Rail network pinch points

[AndrewE]

I'm starting from the observation that county and other councils lobby for lots of road schemes to "ease congestion" and quite a lot get built, all over the place. I don't remember seeing a thread that explores this in the rail context.

Having been delayed the other day on departure southbound from Crewe awaiting the passing of a late-running express it occurred to me that there are places on the network where delays can multiply for the lack of a little bit of infrastructure, but not many smaller improvements get made. In fact I would guess that "simplifications" to reduce ongoing maintainance costs are more likely [common] even though they make the network less resilient.

In the case of Crewe I was quite surprised to see on Open Train Times (http://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/crewe) that at Crewe South Junction there are only 3 tracks for all the WCML traffic at one point, even though it is a 4-track railway everywhere else south of Weaver Junction. Clearly the continuation of the line through platform 5 southbound would allow stoppers to depart and get further south before taking their place behind the delayed non-stop trains. (the situation occurs repeatedly, e.g.at 1249 today.)

I am aware of the 2-track eastern approach to Edinburgh Waverley where the ECML and now the borders line enter the station, besides other big jobs that need doing like Welwyn on the ECML and Oxford Rd to Piccadilly in Manchester. There are also some single-lead junctions where one delay must snowball causing much wider consequences,

How many other pinch points are there (nationally) and how would you rank them in terms of benefits to be gained versus the costs?

 

[snowball]

even though it is a 4-track railway everywhere else south of Weaver Junction.

Other places where it isn't:

Brinklow to Attleborough (between Rugby and Nuneaton), over 7 miles of 3 tracks

Colwich to Whitehouse (approaching Stafford), over 2 miles of 2 tracks then a mile of 3

Winsford to Hartford, over 5 miles of 2 tracks

Acton Bridge to Weaver Junction, over 2 miles of 2 tracks.

 

[LOL The Irony]

Castlefield Junction and Deansgate station.

 

[BanburyBlue]

What happens on the 3 track sections - is 1 track bi-directional?

 

[AndrewE]

Other places where it isn't:

Brinklow to Attleborough (between Rugby and Nuneaton), over 7 miles of 3 tracks

Colwich to Whitehouse (approaching Stafford), over 2 miles of 2 tracks then a mile of 3

Winsford to Hartford, over 5 miles of 2 tracks

Acton Bridge to Weaver Junction, over 2 miles of 2 tracks.

You are quite right, somehow I misremebered that there are not 4 tracks all the way up the Trent valley, but there are the various parallel lines through the west midlands in that case. Some double track north of Crewe too, but sadly a lot of that has been reduced to just two over the last few decades.
The fact remains though that there are pinch points, but not many get dealt with. Too many single-lead junctions for a start.

 

[snowball]

What happens on the 3 track sections - is 1 track bi-directional?

Going from the Quail map:

The short section ientified by the OP is bi-di. It's essentially an extension of the bi-di through the platforms.

Brinklow to Attleborough is two bi-di tracks and an up slow

The others are uni-directional

 

[ge-gn]

Four passenger train arrivals into Norwich, and four departures are funnelled over Trowse Swing Bridge an hour off peak. With busier peak periods, plus ECS and freight moves, it's an extremely busy 100m of single line!

 

[Mugby]

I would suggest the section between Swinton Station (Sth. Yorks) and Aldwarke Junction.

It was quadruple tracked, reduced to 2 tracks by BR but in recent years has seen a big increase in usage with many services crossing each other, particularly at Aldwarke. I think the removed tracks should be reinstated for Doncaster line services and would also reduce dependency on the two junctions.

 

[Highlandspring]

Finnieston to Hyndland, busiest bit of railway in Scotland. Double track with a train every 180 seconds on average during the peak. Horrendous when it goes wrong!

 

[jopsuk]

Unlike with the majority of road projects, where providing more capacity often leads to more, not less, congestion* there is more hope with sorting out some of these rail ones, what with the strictly planned nature of the railways.

Another Scotland one: Montrose

The West Anglia/Lee Valley lines have something of a bottleneck through Clapton.

*To be fair similar effects are sometimes seen on railways, but in terms of passenger numbers. Eg the North London Line which has more services and longer trains and does get overwhelmed.

 

[swt_passenger]

I'm starting from the observation that county and other councils lobby for lots of road schemes to "ease congestion" and quite a lot get built, all over the place. I don't remember seeing a thread that explores this in the rail context.

Bermondsey flyover/diveunder will hopefully solve a major pinch point.
Reading track alterations included vast amounts of work to remove flat crossing conflicts at a major hub.
Woking and Basingstoke grade separated junctions are at the proposal stage in the Wessex area.
Windmill bridge alterations on the Sussex main line in the East Croydon area are intended to sort out a huge pinch point.

I suspect there are loads of other schemes under investigation by Network Rail that could all be considered 'pinch point' removal.

 

[Railsigns]

Finnieston to Hyndland, busiest bit of railway in Scotland. Double track with a train every 180 seconds on average during the peak.

I doubt that it's as busy as the approach to Glasgow Central station! Busiest bit of double track railway, perhaps.

 

[Ianno87]

In normal operation, Brinklow-Attleborough is 2 Up tracks and 1 Down trak.

Bi-di only really used for maintenance access on Sunday mornings and late at night

 

[Ianno87]

There are really 5 tracks at that point at Crewe. Just 2 run round the back of the station/yard as the Independent Lines

 

[swt_passenger]

I doubt that it's as busy as the approach to Glasgow Central station! Busiest bit of double track railway, perhaps.

Funnily enough there was a discussion of this route section in early November, and the gist of it was that numbers were somewhat inflated by adding both directions together...

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The recent Norton Bridge scheme was a "congestion buster", providing a new flyover for Stoke traffic.
New flyovers have also been built at Reading, Shaftholme Jn (ECML), Hitchin and Bermondsey.

 

[Bald Rick]

Four passenger train arrivals into Norwich, and four departures are funnelled over Trowse Swing Bridge an hour off peak. With busier peak periods, plus ECS and freight moves, it's an extremely busy 100m of single line!

It really isn't that busy, it is occupied for about 50% of the time. There's plenty busier stretches of single bi-di line.

For example (in the past), the 100metres or so of line at Met junction that had 4 Thameslinks each way an hour, plus half the down service out of Charing Cross. Now that was busy.

 

[Altfish]

Stockport Viaduct

 

[The Planner]

Stockport Viaduct

Seriously? if you had said Welwyn Viaduct I would have agreed, but Stockport?

 

[InOban]

The Hyndland section is made worse by the flat junction at Hyndland.

And surely the flat crossing at Newark needs a mention?

 

[snowball]

Stockport Viaduct

Ardwick to Slade Lane would be a better contender - it's four tracks, like Stockport viaduct, and carries all the same traffic, plus all the traffic from the busy Styal/airport line, minus only the slight traffic to/from Denton.

 

[30907]

In the case of Crewe I was quite surprised to see on Open Train Times (http://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/crewe) that at Crewe South Junction there are only 3 tracks for all the WCML traffic at one point, even though it is a 4-track railway everywhere else south of Weaver Junction. Clearly the continuation of the line through platform 5 southbound would allow stoppers to depart and get further south before taking their place behind the delayed non-stop trains. (the situation occurs repeatedly, e.g.at 1249 today.)

In this case, there is just one non-stopping up train per hour through Crewe, and because any train continuing on the up slow has to cross the layout, it doesn't actuslly give you a fourth track. That means the only benefit is the one you describe, and that would be marginal - in fact RTT shows no additional delay to the Liverpool-Euston service you refer to.

 

[AndrewE]

There are really 5 tracks at that point at Crewe. Just 2 run round the back of the station/yard as the Independent Lines

True, but it doesn't stop the southbound departures being frequently impacted by late-running non-stop southbound services. I suspect the additional incoming traffic from Salop, Stoke, Chester and Manchester (even with the independent lines) would have been enough to justify 4 tracks south from Crewe at the remodelling - which someone here described as a cheap job when it was done.
Thanks for the reminders, LN-GWJoint, I'm not ungrateful that we have had some relatively recent investment in grade-separated junctions like Norton Bridge, etc., but compared with road schemes seemingly everywhere it's not a lot in the overall context of the UK transport infrastructure. Catthorpe on the M1 / M6 junction and the "managed motorways" upgrades in Cheshire and around Manchester (just 2) must be consuming millions of pounds.

 

[AndrewE]

In this case, there is just one non-stopping up train per hour through Crewe, and because any train continuing on the up slow has to cross the layout, it doesn't actuslly give you a fourth track. That means the only benefit is the one you describe, and that would be marginal - in fact RTT shows no additional delay to the Liverpool-Euston service you refer to.

It's not the late expresses that get any additional delay, it's the stopper that can't get out, and in 40 years travelling I think I have yet to go south on the up slow. There are southbound non-stop Glasgows every hour but it may be the recent weather in N England has been a cause of the problem. Luckily our stopper to Brum managed to make up time and didn't cause any further delays around New St.

 

[The Planner]

1619 LM goes up slow if you really want to do it.

 

[Altfish]

Seriously? if you had said Welwyn Viaduct I would have agreed, but Stockport?

Yes, my local train in rush hour terminates at Stockport because there are not enough available paths to Piccadilly.
I don't know Welwyn Viaduct so can't comment.

 

[Domh245]

Yes, my local train in rush hour terminates at Stockport because there are not enough available paths to Piccadilly.
I don't know Welwyn Viaduct so can't comment.

That will be down to Slade Lane Junction where the 4 lines from Stockport merge with the 2 lines from the Airport, not the viaduct (which is 4 lines throughout)

 

[The Planner]

So how long do you have to wait for a connecting train? Bet it isnt long.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

It's not the late expresses that get any additional delay, it's the stopper that can't get out, and in 40 years travelling I think I have yet to go south on the up slow. There are southbound non-stop Glasgows every hour but it may be the recent weather in N England has been a cause of the problem. Luckily our stopper to Brum managed to make up time and didn't cause any further delays around New St.

The xx19 LM Birminghams from P5 seem to go out on the up slow to Stafford (no real delay there, now it's 100mph).
The xx56 Voyager (ex Chester) also goes out of the up slow from P5 and crosses to the fast at Basford Hall, if there is any conflict (eg the Glasgow non-stop).

There are many aspects of the 1985 remodelling at Crewe which are troublesome, starting with the approach control which appears to cover all lines.
Hopefully it will all be swept away with the rebuild for HS2.

 

[The Planner]

Hopefully it will all be swept away with the rebuild for HS2.

Good luck with that.