Chiltern Railways launches mainline from London to Birmingham

Rail passengers travelling between London and Birmingham have a viable alternative to the West Coast Main Line following the launch of a new service by Chiltern Railways.

The company launched its new Mainline timetable on September 5th, cutting average journey times between London Marylebone and Birmingham Moor Street from 128 to 100 minutes, and the fastest journey time to just 90 minutes.

It follows a multi-million pound investment culminating in a partial closure of the route for two weeks in August while infrastructure was upgraded to allow 100mph running over an additional 50 miles of track.

The services will be formed of Class 67 locomotives hauling Mk3 coaching stock which has been upgraded with the business passenger in mind.

Chiltern boasts that seats in its Business Zone – its alternative to first class – are 53 cm wide and have more than 52 cm of legroom, more than rival operator Virgin’s Pendolinos. Wi-Fi and plug sockets are also available as part of the Business Zone which is subject to a £20 supplement on top of standard class tickets.

Chiltern Railways Marketing Director Thomas Ableman said: “We believe the premium economy service in the Business Zone creates a new class of travel that could signal the end of first class business travel across the industry.”

The upgrade is part of Chiltern’s Evergreen 3 project, which is also set to include the opening of a new stretch of line to Oxford by 2013.

Regular timetabled locomotive hauled trains were introduced by Chiltern Railways in late 2010. It followed the demise, earlier that year, of Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone which had itself operated Class 67 hauled trains along the Chiltern line from Wrexham since 20o8.