Regional Railways was one of the three passenger sectors of
British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...
created in 1982 that existed until 1997, two years after
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 compl ...
. The sector was originally called ''Provincial''.
Regional Railways was the most subsidised (per passenger km) of the three sectors. Upon formation, its costs were four times its
revenue
In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of product (business), goods and services related to the primary operations of a business.
Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some compan ...
.
The sector was broken up into eight franchises during the privatisation of British Rail and ceased to exist on 31 March 1997.
Formation
Upon
sectorisation in 1982, three passenger sectors were created:
InterCity
InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...
, operating principal express services; London & South East (renamed
Network SouthEast
Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the networ ...
in 1986) operating commuter services in the London area, and Provincial (renamed Regional Railways in 1989) responsible for all other passenger services.
In the
metropolitan counties
Metropolitan counties are a subdivision of England which were originally used for local government. There are six metropolitan counties: Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
The m ...
, local services were managed by the
Passenger Transport Executive
In the United Kingdom, passenger transport executives (PTEs) are local government bodies which are responsible for public transport within large urban areas. They are accountable to combined authorities, which were created between 2011 and 20 ...
s.
Services

Regional Railways inherited a diverse range of routes, comprising both express and local services. Expresses mainly ran to non-principal destinations or on less popular routes, such as Birmingham or Liverpool to Norwich, or Liverpool to Scarborough, and were chiefly operated by older locomotives and second-hand InterCity coaches. Later these services were operated by Sprinter units – mainly
British Rail Class 158
The British Rail Class 158 ''Sprinter (British Rail), Express Sprinter'' is a diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger train. It is a member of the Sprinter (British Rail), Sprinter series of regional trains, produced as a replacement for British ...
on express services. There were also the internal
Scottish Region
The Scottish Region (ScR) was one of the six regions created on British Railways (BR) and consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) and ex-London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) lines in Scotland. It existed from the creation ...
local services and expresses, the latter including the
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
-
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
push-pull service.
Local services ran on both main lines and branch lines and were often operated by
first generation diesel multiple units dating back to the 1950s. Longer distance trains were often formed of older coaches and locomotives of
British Rail Class 31
The British Rail Class 31 diesel locomotives, also known as the Brush Type 2 and previously as Class 30, were built by Brush Traction from 1957 to 1962. They were numbered in two series, D5500-D5699 and D5800-D5862. Construction of the first lo ...
,
British Rail Class 40
The British Rail Class 40 is a type of British railway diesel electric locomotive. A total of 200 were built by English Electric between 1958 and 1962. They were numbered D200-D399. Despite their initial success, by the time the last examples w ...
, and
British Rail Class 45
The British Rail Class 45 or Sulzer Type 4 are diesel locomotives built by British Railways' Derby Works, Derby and Crewe Works between 1960 and 1962. Along with the similar British Rail Class 44, Class 44 and British Rail Class 46, 46 locomotiv ...
, which were of similar vintage.
Alphaline

The
Alphaline
Alphaline was a brand introduced by Regional Railways in December 1994 to differentiate certain provincial express trains with enhanced passenger accommodation from general regional and middle-distance services operated by older rolling stock.
...
brand was introduced in December 1994 on express services operated by Regional Railways in the Midlands, Wales and the South West. These services linked various provincial towns and cities, complementing and connecting with the more prestigious
InterCity
InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...
network.
Development of new rolling stock
In the early 1980s, large numbers of
first generation
First generation, Generation I, or variants of this, may refer to:
History
* 1G, the first generation of wireless telephone technology
* First generation of video game consoles, 1972–1983
* First generation computer, a vacuum-tube computer
M ...
diesel multiple units (DMUs) and locomotive-hauled coaches were found to contain
asbestos
Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...
. Removing it would be a considerable cost while generating no extra revenue; coupled with the increasingly unreliable old locomotives and DMUs, this prompted BR to look for a new generation of diesel multiple units.
The prototype , in service on a trial basis since 1981, were considered too expensive to be put into production, so BR looked elsewhere for new designs.
Pacer (train)
The first design, the
Pacer, used bus technology from the
Leyland National
The Leyland National is an integrally constructed British step-floor single-decker bus manufactured in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries – the National Bus Com ...
, in classes numbered in the
14X range. Not long after introduction to service, large numbers of them suffered from a number of technical problems, particularly with their
gearbox
A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...
es. In
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
it was found that their long
wheelbase
In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...
caused intolerable squealing noises and high
tyre wear on tight curves, and they quickly had to be replaced by the old DMUs.
The solution lay elsewhere, although, after much modification, the Pacers eventually proved themselves in traffic.
Sprinters

BR needed something midway between the
Pacers and the Class 210s. In 1984/1985, two experimental DMU designs were put into service:
British Rail Engineering Limited
British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) was the rolling stock manufacturing and maintenance subsidiary of British Rail.
It was established on 1 January 1970 by the British Railways Board to operate its 14 rolling stock maintenance centres and ...
built and
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. The co ...
built .
Both of these used
hydraulic transmission Hydraulic transmission may refer to various transmission methods for transferring engine power to drive wheels, using hydraulic fluid:
* Diesel-hydraulic transmission, used in railway locomotives
* Hydrostatic transmission, using hydraulic motors ...
and were less bus-like than the Pacers. After trials, Class 150 was selected for production, entering service from 1987. Reliability was much improved by the new units, with depot visits being reduced from two or three times a week to fortnightly.
The late 1980s and early 1990s also saw the development of secondary express services that complemented the mainline
InterCity
InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...
routes. and Sprinters were developed to replace locomotive-hauled trains on these services, their interiors being designed with longer distance journeys in mind. Key Scottish and Trans-Pennine routes were upgraded with new Express Sprinters, while a network of '
Alphaline
Alphaline was a brand introduced by Regional Railways in December 1994 to differentiate certain provincial express trains with enhanced passenger accommodation from general regional and middle-distance services operated by older rolling stock.
...
' services was introduced elsewhere in the country.
By the end of the 1980s, passenger numbers had increased and costs had been reduced to two-and-a-half times revenue.
Electrification
The
electric multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...
s were built by
Hunslet Transportation Projects and Holec Ridderkerk between 1992 and 1995, although mock-ups and prototypes were built and tested in 1990 and 1991. Forty-three 3-car units were built for inner-suburban services in and around Birmingham and Manchester, including the
Cross-City Line
The Cross-City Line is a suburban rail line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs for from Redditch and Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, its two southern termini, to Lichfield, Staffordshire, its northern terminus, via , connecting the ...
in the Birmingham area and services to the new
Manchester Airport station
Manchester Airport station is a railway, tram, bus and coach station at Manchester Airport, England which opened at the same time as the second air terminal in 1993. The station is south of Manchester Piccadilly, at the end of a short branch f ...
.
Rolling stock
Livery
Initially, many vehicles carried standard
British Rail blue livery.
From 1986, Provincial adopted a version of the prototype Class 150 livery: aircraft blue over white, with a light blue stripe at waist level. All new units, plus a few existing ones, such as selected
Class 304 EMUs
Emus may refer to:
* Emu
The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the ...
, received it. Some units and coaches received the livery with either ''ScotRail'' or ''Regional Railways'' branding.
In the North West, the light blue stripe was replaced with a mid green one on
Class 156 refurbishments from 1995 to 1998.
The
British Rail Class 158
The British Rail Class 158 ''Sprinter (British Rail), Express Sprinter'' is a diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger train. It is a member of the Sprinter (British Rail), Sprinter series of regional trains, produced as a replacement for British ...
s, introduced in 1989, appeared in ''Express'' livery: dark grey window surrounds over light grey, with light and dark blue stripes at waist level.
Later, ''
Alphaline
Alphaline was a brand introduced by Regional Railways in December 1994 to differentiate certain provincial express trains with enhanced passenger accommodation from general regional and middle-distance services operated by older rolling stock.
...
'' would replace the ''Express'' wording.
This colour scheme was also applied to some Class 156 units around privatisation.

The
Class 323 EMUs introduced in 1994 appeared in
West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive
The West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE) was the Passenger transport executive, public body responsible for public transport in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom from 1969 until 2 ...
(Centro) livery for the West Midlands-based sets, and
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) was the Passenger transport executive, public body responsible for public transport in Greater Manchester between 1974 and 2011, when it became part of Transport for Greater Manchester.
SE ...
(GMPTE) livery for Manchester-based sets.
After privatisation, many vehicles continued to carry the basic Regional Railways colour scheme but with the addition of different branding, e.g. ''
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 of ...
''.
The final British railway vehicle to carry Regional Railways livery was a
Class 153, which was repainted in July 2008 into ''
East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains (EMT) was a British train operating company owned by the transport group Stagecoach, which operated the East Midlands franchise between November 2007 and August 2019.
Following the Department for Transport (DfT) award of ...
'' livery.
Split for privatisation
As part of the process of privatisation between 1994 and 1997, Regional Railways was split into several different shadow train operating units, which later became independent train operating companies:
References
Further reading
*
External links
Regional Railways Identity Management– internal branding manual, 1992
{{British Rail
British Rail brands
British Rail passenger services