Cross Country

**Cross Country** (legal name **XC Trains Limited**) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the New Cross Country franchise. It operates intercity and other long-distance trains across the country, but does not serve Greater London. It operates the UK's longest direct rail service, from Aberdeen in the north-east of Scotland to Penzance in the south-west of England. It is one of only two franchised train operating companies that does not operate any stations, the other being Caledonian Sleeper. All services call at Birmingham New Street.

## History

### Formation

In June 2006 the Department for Transport announced its intention to restructure a number of franchises. The changes created a 'New Cross Country' franchise that would incorporate the existing InterCity Cross Country franchise run by Virgin CrossCountry, without the West Coast Main Line services (with the Birmingham to Scotland services transferring to Virgin Trains West Coast and the Manchester to Scotland services transferring to First TransPennine Express). Some services from the Central Trains franchise were to be added.

In October 2006 the Department for Transport issued the invitation to tender to the shortlisted bidders: Arriva, FirstGroup, National Express and Virgin Rail Group. On 10 July 2007 the department announced that Arriva had won the New Cross Country franchise, with the services operated by Virgin CrossCountry transferring to CrossCountry on 11 November 2007 along with the Cardiff to Nottingham and Birmingham to Stansted Airport services from Central Trains.

### Transfer and withdrawal of services

After taking over the franchise, CrossCountry continued to operate the existing timetable including the West Coast Main Line services for four weeks. When the new timetable commenced on 9 December 2007, the Birmingham to Edinburgh and Glasgow services transferred to Virgin Trains West Coast and the Manchester to Edinburgh and Glasgow services transferred to First TransPennine Express.

The tender did not require retention of the services beyond Guildford after December 2008, so the services to Gatwick Airport and Brighton ceased. As a result, all CrossCountry services now completely avoid Greater London.

### Additional services

From December 2008 a daily Nottingham to Bournemouth service was introduced.

From December 2010 a number of services from Newcastle were extended from Reading to Southampton.

From May 2011 a number of services were extended from Edinburgh to Glasgow to replace East Coast services.

### Industrial action

Main article: 2016–18 United Kingdom rail strikes § CrossCountry

In November and December 2017, CrossCountry on-board train managers and senior conductors affiliated with the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) staged five 24-hour and two 48-hour strikes in an industrial dispute regarding staff rostering, in particular in relation to working on Sundays. Further strikes were planned for January 2018, however, these were cancelled after CrossCountry and the RMT came to an agreement over staff working conditions on 11 January.

Separate strike action was later threatened by the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) union later that month, with strikes planned for 26 January. These were in relation to CrossCountry staff being offered a 1% pay rise, compared to a 3.3% pay rise for staff at other Arriva-owned train operating companies. The planned industrial action by the TSSA was later cancelled, after CrossCountry agreed to match their demands for an equal pay rise.

## Services

See also: CrossCountry network

The company operates medium- and long-distance services that run outside of the London area. The network is centred at Birmingham, and all services either terminate at or pass through Birmingham New Street station. Services can be categorised into two types:

* *Inter-City*: long-distance, fast services between the South of England and the North of England or Scotland via Birmingham; these routes are typically operated by Voyagers or HST sets;
* *Regional*: medium-distance, stopping or semi-fast services between Birmingham and other cities in the Midlands, as well as some longer runs to Wales and West Anglia. These are usually operated by Turbostars.

CrossCountry's official website does show a distinction between the two types of services (for example, each has a separate timetable booklet), but does not explicitly call them *Inter-City* and *Regional*.

### Core

As of December 2018, the Monday-Saturday daytime services, with frequencies in **trains per hour** (tph), include:

These services combine to provide higher frequencies between Birmingham and the following major destinations:

* Wolverhampton, Stoke-on-Trent and Manchester: two trains per hour
* Derby: four trains per hour
	+ Sheffield, York, Darlington and Newcastle: two trains per hour (one via Doncaster, one via Leeds)
	+ Nottingham: two trains per hour
* Leicester: two trains per hour
* Leamington Spa, Oxford and Reading: two trains per hour (including one via Coventry)
* Cheltenham: three trains per hour
	+ Bristol: two trains per hour

The Sunday service pattern is mostly similar to the weekday one, except that the hourly Birmingham - Nottingham services do not run while the other services do not start until late morning or early afternoon, and often have a slightly different stopping pattern.

#### Extensions

The above table shows the basic service pattern; however, a small number of these services are extended beyond their usual destination:

* from Plymouth to Penzance;
* from Bristol Temple Meads to Cardiff Central, Bath Spa, Exeter St Davids, Paignton, Plymouth and Penzance, as well as Newquay on summer weekends;
* from Reading to Guildford;
* from Edinburgh Waverley to Dundee and Aberdeen;
* from Newcastle to Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central;
* via Crewe either in lieu of, or in addition to Stoke-on-Trent.

### Special services

A Cross Country Service departs Bristol Temple Meads for Glasgow Central
CrossCountry extended some of its Bournemouth services to Weymouth for the Sailing at the 2012 Olympics & Paralympics. There were two services Monday to Saturday in each direction, with one in each direction on Sundays. These ran express to Weymouth from Bournemouth. One train also operated a Weymouth to Bournemouth return journey, calling at Wareham and Poole.

### Proposed services

In December 2016, CrossCountry published a consultation document for changes to the timetable proposed to be implemented in December 2017. These included:

* Extending all hourly Bristol–Manchester services to and from Exeter St Davids, providing a total of two trains per hour between Exeter and Birmingham;
* Increasing the frequency of services during peak times on several routes;
* An additional service to and from Aberdeen running in the early afternoon.

To allow these changes to take place, all CrossCountry services on some routes (which had a limited service) would be withdrawn and replaced with extra services run by other operators. These included:

* between Bristol Temple Meads and Bath Spa, replaced by a Great Western Railway service;
* between Exeter St Davids and Paignton (except for one early-morning northbound service), replaced by Great Western Railway services;
* between Reading and Guildford, replaced by Great Western Railway services;
* between Edinburgh Waverley and Aberdeen in the morning and evening (Aberdeen would be served during the day instead), replaced by ScotRail services.

In April 2017, it was announced the proposed changes would not be proceeding.

### Stations served only by CrossCountry

CrossCountry does not manage any stations. The following stations are served only by CrossCountry but are managed by other train operating companies:

 Willington
 Hinckley
 Narborough

The high-level platforms at Tamworth are served only by CrossCountry, but are not considered a separate station from the low-level platforms. The whole station is therefore managed by the main operator of the low-level platforms, West Midlands Trains.

Manea was served only by Cross Country until 2013, when Greater Anglia started running one train every two hours at the station in addition to the CrossCountry services there.

### Other route information

To improve the travelling experience, Cross Country has designated four stations as alternative changeover stations: these are Cheltenham Spa, Derby, Leamington Spa and Wolverhampton. Connection times can be shorter at these smaller stations. For example, passengers travelling from Cardiff to Edinburgh could change at Cheltenham – where both their trains use the same platform – instead of Birmingham New Street, a larger, more complex station. These four stations are marked on the CrossCountry route map in yellow.

## Performance

Latest performance figures released by NR (Network Rail) for this period (period 7 of 2013/2014) report a PPM (Public Performance Measure) of 89.2% and a Moving Annual Average (MAA) up to 12 October 2013 of 87.4%. In early 2017 the paralympian Anne Wafula Strike complained that the company's failure to provide a working disabled accessible toilet had forced her to wet herself on a Cross Country train.

## Rolling stock

Cross Country services are operated using diesel trains only, since none of the routes it operates are fully electrified.

Cross Country inherited 34 four-car Class 220 *Voyagers* and 40 five-car and 4 four-car Class 221 *Super Voyagers* from Avanti Cross Country as well as 11 two-car and 18 three-car Class 170 *Turbostars* from Central Trains.

In December 2007 Class 221 *Super Voyagers* 221101 - 113 and 221142 - 144 were transferred to Avanti West Coast with 221114 - 118 following in December 2008.

A franchise commitment was the acquisition of ten Class 43 power cars and forty Mark 3 carriages. Midland Mainline had six Class 43 power cars and fourteen Mark 3 carriages that were off lease from November 2007 that were leased. The remaining four Class 43 power cars were ex Virgin CrossCountry examples in varying states of decay. while the carriages were five ex Virgin CrossCountry Mark 3 carriages and twenty-one ex Virgin Trains West Coast loco-hauled Mark 3B carriages. Most had been in store at Long Marston for a few years.

After driver training the ex Midland Mainline sets returned to service in May 2008 on Glasgow and Edinburgh to Plymouth diagrams while the other Class 43 Power Cars were overhauled at Brush Traction including repowering with MTU 16V4000R41 engines and the Mark 3 carriages overhauled at Doncaster Works to a similar specification as GNER's *Mallard* refurbishments. Once these were completed, the ex-Midland Mainline examples were also overhauled.

To operate services to Paignton and Newquay on summer Saturdays, two High Speed Trains were hired from National Express East Coast in 2008. High Speed Trains were hired from East Coast and East Midlands Trains on a number of occasions to operate services from Edinburgh Waverley to Plymouth when HSTs or Voyagers were unavailable.

The Class 170 *Turbostars* were refurbished in 2008 with the three-carriage units repainted at Marcroft Engineering, Stoke on Trent, the two-carriage units at EWS' Toton depot and the interiors done by Transys Projects, Clacton-on-Sea including the fitting of first-class seating to the Class 170/5s and 170/6s.

The tilt function on the Class 221 *Super Voyagers* was removed in 2008, as tilt was not required on the parts of West Coast Main Line that CrossCountry serves. CrossCountry said this would improve reliability and reduce maintenance costs.

The Class 220 *Voyagers* and Class 221 *Super Voyagers* underwent refurbishment at Bombardier Transportation's Derby Litchurch Lane Works in 2008/09. This involved removing the shop, adding 25% extra luggage space and fourteen extra standard-class seats to the Class 220 *Voyagers* and 20% extra luggage space and sixteen standard-class seats to the Class 221 *Super Voyagers*. The interiors were given a refresh in 2011/12 with the standard-class seats re-covered in the existing red and blue moquette and first class done with a maroon moquette. In summer 2014, CrossCountry began removing the quiet coach designation from such vehicles in its *Voyager* sets, believing them to be outdated and to take up an excessive amount of space on a four-car unit. It is retaining the quiet coaches on its five HST sets.

As part of its franchise extension, in November 2017 two former Virgin Trains Class 221 Super Voyager driving cars of 221144 that had been in store at Central Rivers TMD for several years were reactivated, with two five-car sets releasing a centre carriage to allow an additional four-car set to be formed.

### More rolling stock

The six existing Class 170/5s will be lengthened from 2-cars to 3-cars in 2020. This is likely to happen when the Class 170s from West Midlands Trains are transferred to East Midlands Railway: the centre cars of the six 170/6s will be transferred to Cross Country.