| British Rail Mark 4 | |
|---|---|
.jpg) London North Eastern Railway Mark 4 carriages atLeeds | |
 The interior of Standard Class aboard a Virgin Trains East Coast refurbished Mark 4 TSO vehicle | |
| In service | 1989 - present |
| Manufacturer | Metro-Cammell |
| Built at | Washwood Heath,Birmingham |
| Constructed | 1989 - 1992 |
| Number built | 314 |
| Number in service | 144 |
| Number scrapped | 19 |
| Formation | 5 or 9 carriage sets |
| Operators | London North Eastern Railway Transport for Wales |
| Lines served | East Coast Main Line |
| Specifications | |
| Car body construction | Fully integral,steelmonocoque |
| Car length | 23 m (75 ft 6 in) overbuffers (23.4 m (76 ft 9 in) over couplings) |
| Width | 2.73 m (8 ft 11 in) (over body) |
| Height | 3.79 m (12 ft 5 in) (rail to roof) |
| Doors | Hinged plug,pneumatically operated |
| Maximum speed | 140 mph (225 km/h) |
| Weight | 39.9–43.5tonnes (39–43long tons; 44–48short tons) |
| Bogies | SIG BT41A[1] |
| Braking system(s) | Triple axle mounteddiscs,pneumatically operated |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge |
TheBritish Rail Mark 4 is a class ofpassenger carriages built for use inInterCity 225 sets on theEast Coast Main Line betweenKing's Cross,Leeds andEdinburgh. Withdrawals began in 2019, with some being sold for further use withTransport for Wales betweenCardiff andHolyhead.
A small build compared with theMark 2 andMark 3 designs, 314 Mark 4 coaches were built between 1989 and 1992 byMetro-Cammell'sWashwood Heath factory to operate services on the newly electrifiedEast Coast Main Line.[2][3][4] They were operated byLondon North Eastern Railway and its predecessors in 30 fixed formations of nine carriages, with aClass 91 locomotive andDriving Van Trailer.
The Mark 4 is an all-steel coach incorporating a number of improvements over the Mark 3 stock - notably the inclusion of automatic push-button operated plug-type doors, in place of manually operated slam-doors, fully sealed gangways and controlled emission toilets (CET). Body shells were built byBritish Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) andSocietà Italiana Ernesto Breda.[5]
After a period of evaluation in 1988, SwissSIG type BT41A[1] bogies were selected rather than BREL Type T4 bogies when BREL could not provide commercial guarantees on the demanding lateral ride comfort required for 140 mph (230 km/h) running (BT41B/C refer to the bogie types used on the Mk4 DVT).[6][7][8][full citation needed]
However, during the first year of operation in 1989, complaints were made about the "lively" ride of the coaches. This required modifications to the damper and spring rates of the bogies and the fitting of inter-coachcar coupler dampers to improve damping between the vehicles.[9] Disabled access was another priority of the design, so the door vestibules were enlarged to allow a larger turning circle for a wheelchair. With continually increasing levels of overcrowding, the 'gangway passenger' had become an important consideration, so the vestibule environment was improved with carpeted walls, better lighting, sealed gangways, and carriage doors plus fourflip-down seats per vestibule (since removed and replaced with bench style perch seats).[citation needed]
Many of these innovations came from the abandonedAdvanced Passenger Train, upon which the Mark 4 was heavily based. This influence was most obvious with the profiled sides, intended to allow the retrofitting of tilt-equipped bogies derived from the APT. This would have allowed up to 6° of tilt; modified coaches would have been designatedMark 4 T, but this plan was abandoned in January 1986. The business case for the Mark 4 also anticipated their operation on theWest Coast Main Line as a follow-on order after the East Coast Main Line electrification, but after the failure of theInterCity 250 project to gain Treasury support, British Rail ordered a small number ofClass 90 locomotives to supplement existing locomotives on the West Coast Main Line.
The Mark 4 has gained widespread praise for its exceptionalcrashworthiness, something that was proven in theHatfield andSelby crashes, where experts identified the integral construction of the vehicles as being a key factor in restricting the death toll.
TheClass 158 andClass 159diesel multiple units, although superficially similar, are not based on the Mark 4 bodyshell; the Mark 4 is derived from theClass 156.[6]
TheIarnród Éireann Mark 4 push-pull carriages, introduced on the Irish railway system in mid-2006, are of a different design; they were manufactured by the Spanish manufacturerCAF.
The Mark 4 was the first British Rail vehicle not to useRail Alphabet typeface for interior signage and operating notices.
Via Rail Canada'sRenaissance fleet of inter-city and sleeper coaches are derived from British Rail's Mark 4. They were built for the abortiveNightstar services to Europe and were adapted byBombardier Transportation to meet Canadian requirements.
Between October 2003 and November 2005,Bombardier Transportation, under contract fromGNER, rebuilt and refurbished the carriages underProject Mallard. Trains with rebuilt coaches became known asMallards to distinguish them from unrefurbished sets during the upgrade programme, named after thesteam locomotiveMallard, built in the 1930s by theLondon and North Eastern Railway and holder of the world speed record forsteam locomotives.[10][11][12]
The Mallard refit gave the coaches all-new interiors with new seats, carpeting and power points at every seat. The vestibule areas lost their flip-down seats near the entrances, with perch-type seats being put in their place. The buffet coach was turned around with first class seating converted to standard. Wheelchair-width doors were fitted and the seating capacity was increased by fitting airline-style seats in place of the previous groupings of pairs of seats facing each other across a table.
Additionally, GNER introducedWiFi internet connectivity as a trial from December 2003 and then into service from April 2004, making it the first service of its kind in the United Kingdom. Prior toNational Express East Coast (NXEC) taking over the franchise in December 2007, WiFi was free in first class and chargeable in standard class; under the new NXEC franchise access, it became free for all passengers. In October 2010, underEast Coast operation, charges for standard class passengers were reintroduced.[13]
All coaches were revinyled inEast Coast livery with the last completed in April 2013.[14] They were revinyled inVirgin Trains East Coast livery in 2015.[15] In February 2016, a refurbishment programme calledPlush Tush commenced with new seat covers, carpets and purple mood lighting in First Class.[16]
The Mark 4s were largely replaced on the East Coast Main Line byClass 801s in 2019/20.Virgin Trains East Coast were to retain seven or eight nine-carriage sets to operate extra services toEdinburgh.[17][18] Virgin Trains East Coasts' successor LNER later stated this plan had been cancelled.[19] In September 2020,Eversholt Rail Group andLondon North Eastern Railway extended their lease to 10 by 2023. In addition, there are options to make it operational until 2024. It will be overhauled byWabtec atDoncaster Works.[20][21]
Grand Central planned to use on Mark 4 coaches (5x5 coaches + DVT sets) on theirLondon Euston toBlackpool North services; however, these services were abandoned on 10 September 2020, due to the impact of COVID-19 on passenger numbers.[22]
Twelve Mark 4 carriages were refurbished for use byTransport for Wales on an expandedHolyhead toCardiffPremier Service from June 2021.[23][24]
In 2021, Transport for Wales purchased these carriages from Eversholt Rail Group along with the carriages that had been refurbished for use by Grand Central; this brought its fleet to 37.[25]
Grand Union proposed to operate Mark 4s on itsLondon Paddington toCardiff Central services.[26] This plan was scrapped in favour of using newly procured Class 802 bi-mode units from Hitachi, though this never materialised as the Department for Transport ruled against Grand Union's proposal. Grand Union have also proposed to use them on other services along theWest Coast Mainline from London Euston to Stirling, replacing the Class 91 locomotives with brand new Class 93 'Euro-Dual' tri-mode locomotives for use on non-electrified lines. As a supplement, Grand Union stated on their official website that they will be leased Class 22x units (Class 220, 221, 222) from EMR and Avanti West Coast (Arriva CrossCountry will not be leasing their units). In September 2024, the plan was completely scrapped after Grand Union was bought out by FirstGroup.
Media related toBritish Rail Mk4 coaches at Wikimedia Commons