Definition of "cross-country"

There are certain parts of Great Britain in which, even in peace time, the speed of cross-country travel has made no advance for more than half-a-century.

1940 May, “Items of Interest: From Chippenham to Hay”, in Railway Magazine, page 319

Passenger traffic consists largely of through expresses from London, Bristol and Birmingham to South Wales via Severn Tunnel Junction, and cross-country trains from the north and Midlands via Pontypool Road. (In Britain cross-country trains connect regional centres, and avoid London.)

1963 February, G. M. Kichenside, “The Newport (Mon.) resignalling scheme”, in Modern Railways, page 125

I made reservations for three with USAir, Manchester, New Hampshire, to Seattle, Washington. […] I negotiated with Polly's doctors to transfer her treatment cross-country.

2005, Donald Hall, The Best Day the Worst Day: Life with Jane Kenyon, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, pages 102–103