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Central Trains serves 232 stations in the Midlands, North East, North West and East Anglia. |
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Central Trains is a train operating company in the United Kingdom, running local and long-distance services in central England. The company’s operations are centred on Birmingham in the West Midlands. Their longer-distance rail services are branded as Central Citylink. The Central Trains franchise covers 1,305 miles (2,100 km) of railway, and has more than 43 million passenger journeys per year, travelling a total of 930 million miles (1,495 million km). Central Trains' network covers more than 300 destinations, carrying over 45 million passengers a year on our 1300 daily services. Central Trains serves 232 stations in the Midlands, North East, North West and East Anglia. Using the RailEasy™ train ticket price checker and Rail Saver reservation service to complete an online Central Trains train ticket reservation is quick and easy. Rail Saver will find you the cheapest available Virgin Trains train ticket price and book your Central Trains train tickets in a few quick easy steps using the Rail Easy™ price check and Rail Saver booking engine. |
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More About Central Trains
Central Trains is a train operating company in the United Kingdom, running local and long-distance services in central England. The company’s operations are centred on Birmingham in the West Midlands. Their longer-distance rail services are branded as Central Citylink.
The Central Trains franchise covers 1,305 miles (2,100 km) of railway, and has more than 43 million passenger journeys per year, travelling a total of 930 million miles (1,495 million km).
On 19 October 2004, Transport Secretary Alistair Darling announced that at the end of the current franchise in 2006, Central Trains’ routes will be divided between the Silverlink, Chiltern, Virgin Cross Country, Midland Mainline and Northern Rail franchises. The end of the franchise has now been delayed until November 2007.
From a low pre-privatisation base, the company now has £74 million worth of new trains, replacing the slam-door rolling stock it inherited with the modern Class 350 ‘Desiros’, which it shares with sister-company Silverlink. It has also refurbished many of its stations, introducing ticket gates and live information boards, and clamped down on vandalism on its trains.
Central Trains is owned by the National Express Group, and employs over 2,400 staff.
In 2006 the company took the step of producing posters with lists of names and addresses of those who had been fined for ticket evasion.
Central Trains Route Network
Central Trains' network covers more than 300 destinations, carrying over 45 million passengers a year on our 1300 daily services. Central Trains serves 232 stations in the Midlands, North East, North West and East Anglia.
Most services are operated in Central Trains colours except for services in the West Midlands county which operate under contract to Centro, the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive and operate in the Centro livery.
In 2003 Central Trains services were split into Central Citylink, Centro and Local services as of 2006 these are the main services they operate.
Citylink Services
Due to the length of many of the routes (Liverpool to Norwich = 5 hours), services are prone to delays later on in the day, when delays have built up . This is not helped by the fact that Central Citylink operates on certain East-West lines, which are slow and poorly maintained. They also compete with other rail companies on some routes.
- Birmingham New Street - Liverpool Lime Street
- Birmingham New Street - Preston (one evening peak service Northbound, no Southbound service)
- Birmingham New Street - Stansted Airport
- Cardiff Central - Nottingham
- Liverpool - Norwich via Manchester & Nottingham
- Northampton - Crewe/Preston via WCML
Local Services
- Birmingham New Street - Shrewsbury
- Birmingham New Street - Coventry - Northampton
- Birmingham New Street - Nuneaton - Leicester
- Nuneaton - Coventry
- Doncaster / Lincoln Central - Peterborough via Spalding
- Newark North Gate - Lincoln - Grimsby/Cleethorpes
- Leicester - Lincoln Central
- Nottingham - Skegness
- Derby - Matlock
- Derby - Crewe via Stoke-on-Trent
- Derby - Nottingham
- Birmingham - Nottingham
- Nottingham - Leicester
- Nottingham - Mansfield Woodhouse / Worksop
- Stafford - Hanley via Stoke-on-Trent (Bus service)
Network West Midlands Services
- Birmingham - Wolverhampton
- Birmingham - Walsall / Stafford
- Walsall - Wolverhampton
- Cross City Lines Redditch/Longbridge - Four Oaks/Lichfield Trent Valley
- Great Malvern/Kidderminster - Dorridge/Shirley/Stratford-upon-Avon Via Snow Hill
The Future Of Central Trains
It was announced in October 2005 that the Central franchise will end in April 2007 (later extended to November 2007), as part of a programme to reduce the number of franchises in the Midlands. The Central Trains franchise will be split into three parts, with each amalgamated with another existing franchise.
The future of the problematic Liverpool to Norwich service now appears relatively secure: previous suggestions to split the service into two separate services between Liverpool and Nottingham, and Nottingham and Norwich, have been abandoned,[7] and the service will become part of the East Midlands franchise.
It was announced on Thursday 22 June 2007 that many of Central Trains services (including local services in the East Midlands), will be run under a new franchise operated by East Midlands Trains whose parent company is Stagecoach Group.
It was announced on 10th of July 2007 that many of Central Trains services (including Cardiff - Nottingham, Birmingham - Stanstead Airport and Hereford - Nottingham), will be run under a new franchise operated by CrossCountry whose parent company is Arriva.
This will come into action as of Sunday 11 November. Central Trains will not run any more train services for the Midlands and beyond and it will cease trading as a company from this date.
The Citylink services will be affected in the following way:
- Cross Country Franchise - this will combine Virgin Cross Country with the Nottingham / Cardiff and the Birmingham / Stansted Central Citylink services. It has been announced that Arriva will take over the franchise under the name CrossCountry.
- East Midlands Franchise - the Norwich to Liverpool service will form part of the East Midlands franchise, which will combine Central Trains' East Midlands services with Midland Mainline. It has been announced that a company called East Midlands Trains will take over operation of the services in November 2007.
- West Midlands Franchise - the Liverpool to Birmingham service will become part of the West Midlands franchise, which will see Central Trains services in the West Midlands amalgamated with Silverlink County. It has been announced that a company called London Midland will take over operation of the services in November 2007.
Not many companies celebrate ten successful years knowing there won’t be an eleventh – but that is where Central Trains finds itself as their franchise finishes in November 2007.
Recently Central Trains in the Centro area, which covers the West Midlands, Class 150s have been repainted in a livery similar to the Central Trains services. However, it is not known if the Class 323s will also be painted in the same livery.
New livery for trains in Centro AreaIt was announced on Thursday 21 June 2007 that many of Central Trains services (including Snow Hill lines), will be run under a new franchise operated by London Midland whose parent company is Govia.
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