Highland Chieftain

Highland Chieftain route map
Inverness Carrbridge Aviemore Kingussie Newtonmore Blair Atholl Pitlochry Dunkeld & Birnam Perth Gleneagles Dunblane Stirling Falkirk Grahamston Haymarket Edinburgh Waverley Scotland / England Berwick-upon-Tweed Newcastle Darlington York Doncaster Newark North Gate Peterborough London Kings Cross

The Highland Chieftain is one of the four named passenger trains operated by Virgin Trains East Coast on the UK National Rail network. Virgin Trains East Coast runs one train a day each way between London King's Cross and Inverness on the East Coast Main Line and the Highland Main Line. Both services are named the Highland Chieftain and are operated by diesel-powered InterCity 125 High Speed Trains (HSTs) as the route is not electrified north of Edinburgh. Because of the limited number of stops between London and Edinburgh, this service has one of the fastest journey times between the two cities, just two minutes longer than the Flying Scotsman.

As of 2016, the HSTs will be replaced by the Class 800 on the Chieftan services. It is yet to be confirmed whether the Class 800 (being able to switch between Diesel and Electric overhead line power) will run on Electric power as far as Dunblane Railway Station, once work is completed on the line in 2016, or only run on it as far as Edinburgh Waverley. Since Dunblane Railway Station is only a calling point during weekdays one way, it has also been suggested that the Class 800 will run on Diesel power from Stirling northbound and Electric southbound, pending on permission being granted from Network Rail. There have been suggestions that obce introduced, the Highland Chieftan will run as a 10 car unit (formed of 2 coupled 5 car Class 800s) to bolster capacity by a further coach as well as a 9 car single train. Another idea was to form a 14 car train by coupling a 5 car and 9 car trains together to provide capacity between Edinburgh Waverley and London Kings Cross, with the 9 car unit continuing solo to Inverness. This idea has also been suggested for the Aberdeen to London services as well (Northern Lights).

The route is one of the longest in Great Britain at 581 miles and the journey takes around 7 hours 55 minutes southbound, 8 hr 8 min northbound; the increased time for the northbound journey is to allow for conflicting movements on the single-line sections north of Perth) to cover the journey. Longer routes include the Caledonian Sleeper and a CrossCountry service from Aberdeen to Penzance, which covers over 705 miles.

Virgin Trains East Coast's three other named services are the Hull Executive, the Northern Lights and the Flying Scotsman.

Origins

The Highland Chieftain was introduced with the May 1984 timetable, the running time then being 8 hours 40 minutes southbound and 8 hours 50 minutes northbound. It was intended to replace the Clansman as the "principal train" between the Highlands and London.

External links

• East Coast website
• National Rail Enquiries website - main web portal for UK train fares, times and other travel information