InterCity 225
High speed train in UK
The InterCity 225 is an electric push-pull high speed train in Great Britain, each originally comprising a Class 91 electric locomotive, nine Mark 4 coaches and a Driving Van Trailer (DVT). The Class 91 locomotives were built by British Rail Engineering Limited's Crewe Works as a spin-off from the Advanced Passenger Train (APT) project, which was abandoned during the 1980s, whilst the coaches and DVT were constructed by Metro-Cammell in Birmingham and Breda (under sub-contract) in Italy, again borrowing heavily from the APT. The trains were designed to operate at up to 140 mph (225 km/h) in regular service, but are limited to 125 mph (200 km/h) principally due to a lack of cab signalling and the limitations of the current overhead line equipment. They were introduced into service between 1989 and 1991 for inter-city services on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) from London King's Cross to Leeds, York and Edinburgh Waverley. In late 2025, the remaining sets in use were reduced to seven carriages in order that they could keep to the timings for LNER's new timetable.
History
Background
The origin of the InterCity 225 is closely associated with the ECML upon which it has been primarily operated. During the 1950s, British Rail had considered electrification of the ECML to be of equal importance to the West Coast Main Line (WCML), but various political factors led to the envisioned electrification programme being delayed for decades; as an alternative, high-speed diesel traction, including the Class 55 Deltics and InterCity 125, was introduced upon the route during the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1970s, a working group of British Rail and Department for Transport officials determined that, out of all options for further electrification, the ECML represented the best value by far. Its in-house forecasts determined that increases in revenue and considerable reductions in energy and maintenance costs would occur by electrifying the line.
Accordingly, between 1976 and 1991, the ECML was electrified with 25 kV AC overhead lines. The electrification was installed in two phases: The first phase between London King's Cross and Hitchin (including the Hertford Loop Line) was carried out between 1976 and 1978 as the Great Northern Suburban Electrification Project, using Mk.3A equipment, covering 30 miles in total.
The public source identifies “InterCity 225” as high speed train in UK. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around InterCity, High and speed.
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This entry incorporates text from “InterCity 225” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.