Regional Railways

Regional Railways was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982 that existed until 1997, two years after privatisation. The sector was originally called Provincial.

Regional Railways
Provincial
156438 at Bristol Temple Meads, May 1989.
Overview
Main region(s)East Anglia, North West, North East, Wales, South West England
Other region(s)East Midlands, West Midlands, Scotland, Merseyside
Parent companyBritish Rail
Dates of operation1982–1997
SuccessorsCentral Trains, First North Western, Midland Mainline, Arriva Trains Merseyside, Wales & West, Valley Lines

Regional Railways was the most subsidised (per passenger km) of the three sectors. Upon formation, its costs were four times its revenue.[1]

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, operating principal express services; London & South East (renamed Network SouthEast in 1986) operating commuter services in the London area, and Provincial (renamed Regional Railways in 1989) responsible for all other passenger services.[1] In the metropolitan counties, local services were managed by the Passenger Transport Executives.

Services
158770 in Regional Railways Express livery at Blackpool North, 1998

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 Class 158s on express services. There were also the internal Scottish Region local services and expresses, the latter including the Edinburgh-Glasgow push-pull service.[1]

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 Class 31, Class 40, and Class 45, which were of similar vintage.

Development of new rolling stock

In the early 1980s, large numbers of diesel multiple unit (DMU) and locomotive-hauled coaches were found to contain asbestos. Removing this would be a considerable cost and generating no extra revenue, which, coupled with the increasingly unreliable old locomotives and DMUs, prompted BR to look for a new generation of diesel multiple units.

Regional Railway branding on a first generation DMU, number 122100

The prototype Class 210s, in service on a trial basis since 1981, were considered too expensive to be put into production, so BR looked elsewhere for new designs.[1]

Pacers

The first, Pacers, used bus technology from the Leyland National, 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 gearboxes. In Cornwall it was found that their long wheelbase caused intolerable squealing noises and high tyre wear on tight curves, and they quickly had to be replaced by the old DMUs.[1] The solution lay elsewhere, although, after much modification, the Pacers eventually proved themselves in traffic.

Sprinters
150001 at St Pancras after a publicity run, 1985

BR needed something midway between the Pacers and the Class 210s. In 1984/1985, two experimental DMU designs were put into service: the British Rail Engineering Limited built Class 150 and Metro-Cammell built Class 151.[2] Both of these used hydraulic transmission 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.[1]

The late 1980s and early 1990s also saw the development of secondary express services that complemented the mainline Intercity routes. Class 155 and Class 156 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 Class 158 Express Sprinters, while a network of 'Alphaline' 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.[1]

Electrification

The British Rail Class 323 electric multiple units were built by Hunslet Transportation Projects and Holec Ridderkerk between 1992 and 1995,[3][4] although mock-ups and prototypes were built and tested in 1990 and 1991.[5] Forty-three 3-car units were built for inner-suburban services in and around Birmingham and Manchester, including the Cross-City Line in the Birmingham area and services to the new Manchester Airport railway station.

Rolling Stock
ClassImageQuantityFormationNotes
Locomotive Hauled Stock
Class 31Diesel Locomotive
Class 37
Class 47
Mark 1 Coach
Mark 2
Mark 3
Diesel Multiple Units
Class 101 35 2, 3 or 4
Class 11733
Class 12126 1
Class 122 29
Class 142
Pacer		96260 units scrapped, 31 units preserved, 4 units converted for off-railway use
Class 143
Pacer		2511 units preserved, 12 units scrapped, 2 units converted to non-railway use.
Class 150
Sprinter		1372 or 3
Class 151
Sprinter		23Both scrapped
Class 153
Sprinter		701
Class 154
Sprinter		12A converted class 150, converted back to a class 150.
Class 155
Sprinter		47
Class 156
Sprinter		114
Class 158
Sprinter		1822 or 3
Electric Multiple Units
Class 304 454 All scrapped
Class 305 3 or 4
Class 323 43 3

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.[6] All new units, plus a few existing ones, such as selected Class 304 EMUs, received it. Some units and coaches received the livery with either ScotRail or Regional Railways branding.

The Class 158s, introduced in 1989, appeared in Express livery: dark grey window surrounds over light grey, with light and dark blue stripes at waist level. This colour scheme was also applied to some Class 156 units around privatisation.

One of the Manchester-based Class 323 EMUs No.323223 in Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) livery.

The Class 323 EMUs introduced in 1994 appeared in the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (Centro) livery for the West Midlands-based sets,[7] and the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) livery for Manchester-based sets.

After privatisation, many vehicles continued to carry the basic RR colour scheme but with the addition of different branding, e.g. Central Trains.

The final British railway vehicle to carry Regional Railways livery was a Class 153, which was repainted in July 2008 into East Midlands Trains 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:[8]

Train Operating Unit Routes
Anglia Railways Routes in East Anglia (combined with InterCity (British Rail) services in the region).
Valley Lines (train operating company) Urban 'Valley Lines' services around Cardiff, previously integrated within the South Wales and West divisions.
Central Trains Regional Railways' Central division, minus the services transferred to Anglia Railways and the Oxford to Worcester service. Covered the English Midlands and Mid Wales.
Arriva Trains Merseyside The network of electrified routes centred on Liverpool.
First North Western Routes in England's North West and in North Wales.
Arriva Trains Northern Routes in the North East of England.
ScotRail (British Rail) / ScotRail (National Express) The vast majority of services within Scotland.
Wales & West A wide network of services centred on South Wales and the South West.

References
  1. Thomas, David St John; Whitehouse, Patrick (1990). BR in the Eighties. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-9854-8. OL 11253354M. Wikidata Q112224535.
  2. Morrison, Brian; et al. (1986). Motive Power Annual 1987. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1635-6.
  3. "Class 323 Electric Multiple Unit Traction Upgrade". Institution of Mechanical Engineers. 5 May 2017. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  4. Williams, Philip (23 March 1994). "Hunslet has had enough of 'misery line' battles". Birmingham Post. Midland Independent Newspapers. p. 9. Archived from the original on 23 September 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "323 Data Sheets". Porterbrook. Archived from the original on 10 November 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  6. Fox, Peter (1988). Locomotives and Coaching Stock 1989. Platform 5. ISBN 0-906579-93-7.
  7. "Railways in Worcestershire". miac.org.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  8. Knight, Steven, ed. (1997). "A comprehensive guide to Britain's new railway". Peterborough: EMAP Apex Publications. ISSN 1368-437X. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

Further reading
  • Pettitt, Gordon; Comfort, Nick (2015). The Regional Railways Story. OPC. ISBN 9780860936633. OCLC 921239163.
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