User:Ajcoxuk/Great Northern Route

The Great Northern Route (previously known as the Great Northern Electric) is the name of the suburban services run on the southern end of the East Coast Main Line and associated branches. Services operate to or from King's Cross and Moorgate in London. Destinations include Hertford North, Welwyn Garden City, Stevenage, Peterborough, Cambridge and King's Lynn.

The route forms a major commuter route into London from Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire and has grown rapidly over the past several years. In 2009 rolling stock was transferred from other lines to allow additional services and longer trains to be run. At some future date the line should be connected with the Thameslink route via a junction just south of the High Speed 1 bridge, north of Kings Cross, to allow through services to South London to run. This is not expected to commence until after the 2012 Olympics.

Route
The network consists of all local and semi-fast services on these lines:
 * East Coast Main Line south of Peterborough
 * Northern City Line
 * Hertford Loop Line
 * Hitchin-Cambridge Line

Additionally, the main service on the Fen Line is provided as part of the route. All services are electric.

At privatisation the services became part of West Anglia Great Northern, becoming their sole route in 2004 when the West Anglia services were transferred to 'one'. In April 2006 the services became the responsibility of First Capital Connect. When the Thameslink Programme is completed in 2015, many of these services will become part of the Thameslink network, running through central London to destinations south of the River Thames.

Services
Several services are provided on the route and these are, from fastest to slowest:

Cambridge cruiser
A half hourly service running non-stop between King's Cross and Cambridge with trains extended once an hour to King's Lynn.

This service runs Monday to Saturday and is reduced to hourly on Sunday.

Cambridge semi-fast
An hourly service between King's Cross and Cambridge calling at Finsbury Park, Stevenage, Hitchin, Letchworth, Baldock and Royston.

In the direction of the morning and evening peaks, this runs as a modified half hoursly service between King's Cross and Royston only.

Peterborough semi-fast
An hourly service between King's Cross and Peterborough calling at Finsbury Park, Stevenage and then all stations.

In the direction of the morning and evening peaks, this service runs half hourly.

In the direction of the morning and evening peaks, there is an additional half hourly services calling at Hitchin, St Neots, Huntingdon and Peterborough only.

Cambridge stopping
An hourly service between King's Cross and Cambridge calling at Finsbury Park, Potters Bar, Hatfield, Welwyn Garden City and then all stations.

In the direction of the morning and evening peaks, this service runs half hourly, but occasionally omits stops at Potters Bar, Baldock and Ashwell and Morden.

Peterborough stopping
An hourly service between King's Cross and Cambridge calling at Finsbury Park, Potters Bar, Hatfield, Welwyn Garden City and then all stations.

In the direction of the morning and evening peaks, this service does not run, but is replaced by the Peterborough Fast service.

Inner suburban
A service every 20 minutes between Moorgate and Welwyn Garden City and between Moorgate and Hertford North calling at all stations. This provides a combined 10 minute service between Moorgate and Alexandra Palace.

Additional trains, some omitting some stops, runs during the peak.

The service is reduce to every 30 minutes and runs from King's Cross instead of Moorgate in the late evening and on Saturday and Sunday.

History
The term Great Northern is related to the Great Northern Railway, the original builders of the line.

The July 1922 Bradshaw Railway Guide contains a typical rail service on the Hitchin-Cambridge line as follow:

6 Stopping and 2 (3 on Saturday) Semi-fast services to Cambridge (Monday to Saturday) - 1 Sunday stopping service to Cambridge with 2 back. The fastest service taking about 1hr30 to travel from London King's Cross to Cambridge.

An additional 2 (3 on Wednesday) services reached Royston (Monday to Saturday) - one additional service reaching Royston on Sunday.

An additional 7 services reached Baldock (Monday to Saturday)

An additional 3 services reached Letchworth (Monday to Saturday), the last service running just after midnight Thursday morning.

With the East Coast Main Line coming into existence at sectorisation, Great Northern was used to describe the suburban part of the line, south of Peterborough and south of Royston. The Great Northern Railway proposed electrification of part of the line in 1903, but it was not until 1971 that a scheme to electrify the line from King's Cross and Moorgate was authorised.

The Inner Suburban Lines to Welwyn Garden City and Hertford North were opened in November 1971 with EMUs. In 1978 the electrification was complete to Royston with EMUs providing the service. The route was then promoted as the Great Northern Electric.

Electrification was then extended between Hertford North and Stevenage in 1982 to allow trains to continue to the new station at Watton-at-Stone and Stevenage or Letchworth.

With the electrification of the East Coast Main Line electric services could be extended to Peterborough and the Outer Suburban Service was changed from to, cascaded from the newly created Thameslink line.

In 1986(?) it was decided to service Cambridge from King's Cross via the East Coast Main Line instead of from Liverpool Street via the West Anglia Main Line owing to potential faster end-to-end journey times. To accomplish this the line was electrified in 1988 between Royston and the junction with the West Anglia Main Line north of Shelford. Later the track between these points was also upgraded with welded joint track instead of the jointed track that had existed.

Rapid growth on the route, especially on the Hitchin-Cambridge Line resulted in consultation on a new service pattern, which was then implemented at the timetable change in Spring 2009. During the peak hours, the route is now saturated and can support no further service improvements.

Thameslink programme
As part of the Thameslink Programme, the Great Northern Route will be connected to the existing Thameslink route via a new junction south of the High Speed 1 flyover north of King's Cross. This will allow trains to travel into St Pancras to continue south across the Thames.

Hitchin flyover
In addition to the Welwyn Viaduct, the flat junction just north of Hitchin is a major constraint on capacity as trains travelling north have to cross the East Coast Main Line rails to access the Hitchin-Cambridge Line. Proposals as part of the original electrification work envisaged a new overpass here and land was set aside for its construction. However, budgetary constraints forced this part of the programme to be abandoned. The land stood empty for many years, but has since been used to provide new housing.

A new plan to build a flyover further north has been proposed to carry the north-bound line over the East Coast Main Line around the north of Hitchin to rejoin the south-bound line closer towards Letchworth. This route will actually be slower than the existing one but will not be subject to contention with other rail traffic so will be more reliable and free up additional capacity. This proposal is now in the planning stage and planning approval is currently being sought from Hertfordshire County Council. The requirement for many lorry movements instead of using the existing rail infrastructure to move the required building material is currently a cause of delay.

East-West (Varsity) line
The Varsity Line originally connected Cambridge with Oxford via Sandy and Bedford. Closed in 1967 there are now proposals to restore this route, but via the Hitchin-Cambridge Line and the East Coast Main Line, diverting westwards at Stevenage.

Rolling stock
While the Great Northern has a distinct set of Rolling Stock, it is detailed together with the Thameslink Rolling Stock here.

Trivia
It is certainly possible on the Great Northern to hear people speaking in what appears to be English, but to have no idea what they are talking about. Welcome to the world of the travelling Dons and Students of Cambridge.

Passengers in First Class may also be in for a surprise, as the Queen of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip are also known to travel by scheduled train to reach their country residence at Sandringham, near King's Lynn. .