InterCity (British Rail)

InterCity

A High Speed Train power car (loco) and coach in InterCity swallow livery in Penzance.
Overview
Franchise(s)	Not subject to franchising
Main Region(s)	All 1966 – 1996
Other Region(s)	All
Fleet size	180
Stations called at	190
Parent company	British Rail

InterCity (or, in the earliest days, the hyphenated Inter-City) was introduced by British Rail in 1966 as a brand-name for its long-haul express passenger services (see British Rail brand names for a full history).

In 1986 the British Railways Board divided its operations into a number of sectors (sectorisation). The sector responsible for long-distance express trains assumed the brand-name InterCity, although many routes that were previously operated as InterCity services were assigned to other sectors (e.g., London to King's Lynn services were transferred to the commuter sector Network SouthEast).

British Rail first used the term Inter-City in 1950 as the name of a train running between London (Paddington) and Wolverhampton (Low Level, now closed). This was part of an overall policy of introducing new train names in the post WWII period.

The name was applied to the business express which ran from London in the morning and returned in the afternoon, and became part of the railway lore of the West Midlands. West Midlands residents always believed that it was the success of this one train that led to the adoption of the name as a British Rail brand in 1966. This belief was supported by the timeline: in 1966 The Inter-City was heading towards its ultimate demise in 1967, when the mainline London-West Midlands service was consolidated into the newly electrified route via Rugby.

Following sectorisation of British Rail, InterCity became profitable. InterCity became one of Britain’s top 150 companies, providing city centre to city centre travel across the nation from Aberdeen and Inverness in the north to Poole and Penzance in the south.

InterCity had the following divisions:

The InterCity sector was also responsible for Motorail services to and from London Kensington Olympia.