London Crosslink

London Crosslink
Overview
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Status	Line and stations open, service discontinued.
Locale	East of England
Termini	Norwich Basingstoke
Stations	19
Operation
Opened	22 May 2000 (2000-05-22)
Closed	28 September 2002 (2002-09-28)
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Anglia Railways
Rolling stock	British Rail Class 170
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

London Crosslink
Norwich Diss Stowmarket Ipswich Colchester Witham Chelmsford Ingatestone Romford Stratford Highbury & Islington Camden Road West Hampstead Brentford Feltham Staines Woking Farnborough (Main) Basingstoke South Western Main Line

London Crosslink was a train service operated by Anglia Railways between Norwich and Basingstoke, using the North London Line to bypass central London. Class 170 Turbostar diesel multiple units were used. The service ran from 22 May 2000 to 28 September 2002 supported by funding from the Strategic Rail Authority through its Rail Passenger Partnership fund.

Rolling Stock

Despite the majority of the routes served being electrified (overhead lines on the Anglia route, third rail on the South Western network and a mixture on the North London line), diesel stock had to be used as the section between Old Kew Junction and South Acton Junction — i.e. between the Hounslow Loop Line and the North London line — was (and still is) not electrified.

Service pattern

Due to capacity constraints on the North London Line the service only ran infrequently with uneven headways. The majority of services did not run the full length of the route, although all served Basingstoke; Stratford, Chelmsford, Witham, Colchester and Ipswich were all starting or terminating points on the Great Eastern Main Line. Another drawback with the service was the varied stopping patterns employed; for example trains only stopped at Camden Road on weekends, Brentford calls were only made from May 2001 and then only during the morning and evening on weekdays and all-day Sundays, and Romford only received one service per day in the early morning.

There were six daily departures Monday to Saturday and five on Sundays.^[1] Below is an extract of the timetable, showing the service offered on weekdays heading eastbound:

References

External links

• Great Train Service Anglia Railways