The InterCity 225 is an electric push-pull high speed train in Great Britain, each originally comprising a electric locomotive, nine Mark 4 coaches and a Driving Van Trailer (DVT). The Class 91 locomotives were built by British Rail Engineering Limited's Crewe Works as a spin-off from the Advanced Passenger Train (APT) project, which was abandoned during the 1980s, whilst the coaches and DVT were constructed by Metro-Cammell in Birmingham and Breda (under sub-contract) in Italy, again borrowing heavily from the APT. The trains were designed to operate at up to in regular service, but are limited to principally due to a lack of cab signalling and the limitations of the current overhead line equipment. They were introduced into service between 1989 and 1991 for inter-city services on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) from to , and . In late 2025, the remaining sets in use were reduced to seven carriages in order that they could keep to the timings for LNER's new timetable.

History

Background

The origin of the InterCity 225 is closely associated with the ECML upon which it has been primarily operated. During the 1950s, British Rail had considered electrification of the ECML to be of equal importance to the West Coast Main Line (WCML), but various political factors led to the envisioned electrification programme being delayed for decades; as an alternative, high-speed diesel traction, including the Class 55 Deltics and InterCity 125, was introduced upon the route during the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1970s, a working group of British Rail and Department for Transport officials determined that, out of all options for further electrification, the ECML represented the best value by far. Its in-house forecasts determined that increases in revenue and considerable reductions in energy and maintenance costs would occur by electrifying the line. covering 30 miles in total. However, due to various factors including technical issues, the APT programme was curtailed during the summer of 1989. Shortly thereafter, two alternative options were explored: an electrified version of the InterCity 125 (known as the HST-E) and the mixed-traffic locomotive; these were both intended to a peak service speed of .

Some officials within British Rail (BR) pushed for more demanding requirements for the future InterCity trainset; reportedly, BR's Director of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (M&EE) was a strong proponent for increasing the top speed to

On 14 February 1985, the BR board approved the substitution of the Class 91 for Class 89 for the ECML programme. In service, the InterCity 225 sets were used alongside other rolling stock, including Class 90 locomotives and electric multiple units. The displaced diesel trains were reallocated predominantly to the Midland Main Line.

The InterCity 225 was designed to achieve a peak service speed of ; during a test run in 1989 on Stoke Bank between and , an InterCity 225 was recorded at a speed of . Thus, except on High Speed 1, which is equipped with cab signalling, British signalling does not allow any train, including the InterCity 225, to exceed in regular service, due to the impracticality of correctly observing lineside signals at high speed.

thumb|An InterCity 225 at Peterborough in 1992

The InterCity 225 has also operated on the WCML. In April 1992, one trainset achieved a new speed record of two hours, eight minutes between and , shaving 11 minutes off the 1966 record. During 1993, trials were operated to and Manchester Piccadilly in connection with the InterCity 250 project.

In 1996, as part of the privatisation of British Rail, all InterCity 225s were sold to Eversholt Rail Group. Since then, the trains have been leased to all operators of the InterCity East Coast franchise, which is presently operated by London North Eastern Railway (LNER). Between October 2003 and November 2005, Bombardier Transportation, under contract from Great North Eastern Railway (GNER), completed a rebuild and refurbishment programme for the Class 91 locomotives, DVTs and Mark 4 coaches called Project Mallard.

In July 2013, it was confirmed that the InterCity 225 fleet would be replaced as part of the Intercity Express Programme (IEP), a Department for Transport initiative to replace the InterCity 125 and InterCity 225 fleet on the East Coast Main Line and the Great Western Main Line. Introduced in the programme were bi-mode and electric trains from the Hitachi A-train family, of which the ECML sets were nicknamed Azuma after the Japanese word for "East".

In June 2018, new operator LNER inherited all 31 InterCity 225 sets from VTEC as part of the franchise. At this point, LNER had no intentions to retain any of the InterCity 225 sets due to high maintenance costs on the fleet. The first Class 800 entered service with LNER on 15 May 2019, allowing for the first withdrawal of an InterCity 225 set. The withdrawals have gradually continued as more of the new Azuma trains entered service and at the beginning of 2020, it was planned that the final InterCity 225 sets would leave LNER's fleet by June 2020. However, LNER decided to retain seven sets until 2023 to allow for services to be increased in December 2021. From September 2020, they ceased operating north of York until March 2026, where one daily return working from London Kings Cross to Newcastle has yet again been booked to use InterCity 225s.

thumb|An LNER InterCity 225 at in 2023

With LNER returning the majority of their InterCity 225 sets to Eversholt Rail Group, it has been announced that other companies would be obtaining some of the Mark 4 carriages and Driving Van Trailers. Transport For Wales have leased 12 Mark 4 carriages to replace Mark 3 coaches on its Premier Service. Prospective operator Grand Union proposed to operate the InterCity 225 on to services from December 2020 and London Euston to services from May 2021.

From May 2020, Grand Central was planning to begin using Mark 4 carriages on its new London Euston to services with Class 90 locomotives hauling six-carriage sets. However, these plans were subsequently axed as part of Grand Central's recovery plan due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After losing the West Coast Partnership franchise, Virgin Rail Group had proposed using InterCity 225s on an open access service from London Euston to .

In September 2020, Eversholt and LNER extended their lease of seven IC225 sets, with ten Class 91 locomotives, to summer 2023, with an option to extend to summer 2024. They were overhauled at the Wabtec Doncaster plant.

At the end of service on 15 January 2021, the remaining serviceable InterCity 225 sets went into storage temporarily as part of the East Coast Upgrade. Originally, the plan was to return the sets to service for 7 June 2021, but instead the first set re-entered service on 11 May 2021 for a short time due to a number of Class 800 Azuma sets having to be taken out of service.

In late 2025, the remaining 225 sets were reduced to seven carriages (from the previous nine carriages) for acceleration reasons in LNER's December 2025 timetable. As of 2026, LNER has twelve Class 91 locomotives and eight sets of coaches, which run four diagrams per day with one set on standby.

  • Class 91 electric locomotive (north end)
  • Coach B – Standard Class – 76 seats – WC
  • Coach C – Standard Class – 76 seats – WC
  • Coach D – Standard Class – 76 seats – WC
  • Coach E – Standard Class – 76 seats – WC
  • Coach F – Standard Class – 72 seats – Accessible Toilet
  • Coach H – Standard Class/Kitchen – 30 seats – WC
  • Coach K – First Class – 43 seats – WC + 2 crew areas
  • Coach L – First Class – 40 seats – accessible toilet
  • Coach M – First Class – 46 seats – WC
  • Coach P – Driving Van Trailer (London end)

The total numbers of seats were 406 standard class and 129 first class, an overall capacity of 535 seats. In late 2025, coaches E and M were removed from the sets, giving a new capacity of 330 standard class and 83 first class, a total of 413 seats.

Preservation

In early 2023, 91131 entered preservation at the Museum of Scottish Railways in Bo’ness, West Lothian. As the last high-speed locomotive built for British Rail, the last locomotive built at Crewe Works, and holder of a 154mph speed record, it was protected under the 1996 Railway Heritage Act.

As of Friday 6th February 2026, Two Intercity 225 Mark 4 coaches, numbers 11412 & 11426 were purchased from Beacon Rail have been preserved by 225 Preservation

Scale models

The following railway models have been produced:

  • One of the first models of the IC225 in the UK was by Hornby Railways, after previously releasing an OO gauge Class 91 locomotive in 1988
  • In 1990, Hornby launched its first OO gauge models of Mk.4 rolling coach stock, consisting of a DVT and three coaches: a Tourist Open Coach (TSO), a First Open Coach (FO) and a Catering Service Car (RFM)
  • Hornby launched its first full model version containing a Class 91 locomotive, a Mk.4 DVT and two Mk.4 Tourist Open Coaches as a complete train set in 1991.

References

Further reading

  • Testing the InterCity 225
  • Running to Time. Channel 4 documentary about the creation and manufacturing of InterCity 225 (1988)

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