Train Reporting Number
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A train reporting number in Great Britain identifies a particular train service. It consists of: * A single-digit number, indicating the class (type) of train, followed by * A letter, indicating the destination area, followed by * A two-digit number, identifying the individual train or indicating the route (the latter generally for suburban services). The train reporting number is often called the headcode, a throwback to when the number was physically displayed at the head of a train.


History


Headcodes

Headcodes were introduced circa 1850 and were shown by oil lamps facing forward on the front of the locomotive. The position of these lamps on the locomotive denoted the class of train, which assisted the signalmen to determine the gaps between trains required in the interval-based signalling system that was used at the time. The lamps were lit at night and were usually painted white to assist with sighting by day. On some lines white discs were used by day in the place of lamps. With the advent of absolute block signalling, the class-based headcodes allowed signallers to identify and regulate trains properly. On some busy lines, particularly busy suburban ones, the headcode denoted the route of the train rather than the class of train. In these areas junctions were complex and timetables were intense: it was more important that signallers routed the trains correctly than regulated trains by class. This was prevalent in the south of England, where companies used six headlamp positions to show the route of train. Some companies had their own code format which led to some confusion where trains from one company ran onto other companies' lines. The
Railway Clearing House The Railway Clearing House (RCH) was an organisation set up to manage the allocation of revenue collected by pre-grouping railway companies for the conveyance of passengers and goods over the lines (or using the rolling stock) of other compani ...
intervened to standardise headcodes, based on four lamp positions, and they were adopted by the majority of lines outside the south of England. At the time of the
1923 Grouping The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...
, the standard headcodes were simplified so that normally only two lamps were used at any one time, and these codes were adopted by the
London Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...
, the
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 ...
(GWR) and 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 ...
. The Southern Railway (SR) retained a route-based headcode system, with up to four lamps in six positions. Notable exceptions were former Glasgow and South Western Railway and the
Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, also known as the S&D, SDJR or S&DJR, was an English railway line connecting Bath (in north-east Somerset) and Bournemouth (now in south-east Dorset but then in Hampshire), with a branch from Evercreec ...
lines, which continued with their own headcodes on internal trains. The
Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh an ...
maintained a completely different route-based headcode system consisting of a pair of semaphore arms mounted on the locomotive – the angle of the two arms and their position (on the buffer beam or smokebox) indicated the routing.


Train reporting numbers

Historically train reporting numbers were used to denote trains in the internal working timetable. These contained one or more letters or numbers to either uniquely identify a particular train, or denote its route (particularly on busier lines). Not all lines used these and the details and extent of the practice varied widely between companies. Although these numbers were in many places confined to timetables and other documentation, in some busier areas they were actually shown at the head of the train. On the SR, a single alphabetic character system of denoting routes used on suburban lines grew into a two character route-based system. This was developed at the same time as a significant programme of electrification and the consequent introduction of a large number of multiple unit trains. Many of these trains were fitted with display devices to show the route code instead of a lamp or disc-based headcode. Originally this was a back-lit stencil with the single letter code, later a two-character roller-blind system was used. The code system had equivalence with the lamp or disc route-based headcodes in assisting signallers with routing trains. On the other railways, the reporting number was on occasion displayed at the head of the train along with the lamp headcode. This happened more often than not with special trains or other unusual trains (e.g. summer Saturday timetables), to allow signallers to identify unfamiliar trains and route them correctly. This code was sometimes either chalked onto the locomotive front or pasted as paper characters onto a headcode disc. The GWR sometimes used a three-character frame mounted on the locomotive smokebox in which the train reporting number could be displayed. After nationalisation,
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
ways continued with these headcodes and the new diesel and electric locomotives and multiple units were built either with a disc/lamp system (now powered by electricity) or a two to four character roller-blind display system depending on what part of the network they were to work.


1960 headcode/reporting number merger

In 1960, the current format was introduced where train class, route and reporting number information are combined in four characters. All diesel and electric locomotives and multiple units built after that date were fitted with a roller-blind display that could display the full reporting number, except locomotives and multiple units destined for the Southern Region, which continued its long-standing practice of two-character alpha-numeric displays. By 1976, the replacement of the huge number of manual signal boxes with centralised power-signalling coupled with computer-based train control and more modern telecommunications systems meant that it was no longer necessary to display headcodes throughout the railway network. Outside the Southern Region blinds were set to ''00'' or ''0000'', and discs/lamps to the former express passenger code. Roller blinds were later blanked or plated over to show two dots and new trains introduced for service outside the Southern Region after this time usually had no train reporting number display equipment. Many trains intended to run over Southern Region lines were designed to display the numeric route-code portion of the train reporting number, which they still display, usually as a
dot-matrix A dot matrix is a 2-dimensional patterned array, used to represent characters, symbols and images. Most types of modern technology use dot matrices for display of information, including mobile phones, televisions, and printers. The system is al ...
display.


Components

The main purpose of the headcode is to assist the signaller in routing and regulating the train correctly, and it is especially useful if services are disrupted. After the introduction of the four-character codes, originally it was intended for signallers to visually note the train by the number displayed on its front; with the coming of automated systems the number has been retained internally within timetables and signalling systems but with some exceptions detailed above is no longer displayed on trains.


Train classes

For operational reasons, certain trains have priority in running. To help operating staff, they are grouped into classes; these were formerly identified using letters. When the letter groups were replaced by numerals on 18 June 1962, the classifications became: #(formerly A) Express passenger, newspaper, or breakdown train; express diesel car; snow plough on duty; light engine proceeding to assist disabled train. #(B) Ordinary passenger, branch passenger or "mixed" train; rail motor (loaded or empty); ordinary passenger or parcels diesel car; breakdown train not on duty. #(C) Parcels, fish, fruit, livestock, milk or other perishable train composed entirely of vehicles conforming to coaching stock requirements; empty coaching stock (not specially authorised to carry Class A code). #(C) Express freight, livestock, perishable or ballast train pipe-fitted throughout with the automatic vacuum brake operative on 90 per cent of the vehicles. #(D) Express freight, livestock, perishable or ballast train with not less than 50 per cent vacuum braked vehicles piped to the engine. #(E) Express freight, livestock, perishable or ballast train with 20 per cent vacuum braked vehicles piped to the engine. #(F) Express freight, livestock, or ballast train not fitted with continuous brake. #(H) Through freight or ballast trains not running under C, D, E or F conditions. #(J) Mineral or empty wagon train. #(K) Pick-up branch freight, mineral or ballast train. #
  • (G) Light engine(s) with not more than two brake vans.
  • The classes are periodically revised, and , the classes have been: # Express passenger train; nominated postal or parcels train; breakdown or overhead line equipment train going to clear the line (headcode 1Z99); traction unit going to assist a failed train (1Z99);
    snow plough A snowplow (also snow plow, snowplough or snow plough) is a device intended for mounting on a vehicle, used for removing snow and ice from outdoor surfaces, typically those serving transportation purposes. Although this term is often used to re ...
    going to clear the line (1Z99) # Ordinary passenger train; Officers' special train (2Z01) #
    Freight train Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) haul ...
    if specially authorised; a parcels train; autumn-railhead treatment train;
    empty coaching stock Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United St ...
    train if specially authorised # Freight train which can run up to 75 mph (120 km/h) # Empty coaching stock train # Freight train which can run up to 60 mph (95 km/h) # Freight train which can run up to 45 mph (70 km/h) # Freight train which can run up to 35 mph (55 km/h) # train; other passenger train if specially authorised #
  • Light
    locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
    or locomotives

  • Destination letters

    For long-distance trains, the country is divided into areas based upon the old
    British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
    regions. Each one is assigned a letter as follows: *E: Eastern *L: Anglia *M: Midland *O: Southern *S: Scotland *V: Western A train going from one region to another is given the letter of the destination region in its headcode. Prior to 1967 N was used to signify trains destined for the erstwhile North Eastern region. For trains internal to a region, the remaining letters can be used to indicate either: * A destination zone inside that region, or * A route within that region. Some areas within the Midland region are: *A: London Euston or London Marylebone *D: North Wales *G: Birmingham *H: Manchester *C: London St Pancras (via Derby) *D: London St Pancras (via Nottingham) *F: Liverpool *C: Cumbrian coast and Windermere While on the Western: *A: London *B: South Wales (e.g. Cardiff or Swansea) *C: Bristol and West of Bristol (e.g. Exeter, Plymouth or Penzance) via Bristol TM or Westbury *D: Oxford *F: Cardiff to South coast of England and return *G: Service to Cheltenham via Kemble *H: Services via Bristol Parkway (eg. Penzance to Paddington via Bristol TM (routed via Hullavington)) *J: Services between Reading & Basingstoke, or services calling at Frome (specifically Main line services) *L: London (on services from Cardiff and Swansea or Cheltenham Spa) *M: Exeter to Bristol TM and/or the North (or Swindon to Westbury) *O: Worcester/Gloucester to Weymouth/Salisbury *P: Worcester, Oxford and Didcot Parkway to Paddington *R: Barstaple to Exeter Central Services *S: Used for Cross Country services to Scotland *T: Heathrow Express Services and Paignton to Exmouth *U: Cardiff from Taunton/WSM *W: Worcester/Great Malvern/Hereford *Y: Heathrow Express Services, and Local services between Bristol TM and Weston-super-Mare Examples from the Scottish Region include *A: Aberdeen *B: Edinburgh *G: Fife, including
    Fife Circle The Fife Circle Line is the local rail service north from Edinburgh. It links towns of south Fife and the coastal towns along the Firth of Forth before heading to Edinburgh. Operationally, the service is not strictly a circle route, but, rather ...
    via Dumfermline, and
    Longannet power station Longannet power station was a large coal-fired power station in Fife, and the last coal-fired power station in Scotland. It was capable of co-firing biomass, natural gas and sludge. The station stood on the north bank of the Firth of Forth, nea ...
    *H: Inverness *I/O: Cathcart Inner/Outer Circle, respectively *R: Express services between
    Glasgow Queen Street , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Queen Street railway station (geograph 6687389).jpg , caption = Main entrance in 2020 , borough = Glasgow , country = Scotland , coordinates = , grid_name = Grid reference , grid_positi ...
    and Edinburgh (even numbers eastbound, odd numbers westbound) *T: Glasgow (trains from the north) *Y: West Highland Other regions can use these letters for different areas, but the inter-regional codes have the same meaning throughout the country. In 2007, a special letter Q was introduced for track recording trains, such as the
    Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
    New Measurement Train The New Measurement Train (NMT), also known as the ''Flying Banana'', is a specialised train which operates in the United Kingdom to assess the condition of track so that engineers can determine where to work. It is a specially converted InterCi ...
    . This emphasises to signallers that the train is to run its booked route as it is recording, not to be diverted without the prior knowledge of the controller. Prior to this, trains operated by
    British Rail Research Division The British Rail Research Division was established in 1964 directly under the control of the British Railways Board, moving into purpose-built premises at the Railway Technical Centre in Derby. The intention was to improve railway reliability an ...
    used the letter T. The letters X and Z are generally reserved for special use – see Special numbering.


    Individual identifier

    Because there are many trains of the same type heading for similar destinations (for example, most expresses to Scotland have headcodes beginning with 1S) the last two digits are used to separate individual services or to indicate the route (generally for suburban services).


    Examples

    *The 06:09 CrossCountry service from Bath Spa to Glasgow Central is an express passenger service, so it is a class 1 train. It is going from the Western to the Scottish region, so it is given the letter S for its destination. It is one of the first services in the day, and so its headcode is 1S35. *The 09:00
    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 ...
    service from London King's Cross to
    Edinburgh Waverley Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; gd, Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. It is the north ...
    is an express passenger service, so is a class 1 train. It is going to the Scottish region, so is given the letter S. Its headcode is 1S09. *The 22:00
    Avanti West Coast Avanti West Coast is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) that operates the West Coast Partnership franchise. During November 2016, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced the Inter ...
    service from
    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 rail ...
    to
    Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...
    is internal to the Midland region, so it uses the Crewe (and Stoke) letter K for its destination. As it is a late evening service, the two digits on the end of the headcode are higher. Its headcode is 1K77. *In some areas, more particularly with local services, some services will recycle headcodes. For example, the 06:11
    Arriva Rail North Arriva Rail North, branded as Northern by Arriva (legal name Arriva Rail North Limited) was a train operating company in Northern England which began operating the Northern franchise on 1 April 2016 and inherited units from the previous operato ...
    Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds. The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne Val ...
    to Preston service has the headcode 2N81, followed by the 07:09 service which has the headcode 2N82. Subsequent services are numbered consecutively up to 2N89, before the numbers are recycled with the 16:11 departure also having the headcode 2N81. *The
    china clay Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral ...
    train from Cliffe Vale to St Blazey is limited to 60 mph, so it is a class 6 train. It is going to the Western region, and its headcode is 6V70. *However, if 6V70 ran with a different, slower set of wagons restricted to 45 mph, it could run as 7V70, and if no wagons needed to be moved, it could run as 0V70 (engine only).


    Special numbering

    It is common practice for empty coaching stock (class 5) trains on the way to form a service or returning to depot having completed a service to run with the same code as that service, with the 5 prefix. Similarly, locomotives on the way to pick up or having dropped off a train, or running round to change the direction of travel, are given the train number but with a 0 prefix. An unusual situation arose with the opening of the
    Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...
    : many continental train reporting numbers are all numeric.
    Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...
    trains therefore have a 9Oxx or 9Ixx reporting number in Britain and a corresponding 90xx or 91xx number in Europe, neatly utilising the similarity between the letters O and I and the numbers 0 and 1 to unite the two reporting number systems. Some passenger services operate with class 9s to differentiate them from other services. Trains with some specific requirements, such as out-of-
    gauge Gauge ( or ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, es ...
    loads or the
    Royal Train A royal train is a set of railway carriages dedicated for the use of the monarch or other members of a royal family. Most monarchies with a railway system employ a set of royal carriages. Australia The various government railway operators of ...
    , run with the letter X, and special trains not in the regular train service (e.g. charters,
    railtour A railtour is a special train which is run in order to allow people to experience rail travel which is not normally available using timetabled passenger services. The 'unusual' aspect may be the route of the train, the destination, the occasion, s ...
    s, emergency trains or as-required locomotive moves) have Z.
    Automatic Route Setting The Integrated Electronic Control Centre (IECC) was developed in the late 1980s by the British Rail Research Division for UK-based railway signalling centres, although variations exist around the world. It is the most widely deployed VDU based s ...
    code prevents the automatic routing of trains with the letter X in their headcode and signallers must route these trains manually. The
    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 ...
    ''White Rose'' service from London King's Cross to
    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 ...
    formed of a 16 carriage Regional Eurostar set ran with a prefix of 1X due to the train's unusually long length.
    Rail replacement bus service A rail replacement bus service uses buses to replace a passenger train service on a temporary or permanent basis. The train service that is replaced may be of any type such as light rail, tram, streetcar, commuter rail, regional rail or heavy r ...
    s are run under the headcode 0B00. In a similar manner, shipping services run on behalf of or in tandem with rail services are given headcode 0S00.
    Tyne & Wear Metro The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and the City of Sunderland (together forming Tyne and Wear). The network opened in ...
    trains have three-digit numbers which are displayed in the driver's cab window. Those on the
    Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
    line are generally in the range 101 – 112, and the set operates all day on the
    Newcastle Airport Newcastle or New Castle Airport may refer to: * Newcastle International Airport, an airport in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK ** Newcastle Airport metro station, the Tyne and Wear metro station serving the airport * Newcastle Airport (Nevis), no ...
    to
    South Hylton South Hylton () is a suburb of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. Lying west of Sunderland city centre on the south bank of the River Wear, South Hylton has a population of 10,317 ( 2001 Census). Once a small industrial village, South Hylton (wi ...
    route with this number. When on
    Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
    metals (i.e. south of
    Pelaw Pelaw () is a residential area in Gateshead, located around from Newcastle upon Tyne, from Sunderland, and from Durham. In 2011, Census data for the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council ward of ''Heworth and Pelaw'' recorded a total populatio ...
    to South Hylton) the initial digit '1' is replaced by '2I' to give a four-digit
    TOPS Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) is a computer system for managing railway locomotives and rolling stock, known for many years of use in the United Kingdom. TOPS was originally developed between the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), S ...
    Train Reporting Number, e.g. train 104 becomes 2I04, although the three-digit number in the cab remains unaltered.{{cn, date=October 2022


    References


    External links


    RealTimeTrains
    - search headcodes and timetable data

    – a site with example photos. Rail transport in the United Kingdom Rail transport operations