Network
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CROSSCOUNTRY (XC) is bidding for train paths to deliver more services from the December 2024 and May 2025 timetables.
The key changes scheduled for May 2025 are:
■ Reintroduction of a near-hourly service on the Reading-York/ Newcastle corridor.
■ Reintroduction of missing Cambridge-Stansted and Birmingham-Stansted services.
■ Significant uplift of seating capacity on the long-distance network.
It follows an increase in services at the May 2023 timetable change and is in response to overcrowding, which has led to complaints and poor performance as station calls are extended due to the number of passengers travelling. The changes from May 2025 are also a DfT requirement under XC’s National Rail Contract, which started in October 2023. From the December 2024 timetable, XC will start a daily through Cardiff-Edinburgh service in each direction.
It will use existing paths between Cardiff, Birmingham and Edinburgh by converting an existing Class 170 Turbostar-operated Nottingham-Cardiff and a Cardiff-Birmingham service into a Voyager-operated service, providing more capacity and more suitable rolling stock for a long-distance service. It will require two units to be joined at Birmingham New Street to form a through Plymouth-Edinburgh service. The return service currently splits at Gloucester and will continue south-west. However, the front portion will work through to Cardiff rather than running empty to Central Rivers depot (near Burton upon Trent).
The May 2025 timetable includes an uplift in the Reading-Newcastle service group, to satisfy increased passenger demand. This will “benefit XC and the industry, reducing crowding and associated performance issues with long station dwell times,” says XC.
The proposal is for an additional 15 weekday services (12 in the Reading-Newcastle service group).
It will also add 14 Saturday and 12 Sunday services to the long-distance network, primarily on the Reading-Newcastle corridor.
Explaining the decision, XC says: “Our assessment is that a better case is delivered by increasing the frequency of services on the Birmingham to Reading and Birmingham to the North East corridors than by operating a si
