Fastest non high speed service

[notadriver]

Can anyone tell me what the fastest long distance non high speed route is (maximum line speed 100 mph) and how fast the quickest trains complete the trip ? For example Glasgow to Edinburgh.

 

[Eng274]

The Great Northern Peterborough-Kings Cross limited stop trips must be up there, 07:26 off Peterborough takes 62 minutes to cover 80ish miles.

 

[A-driver]

Can anyone tell me what the fastest long distance non high speed route is (maximum line speed 100 mph) and how fast the quickest trains complete the trip ? For example Glasgow to Edinburgh.

In many ways a high speed route is classed as above 90mph. It's a very vague question. The is a GN train at 2010 non stop kings X to st Neots, roughly 40mins non stop 100mph running. Or a Cambridge cruiser non stop 50mins reaching 100mph with very few sections under 80mph. Kings cross to kings Lynn is about 100 miles in distance. Trains do that in about 1.5 hours.

 

[notadriver]

Yes but you're doing 100 mph on a 125 mph railway. Those are the kinds of runs I want to exclude.

 

[A-driver]

Yes but you're doing 100 mph on a 125 mph railway. Those are the kinds of runs I want to exclude.

But the Inverness to kings cross or Aberdeen to Penzance style runs spend a large amount of time on under 100mph rails. Edinburgh to Inverness for example is over 3 hours as far as I'm aware on 100mph and below lines.

 

[notadriver]

Yes that's exactly what I'm looking for

 

[A-driver]

Yes that's exactly what I'm looking for

So basically any railway which isn't the Core section of the GWML, ECML, WCML or MML then? As they are the only 100mph+ long distance lines.

Kings Lynn to Liverpool Street, rams gate to Charing Cross, Eastbourne/brighton/Bognor etc to vic, Portsmouth or Weymouth to Waterloo etc

 

[Bald Rick]

1705 / 1735 / 1805 / 1835 off Waterloo. First stop Winchester in 53/54 mins, 66.5 miles. Average 75.3mph Start to Stop.

 

[168lover]

Does Marylebone to Wycombe in 23 minutes win?

 

[notadriver]

Great examples what's the average speed on that ? Not sure if any southeastern / southern examples count A-driver. They have too many stops. Even those Brighton expresses have been slowed down ?

 

[A-driver]

Great examples what's the average speed on that ? Not sure if any southeastern / southern examples count A-driver. They have too many stops. Even those Brighton expresses have been slowed down ?

You didn't specify non stop services in your post!

 

[eastwestdivide]

Railway Magazine (or was it Modern Railways) used to do an annual survey of the fastest scheduled start-to-stop runs, sorted by the various regions. Do they still publish something similar?

 

[Kentish Paul]

Great examples what's the average speed on that ? Not sure if any southeastern / southern examples count A-driver. They have too many stops. Even those Brighton expresses have been slowed down ?

Indeed forget Southeastern. Since the demise of the 08:53 Charing Cross to Ashford there is nothing as everything is all stations on the racing stretch from Tonbridge to Ashford.
The 08:53 would do it in about 20 mins if running late. (about 78mph average if my maths are correct). This with a class 375.

 

[Bald Rick]

Does Marylebone to Wycombe in 23 minutes win?

No, but Marylebone to Banbury in 53 minutes might. Not sure of the distance, but must be about 70 miles.

 

[thenorthern]

The fastest rail journey in the United Kingdom 10 years ago was Stevenage to Grantham that was 8th fastest in the world at the time.

I think that now the fastest journey in the United Kingdom that isn't on High Speed 1 is Stafford to Watford Junction in the evenings, not sure what service it is though.

I think Chiltern get up to 100 mph on some sections on the Chiltern Line which I am not sure if you would class that as a main line.

 

[47271]

Glasgow to Edinburgh was raised as a possible example at the start of this thread. As far as I'm aware all current scheduled services have more than one intermediate stop making the 47 mile journey unlikely to be achieved at more than 60mph average.

If stops get skipped to make up time the impact can be quite dramatic: I did once travel the 46 miles from Haymarket to Queen Street in 37 minutes, just under 75mph. It's a subject of some comment on this forum that end to end times between the two cities are generally poorer now than in the early 1970s (and not necessarily for bad reasons in my view), but the electrification now in progress will do a lot to help with this.

If you remove London services on the East and West Coast lines as disallowed from this competition I'm not sure what else in Scotland would be up there?

Scotrail covers the 29 miles from Edinburgh to Dunbar with one stop at Musselburgh in 23 minutes - 76mph, but again that's on the ECML. Stirling to Perth (33 miles) can be done in 29 minutes (68 mph) and I can't think of much better except for very short bursts of higher speed running which can be found all over the place.

The above is just based on what I know, I'd be interested if others have good examples from Scotland.

 

[sng7]

The best i have seen was between Glasgow Queen Street and Perth i think in early 2014. There is an afternoon train from Glasgow that is nonstop between the two that at the time was scheduled 53 minutes, one day I got it and we where 7-8 minutes late leaving queen street and made it to perth dead on time making it about 45 minutes between the two not bad for a journey railmiles reckons is 62 miles which would be averaging just over 80mph for the journey in a 170

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Ipswich-Diss is 26.25 miles in 21 minutes, or 75mph, every hour. Not bad for old technology.
Trains on the WCML slow lines to Northampton are limited to 100mph.
You might find some fast LM sprints in there.

Oxford-Banbury is 22.75 miles.
XC run 2tph in 16 or 17 minutes, or 85.3/80.3 mph respectively.
It's mainly a 95mph line but there are a couple of miles of 110.
You might find some other fast Voyager sprints elsewhere.

The Berks & Hants has long HST runs of 93 minutes Reading-Exeter, 137.75 miles or 88.9 mph.
This includes just 22 miles of 110mph track.

 

[70014IronDuke]

Railway Magazine (or was it Modern Railways) used to do an annual survey of the fastest scheduled start-to-stop runs, sorted by the various regions. Do they still publish something similar?

'twas RM. May issue, I think, to coincide with the new timetables.

IIRC it started out as trains averaging 60 mph and above. Not sure when they started it, probably around 1960, but by around the mid-60s - possibly from 66 with the electrification of the WCML - this had got passe, far too many trains averaging such speeds, so they raised the bar to 70 mph. With the introduction of HSTs, I presume they had to raise it to 90 mph or more.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

I think Chiltern get up to 100 mph on some sections on the Chiltern Line which I am not sure if you would class that as a main line.

It's 90-100 mph most of the way on the Chilterns these days. (Very) broadly speaking you will be doing those speeds from Solihull to Neasden with a few restrictions through a handful of stations (Leamington, Banbury, High Wycombe).

100mph itself is from the Birmingham side of Dorridge to Hatton and then again from just beyond Aynho junction to Neasden Junction with a couple of very short slower stretches at Princes Risborough (85) and High Wycombe (60). It might not be a main line in comparison to the lines coming out of Paddington, Euston and Kings Cross but it certainly isn't the backwater it was twenty years ago.

 

[backontrack]

Indeed forget Southeastern. Since the demise of the 08:53 Charing Cross to Ashford there is nothing as everything is all stations on the racing stretch from Tonbridge to Ashford.
The 08:53 would do it in about 20 mins if running late. (about 78mph average if my maths are correct). This with a class 375.

Where did this call? Was it non-stop?

I don't think every train calls at Pluckley or Marden. The Orpington stop is becoming rarer, and London Bridge was sometimes omitted before the engineering works.

Some London-Hastings trains run non-stop from London to High Brooms. However, there's not a massive stretch of straight track there, so...

 

[Bevan Price]

The Railway Performance Society has a publicly accessible list of (known) actual fastest times + average speeds for numerous UK lines:

http://www.railperf.org.uk/index/fastest-times-listing

Note that you will need MS Excel (or compatible software) to open some of the data files. Also note that these are mostly times by service trains - times by railtours or officially sanctioned "special" runs are not included.

 

[route:oxford]

Stirling to Perth (33 miles) can be done in 29 minutes (68 mph) and I can't think of much better except for very short bursts of higher speed running which can be found all over the place.

The above is just based on what I know, I'd be interested if others have good examples from Scotland.

It's quicker when you are going downhill...

The 15:16 and 19:16 services from Perth to Stirling are timetabled for 27 minutes (73mph).

 

[Minilad]

Ipswich-Diss is 26.25 miles in 21 minutes, or 75mph, every hour. Not bad for old technology.
Trains on the WCML slow lines to Northampton are limited to 100mph.
You might find some fast LM sprints in there.

Oxford-Banbury is 22.75 miles.
XC run 2tph in 16 or 17 minutes, or 85.3/80.3 mph respectively.
It's mainly a 95mph line but there are a couple of miles of 110.
You might find some other fast Voyager sprints elsewhere.

The Berks & Hants has long HST runs of 93 minutes Reading-Exeter, 137.75 miles or 88.9 mph.
This includes just 22 miles of 110mph track.

Only a short section of 95. Most is 90 with a section of 85 and as you say a fair bit of 110

 

[47271]

It's quicker when you are going downhill...

The 15:16 and 19:16 services from Perth to Stirling are timetabled for 27 minutes (73mph).

Very good, and a tribute to the Caledonian Railway's main line nearly 90 years after their abolition.

If anyone can find better than north of Edinburgh or Glasgow I'd be interested.

By comparison, Edinburgh to Perth is 75 mins or so at best, you can drive it in 40, they really need to do something about this.

 

[sng7]

Unfortunatly a large part of the direct railway route is underneath the motorway now but i believe there is a campaign to reopen it as significant elements like some of the tunnels are still intact

 

[Kentish Paul]

Where did this call? Was it non-stop?

I don't think every train calls at Pluckley or Marden. The Orpington stop is becoming rarer, and London Bridge was sometimes omitted before the engineering works.

Some London-Hastings trains run non-stop from London to High Brooms. However, there's not a massive stretch of straight track there, so...

The stopping pattern for the 08:53 was Charing Cross, Waterloo East, London Bridge, Tonbridge and Ashford.

It usually ran late leaving London as it got stuck amongst empty stock heading out to Grove Park sidings. Usually arrived in Ashford on time as there was a lot of padding in the timetable.

Always loved flying through Paddock Wood, Staplehurst and Headcorn at 100mph.

 

[TDK]

Can anyone tell me what the fastest long distance non high speed route is (maximum line speed 100 mph) and how fast the quickest trains complete the trip ? For example Glasgow to Edinburgh.

Maybe on the Chilterns from Banbury to Marylebone, most of the route is 100mph, I have not checked the mileage and timings though.

I think it is 76 miles in 55 minutes that works out at about 70mph average speed.

 

[The Planner]

Dodgy maths there! that would be 83mph.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

I used to love going belting through Woking at 100 mph, but I don't get the chance these days.

Nowadays because I know my point to point timing so well, I just run to them, I know if I'm late what sort of scope I have to regain some time, but they tend to get a bit tetchy about it for some reason.

I did do Southampton - Waterloo non stop in 64' once, years ago and that was bl***y great fun, it's wasn't every day you get greens virtually all the way and to go blasting through Winchester at nigh on 95 mph was really nice.