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During the same period, British Rail also invested in a separate, parallel project to design a train based on conventional technology as a stopgap. [11] The InterCity 125, otherwise known as the High-Speed Train (HST), was launched in 1976 with a service speed of 125 mph (201 km/h) and provided the first high-speed rail services in Britain. [12]
The UK's main intercity routes, the West Coast Main Line from London to Glasgow opened in 1849, and the East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh opened in 1860. [5] Before the Grouping in 1923, most services were operated by joint stock as various rail companies owned separate sections of track that intercity services operated over.
In 2009, the then transport secretary Lord Adonis outlined a policy for high-speed rail in the UK as an alternative to domestic air travel, with particular emphasis on travel between the major cities of Scotland and England, "I see this as the union railway, uniting England and Scotland, north and south, richer and poorer parts of our country ...
In 2011, the fastest timetabled start-to-stop run by a UK domestic train service was the Hull Trains 07.30 King's Cross to Hull, which covered the 125.4 km (77.9 miles) from Stevenage to Grantham in 42 minutes at an average speed of 179.1 km/h (111.3 mph).
A new feature was that these fast trains were offered on a regular-interval service throughout the day: initially hourly to Birmingham, two-hourly to Manchester, and so on. [27] The service proved to be so popular that in 1972 these InterCity service frequencies were doubled to deal with increased demand. [28]
The Paddington-Birmingham-Wolverhampton-Birkenhead fast service was sharply increased in frequency to up to 15 trains a day each way from the 1959–60 timetable to compensate for the withdrawal of most London Midlands Region trains during electrification of the WCML. [8]
The following is a list of high-speed trains that have been, are, or will be in commercial service. A high-speed train is generally defined as one which operates at or over 125 mph (200 km/h) in regular passenger service, with a high level of service, and often comprising multi-powered elements.
The first Shinkansen trains, the 0 Series Shinkansen, built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries – in English often called "Bullet Trains", after the original Japanese name Dangan Ressha (弾丸列車) – outclassed the earlier fast trains in commercial service. They traversed the 515 km (320 mi) distance in 3 hours 10 minutes, reaching a top speed ...