Cumbrian Coast Line

Not to be confused with Cambrian Line.
Cumbrian Coast Line

Class 37s working scheduled service trains on the Cumbrian Coast Line in 2015
Overview
Type Heavy rail
System National Rail
Status Operational
Locale Cumbria, North West England
Termini Barrow-in-Furness
Carlisle
Stations 26
Services 1
Operation
Opened 1844
Owner Network Rail
Operator(s) Northern Rail
Rolling stock
Technical
Line length 85.50 mi (137.60 km)
Number of tracks Mainly double-tracked, three sections of single track.
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in)

Cumbrian Coast Line

Legend
West Coast Main Line
to Glasgow and Edinburgh

Carlisle
Tyne Valley Line

Settle-Carlisle Line
Cummersdale

West Coast Main Line
to London Euston

Dalston
Curthwaite
Wigton
Solway Junction Railway
Brookfield
former line to Silloth

High Blaithwaite
Leegate

Mealsgate
Brayton
Baggrow
Aspatria
Arkleby
Bullgill
Maryport & Carlisle Railway
branch to Brigham

Dearham Bridge
Maryport
Flimby
St Helen Halt
Siddick Junction
Calva Junction
Workington North

Cleator & Workington Jn Rly
to Great Broughton

Cockermouth and
Workington Railway

River Derwent
Steel Works
Cleator & Workington Jn Rly
to Distington

Workington
Harrington

Whitehaven, Cleator
& Egremont Railway

Parton
Whitehaven
Whitehaven Harbour
Preston Street
Corkickle
Corkickle Brake
Whitehaven, Cleator
and Egremont Railway

Woodend Halt
St Bees
St Bees Golf Halt
Caulerton Halt
Nethertown
Braystones
Cleator and Furness Railway
River Ehen
Sellafield
Sellafield reactor sidings
River Calder
Seascale
Drigg Low Level
Waste Repository
Drigg
Saltcoats Crossing Halt
River Irt
River Mite
Ravenglass
for Eskdale

Ravenglass and
Eskdale Railway

Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway

River Esk
Eskmeals
Monks Moors Halt
Bootle
Whitbeck Crossing Halt
Silecroft
Kirksanton Halt
Hodbarrow
Millom
Underhill Halt
Green Road
River Duddon
Coniston Railway
Foxfield
Kirkby-in-Furness
Dunnerholme Halt
Askam-in-Furness
Former line to mines
at Sandscale

Furness Line
Barrow-in-Furness
Port of Barrow
Roosecote Power Station

Roa Island
Salthouse Halt
Rampside
Roose
Furness Abbey

Dalton
Furness Line

The Cumbrian Coast Line is a rail route in North West England, running from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness via Workington and Whitehaven. The line forms part of Network Rail route NW 4033, which continues (as the Furness Line) via Ulverston and Grange-over-Sands to Carnforth, where it connects with the West Coast Main Line.

History

The Cumbrian Coast Line is an amalgamation of a series of earlier routes:

All the above constituents were absorbed into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923.

Towns and villages along the route

Services

Train services are operated by Northern Rail. Services stop at all stations (although many are request stops), with the exceptions of Netherstown and Braystones, which are served by four trains a day in each direction.

In the December 2013 - May 2014 timetable,[5] the following trains operate on weekdays:

There are no trains after 19:30 each evening between Millom and Whitehaven, as this section is only open for 12 hours each day due to the high operating costs associated with the large number of signal boxes & staffed level crossings that are present. Services are slightly altered on Saturdays and on Sundays there is no service between Barrow and Whitehaven, with four trains in each direction between Whitehaven and Carlisle.

A new Sunday service is due to be introduced over the section south of Whitehaven after the new Northern Rail franchise agreement comes into effect in April 2016 - the new operator (Arriva Rail North Ltd) will also be running an additional six weekday trains each way as part of the new 10-year agreement with the Department for Transport.[6]

At Carlisle the lines connects to the: West Coast Mainline; the Settle-Carlisle Line; the Tyne Valley Line; the Glasgow South Western Line; and the Caledonian Sleeper service. At Barrow, there are connections to the Furness Line.

Passenger rolling stock

Due to restricted clearances on the section of line between Maryport and Carlisle (several overbridges were built to narrower than normal dimensions by the M&CR), Class 150 and Class 158s plus many other Diesel multiple units are banned from the route. Services are normally therefore operated by Class 142, Class 153 or Class 156 units. In the past the Class 108 first generation DMUs formerly used on the line were custom-fitted with bars on the drop-light doors for this reason. Since 2006 Network Rail have eased clearance restrictions so as to allow Mark 2 and Mark 3 coaching stock to operate the full route, although under strict instructions that all drop-light windows must be ether stewarded or locked between Maryport and Carlisle to prevent passengers from putting their heads out of the windows. This has allowed many charter services to operate the full length of the Cumbrian Coast. Since the May 2015 timetable change, a number of scheduled services between Carlisle & Barrow have also been operated using Mark 2 coaches and Class 37 diesel locomotives hired in from Direct Rail Services to provide additional seating capacity - these have also been modified accordingly.[7]

The Cumbrian Coast was given Community Rail status in 2008, and has an active Community Rail Partnership working hard to develop the route.

Route description

Network Rail's route NW 4033 runs for 114.3 mi (183.9 km) from Carnforth North Junction, near Carnforth, to Carlisle South Junction, near Carlisle, by way of Sellafield.

NW 4033 M-Ch km
Carnforth North Junction 0-00 0.00
Carnforth 0-12 0.25
Carnforth Station Junction 0-19 0.40
Silverdale 3-36 5.55
Arnside 6-10 9.85
Grange-over-Sands 9-12 11.85
Kents Bank 11-08 14.75
Cark and Cartmel 13-29 21.50
Ulverston 19-09 30.75
Dalton 23-46 37.95
Dalton Junction 24-19 39.00
Roose 26-74 43.35
Salthouse Junction 27-38 44.20
Barrow-in-Furness 28-66 46.40
Park South Junction 32-57 52.65
Askam 34-64 56.00
Kirkby-in-Furness 38-00 61.15
Foxfield 40-21 64.80
Green Road 42-15 67.90
Millom 44-68 72.20
Silecroft 47-73 77.10
Bootle 53-18 85.65
Ravenglass 57-60 92.95
Drigg 59-59 96.15
Seascale 61-73 99.65
Sellafield 63-57 102.55
Braystones 65-57 105.75
Nethertown 67-13 108.10
St Bees 70-03 112.70
Corkickle 73-59 118.65
Whitehaven 74-47 120.05
Bransty Junction 74-54 120.15
Parton 75-79 122.30
Harrington 79-08 127.30
Workington 81-27 130.90
Workington North
Flimby 85-00 136.80
Maryport 86-64 139.70
Aspatria 94-36 152.00
Wigton 102-63 165.40
Dalston 110-06 177.15
Currock Junction 113-37 182.60
Carlisle South Junction 114-19 183.85

2009 floods

In the aftermath of the 2009 floods, an extra hourly service between Maryport and Workington operated stopping at all stations in between, including the temporary Workington North. These services were withdrawn in December 2010.

Historical Connecting lines

The following lines all previously connected to the Cumbrian Coast Line, but have mostly now been closed

References

External links

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