East-West Rail (EWR) countdown to entry into service

[Forty29]

37901 Europhoenix at Newton Longville today, for lack of anything else noteworthy going onView attachment 181644

The amount of stuff I'm missing cos I'm stuck at work just a quarter of a mile away!

 

[DarloRich]

I think this is the first "commercial sevice" along E-W. It ran today: 4M60 Didcot > Northampton Gateway. It was hauled by a blue Martime liveried loco.

Realtime Trains | 4M60 1104 Didcot T.C. to Northampton Gateway Dbc | 16/06/2025

Real-time train running information for 4M60 1104 departure from Didcot T.C. to Northampton Gateway Dbc on 16/06/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[Sun Chariot]

I think this is the first "commercial sevice" along E-W. It ran today: 4M60 Didcot > Northampton Gateway. It was hauled by a blue Martime liveried loco.

Realtime Trains | 4M60 1104 Didcot T.C. to Northampton Gateway Dbc | 16/06/2025

Real-time train running information for 4M60 1104 departure from Didcot T.C. to Northampton Gateway Dbc on 16/06/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Good spot. I'll be up near Newton Longville in a week's time, so I'll check whether this path gets used more regularly.

 

[Tilting007]

I think this is the first "commercial sevice" along E-W. It ran today: 4M60 Didcot > Northampton Gateway. It was hauled by a blue Martime liveried loco.

Realtime Trains | 4M60 1104 Didcot T.C. to Northampton Gateway Dbc | 16/06/2025

Real-time train running information for 4M60 1104 departure from Didcot T.C. to Northampton Gateway Dbc on 16/06/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Running all week

return working comes back later too.

 

[fishwomp]

I think this is the first "commercial sevice" along E-W. It ran today: 4M60 Didcot > Northampton Gateway. It was hauled by a blue Martime liveried loco.

Realtime Trains | 4M60 1104 Didcot T.C. to Northampton Gateway Dbc | 16/06/2025

Real-time train running information for 4M60 1104 departure from Didcot T.C. to Northampton Gateway Dbc on 16/06/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

First commercial (revenue earning) freight. Two excursions (the 33s in Feb, and thumper in April ISH) already have been revenue earning/ commercial.

Looking ahead there are also some weeks where there are different freight services on - I assume due to a engineering on some other line - eg w/c 29 July - there are a dozen freight workings.

Also, just spotted this excursion for next week:

Realtime Trains | 1Z69 1730 Bath Spa to Manchester Victoria | 27/06/2025

Real-time train running information for 1Z69 1730 departure from Bath Spa to Manchester Victoria on 27/06/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[duffield]

First commercial (revenue earning) freight. Two excursions (the 33s in Feb, and thumper in April ISH) already have been revenue earning/ commercial.

Looking ahead there are also some weeks where there are different freight services on - I assume due to a engineering on some other line - eg w/c 29 July - there are a dozen freight workings.

Also, just spotted this excursion for next week:

Realtime Trains | 1Z69 1730 Bath Spa to Manchester Victoria | 27/06/2025

Real-time train running information for 1Z69 1730 departure from Bath Spa to Manchester Victoria on 27/06/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

The return working of the Northern Belle Bath excursion, it appears. Very much fine dining and champagne, not one for enthusiasts, so obviously the routing over EWR is for convenience rather than new track interest!

 

[swt_passenger]

I see there’s two versions of 4M60 in RTT for today, is that usual for WTT paths?

 

[pokemonsuper9]

I see there’s two versions of 4M60 in RTT for today, is that usual for WTT paths?

Yes, lots of freight paths have multiple versions.

 

[FGW_DID]

Network Rail Media Centre have released some footage:

Footage released of East West Rail’s first commercial freight train

The first commercial freight train has travelled along the East West Rail line as part of its journey into a new strategic rail freight interchange in Northampton.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

Footage released of East West Rail’s first commercial freight train​

Region & Route: North West & Central
The first commercial freight train has travelled along the East West Rail line as part of its journey into a new strategic rail freight interchange in Northampton.

Shortly after 13:00 yesterday (Monday 16 June) the service* from Didcot came onto the new infrastructure at Oxford, travelling the 35 miles to Milton Keynes to connect with the West Coast Main Line.

It marked the first time East West Rail infrastructure has been used for commercial freight, after many months of signaller training and train driver learning since the £1.2bn railway was completed in October 2024.

Video footage, released by Network Rail, shows an Intermodal service running along the East West rail line and passing through Winslow Station.

 

[swt_passenger]

Network Rail Media Centre have released some footage:

Footage released of East West Rail’s first commercial freight train

The first commercial freight train has travelled along the East West Rail line as part of its journey into a new strategic rail freight interchange in Northampton.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

I sometimes think this sort of PR could be an own goal. Yes it’s good news for the industry, but there’s plenty of objectors to future phases of EWR who’ll use it as evidence of the possibility of hourly freight trains in each direction 24/7.

Now we know it’s highly unlikely in practice that any more than a handful will run per day, but that won’t matter to nimbys who rarely let the facts get in the way of a good rant.

 

[Sun Chariot]

69009 is currently on the Bletchley - Bicester section, pathed 0V78 Leicester to Bicester MOD. Is it route learning, or using the route for another reason?

Realtime Trains | 0V78 1021 Leicester L.I.P. to Bicester Mod Gbrf | 17/06/2025

Real-time train running information for 0V78 1021 departure from Leicester L.I.P. to Bicester Mod Gbrf on 17/06/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

And 66090 (DB Maritime blue) is, again, with 4M60.
(With thanks to Mark (Freightmaster) for confirming)

Realtime Trains | 4M60 0927 Southampton M.C.T. Ews to Northampton Gateway Dbc | 17/06/2025

Real-time train running information for 4M60 0927 departure from Southampton M.C.T. Ews to Northampton Gateway Dbc on 17/06/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[FGW_DID]

69009 is currently on the Bletchley - Bicester section, pathed 0V78 Leicester to Bicester MOD. Is it route learning, or using the route for another reason?

Realtime Trains | 0V78 1021 Leicester L.I.P. to Bicester Mod Gbrf | 17/06/2025

Real-time train running information for 0V78 1021 departure from Leicester L.I.P. to Bicester Mod Gbrf on 17/06/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

And 66090 (DB Maritime blue) is, again, with 4M60.
(With thanks to Mark (Freightmaster) for confirming)

Realtime Trains | 4M60 0927 Southampton M.C.T. Ews to Northampton Gateway Dbc | 17/06/2025

Real-time train running information for 4M60 0927 departure from Southampton M.C.T. Ews to Northampton Gateway Dbc on 17/06/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

69009 possibly to work this:

Realtime Trains | 5Q76 1603 Bicester Mod Gbrf to Wimbledon Park Depot Sdgs | 17/06/2025

Real-time train running information for 5Q76 1603 departure from Bicester Mod Gbrf to Wimbledon Park Depot Sdgs on 17/06/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Class 69s have been in charge of recent Class 701 stock moves from Bicester.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Many thanks @FGW_DID yes, that makes perfect sense. I'm more used to the 701 storage moves of MOD Marchwood, near Southampton

 

[Bletchleyite]

I really struggle with how long it's taking to get the passenger service going, to be honest. There was plenty of time during construction to determine the method of operation, recruit drivers and if applicable guards/OBSes/whatever they're doing, agree this with unions and send them all to Birmingham for a few weeks to train them on the units, leaving only route training to be completed ASAP after the route was handed over. Instead it seems very little is actually moving and it could easily be December or later? All that time that expensive new infrastructure is consuming subsidy and not earning anything.

 

[Woodman99]

4M60 0927 Southampton MCT to Northampton Gateway today at Swanbourne (with landowner’s permission).

 

[zwk500]

and send them all to Birmingham for a few weeks to train them on the units, leaving only route training to be completed ASAP after the route was handed over.

Are all the depot facilities ready, or if not, could they have been made ready in time?

I do agree it's poor fo be taking quite so long, but there's always more to running a service than meets the eye of an interested external observer (as I am).

 

[E6007]

I really struggle with how long it's taking to get the passenger service going, to be honest. There was plenty of time during construction to determine the method of operation, recruit drivers and if applicable guards/OBSes/whatever they're doing, agree this with unions and send them all to Birmingham for a few weeks to train them on the units, leaving only route training to be completed ASAP after the route was handed over. Instead it seems very little is actually moving and it could easily be December or later? All that time that expensive new infrastructure is consuming subsidy and not earning anything.

Blame it on DfT for not appointing the operator earlier. They should be looking at the overall programme and making things happen

 

[Sun Chariot]

4M60 0927 Southampton MCT to Northampton Gateway today at Swanbourne (with landowner’s permission).View attachment 182110

A significantly smaller payload than Monday's

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Jun 2025 ==

Today saw several freight paths used:
4O11 Basford Hall to Southampton MCT
4O22 Trafford Park to Southampton MCT
4O18 Lawley Street to Southampton MCT
Plus the aforementioned 4M60 and 4O56 return.
Attached screen shot is of RTT data for Winslow.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Blame it on DfT for not appointing the operator earlier. They should be looking at the overall programme and making things happen

I was certainly very surprised at how long it took for Chiltern to be appointed given that they, as the main operator of diesel services in that area, were always the obvious one to go with.

 

[Zomboid]

I was certainly very surprised at how long it took for Chiltern to be appointed given that they, as the main operator of diesel services in that area, were always the obvious one to go with.

I was expecting LNR/WMT, since they already operate diesels out of Bletchley.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I was expecting LNR/WMT, since they already operate diesels out of Bletchley.

They do (albeit only three of them), but I suspect there's a desire for it to be DOO to save money, which obviously wouldn't fly with WMT as they have no DOO operations at all. Though it will be interesting to see (a) whether it actually is DOO, and (b) whether the unions allow that a smooth path rather than causing opening to be delayed many more months while they have a DOO dispute.

I note that I don't think they were recruiting guards, OBSs or anything else similar for it, just drivers.

 

[swt_passenger]

I was certainly very surprised at how long it took for Chiltern to be appointed given that they, as the main operator of diesel services in that area, were always the obvious one to go with.

Chiltern‘s franchise spec (national rail management contract) was also altered to include the route long before they were ever formally announced, I’m sure it was discussed in the one of the earlier EWR threads at the time.

(There was a DfT prior information notice published April 2023, that added ‘connection stage 1‘ to the Chiltern routes.)

Hence I’ve never understood why DfT kept it quiet for so long, but surely Chiltern knew long before the eventual PR?

 

[BrianW]

Blame it on DfT for not appointing the operator earlier. They should be looking at the overall programme and making things happen

I was expecting LNR/WMT, since they already operate diesels out of Bletchley.

Chiltern‘s franchise spec (national rail management contract) was also altered to include the route long before they were ever formally announced, I’m sure it was discussed in the one of the earlier EWR threads at the time.

(There was a DfT prior information notice published April 2023, that added ‘connection stage 1‘ to the Chiltern routes.)

Hence I’ve never understood why DfT kept it quiet for so long, but surely Chiltern knew long before the eventual PR?

When do any of these franchise contracts end? is DfT daft as so many quip; or slow; or 'just obeying orders'???

 

[DavidGrain]

The last time the Chiltern franchise was put out to tender, the Oxford to MKC service was specifically included. I assumed that this meant that the decision had been taken that whichever operator won the franchise, ihat would be the operator, Chiltern Railways won the franchise so I was making the statement on various threads over the years that Chiltern would operate the service. Several people said I was wrong as no decision had been made.

In the early days of the build there were some suggestions that WMT through their LNR franchise would operate it but I assume this guess was based on the fact that the service would operate out of Bletchley which is an LNR depot.

Last August it was reported that Chiltern were recruiting drivers for training. It was also reported that 6 of the 2-cae class 196 units delivered to West Midlands Railways would be sub-leased to Chiltern.

It was so0metime, when the built was almost complete, that the official announcement came that Chiltern would get the operating contract,

Latest report is that Winslow Station is still being fitted out. I cannot confirm the correctness of this.

So yes, I do think that DfT are at fault here.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Latest report is that Winslow Station is still being fitted out. I cannot confirm the correctness of this.

It looks done to me, but that's just from outside. But I see no reason they couldn't start service just not stopping there.

Bletchley Upper looks to be completely done, I've not seen any work done on it for ages.

 

[A S Leib]

But I see no reason they couldn't start service just not stopping there.

It's been considered an adequate solution for the Northumberland line so far, and was done for Bond Street Crossrail.

 

[D1511]

Bletchley Upper looks to be completely done, I've not seen any work done on it for ages.

Yes, all done.....just a new connecting bridge (since the new one will be too small when Ph2 opens!) and the eastern entrance to do now!
NRs architects are looking to solve both problems in a single scheme with a new bridge spanning all the existing platforms and connecting to the upper platforms with a new small concourse and lift down to Saxon St. No funding secured yet though, of course

 

[150219]

As per #305/375, nothing has changed as to the reason why passenger services aren't in place.

 

[The Planner]

I was expecting LNR/WMT, since they already operate diesels out of Bletchley.

Chiltern getting EWR was the worst kept industry secret. It was known months before any announcement.

 

[DarloRich]

I think 4 freight trains over the line today: 3 to Southhampton and 1 to Northampton