CrossCountry

CrossCountry (sometimes known as Arriva CrossCountry) is the brand name of XC Trains Ltd., a British train operating company owned by Arriva. The company operates a network of express and long-distance train services between a variety of towns and cities outside London.

Formation
The CrossCountry franchise was formed through the amalgamation of most of the former Cross Country franchise held by Virgin Trains with some of the longer-distance routes operated by Midlands-based Central Trains. On 10 July 2007, the Department for Transport announced that Arriva plc had won the rights to the franchise, with the company taking control on 11 November 2007.

Routes
The company operates a number of key inter-city routes outside London including the Cross Country Route from the North East to the South West, as well as a range of shorter-distance regional express services.

Unlike most other franchise operators in Great Britain, CrossCountry does not manage any stations, even though there are certain stations served by no operator other than CrossCountry.

Core
The hourly service operates on each basic route:



Extensions
There are extensions to the basic service pattern:


 * to Penzance from Plymouth
 * to Glasgow Central from Edinburgh Waverley
 * to Aberdeen from Edinburgh Waverley
 * to Cardiff Central from Bristol Temple Meads
 * to Paignton from Bristol Temple Meads
 * to Guildford from Reading

On Summer Saturdays, there are trains to Newquay from various parts of the network.

Frequency
Typically, during weekday daytimes, each of these six routes sees one CrossCountry train per hour, with the exception of Birmingham–Leicester and Birmingham–Nottingham (which each see two). These services combine to provide higher frequencies on the following sections:


 * Bristol to Cheltenham: 2 trains per hour
 * Cheltenham to Birmingham: 3 trains per hour
 * Reading to Leamington: 2 trains per hour
 * Birmingham to Derby: 4 trains per hour
 * Derby to Sheffield: 2 trains per hour
 * York to Newcastle: 2 trains per hour
 * Birmingham to Leicester: 2 trains per hour
 * Birmingham to Manchester: 2 trains per hour
 * Birmingham to Nottingham: 2 trains per hour

Services withdrawn or transferred
All of the services operated via the West Coast Main Line by the previous Cross Country franchisee, Virgin Trains, passed to other operators: trains between Manchester and Scotland transferred to First Transpennine Express, while trains between Birmingham and Glasgow became part of an enlarged West Coast franchise operated by Virgin Trains.

The tender for the franchise did not include retaining services south east of Guildford to Brighton and Gatwick Airport and all such services ceased on 13 December 2008. Passengers for Gatwick Airport now have to use connecting services from Reading.

Future services
Plans were included by CrossCountry to reopen the railway station at Kenilworth. In April 2008, it agreed with Warwickshire county council to draw up a business case.

There are proposals for a station at Worcester (Norton) Parkway, near the city of Worcester, currently bypassed by CrossCountry's trains. If this station is built, then it may be served by CrossCountry services.

There are talks taking place that may see Cross Country services go through from Edinburgh to Glasgow via Carstairs, replacing the services currently provided by East Coast Trains.

Furthermore CrossCountry wishes to extend its Birmingham New Street to Leicester services to Cambridge. It also has ambitions to increase frequency on its Bournemouth to Reading route to every 30 minutes by extending its Newcastle to Reading service to Bournemouth.

Stations served only by CrossCountry
CrossCountry does not manage any stations. Following stations are served only by CrossCountry but are managed by London Midland, East Midlands Trains or National Express East Anglia:
 * Water Orton railway station
 * Coleshill Parkway railway station
 * Wilnecote railway station
 * Burton-On-Trent railway station
 * Willington railway station
 * Hinckley railway station
 * Narborough railway station
 * South Wigston railway station
 * Manea railway station

Performance
Latest performance figures released by the ORR show a fall in punctuality this quarter with a PPM of 88.8% and a Monthly Annual Average (MAA) up to 31 March 2010 of 90.1%.

Criticism
Under the control of the previous franchisee, Virgin Trains, Cross Country services were increased in frequency, but using shorter trains. Intended to provide a more attractive service without reducing overall capacity, this strategy has left the company struggling to accommodate peak loads on popular services or the ongoing growth in passenger numbers. It also led to the withdrawal of services from previously-served destinations such as Poole as the company concentrated its rolling stock on its core network.

The now defunct Strategic Rail Authority refused to underwrite the cost for Virgin Trains to order additional rolling stock. CrossCountry has since added five refurbished HST sets to its fleet. The removal of on-board shops to create additional luggage space has attracted criticism from passengers and MPs in the Westcountry. The removal of bays of seating around tables and the addition of more seats with reduced legroom has been criticised, after Arriva promised to increase the seating capacity of their trains, which was believed to refer to lengthening of the trains themselves.

CrossCountry was also criticised for introducing the first £1,000 fare in Britain in November 2009, for a first class return between Newquay and Kyle of Lochalsh. A little over a year earlier, the same fare had cost under £500. Commentators noted that CrossCountry were charging over £100 for the trip between Par and Newquay, even though the trains operating it have no first class compartments, and First Great Western, which operates the service, charges as little as £3.90 for a day's unlimited travel on the line.

Multiple unit fleet
Virgin CrossCountry previously operated the Class 220 and Class 221 DEMUs. Twenty one Class 221 units have been transferred to the Virgin West Coast franchise to operate the North Wales route and the West Midlands to Scotland services. CrossCountry also use Class 170 Turbostars inherited from Central Trains. Class 220s and 221s are undergoing refurbishment at Bombardier, Derby. This includes removing the shop and adding extra luggage space. The refurbishment was completed in August 2009.

HST fleet
The first CrossCountry-liveried HST powercar was released from its overhaul at Brush Traction, Loughborough on 16 July 2008. To identify its fleet, CrossCountry is renumbering all of its HST units by adding an extra 200 to the old number, the newly repainted HST being 43301 (originally 43101). 43301 had to be completely rebuilt by Brush Traction, as it has been out of service for more than 5 years. As a standard, CrossCountry is installing MTU Friedrichshafen engines to replace the old Paxman Valenta ones, and is repainting the units into the two-tone CrossCountry livery of grey/silver and chocolate brown. At present 5 x Mark 3 TSO's (1 out of each HST set) are currently stored and 1 set (XC01) went on loan to East Coast for 2 Months between January and March 2010. From the December 2009 timetable change the number of weekday HST diagrams was reduced, from 4 to 2 (3 on Mondays/Fridays). All HST's are currently 2+7.