Arriva CrossCountry
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Introduction
"CrossCountry - Going that bit further"Covering around 1,600 route miles with almost 300 trains a day, serving 131 stations stretching from Aberdeen to Penzance and from Stansted to Cardiff, CrossCountry is the most extensive intercity rail service in the UK. The franchise started operating on 11 November 2007 and lasts until October 2019 (originally 31 March 2016).
For the first month of the franchise, services between Scotland and the South of England via Carlisle and Preston were jointly operated with Virgin West Coast. From 10th December 2007, services between Scotland and Birmingham were transferred to Virgin West Coast and services between Scotland Manchester were transferred to First TransPennine Express.
CrossCountry operate Class 220 and Class 221 trains on their services to and from Scotland. All of which are in CrossCountry livery.
Rolling Stock
CrossCountry trains have at seat catering onboard.Five HSTs have been reintroduced in daily service on the Edinburgh - Plymouth route from December 2008. These will also be used on extra summer holiday services to the South Coast from the North East of England. The trains were given a full refurb and will internally recieved enhancements which include a NXEC style refurbishment. The HST powercars have all recieved MTU engines similar to National Express HSTs. Wabtec in Doncaster carried out the refurbishment of the HSTs. All XC HSTs are fully refurbished. On Monday and Friday Cross Country operate 3 HSTs, on Tuesday to Thursday there is only 2 Hst services per day. Weekend HST workings vary.
Ticketing
CrossCountry strongly encourage its customers to purchase tickets online. Advance purchase tickets are avaliable for most routes including on the day advance purchasing. Mobile tickets are also available via their app 'train tickets'. Tickets purchased via the CrossCountry site for XC services are available to be printed at home.First Class
CrossCountry offer a comprehensive First Class service. At-seat complimentary food and drinks are available from Edinburgh-Bristol Temple Meads and Manchester Picc-Reading. Outside of these zones first class items will be delivered at-seat by the catering trolley when it comes through the train. A copy of the first class menu is available from the XC website - crosscountrytrains.co.uk.Timetable
The current timetables are available from crosscountrytrains.co.ukHST Timetable
The HST workings are currently :
Monday to Friday
XC801
06.00 1V44 LEEDS - PLYMOUTH
12.23 1S51 PLYMOUTH - GLASGOW CENTRAL
XC802
06.32 1V54 DUNDEE-PLYMOUTH (FRIDAY ONLY HST OPERATED)
17.23 1E73 PLYMOUTH-LEEDS
XC803
06.32 1V46 YORK-PLYMOUTH
13.23 1S53 PLYMOUTH-EDINBURGH
XC804
06.06 1V50 EDINBURGH-PLYMOUTH
15.23 1E63 PLYMOUTH-LEEDS
Saturday
XC801
06.00 LEEDS-PLYMOUTH
12.21 PLYMOUTH-GLASGOW
XC802
07.00 GLASGOW-PLYMOUTH
17.21 PLYMOUTH-LEEDS
XC803
SPARE
XC804
09.00 GLASGOW-PENZENCE
21.32 PENZENCE-PLYMOUTH