Sig (given name) *Sig, Algeria, a city on the banks of the Sig River *Sig Alert, an alert for traffic congestion in California, named after Loyd Sigmon *Sig River, a river of Algeria also known as Mekerra sig (l ...
type BT41A bogies were selected rather than BREL Type T4 bogies when BREL could not provide commercial guarantees on the demanding lateral ride comfort required for running (BT41B/C refer to the bogie types used on the Mk4 DVT)."Mark IV Passenger Vehicles For East Coast Main Line Electrification", P H Watts and M S Hawkridge, Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, 1989. However, during the first year of operation in 1989, complaints were made about the "lively" ride of the coaches. This required modifications to the damper and spring rates of the bogies and the fitting of inter-coach ''car coupler dampers'' to improve damping between the vehicles. Disabled access was another priority of the design, so the door vestibules were enlarged to allow a more generous turning circle for a wheelchair. With ever-increasing levels of overcrowding, the so-called 'gangway passenger' had become an important consideration, so the vestibule environment was improved with carpeted walls, better lighting, sealed gangways and carriage doors plus four
flip-down seat A folding seat is a seat that folds away so as to occupy less space. When installed on a transit bus, it makes room for a wheelchair or two. When installed on a passenger car, it provides extra seating. In churches, it may have a projection cal ...
s per vestibule (since removed and replaced with bench style perch seats). Many of these innovations came courtesy of the abandoned
Advanced Passenger Train The Advanced Passenger Train (APT) was a tilting high speed train developed by British Rail during the 1970s and early 1980s, for use on the West Coast Main Line (WCML). The WCML contained many curves, and the APT pioneered the concept of activ ...
, upon which the Mark 4 was heavily based. This influence was most obvious with the profiled sides, intended to allow the retrofitting of tilt-equipped bogies derived from the APT. This would have allowed up to 6° of tilt; modified coaches would have been designated ''Mark 4 T'', but this plan was abandoned in January 1986. The business case for the Mark 4 anticipated them also being operated on the
West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
as a follow-on order after the East Coast Main Line electrification, but after the failure of the
InterCity 250 The InterCity 250 was an electric railway project undertaken by British Rail in the late 1980s. The InterCity 250 train would have consisted of a Class 93 electric locomotive, nine Mark 5 coaches and a Mark 5 Driving Van Trailer operating in a ...
project to gain Treasury support, British Rail ordered a small number of Class 90 locomotives to supplement existing locomotives on the West Coast Main Line. The Mark 4 has gained widespread praise for its exceptional
crashworthiness Crashworthiness is the ability of a structure to protect its occupants during an impact. This is commonly tested when investigating the safety of aircraft and vehicles. Depending on the nature of the impact and the vehicle involved, different crit ...
, something that was proven in the Hatfield and
Selby Selby is a market town and civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse, with a population at the 2011 census of 14,731. The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until ...
crashes, where experts identified the integral construction of the vehicles as being a key factor in restricting the death toll. The Class 158 and Class 159
diesel multiple units A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
, although superficially similar, are not based on the Mark 4 bodyshell; the Mark 4 is derived from the Class 156. The Iarnród Éireann Mark 4 push-pull carriages, introduced on the Irish railway system in mid-2006, are of a different design; they were manufactured by the Spanish manufacturer CAF. The Mark 4 was the first British Rail vehicle not to use
Rail Alphabet Rail Alphabet is a typeface designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert for signage on the British Rail network. First used at Liverpool Street station, it was then adopted by the Design Research Unit (DRU) as part of their comprehensive 19 ...
typeface for interior signage and operating notices.
Via Rail Canada Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...
's
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
fleet of inter-city and sleeper coaches are derived from British Rail's Mark 4. They were built for the abortive '' Nightstar'' services to Europe and were adapted by
Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...
to meet Canadian requirements.


Project Mallard

File:Mark IV TSO Interior.jpg, left, The interior of Standard Class aboard a GNER 'Project Mallard' refurbished Mark 4 TSO vehicle File:Mark IV FO Interior.jpg, left, The interior of First Class aboard a GNER 'Project Mallard' refurbished Mark 4 FO vehicle Between October 2003 and November 2005,
Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...
, under contract from
GNER Great North Eastern Railway, often referred to as GNER, was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, owned by Sea Containers, that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, No ...
, rebuilt and refurbished the carriages under ''Project Mallard''. Trains with rebuilt coaches became known as ''Mallard''s to distinguish them from unrefurbished sets during the upgrade programme, named after the steam locomotive ''Mallard'', built in the 1930s by the
London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...
and holder of the world speed record for
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
s. The Mallard refit gave the coaches all-new interiors with new seats, carpeting and power points at every seat. The vestibule areas lost their flip-down seats near the entrances, with perch-type seats being put in their place. The buffet coach was turned around with first class seating converted to standard. Wheelchair-width doors were fitted and the seating capacity was increased by fitting airline-style seats in place of the previous groupings of pairs of seats facing each other across a table. Additionally, GNER introduced
WiFi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves ...
internet connectivity as a trial from December 2003 and then into service from April 2004, making it the first service of its kind in the United Kingdom. Prior to
National Express East Coast National Express East Coast (NXEC) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, owned by National Express, that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, North East England and ...
(NXEC) taking over the franchise in December 2007, WiFi was free in first class and chargeable in standard class; under the new NXEC franchise access, it became free for all passengers. In October 2010, under
East Coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...
operation, charges for standard class passengers were reintroduced. All coaches were revinyled in
East Coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...
livery with the last completed in April 2013. They were revinyled in
Virgin Trains East Coast Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) (legal name East Coast Main Line Company Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, the ...
livery in 2015. In February 2016, a refurbishment programme called ''Plush Tush'' commenced with new seat covers, carpets and purple mood lighting in First Class.


Future

The Mark 4s were largely replaced on the East Coast Main Line by Class 801s in 2019/20. Virgin Trains East Coast were to retain seven or eight nine-carriage sets to operate extra services to
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
."Review delays ORR decision on ECML train paths" ''Rail'' issue 778 8 July 2015 page 10 LNER later stated this plan had been cancelled. In September 2020,
Eversholt Rail Group Eversholt Rail Group is a British rolling stock company (ROSCO). Together with Angel Trains and Porterbrook, it is one of the three original ROSCOs created as a result of the privatisation of British Rail. Eversholt was established in March 1994 ...
and
London North Eastern Railway London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is a British train operating company. It is owned by the DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT). The company's name echoes that of the London and North Eastern Railway, one of the Big Four ...
extended their lease to 10 by 2023. In addition, there are options to make it operational until 2024. It will be overhauled by
Wabtec Wabtec Corporation (derived from Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation) is an American company formed by the merger of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company (WABCO) and MotivePower Industries Corporation in 1999. It is headquartered ...
at
Doncaster Works Doncaster Railway Works is a railway workshop located in Doncaster, England. Also referred to as The Plant''", it was established by the Great Northern Railway in 1853, replacing the previous works in Boston and Peterborough. Until 1867 it un ...
. Grand Central planned to use on Mark 4 coaches (5x5 coaches + DVT sets) on their
London Euston Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railw ...
to Blackpool North services; however, these services were abandoned on 10 September 2020, due to the impact of COVID-19 on passenger numbers. Twelve Mark 4 carriages were refurbished for use by
Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...
on an expanded
Holyhead Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...
to
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
''
Premier Service The ''Premier Service'' is a passenger train service operated by Transport for Wales Rail between Holyhead and Cardiff in Wales. History On 15 December 2008, the ''Premier Service'' commenced operating between Holyhead and Cardiff Central. Ori ...
'' from June 2021. In 2021, Transport for Wales purchased these carriages from Eversholt Rail Group along with the carriages that had been refurbished for use by Grand Central; this brought its fleet to 37.
Grand Union A grand union is a rail track junction where two double-track railway or tramway lines cross at grade, often in a street intersection or crossroads. A total of sixteen railroad switches (sets of points) allow streetcars (or in rarer installati ...
proposed to operate Mark 4s on its
London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London station group, Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services pro ...
to Cardiff Central services.Cardiff - London open access plan
''Railway Gazette International'' 19 June 2019
This plan was scrapped in favour of using newly procured Class 802 bi-mode units from Hitachi, though this never materialised as the Department for Transport ruled against Grand Union's proposal.


References


External links

{{British Rail Coaches, state=collapsed Mark 4 Train-related introductions in 1989