British Rail Mark 5 (InterCity 250)

For the trains currently being built for Transpennine Express, see British Rail Mark 5A.

British Rail Mark 5 (Intercity 250)

1:20 Model of Mk 5 coach

In service Proposed 1994/1995

Number built None

Formation 9 carriage sets

52 / 88 seats – first / standard class per

Capacity
carriage

Operator(s) InterCity West Coast (Proposed)

West Coast Main Line (Also see Project

Line(s) served
Description)

Specifications

Car body
Integral Steel or Aluminium monocoque
construction

Car length 26 m (85 ft 4 in) over buffers

Width 2.7 m

Height Unknown

Doors Hinged Plug, pneumatically operated

Maximum speed 155 mph (250 km/h)

Weight c.35 – 42 tonnes

Train heating Air-Conditioned, Pressure Sealed.

Bogies Unknown
 Braking
Disc, pneumatically operated
system(s)

Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The British Rail Mark 5 is the designation given to the planned passenger rolling stock for
the InterCity 250 project, a plan to improve speeds on the West Coast Main Line that was
ultimately scrapped.

InterCity 250[edit]
Background[edit]
The Mark 5 project was intended to produce a new generation of InterCity passenger rolling
stock, anticipated for initial use on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), these would have
been developed from the Mark 4 stock in service on the East Coast Main Line (ECML). The
profile of the InterCity 250 Mark 5 coaches was designed for non-tilting operation unlike the
briefly contemplated use of tilting "Mark 4 T" stock on the WCML which is evident in the
sloping sides of the Mark 4 coaches.

Following introduction on the WCML, it was suggested that the coaches could have been
used as part of later IC250 builds for the East Coast and Great Western Main Lines, replacing
the Mark 3 and Mark 4 coaches used in the InterCity 125 and 225s.[1]

Earlier internal studies by British Rail Research in the early 1980s had focussed on the
feasibility of developing a successor 25.5m long InterCity coach to the Mark 3 and evaluated
the technologies needed to reduce the capital and operating costs by 30%. This was referred
to as a Mark 4 coach and targeted a 125 mph operating speed, however the fitting of a
Hydrokinetic Brake would provide 155 mph capability[2]

Project Description[edit]
The intention of InterCity 250 was to build 30 full trains, each consisting of a Class 93
locomotive, nine 26 m long Mark 5 passenger coaches and a Mark 5 Driving Van Trailer.
The coaches would be capable of 155 mph (250 km/h) and were specified to be equivalent in
weight to the shorter Mark 4 coaches, which were felt to be overweight. The decision to
increase the length of the coaches to 26 m from the 23 m of the Mark 4 was dictated by
reduced maintenance costs following British Rail studies which indicated that such a length
was feasible within the UK loading gauge. Indeed, during 1987 British Rail had considered
increasing the length of the Mark 4 to 25.5 m (with 18.13m bogie centres[3]) but the in-service
date of 1989 and complexity of changing the design to suit caused the variation order to be
shelved.[4]

The Mark 5 coaches would have been streamlined with powered plug fit doors and
potentially fitted with an active suspension system which would help to contribute towards a
desired 30% improvement in ride quality compared to the Mark 3 coach – then the
benchmark used by InterCity.[5] Development of the Mark 5 rolling stock was accompanied
by research into improvements in track quality needed to achieve the desired ride quality at
155 mph. The compliance with the low frequency dynamic and static "P2" track force of
322N was proposed to be addressed by using normal ride quality standards up to 125 mph,
followed by a higher track quality over 125 mph.[6] Some of this research by BR was
undertaken via computer simulations using the vehicle dynamics software "VAMPIRE" for
operation on both the WCML and ECML; this utilised track geometry and ride quality data
gathered from Mark 4 rolling stock test runs on the ECML.[7]

The interior of mockups (designed by FM Design,[8] and constructed within marine plywood
enclosures at British Rail's Engineering Development Unit, at the Railway Technical Centre,
Derby during 1991) indicated a 2+2 seating arrangement in standard class (88 seats per
coach) with 2+1 in first class (52 seats per coach[9]). The Driving Van Trailer would also have
come under the Mark 5 project remit. These would have resembled the Class 93 locomotives,
with luggage space, a kitchen and a driving cab, similar to those commissioned for the
InterCity 225 project.

In early 1991, tenders were called for up to 45 ten carriage sets with GEC Alsthom,
Bombardier/Prorail, and British Rail Engineering Limited/ABB invited to bid.[10]

Creating the Class 93s alone would have cost £380 million. With limited funding after the
ECML electrification project was completed, the costs were deemed too high, and the project
was terminated.

Legacy[edit]
After the InterCity 250 project was scrapped, Virgin Trains, who have operated the InterCity
West Coast franchise since the privatisation of British Rail, commissioned new rolling stock
in the form of Class 390 electric multiple units, rather than the Class 93 locomotive and
separate Mark 5 carriages proposed by British Rail. Network Rail track design standards
previously used the Mark 5 coach to represent coaching stock with 19 m bogie centres,
however from June 2016 references to this requirement were removed.[11] Passenger Gauge 3
(PG3) with 17 m bogie centres and 2.6m wheelbases is under development to replace this for
future vehicles.[12]

Other coaches named Mark 5[edit]

Caledonian Sleeper[edit]
In 2015, the Caledonian Sleeper service signed a €200m deal with CAF to purchase 75
coaches of five different types.[13] These will be formed into a total of four 16-coach trains,
with 11 coaches as spares. The new vehicles will be the first new locomotive hauled
passenger coaches introduced onto the British network since the Mark 4 vehicles on the East
Coast Main Line as part of the InterCity 225 system in 1989–1992. The first vehicles are due
to be delivered to the UK in 2017, with service entry expected in 2018.[14]

TransPennine Express[edit]
In 2016, TransPennine Express announced the procurement of 125 new vehicles from CAF,
including 65 Mark 5 locomotive hauled coaches, to be formed into 13 five-coach sets, hauled
by Class 68 locomotives. These will be initially used on services between Liverpool and
Newcastle from 2018, before being transferred to other routes upon the delivery to TPE of its
fleet of Class 802 bi-mode multiple units.[15]