Possession Resource Information Database (PRIDE)/Line Of Route (LOR) codes

A (hopefully) comprehensive listing

Last update 4 August 2024

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Introduction

Presented here is a list of PRIDE codes, used to identify each of Network Rail's routes. These were introduced by Network Rail's predecessor Railtrack in mid-January 1998 for the then Midland Zone, and phased in for other Zones from about April 1998. The discerning reader will also notice some other routes have acquired PRIDE codes, for example Luton to Dunstable. Included where known is the route availability figure for each route.

Route Availability (RA) is a measure of the load that the infrastructure can safely bear. Generally speaking, the higher the RA figure, the stronger the infrastructure, and thus the heavier trains using that route can be. The weakest load-bearing structure (for example, bridge or embankment) on a route determines the maximum RA of that route. Items of rolling stock also have an RA figure associated with them. Assuming other constraints (overhang on curves, for example) are acceptable, then any train with the same or lower RA as the route may travel on that line. There are, though, occasions where local exceptions allow certain locomotives with a higher RA to traverse a route.

Please note that certain routes have transferred in whole or in part between zones/regions, and so it is possible that different names have been used. For example, GW730 "Shrewsbury Severn Bridge Junction to Newport Maindee West Junction" was previously known as "Sutton Bridge Junction (excl) to Newport Maindee West Junction". At this stage, there is no attempt to record all these changes.

Note too that PRIDE numbers are now known as line of route (LOR) numbers. The name has changed, but the codes are unchanged.

The Historical page shows a similar coding system used by British Rail's Western Region in the 1990s and its predecessor from the 1950s-1980s. At present it is thought that only the Anglia region (in its latter days) used a comparable system. Little is known about these codes; such as is known is included here.

Key to prefixes

CY = Wales EA = South Eastern: East Anglia area GW = Great Western (later known as Western) LN = London & North Eastern MD = North West: former Midlands lines NW = North West NZ = North West: former London & North Eastern lines SC = Scotland SO = South Eastern: Kent and Sussex areas SW = South Eastern: Wessex area XR = Crossrail (central area routes)