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The InterCity 125 was the brand name of British Rail's High Speed Train (HST) fleet, which was built from 1975 to 1982 and was introduced in 1976. The InterCity 125 train is made up of two Class 43 power cars, one at each end of a fixed formation of Mark 3 carriages (the number of carriages varies by operator). The train operates at speeds of up to in regular service, and has an absolute maximum speed of , making it the fastest diesel-powered train in the world, a record it has held from its introduction to the present day. Initially the sets were classified as Classes 253 and 254. A variant of the power cars operates in Australia as part of the XPT. After three decades, most of the HST fleet is still in front-line revenue service under privatisation, and while the InterCity 125 brand name is rarely mentioned officially by the private train-operating companies (TOCs), the InterCity 125 still forms the backbone of intercity services on several British main lines. Almost all sets are expected to be replaced by 2018 by the Intercity Express Programme. Under early plans for that programme, some HSTs were due to continue in use on London to Devon/Cornwall services, where there are no plans to electrify the lines. However, in March 2015 it was announced that the remainder of the Great Western fleet would be replaced with bi-mode Intercity Express sets, equipped with the required powerplants and fuel tanks to tackle the distances and inclines of Westcountry services. The power cars have new engines and new lights, and the coaches have been refurbished. The trains currently operate from London Paddington to Penzance, Plymouth, Newquay (summer), Paignton, Exeter, Taunton, Westbury, Oxford, Cardiff, Swansea, Carmarthen, Pembroke Dock (summer), Bristol, Weston-super-Mare, Worcester, Great Malvern, Hereford and Cheltenham; from London St Pancras to Nottingham; from London King's Cross to Aberdeen, Inverness, Harrogate, Hull, Sunderland, Leeds, and Lincoln; on the CrossCountry route from Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Leeds to Plymouth (plus in summer to Paignton, Newquay and Penzance); from Derby to Skegness (summer only) and also Leeds to Aberdeen. One is in departmental use, as Network Rail's New Measurement Train, converted and in use since 2003. ==Background== In the later 1950s and early 1960s, the British Transport Commission was modernising its rail network. In particular, it wanted to increase intercity speeds, so that the railways could compete more effectively with the new motorways. The government was unwilling to fund new railways, so the BTC focused its attention on increasing line speeds through the development of new trains and minor modifications to the existing infrastructure. A team of engineers was assembled at the Railway Technical Centre in Derby in the early 1960s, with the aim of developing an "Advanced Passenger Train" (APT), that would be capable of at least and incorporate many features not previously seen on British railways—such as tilting to allow higher speeds on curves.〔Marsden, pp.7–10.〕 The APT project had suffered repeated delays, and in 1970, the British Railways Board (BRB) decided that it was not sufficiently developed to be able to provide modernisation of the railways in the short term. Thus, at the instigation of Terry Miller, Chief Engineer (Traction & Rolling Stock), the BRB authorised the development of a high-speed diesel train, an operational prototype of which was to be built by 1972, for short-term use until the APT was able to take over.〔Marsden, pp.10–11.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「InterCity 125」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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