HIGH Speed Trains were withdrawn by CrossCountry during September, with the final service train operating on September 18, followed by a farewell charter on September 26.
The HST fleet, of which there were 12 Class 43 power cars and 40 Mk.3 coaches, was withdrawn following a decision by the Department for Transport (DfT) over costs. Within the existing XC contract held by Arriva, the HSTs, of which two saw use, on average per day, there was no planned replacement, with redeployment of Class 220/221 Voyagers required.
A new National Rail Contract announced on August 31 (see separate story), has since confirmed seven ‘221s’ will move to XC.
The final service was the 1E73 16.27 Plymouth-Leeds, powered by Nos. 43007/008 in their HST blue and yellow and InterCity Swallow liveries respectively. The usual 2+7 HST formation was extended to a 2+8 as a way of moving an extra vehicle to Neville Hill ahead of the farewell charter. The Mk.3s used on the
