C is for Chiltern Railways

Saturday 11th February 2023

Chiltern Railways is how rail franchising was always meant to be. Commencing operations in July 1996 it was crucially awarded a lengthy 20 year franchise in 2000 enabling the late and much missed Adrian Shooter and his team to invest significantly in infrastructure improvements over that substantial timeline during which they knew they’d be running the trains.

An initiative called Evergreen (in three parts) saw sections of single track on the main line were doubled (seems unbelievable it was single track now), with phase 2 seeing increases in line speeds around Beaconsfield and two new platforms added at Marylebone while phase 3 saw further line speed improvements as well as the link south of Bicester to Oxford and a whole new market open up, not least to the revamped Bicester Village (ex Bicester Town) and Oxford Parkway.

Chiltern has been a subsidiary of Arriva since early 2011, prior to that it was owned by the John Laing Group and was originally founded as M40 Trains by Adrian and colleague ex British Rail managers who were backed by John Laing Group.

The company’s trains serve Marylebone station in London comprising services along the ‘M40 corridor’ catering for both intensive commuter services as well as longer distance journeys to Birmingham and the West Midlands. It runs an hourly all stations stopping service to Gerrards Cross, a half hourly limited stop service to Oxford, two trains an hour to Birmingham (Moor Street and sometimes hourly on to Snow Hill) with two journeys in the peaks extended to and from Kidderminster while Aylesbury is served by a half hourly service via Rickmansworth and Amersham (with one an hour continuing to Aylesbury Park Vale) and an hourly service via High Wycombe and Princes Risborough. Finally Leamington Spa has a two-hourly stopping service to Birmingham Snow Hill and a two-hourly service to Stratford-upon-Avon.

What characterises Chiltern’s timetable most of all is the varied stopping pattern of services on the main line. For example, departures from Marylebone between 09:00 and 10:00 see an Oxford leave at 01 and 35 with the former non-stop to Haddenham & Thame Parkway then all stations (Bicester Village, Islip and Oxford Parkway) while the latter stops at High Wycombe, Bicester Village and Oxford Parkway. In the next hour between 10:00 and 11:00 departures for Oxford are at 03 and 40 with the former the same as the 09:01 but adding a stop at Wembley Stadium and not stoping at Islip while the latter does the same as the 09:35 but also stops at Gerrards Cross and Princes Risborough. The next hour sees departures at 11:07 and 11:40 with the former mimicking the 09:01 but the latter stops at Beaconsfield but not Princes Risborough as the 10:40 had. A similar situation applies on some journeys on main line trains to Birmingham.

It’s no good looking for a pattern. There doesn’t seem to be one.

Most of Chiltern’s fleet are Class 165 and 168 trains in two, three and four car formations but the company also has eight Class 68 locomotives for journeys it runs with Mark 3 coaches. However, in recent times these have been cut right down and currently there are only two workings a day with loco hauled stock.

You pass all the spare stock resting in the extensive sidings and facilities south of Wembley. The company’s other base is at Aylesbury.

I always enjoy travelling with Chiltern and very seldom get let down. It certainly provides a good alternative to the West Coast Main Line when heading to Birmingham. It might take longer (some journeys do it in 1 hour 45 minutes compared to around 1 hour 21 minutes with Avanti) but the standard walk-up fare is much cheaper (Super off-peak return after 08:30 is £34.40 with Chiltern but an off-peak return not until after 09:26 with Avanti is almost double at £62.10, although London NorthWestern offer a bargain £33 after 08:45 but with a 2 hours 18 minute journey time).

Chiltern’s website is easy to navigate including a one click icon for timetables as well as the usual ‘Buy tickets’ Journey Planner tool.

The company’s Twitter feed refreshingly limits itself to relevant operational updates as well as some marketing announcements rather than involving itself in irrelevant drivel some other train companies seem to think is a fun thing to do to increase “engagement”. It doesn’t work for me; I much prefer Chiltern’s business like approach to communicating.

I took a ride up to Birmingham Moor Street and back last week to remind myself how relaxing the journey is. I specifically chose the 10:10 departure from Marylebone knowing it was one of the four a day which are loco hauled (also at 12:10, 16:46 and 17:46) as I wanted to treat myself to a seat in Chiltern’s Business Zone carriage.

This really is a splendid way to travel and far more comfortable and airy than a Pendolino’s First Class/Standard Premium coach.

It wasn’t clear what the upgrade price was – last time I travelled it was £10 off peak – but I was happy to pay a supplement just to try it even though the standard class seats in the other five coaches are also very comfortable (albeit 2+2 instead of 2+1 layout).

Both are much more roomy than the rather cramped Class 168 trains used on the other departures, although the moveable lip on the tables in those trains helps a bit.

In the event there was no ticket check on the journey so I didn’t find out how much it was and so I tried again on the return journey and this time the Train Manager checked my standard class ticket but didn’t mention anything about a supplement and I overheard her tell another passenger, who queried it, that there wasn’t one.

I’m not sure how widely this is known, I suspect word will soon spread, but the journey up only saw half a dozen passengers in the coach but about three times that on the return.

I had a look at the webpage chilternrailways.co.uk/onboard-our-trains as advised in the poster (pictured above) to find out the “latest pricing” but it’s a rather bland page with no pricing details.

Clicking on the “View more” tab doesn’t reveal anything about pricing either.

One more click on the Chiltern Railways New Business Zone Account Application takes you to an Application form for a “Busines Travel Account”.

So it’s all very mysterious and not up to the usual Chiltern standaerds of clear communication.

Mind you when I travelled on one of the two early morning peak hour journeys from Kidderminster four years ago, the pricing wasn’t communicated in a very professional manner as shown below.

And the complimentary refreshments which came on board when we got to Moor Street weren’t exactly generous.

Back to my journey last week and we reached Moor Street on time at 11:56 having stopped at High Wycombe, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Warwick Parkway and Solihull. The return at 12:55 stopped at those same stations as well as Bicester North, Haddenham & Thame Parkway and Princes Risborough. Both journeys were fairly busy and both ran to time with the return arriving into Marylebone at 14:53 taking just two minutes short of two hours.

Chiltern have exclusive use of Marylebone.

It’s a lovely station with some throwbacks to the Network South East branding still visible.

The ticket office is nicely labelled, if now sadly overshadowed by a huge electronic billboard advert …

… and the departure boards are very clear to read and don’t need the rather bright new fangled LED screens which Newotk Rail are installing at other main line stations and which I find difficult to read compared to these older style ones.

The information office which Chiltern used to man itself and deal with enquiries as well as stock copies of paper timetables – sadly no longer produced – now seems to have been handed over to Bicester Village.

I often find platforms are announced quite close to departure time at Marylebone and if departing from platforms 4, 5 and 6 can mean quite a walk from the ticket gates although the company does use designated Waiting Areas to get passengers closer to the likely departure platform

One of the casualties of Covid at Marylebone was the wonderful shoe shinning man who has now sadly gone…

… but it’s nice to see the statue of Adrian Shooter in pride of place by platform 1 which was unveiled last year prior to his sad passing.

Another wonderful station is Birmingham’s Moor Street which has retained much of the original signage albeit now updated to today’s requirements …

… and it certainly makes for a stark contrast to New Street.

At the other extreme is Sudbury and Harrow Road which for a station within Greater London unusually receives one of the most minimal service provisions there is with just four trains calling in the morning peak towards Marylebone and the same number in the afternoon peak and early evening heading out of Marylebone.

The station is located very close to Sudbury Town on the Piccadilly line which explains the minimalist approach.

The next station north, Sudbury Hill Harrow is similarly close to Sudbury Town on the Piccadilly line but enjoys an hourly service.

Chiltern Railways has got a good reputation and deservedly so. My travel experiences almost always bear it out.

Roger French

Previous AtoZ blogs: Avanti West Coast, Blackpool Transport

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