CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by

Arriva UK Trains Arriva UK Trains Limited is the company that oversees Arriva's train operating companies in the United Kingdom. It gained its first franchises in February 2000. These were later lost, though several others were gained. In January 2010, with th ...

, operating the Cross Country franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2006, incorporating elements of both the

Central Trains Central Trains was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated a variety of local and inter-regional trains from 2 March 1997 until 11 November 2007. Overview Created out of the Central division o ...

and the

Virgin CrossCountry Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom operating the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Virgin CrossCountry operated some of the longest direct rail services in t ...

franchises, ahead of its

invitation to tender An invitation to tender (ITT, otherwise known as a call for bids or a request for tenders) is a formal, structured procedure for generating competing offers from different potential suppliers or contractors looking to obtain an award of business ...

on October of that year. On 10 July 2007, the DfT announced that Arriva had been awarded the New Cross Country franchise. CrossCountry is one of only two franchised train operating companies that does not manage any stations, the other being

Caledonian Sleeper ''Caledonian Sleeper'' is the collective name for overnight sleeper train services between London and Scotland, in the United Kingdom. It is one of only two currently operating sleeper services on the railway in the United Kingdom, the other b ...

. CrossCountry's services have been periodically disrupted by

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike action, strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay a ...

amongst its staff, often due to disputes over rostering and pay. While the franchise had been originally due to conclude on 31 March 2016, multiple subsequent agreements have been enacted; in October 2020, the DfT confirmed that the franchise has been extended for a further three years for a finish date of October 2023. At the commencement of operations, CrossCountry's rolling stock consisted of 34 four-car Class 220 ''Voyagers'' and 40 five-car and 4 four-car Class 221 ''Super Voyagers'' from

as well as 11 two-car and 18 three-car Class 170 ''Turbostars'' from

. As per its franchise agreement, it obtained ten Class 43 power cars and forty Mark 3 carriages to operate on services that required greater seating capacity, while some Super Voyagers were transferred to Virgin West Coast. Overhauls of the Voyager & Super Voyager fleets were performed, the removal of the shop to fit more seating and storage being a prominent change; the Mark 3 carriages were also refurbished to provide suitable amenities for modern travellers. Both the Super Voyagers and Turbostar fleets have been extended where possible to provide more capacity. The company's network is centred around . It operates intercity and other long-distance passenger trains across Great Britain, but does not serve Greater London. It operates the UK's longest direct rail passenger service, from in the north-east of Scotland to in western Cornwall, which has a journey time of more than 13hours. While some services 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 ...

were promptly discontinued with the introduction of a new timetable on 9 December 2007, with some transferring over to both

Virgin Trains West Coast Virgin Trains (legal name West Coast Trains Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West Coast franchise fro ...

and to

First TransPennine Express First TransPennine Express was a British train operating company jointly owned by FirstGroup and Keolis which operated the TransPennine Express franchise. First TransPennine Express ran regular Express regional railway services between the major ...

, new services, such as a daily to service introduced during December 2008, were also implemented. CrossCountry has designated four stations as alternative changeover stations: , , and . Special services have been occasionally, run, such as between and in support of the Sailing at the 2012 Olympics & Paralympics.

History

Formation

During June 2006, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced its intention to restructure a number of the existing railway franchises. As a result of these changes, a 'New Cross Country' franchise was produced, which incorporated the existing InterCity Cross Country franchise run by

, while excluding those services ran on the

(while the Birmingham to Scotland services were transferred to

and the Manchester to Scotland services transferring to

). Several services from the

franchise were also to be added. In October 2006, the DfT issued the

(ITT) to the four shortlisted bidders:

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

and

Virgin Rail Group Virgin Rail Group was formed by the Virgin Group to bid for rail franchises in the United Kingdom during the privatisation of British Rail in the late 1990s. United Kingdom operations Origins Virgin bid for a number of franchises, includ ...

. On 10 July 2007, the DfT announced that Arriva had been awarded the New Cross Country franchise, and that the services operated by Virgin CrossCountry would be transferred to CrossCountry on 11 November 2007, along with the

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 ...

to and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

to services from Central Trains.

Transfer and withdrawal of services

After taking over the franchise, CrossCountry continued to operate the existing timetable including the

services for four weeks. When the new timetable commenced on 9 December 2007 on 11 November 2007, the to and services were transferred to

while the to Edinburgh and Glasgow services transferred to

. The ITT did not require retention of the services beyond after December 2008, so the services to both and soon ceased. As a result of these changes, all CrossCountry services now completely avoid

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

Changes to services

Starting in December 2008, a daily to service was introduced. From December 2010, a number of services from were extended from to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. From May 2011, a number of services were extended from Edinburgh to Glasgow to replace

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 ...

services. By mid-2020, CrossCountry had considerably curtailed its services in response to the significant decline of passenger travel amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. From 15 June 2020, both passengers and staff on public transport in England, including CrossCountry services, were required to wear face coverings while travelling, and that anyone failing to do so would be liable to be refused travel or fined.

Extension of the franchise

While the franchise had been originally due to conclude on 31 March 2016, during August 2013, it was announced that it had been extended until December 2019. At one point, it had been expected that an ITT would be issued in October 2018 for the next franchise, however, during September 2018, it was announced that the competition had been cancelled so that the recommendations from a report into the franchise system could be incorporated. In July 2019, the Direct Award was further extended by one year, moving the expiry date back to October 2020. During September 2020, it was announced that the emergency agreements with train operating companies introduced due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confir ...

were to be extended for 18months, and that all

passenger rail franchising in Great Britain Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain is the system of contracting the operation of the passenger services on the railways of Great Britain to private companies, which has been in effect since 1996 and was greatly altered in 2020, with ra ...

was abandoned. In October 2020, the DfT confirmed that the franchise has been extended for a further three years, putting the finishing date back to October 2023.

Industrial action

During November and December 2017, CrossCountry on-board train managers and senior conductors affiliated with the

National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (commonly known as the RMT) is a British trade union covering the transport sector. Its current President is Alex Gordon and its current General Secretary is Mick Lynch. The RMT is on ...

(RMT) staged five 24-hour and two 48-hour strikes in an industrial dispute regarding staff rostering, in particular in relation to working on Sundays. Further strikes had been planned for January 2018, but these were cancelled after CrossCountry and the RMT came to an agreement over staff working conditions on 11 January. Separate strike action was later threatened by the

Transport Salaried Staffs' Association The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) is a trade union for workers in the transport and travel industries in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Its head office is in London, and it has regional offices in Bristol, Derby, Dublin, Manche ...

(TSSA) union later that month, with strikes planned for 26 January. These were in relation to CrossCountry staff being offered a 1% pay rise, compared to a 3.3% pay rise for staff at other

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.2022 United Kingdom railway strikes, the first national rail strike in the UK for three decades. Its workers were amongst those who voted in favour of

due to a dispute over pay and working conditions. CrossCountry was capable of operating only a very minimal timetable on any of the planned dates for the strikes due to the number of staff involved.

Services

The company operates medium- and long-distance services that run outside of the London area. The network is centred at

Birmingham New Street station Birmingham New Street is the largest and busiest of the three main railway stations in Birmingham city centre, England, and a central hub of the British railway system. It is a major destination for Avanti West Coast services from , and vi ...

. Services can be categorised into two types: * ''Inter-City'': long-distance, fast services between the South of England and the North of England or Scotland via Birmingham, these routes are typically operated by Voyagers or HST sets. * ''Regional'': medium-distance, stopping or semi-fast services between Birmingham and other cities in the Midlands, as well as some longer runs to Wales and West Anglia. These are usually operated by Turbostars. CrossCountry's official website does show a distinction between the two types of services (for example, each has a separate timetable booklet), but does not explicitly call them ''Inter-City'' and ''Regional''.

Core

, the Monday-Friday daytime services, with frequencies in trains per hour (tph), include: CrossCountry route map

These services combine to provide higher frequencies between Birmingham and the following major destinations: * Wolverhampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield, Stockport and Manchester: two trains per hour * Derby: three trains per hour ** Sheffield, York, Darlington and Newcastle: one train per hour via Leeds ** Nottingham: two trains per hour * Leicester: two trains per hour * Leamington Spa, Oxford and Reading: two trains per hour (including one via Coventry) * Cheltenham: three trains per hour ** Bristol: two trains per hour The Sunday service pattern is mostly similar to the weekday one, except that the hourly Birmingham - Nottingham services do not run while the other services do not start until late morning or early afternoon, and often have a slightly different stopping pattern.

Extensions

The above table shows the basic service pattern; however, a small number of these services are extended beyond their usual destination: * from Plymouth to * from Bristol Temple Meads to , , , and * from Edinburgh Waverley to and * from Newcastle to and * travelling via either in lieu of, or in addition to Stoke-on-Trent

Special services

CrossCountry extended some of its services to for the Sailing at the 2012 Olympics & Paralympics. There were two services Monday to Saturday in each direction with one in each direction on Sundays. These ran express to Weymouth from Bournemouth. One train also operated a Weymouth to Bournemouth return journey, calling at and .

Proposed services

During December 2016, CrossCountry published a consultation document for changes to the timetable proposed to be implemented in December 2017. These included: * Extending all hourly Bristol–Manchester services to and from , providing a total of two trains per hour between Exeter and Birmingham; * Increasing the frequency of services during peak times on several routes; * An additional service to and from running in the early afternoon. To allow these changes to take place, all CrossCountry services on some routes (which had a limited service) would be withdrawn and replaced with extra services run by other operators. These included: * between and (except for one early-morning northbound service), replaced by Great Western Railway services; * between and , replaced by Great Western Railway services; * between and in the morning and evening (Aberdeen would be served during the day instead), replaced by

ScotRail ScotRail Trains Limited, trading as ScotRail ( gd, Rèile na h-Alba), is a Scottish train operating company that is publicly owned by Scottish Rail Holdings on behalf of the Scottish Government. It has been operating the ScotRail franchise a ...

services. In April 2017, it was announced the proposed changes would not be proceeding.

Stations served only by CrossCountry

CrossCountry does not manage any stations, although there are stations managed by other train operating companies at which it is the only operator: five stations (, , , and ) are managed by

East Midlands Railway Abellio East Midlands Limited, trading as East Midlands Railway (EMR), is a train operating company in England, owned by Abellio, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise. History In March 2017, the Department for Transport a ...

, while three stations (, and ) are managed by

West Midlands Trains West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trade names: West Midlands Railway (WMR) (within the ...

. At station, which has tracks and platforms at two levels, the high-level platforms are served only by CrossCountry, but the entire station is managed by West Midlands Trains, which serves the low-level platforms. Similarly, at , the low-level platforms are served only by CrossCountry, but the station is managed by

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

, which serves only the high-level platforms. was served only by CrossCountry until 2013, when

Abellio Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Abellio East Anglia Limited) is a train operating company in Great Britain owned as a joint venture by Abellio (transport company), Abellio, the international arm of the state-owned Dutch national rail operator Neder ...

started running one train every two hours at the station in addition to the CrossCountry services there.

Other route information

To improve the travelling experience, CrossCountry has designated four stations as alternative changeover stations: these are Cheltenham Spa, Derby, Leamington Spa and Wolverhampton. Connection times can be shorter at these smaller stations. For example, passengers travelling from Cardiff to Edinburgh could change at Cheltenham – where both their trains use the same platform – instead of Birmingham New Street, a larger, more complex station.

Rolling stock

Gloucester railway station MMB 16 170109

CrossCountry services are operated using diesel trains only, since none of the routes it operates are fully electrified. CrossCountry inherited 34 four-car Class 220 ''Voyagers'' and 40 five-car and 4 four-car Class 221 ''Super Voyagers'' from

as well as 11 two-car and 18 three-car Class 170 ''Turbostars'' from

. In December 2007 Class 221 ''Super Voyagers'' 221101 - 113 and 221142 - 144 were transferred to

with 221114 - 118 following in December 2008. A franchise commitment was the acquisition of ten Class 43 power cars and forty Mark 3 carriages.

Midland Mainline Midland Mainline was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated the Midland Main Line franchise from April 1996 until November 2007. Midland Mainline ran fast and semi-fast passenger services from ...

had six Class 43 power cars and fourteen Mark 3 carriages that were off lease from November 2007 that were leased. The remaining four Class 43 power cars were ex Virgin CrossCountry examples in varying states of decay, while the carriages were five ex-Virgin CrossCountry Mark 3 carriages and twenty-one ex-Virgin Trains West Coast loco-hauled Mark 3B carriages. Most had been in store at Long Marston for a few years. After driver training the ex-Midland Mainline sets returned to service in May 2008 on

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

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 ...

to diagrams while the other Class 43 power cars were overhauled at

Brush Traction Brush Traction is a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England. It is a subsidiary of Wabtec. History Hughes's Locomotive & Tramway Engine Works Henry Hughes had been operating at the Falcon Works since t ...

including repowering with MTU engines and the Mark 3 carriages overhauled 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 ...

to a similar specification as

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 ...

's ''Mallard'' refurbishments. Once these were completed, the ex-Midland Mainline examples were also overhauled. To operate services to and on summer Saturdays, two

High Speed Trains High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

were hired from

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 ...

in 2008. High Speed Trains were hired from East Coast and East Midlands Trains on a number of occasions to operate services from Edinburgh Waverley to Plymouth when HSTs or Voyagers were unavailable. During 2008, the Class 170 ''Turbostar'' fleet was refurbished, during which the three-carriage units repainted at Marcroft Engineering,

Stoke on Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

, the two-carriage units at EWS's Toton depot and the interiors renewed by Transys Projects,

Clacton-on-Sea Clacton-on-Sea is a seaside town in the Tendring District in the county of Essex, England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District with a population of 56,874 (2016). The town is situated a ...

, including the fitting of first-class seating to the Class 170/5s and 170/6s. The tilt function on the Class 221 ''Super Voyagers'' was removed in 2008; tilting was not required on the parts of

that CrossCountry serves. CrossCountry stated this change would improve reliability and reduce maintenance costs. Between 2008 and 2009, both the Class 220 ''Voyagers'' and Class 221 ''Super Voyagers'' underwent refurbishment at

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 ...

Derby Litchurch Lane Works Derby Litchurch Lane Works (formerly Derby Carriage and Wagon Works) is a railway rolling stock factory in Derby, England. It was opened in the 19th century by the Midland Railway. The plant has produced rolling stock under the ownership of the ...

. This work involved the removal of the shop, adding 25% extra luggage space and fourteen extra standard-class seats to the Class 220 ''Voyagers'' and 20% extra luggage space and sixteen extra standard-class seats to the Class 221 ''Super Voyagers''. Three years later, a refresh of the interiors was conducted, during which the standard-class seats were re-covered in the existing red and blue moquette and while the first class seats were finished with a maroon moquette. In summer 2014, CrossCountry began removing the quiet coach designation from such vehicles across its ''Voyager'' fleet, believing them to be outdated and to take up an excessive amount of space on a four-car unit; however, it did retain the quiet coaches on its five HST sets. During November 2017, as a part of CrossCountry's franchise extension, two former Virgin Trains Class 221 Super Voyager driving cars of unit 221144 were reactivated, having been stored at

Central Rivers TMD Central Rivers TMD (also known as Barton-under-Needwood CMD) is a railway maintenance depot, located in Barton-under-Needwood, south-west of Burton on Trent, England. It was built by Bombardier Transportation as the central maintenance facili ...

for several years. Two of the existing five-car sets releasing a centre carriage that, when combined with the reactivated pair of driving cars, formed an additional four-car set to be formed. In 2021, six of the existing two-carriage Class 170s were lengthened. This happened as a result of

only leasing the two-carriage driving vehicles of the West Midlands Railway 170/6 sets, hence six centre cars became available when they were replaced by

for transfer to CrossCountry.

Current rolling stock

Future rolling stock

It has been proposed that, around 2023, CrossCountry should operate all of the s cascaded from East Midlands Railway to provide extra capacity.

Notes

References

External links

* , - {{Deutsche Bahn Arriva Group companies Companies based in Birmingham, West Midlands Railway companies established in 2007 Train operating companies in the United Kingdom 2007 establishments in the United Kingdom