On Test: 162 mph (260 km/h)
| Top Commercial Speed | 140 mph (225 km/h) |
| Speed Records | In Service: 154 mph (246 km/h) On Test: 162 mph (260 km/h) |
| Best average speed: | 112mph (180km/h) |
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The Inter-City 225 is the fastest train running in
the UK. 225 refers to its maximum speed of 225 km/h 140 mph. This
train operates on the East Coast Mainline, shown in blue on the
map on the right. The trains were originally intended for the
West Coast Mainline shown in red. The line is about 400 miles
long connecting London with Edinburgh in just 4 hours, serving
major cities along the way such as Stevenage, Peterborough,
Doncaster, Leeds, Kingston-upon-hull, York, Middlesborough and
Newcastle.
Its best timetabled journey time is between London and York, over which it averages a speed of 112 mph or 180 km/h. Services were first introduced using this engine in 1989
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| Above: A Class 91 looking flash in the new GNER livery |
31 train sets were built which now operate along the East Coast mainline. GNER has taken over this stretch of railway with privatization and all inter-city 225 and class 91 engines are owned by GNER and will probably all be repainted into GNER livery, which may mean the old British Rail Inter City liveried engines will disappear.
An inter-city 225 is made up of a class 91 engine pulling 9 inter-city with a Driving Van Trailer (DVT) at the rear. This train uses mark 4 coaches unlike the inter city 125 that has mark 3 coaches. The mark 4s are better at speed and about 40% longer to improve passenger to weight ratios. Also mark 4s are capable of being upgraded to be able to tilt by up to six degrees. Unlike other high speed trains this is a traditional engine/coaches system where a single engine pulls the coaches. In other high speed trains there is usually an engine at both ends of the train. There are two reasons why there is only one engine in this train, first of all it would cost a lot more to have two engines per train, and also there is no point because the class 91 can generate well over 6,000hp which is more than enough to drive the train.
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| Above: It may look like an engine, but it is an un-powered driving van trailer (DVT) |
In the olden days when an engine had finished a journey, it would come off the train, run round to the back, get onto a turntable, turn around and back onto the coaches to be coupled up. This takes a long time and in the modern world is unacceptable. So an idea by British Rail was implemented, when the journey is finished, instead of having to bring the engine around to the front of the train, just leave the engine there, and let it push the train for the next journey. Now this is where the DVT comes in. The Driver can go to the other end of the train, where the is a driving cab in the DVT identical to the cab in the locomotive. This allows him to control the locomotive at the back of the train. The DVT is not used for seating passengers, instead its given over to luggage and mail or other things wanting transport. While the DVT is visually almost indistinguishable from the engine, there are a few telltale differences. Note there is no electricity pick-up pantograph on the top, and also it has doors on the side. Driving van trailers are not only used for the class 91, in fact almost all Inter City trains have a DVT on the end. Some people have expressed reservations about a train being pushed at high speed, worried about safety although considerations have been made for safety, and sometimes the class 91 pulls a train blunt end first, see below.
Although the train has a top speed of 140mph its usually limited to 125mph in service because of signaling problems. Signalling along the east coast mainline was designed for the Diesel electric "Deltic" engines which had a top speed of 100mph and could safely break to rest in a distance of 1.25 miles. The signals were designed with that spacing in mind. The class 91 has better braking and can break from 125mph in 1.25 miles, however it cannot safely break from 140mph in 1.25 miles which could in extreme circumstances lead to a collision with the train ahead. So for now its limited to 125mph. One idea is to use a fifth element to the signalling. In the UK when a train passes a signal it goes red, then yellow, then double yellow, then green. The idea is to use a flashing green signal to indicate 5 sections ahead are clear, allowing 140mph. This means along the EMCL it is often no faster than its diesel friend, the Inter-City 125
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| Above: A rare site; a class 91 pulling a train leading blunt end first, limited to 100mph (160km/h) |
There is also the Blunt end problem. If there is heavy snow then the there is a risk when the engine is pushing the train that the light DVT could be derailed if it were to hit a pile of snow. So when snow is around the engine may run around to the back of the train and pull it. However unlike other engines the cab is not slanted at both ends, at one end the cab is blunt. Because of poor aerodynamics when leading with the blunt end the train is limited to only 100mph (160km/h), which means delays. This is one disadvantage of a high speed train that doesn't have a power car at both ends.
This was a test run after construction of the new locomotives and the 91010 hit 162 mph during a high speed test run on Stoke Bank between Peterborough and Grantham.
Unlike other runs which have been related to research, the speed run of the class 91 was purely a publicity stunt. BR decided to invite the press on board a train to Edinburgh and it hit 154mph. The reason why it cannot reproduce these speeds on a daily basis is because 4 miles of track ahead of the train had to be kept clear for safety, which is expensive and not an option for the long run. It also made the London to Edinburgh run in record time of 3hours 29 minutes, which is 400 miles (600km). In Revenue service it takes about 4 hours to travel the distance. It didn't really work as an advertisement as the press were quick to point out trains travel in other countries regularly at much higher speeds.