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Caledonian Sleeper
''Caledonian Sleeper'' is the collective name for overnight Sleeping car, 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 being the ''Night Riviera'', which runs between London and Penzance. A sleeper service has been run along the West Coast Main Line since 24 February 1873. Sleepers were historically run on the rival East Coast Main Line as well; however, all remaining sleeper services that ran on the east coast routes were withdrawn in May 1988. While InterCity (British Rail), InterCity continued to operate what would later become known as the ''Caledonian Sleeper'', it decided to remove all seating accommodation on its remaining sleeper services during the mid-1990s. The Anglo-Scottish sleeper services were transferred to ScotRail (British Rail), ScotRail on 5 March 1995; as a consequence of the privatisation of British Rail, on 31 March 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edinburgh Waverley Railway Station
Edinburgh Waverley (also known simply as Edinburgh; ) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. The station serves as the northern terminus of the East Coast Main Line, from , although some trains operated by London North Eastern Railway continue to other Scottish destinations beyond Edinburgh. History Origins Edinburgh's Old Town, perched on a steep-sided sloping ridge, was bounded on the north by a valley in which the Nor Loch had been formed. In the 1750s overcrowding led to proposals to link across this valley to allow development to the north. The "noxious lake" was to be narrowed into "a canal of running water", with a bridge formed across the east end of the loch adjacent to the physic garden. This link was built from 1766 as the North Bridge and at the same time plans for the New Town began development to the north, with Princes Street to get unobstructed views south over slopi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest mixed-traffic railway routes in Europe, carrying a mixture of intercity rail, regional rail, commuter rail and rail freight traffic. The core route of the WCML runs from London to Glasgow for approx. and was opened from 1837 to 1881. With additional lines deviating to Northampton, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh, this totals a route mileage of . The Glasgow–Edinburgh via Carstairs line connects the WCML to Edinburgh. However, the main London–Edinburgh route is the East Coast Main Line. Several sections of the WCML form part of the Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban railway systems in London, Coventry, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow, with many more smaller commuter stations, as well as providing li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aberdeen Railway Station
Aberdeen railway station is the main railway station in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is the busiest railway station in Scotland north of the major cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. It is located on Guild Street in the city centre, next to Union Square. The station is managed by ScotRail. Inter-city, regional, local and sleeper train services are provided to all parts of Great Britain by ScotRail, Caledonian Sleeper, CrossCountry and London North Eastern Railway. The station is the northern terminus of the Dundee–Aberdeen line and the southern terminus of the Aberdeen–Inverness line, and is measured from Carlisle via Perth. History Pre-nationalisation The station currently standing was built and opened in 1867, although the station today has been significantly redeveloped from the original. The station and the new Denburn Valley Line enabled the main line from the south and the commuter line from Deeside to connect with the line from the north. The lines from the south h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electro-diesel Locomotive
An electro-diesel locomotive (also referred to as a dual-mode or bi-mode locomotive) is a type of locomotive that can be powered either from an electricity supply (like an electric locomotive) or by using the onboard diesel engine (like a diesel-electric locomotive). For the most part, these locomotives are built to serve regional, niche markets with a very specific purpose. Overview Electro-diesel locomotives are used to provide continuous journeys along routes that are only partly electrified without a change of locomotive, avoid extensive running of diesel under overhead electrical wires and giving a solution where diesel engines are banned. They may be designed or adapted mainly for electric use, mainly for diesel use or to work well as either electric or diesel. In most cases, electro-diesel locomotives use diesel–electric transmission and the same traction electric motors when moving in both autonomous and electric mode, although with different power. However, locom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electric Locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas turbines, are classed as Diesel–electric powertrain, diesel–electric or turbine–electric powertrain, gas turbine–electric and not as electric locomotives, because the electric generator/motor combination serves only as a Transmission (mechanics), power transmission system. Electric locomotives benefit from the high efficiency of electric motors, often above 90% (not including the inefficiency of generating the electricity). Additional efficiency can be gained from regenerative braking, which allows kinetic energy to be recovered during braking to put power back on the line. Newer electric locomotives use AC motor-inverter drive systems that provide for regenerative braking. Electric loco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scottish Government
The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in the capital city, Edinburgh. It has been described as one of the most powerful devolved governments globally, with full legislative control over a number of areas, including education, healthcare, justice and the legal system, rural affairs, housing, the crown estate, the environment, emergency services, equal opportunities, public transport, and tax, amongst others. Ministers are appointed by the first minister with the approval of the Scottish Parliament and the monarch from among the members of the Parliament. The Scotland Act 1998 makes provision for ministers and junior ministers, referred to by the current administration as Cabinet secretaries and ministers, in addition to two law officers: the lord advocate and the solicito ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First ScotRail
First ScotRail was a train operating company in Scotland owned by FirstGroup. It operated the ScotRail franchise between October 2004 and March 2015. On 17 October 2004, First ScotRail took over operations from the incumbent franchisee, ScotRail (National Express), National Express. First ScotRail operated most commuter and long-distance services within Scotland, and some services to northern England, as well as the Caledonian Sleeper to London. Of FirstGroup's four train operating companies, ScotRail was the second largest (in terms of number of passenger journeys 2013–14) after Great Western Railway (train operating company), First Great Western at the time of the termination of its franchise. During April 2008, Transport Scotland granted a three-year franchise extension to First ScotRail. In May 2009, First ScotRail announced a crackdown on fare-dodging due to abuse of the Flexipass ticket system. One month later, it was alleged that ScotRail's passenger figures were su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Rail Mark 3
The British Rail Mark 3 is a type of passenger railway carriage, carriage developed in response to growing competition from passenger airline, airlines and the automobile, car in the 1970s. A variant of the Mark 3 became the rolling stock for the InterCity 125, High Speed Train (HST). Originally conceived as locomotive-hauled coaching stock, the first coaches built were for the prototype HST in 1972. Production coaches entered service between 1975 and 1988, and multiple-unit designs based on the Mark 3 bodyshell continued to be built until the early 1990s. Most of the surviving fleet of the Mark 3 and its derivatives were still in revenue service on the British railway network in 2020, however, as of 7 April 2021, 300 carriages have been sent for scrap. Introduction Under the chairmanship of Stanley Raymond, it was decided to reduce journey times further on long-distance trains by increasing line speed to , where practical – the maximum considered possible on Britain's Victor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Rail Mark 2
The Mark 2 family of railway carriages are British Rail's second design of carriages. They were built by British Rail workshops (from 1969 British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL)) between 1964 and 1975 and were of steel construction. Development and production The Mark 2 has a semi-integral construction, giving it more strength than a Mark 1 in the event of an accident. A key driver of the changed construction method was to overcome the serious corrosion problem point in the Mark 1 at the base of the body, where it was attached to the underframe. Other changes of design, such as the window units, were for the same reason, which had become a serious problem in Mark 1 vehicle maintenance costs. Revised painting methods were also part of this, which coincided with the change of livery from maroon (dark green on the Southern) to the blue and grey that Mark 2 coaches wore for much of their lives (some of the earliest Mark 2 coaches had the old livery at first). The prototype Mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ScotRail (National Express)
ScotRail was a train operating company in Scotland owned by National Express that operated the ScotRail franchise from March 1997 until October 2004. Prior to March 1997 ScotRail (British Rail) ran the trains and after October 2004 First ScotRail ran them. History During the 1990s, the British Government undertook the privatisation of British Rail; the formerly state-owned ScotRail (British Rail), ScotRail operation was the final of 25 passenger franchises to be bid for. On 1 April 1997, the British transport operator National Express took over operations of the franchise from incumbent British Rail; it operated under the ScotRail brand. During 2002, National Express claimed that, unless additional public funding was provided to operate the Caledonian Sleeper, the company could not afford to continue the service. Two years later, the operator was accused of misleading the travelling public about seat availability on its sleeper services, the alleged motive being to lower passen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Privatisation Of British Rail
The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely completed by 1997. The deregulation of the industry was in part motivated by the enactment of EU Directive 91/440 in 1991, which aimed to create a more efficient railway network by creating greater competition. British Railways (BR) had been in state ownership since 1948, under the control of the British Railways Board (BRB). Under the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher elected in 1979, various state-owned businesses were gradually sold off, including various auxiliary and supporting functions related to the railways – Sealink ferries and British Transport Hotels by 1984, Travellers Fare catering by 1988 and British Rail Engineering Limited (train manufacturing) by 1989. It was under Thatcher's successor Jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
