WLTM Transport Blog: Moving Parliament

These services feel like a side-note in the vast essay that is the UK rail network, but all the same their importance is on equal or greater terms, and historically even more so. They are rarely seen, usually connecting unusual stations, often running at inconvenient times and likely to be carrying no more than one man and his dog, on a good day; this of course is reference to the "Parliament" or "ghost" trains. The Parliament service is a long-standing principle of running, sometimes as little as one train a week, and in only one direction, over sections of the railway network that would otherwise be closed.

The Parliament trains have proved a useful tactic to employ when the costs of a formal procedure for closing a specific portion of line become too unwieldy. They can also run for other means such as refreshing driver route knowledge along diversionary routes, the latter is the focus for this post.

Chiltern Railways have operated a late morning Parliament service between South Ruislip and Paddington via the New North Main Line (NNML). The NNML was built by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and opened between 1903 and 1905 running as a spur off the 'traditional' Great Western Main Line at Old Oak Common, running north through Greenford, before joining the Great Central Railway's (GCR) main line at South Ruislip. The NNML continued to High Wycombe and beyond towards the Midlands and North West as a GWR & GCR joint railway [1]. Normal services ceased in 1963 and today the one passenger train that uses the line only reaches High Wycombe. This is an extension in reality as the "Parliament" service used to terminate from Paddington at West Ruislip until 2017. The line is also used by freight workings, and prior to High Speed 2 (HS2) construction, was partly used as a method to turn GWR High Speed Train sets around from Old Oak Common.

Sign of the times; both services on the indicator boards here, now start at West Ealing.
Chiltern Railways 165 006 at Paddington.
© Tommy Cooling

Circle Line 21313 passes Chiltern Railways 165 006 at Paddington.
© Tommy Cooling

Chiltern Railways 165 006 passes Royal Oak with Paddington in the distance.
© Tommy Cooling

Chiltern Railways 165 006 passes then-First Great Western (now GWR) 165 127 at Royal Oak.
© Tommy Cooling

A 3x2 Chiltern Railways 165 DMU set passes North Acton heading towards Paddington.
© Tommy Cooling

Chiltern Railways 165 005, with Wembley Stadium in the background, passes through Perivale heading to Paddington.
© Tommy Cooling

Construction for the new High Speed 2 rail link, linking London to the Midlands and beyond [sound familiar?] is churning through the new development site at Old Oak Common, ready to become a massive interchange between from HS2 to GWR services, Crossrail and London Overground. The NNML traverses two of the HS2 tunnel boring sites, and after 115 years since opening, the line is now severed. A decision is yet to be made regarding whether the track will be reinstated to run a more substantive HS2 Old Oak Common connecting Chiltern service, however such a service has been muted to increase Chiltern Railways' presence and to take the strain from their Marylebone terminus.

This is not the end for the "Parliament" service however. From the December 2018 timetable change, the Chiltern Railways service from South Ruislip now runs to West Ealing leaving at the slightly later time of 11.02, diverting off the NNML at Greenford. The return journey, now at 11.47, still runs to High Wycombe. It waits to be seen as to whether this ghost service will ever return to Paddington, although given the congested nature of the "local lines" through Ealing Broadway and Acton, and with Crossrail around the corner, it does look unlikely.