Rail network pinch points

[AndrewE]

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

Maybe I will. I'll also look for something on the down slow from Stafford that doesn't go to Stoke!

 

[Schweir]

Bristol Temple Meads to Bristol Parkway (and in fact the whole area around Bristol Parkway), mind you they are currently making the track 4 lines instead of 2. XC services often get stuck behind slow GWR stoppers which are often running late.

 

[PHILIPE]

Bristol Temple Meads to Bristol Parkway (and in fact the whole area around Bristol Parkway), mind you they are currently making the track 4 lines instead of 2. XC services often get stuck behind slow GWR stoppers which are often running late.

There is work currently taking place to 4 track the route as far as Filton Abbeywood where the South Wales line and it's trains turn off.

 

[MontyP]

What about the flat crossing north of Newark Northgate station where the Nottingham-Lincoln line crosses the ECML?

Do the non-grade separated junctions at Doncaster cause any issues?

 

[Schweir]

There is work currently taking place to 4 track the route as far as Filton Abbeywood where the South Wales line and it's trains turn off.

Ah it is only to Filton, that would make sense.

 

[Mintona]

Since Reading was remodelled, Didcot East to Moreton Cutting has become the major pinch point on the GWML. Fast trains to Oxford having to cross both relief lines and the up main on the flat to access the Didcot avoider, vice versa in the opposite direction to join the up main.

It would be useful to have a Norton Bridge style flyover from the down main to the down Didcot Avoider without crossing the up main. I don’t know if the appetite will be there to carry out too much more work on the GWML since the electrification went bad though.

In the future I can see Wootton Bassett Jn becoming more of a pinch point with the extra services to Bristol via Hullavington.

 

[Old Hill Bank]

Sort out the Worcester triangle and surrounding single lines, slightest problem screws up numerous routes.

 

[AndrewE]

Since Reading was remodelled, Didcot East to Moreton Cutting has become the major pinch point on the GWML. Fast trains to Oxford having to cross both relief lines and the up main on the flat to access the Didcot avoider, vice versa in the opposite direction to join the up main.

It would be useful to have a Norton Bridge style flyover from the down main to the down Didcot Avoider without crossing the up main. I don’t know if the appetite will be there to carry out too much more work on the GWML since the electrification went bad though.

In the future I can see Wootton Bassett Jn becoming more of a pinch point with the extra services to Bristol via Hullavington.

Sort out the Worcester triangle and surrounding single lines, slightest problem screws up numerous routes.

If roads can have investment then why not build all these rail improvements? I agree Wootton Bassett is overdue for a major rebuild, given that it's still a minimal adaptation to the completely changed traffic nowadays. How many grade-separated rail junctions were put in between Rugby (1960s?) and Hitchin (2010s)

 

[Bald Rick]

If roads can have investment then why not build all these rail improvements? I agree Wootton Bassett is overdue for a major rebuild, given that it's still a minimal adaptation to the completely changed traffic nowadays. How many grade-separated rail junctions were put in between Rugby (1960s?) and Hitchin (2010s)

Well, off the top of my head (with particularly poor knowledge in the north and Scotland) and in no particular order:

Retford
Tanners Hill (the 1970s vintage)
Windmill Bridge Jn x2
Welwyn Garden City
Finsbury Park x2
Oxley Chord
Hambleton Jns
Airport Jn
Proof House Jn (in two bites, 1988 and 2000)
Shortlands Jn
Nine Elms Jn
Nuneaton x2
Allington Chord
Six on HS1
Langley Jn at Stevenage may also be of this vintage, but can't be sure

And since Hitchin, we've had:

Joan Croft
Airport Jn II
Acton
Reading x3
Norton Bridge
Bermondsey x3
Canal Jn
2 for the Crossrail portals

 

[coppercapped]

Since Reading was remodelled, Didcot East to Moreton Cutting has become the major pinch point on the GWML. Fast trains to Oxford having to cross both relief lines and the up main on the flat to access the Didcot avoider, vice versa in the opposite direction to join the up main.

It would be useful to have a Norton Bridge style flyover from the down main to the down Didcot Avoider without crossing the up main. I don’t know if the appetite will be there to carry out too much more work on the GWML since the electrification went bad though.

In the future I can see Wootton Bassett Jn becoming more of a pinch point with the extra services to Bristol via Hullavington.

I agree. Grade separation at Didcot East is becoming pressing with the planned additional Bristol and Cheltenham trains which, especially in the Up direction will make pathing and regulation of trains taking the Oxford route more difficult than it is now.

In the same area Southcote Junction, south of Reading where the Basingstoke and Newbury lines split will, in my estimation also need grade separation before too long. In this case there is also an argument for an extra track, or tracks, between there and Oxford Road Junction at Reading West to permit the separation of the Basingstoke - Reading West - Didcot route from the Newbury - Reading West - Reading - (Paddington) routes. The Basingstoke route carries at the moment a container train from Southampton to the Midlands and north about every hour in each direction in addition to the XC and local services. The container train frequency is slowly but steadily increasing.

Traffic towards Newbury and point west will also increase in the IET-era and this is mixed with the stone trains weighing up to 4,000 tonnes. It is advisable not to check or stop these trains, or the containers, if at all possible as they take time to get moving again.

Other pinch points are also available...

 

[snowball]

I don't know Welwyn Viaduct so can't comment.

Welwyn Viaduct (together with the two tunnels just north of it) is a 2-mile, 2-track section on the ECML just 22 miles from Kings Cross.

Not only that, it includes a station (Welwyn North).

Its only saving grace is that there is a 2-track alternative route via the Hertford loop.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Many years ago, didn't the ECML franchisee at the time, I forget who, try to get Welwyn North closed to speed up long-distance trains?

 

[Mugby]

What about the flat crossing north of Newark Northgate station where the Nottingham-Lincoln line crosses the ECML?

I can't see that ever being eliminated, much as I imagine they'd like to. A dive under for the Lincoln line is an impossibility due to the proximity of the river and a flyover would be extremely difficult because if it began where the track straightens out after Newark Castle station, I imagine the approach to the ECML would be too steep.

 

[InOban]

Fortunately modern trains can cope with steeper gradients than Victorian ones could.

 

[snowball]

I can't see that ever being eliminated, much as I imagine they'd like to. A dive under for the Lincoln line is an impossibility due to the proximity of the river and a flyover would be extremely difficult because if it began where the track straightens out after Newark Castle station, I imagine the approach to the ECML would be too steep.

Obviously a diveunder is unrealistic but I hope to live to see a flyover built. The key constraint on the vertical alignment coming from the SW would appear to be not Castle station but the bridge carrying the A46 Newark Relief Road over the line. However this bridge seems to be about 900m from the ECML crossing which I would have thought is comfortably enough.

There is a scheme in the trunk road programe to dual the A46 Newark Relief Road. This would have to include widening or duplicating the road bridge over the ECML (which is very close to the rail crossing) and in a well-governed country the two projects would be designed and built in conjunction with each other.

 

[bramling]

Many years ago, didn't the ECML franchisee at the time, I forget who, try to get Welwyn North closed to speed up long-distance trains?

I can vaguely remember this coming up at some point in the mid to late 90s, but I don't think it was ever a serious proposition.

Although for sure Welwyn is a constraint on the ECML (how many hours of many lives have been spent at the signs on the slow lines approaching the junctions at each end?), I'm not entirely convinced eliminating Welwyn would be a game changer. It's just as common to pick up delays at other places between Hitchin and London - getting a path through the platforms at Hitchin, or on the fast lines between Hatfield and Finsbury Park can be just as much of an issue, especially when things are running late for whatever reason.

 

[bramling]

Its only saving grace is that there is a 2-track alternative route via the Hertford loop.

Much as Hertford is useful during engineering works, or more long-term closures like after the Hatfield and Potters Bar accidents, it's virtually useless for the day-to-day service, since the loop now carries an intensive service in its own right. Even if one could find a path for a fast train or two per hour going this way, reliability would be abysmal due to the risk of something or other running late and thus the fast service getting stuck behind a stopping train.

 

[Ianno87]

Fortunately modern trains can cope with steeper gradients than Victorian ones could.

1600t plus freight trains still have their limits.

Any, Newark, while being a nuisance, is not the biggest ECML capacity pinch point - there's bigger other issues to solve first.

 

[delt1c]

For me in my commuting days it has to be the WA lines from Liverpool St. The 2 track section from Hackney Downs North was a nightmare when things went wrong, stopping services, semi fasts, fasts and Stanstead services. Many an evening sitting on the train delayed at Liverpool St waiting for Stansteds to leave , or held at Hackney Downs for another service to pass

 

[Tom Quinne]

Bristol Temple Meads to Bristol Parkway (and in fact the whole area around Bristol Parkway), mind you they are currently making the track 4 lines instead of 2. XC services often get stuck behind slow GWR stoppers which are often running late.

Not on my watch they don’t, late running Class 2s coming down from Gloucester direction get looped at Charfield or if a suitable Northbound gap is available they’ve go over onto the reverseable between Yate and Westerleigh Junc to allow the Class 1 to pass.

Holding the Weston S Mare stopper a few minutes at Parkway again to allow the Class 1 to run in front can claw the late Class 1 back inside PPM.

Once Platform 1 is commissioned, we’ll have a few more options South/Westbound at Parkway, A’s now your limited to very slow approach control moves over to Platform three or four.

 

[30907]

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.

In the example you quoted, the stopper was delayed several minutes by the very late running Liverpool-Euston which stops at Crewe, which was actually delayed by at most 30 seconds by the non-stop from Glasgow overtaking.
I agree that the new layout was done on the cheap, and that the additional running line would make a small difference in some cases, maybe as much as a minute, but with so few trains running non-stop south it is hardly a priority (unlike York South, which had to be expensively rebuilt a few years back because the post-electrification layout was a real pinch pojnt.

 

[_toommm_]

Nunnery Main Line Jn. at Sheffield. If you have a late running TransPennine to Cleethorpes (due out at xx:11 on P1) it then massively delays a local stopping service to Scunthorpe (xx:14 on P3/4). Coming into Sheffield you have all manner of services coming from Meadowhall (Northern pacers terminating at Sheffield, Northern 158s to Nottingham, CrossCountry services to Reading and beyond, and the occasional St Pancras train; then from Darnall side you have the Northern stopping services terminating at Sheffield and EastMidlands ECS coming into P5/8 for a service to St. Pancras - on the reverse of this journey out of Sheffield these services cross over the Meadowhall-bound track and knacker that service for 2/3 mins

 

[IanXC]

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.

The trouble here is quite how big a problem there actually is in this area.

From Sheffield, services are:
towards Barnsley 4tph
towards Moorthorpe 2tph soon to be 3tph (+1 in some hours)
towards Doncaster 5tph

Of which, 1 of the Moorthorpes and 2 of the Doncasters also go via Rotherham Central which, in the easterly direction means crossing on the flat, going down a single track chord into Rotherham, then crossing again on the flat at Aldwarke, and for those going to Doncaster, crossing again on the flat at Swinton. Added to all that is the less than optimal layout at (particularly) the north end of Sheffield station.

Now add 3 trams per hour through Rotherham Central, which will have to cross to their turnback siding at Parkgate...

Then add HS2 services coming north out of Sheffield Midland...(!)

I do wonder how much value resolving one of these problems would have, a package of measures will probably be needed to make any real difference.

 

[AndrewE]

Well, off the top of my head (with particularly poor knowledge in the north and Scotland) and in no particular order:

Retford
Tanners Hill (the 1970s vintage)
Windmill Bridge Jn x2
Welwyn Garden City
Finsbury Park x2
Oxley Chord
Hambleton Jns
Airport Jn
Proof House Jn (in two bites, 1988 and 2000)
Shortlands Jn
Nine Elms Jn
Nuneaton x2
Allington Chord
Six on HS1
Langley Jn at Stevenage may also be of this vintage, but can't be sure

And since Hitchin, we've had:

Joan Croft
Airport Jn II
Acton
Reading x3
Norton Bridge
Bermondsey x3
Canal Jn
2 for the Crossrail portals

Thanks for the reminder/info, it's not quite as bad as I had imagined, but excluding the new-build lines (which clearly need to have junctions) it's only about 20 schemes in 50 years in round numbers.
(And from the other replies it's clear that I am not the only person frustrated by over-simplified infrastructure.)

 

[6Gman]

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.

I think many of the xx19 go Up Slow.

 

[6Gman]

The xx19 LM Birminghams from P5 seem to go out on the up slow to Stafford (no real delay there, now it's 100mph).

Going Up Slow can be quicker than Up Fast since it avoids having to cross at Doxey.

 

[59CosG95]

Might it be worth creating a list of the pinch points and finding out which ones are due to be sorted out?

 

[YorkshireBear]

The trouble here is quite how big a problem there actually is in this area.

From Sheffield, services are:
towards Barnsley 4tph
towards Moorthorpe 2tph soon to be 3tph (+1 in some hours)
towards Doncaster 5tph

Of which, 1 of the Moorthorpes and 2 of the Doncasters also go via Rotherham Central which, in the easterly direction means crossing on the flat, going down a single track chord into Rotherham, then crossing again on the flat at Aldwarke, and for those going to Doncaster, crossing again on the flat at Swinton. Added to all that is the less than optimal layout at (particularly) the north end of Sheffield station.

Now add 3 trams per hour through Rotherham Central, which will have to cross to their turnback siding at Parkgate...

Then add HS2 services coming north out of Sheffield Midland...(!)

I do wonder how much value resolving one of these problems would have, a package of measures will probably be needed to make any real difference.

That is my big concern with HS2 serving existing station. Not like there is the room to expand the layout at the North.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Thanks for the reminder/info, it's not quite as bad as I had imagined, but excluding the new-build lines (which clearly need to have junctions) it's only about 20 schemes in 50 years in round numbers.
(And from the other replies it's clear that I am not the only person frustrated by over-simplified infrastructure.)

It isn't all about flyovers though. More modern operational practices such as bi-directional signalling have greatly increased the opportunities for parallel working. Regular simultaneous departures from Derby southbound (even on the current layout) or Ely northbound illustrate this. There are numerous other examples.

A lot of 'rationalisations' might have appeared to have been over-simplified but often allowed much higher speeds that actually got trains through the layout a lot faster than before. Crewe was a good example of this.

Besides new grade separations (and Bald Rick's list could be extended significantly) capacity has been restored or created in many ways. Removal of local services to metro or tram in Newcastle, Manchester and Croydon; re-doubling of many single leads and sections of single
Line; additional loops; and additional platforms to speed up acceptance of following services.

It is quite instructive to consider a main line and list the rail capacity enhancement schemes in the 'bypass' era. These lists are often a lot longer than one might think.

But yes; the two tracks north of Sheffield, through the Medway Towns, north of Cheshunt, etc. are still a pain.

 

[urpert]

Herne Hill specifically, and the Chatham main line's 2 track section between Shortlands Jn and Brixton in general.