Highland Main Line - Budget Deal Bribe

[Indigo Soup]

Politics. It wasn't a Beeching closure.

Not only was it not a Beeching closure, but Beeching's second report actually recommended it as one of the routes to be targeted for investment.

 

[railjock]

Not only was it not a Beeching closure, but Beeching's second report actually recommended it as one of the routes to be targeted for investment.

Quite Bizarre.

 

[Meerkat]

Wouldn’t it be better to build a fast line from Inverkeithing to Glenrothes, roughly parallel to the A92, then improve the current lines to Perth and Dundee?
That would seem to benefit more services/people?

 

[gingertom]

Wouldn’t it be better to build a fast line from Inverkeithing to Glenrothes, roughly parallel to the A92, then improve the current lines to Perth and Dundee?
That would seem to benefit more services/people?

I'd like to see Ladybank-Hilton Jn doubled and signalling upgraded to improve the linespeed and capacity. For long distance traffic a new fast line could run from Inverkeithing to the west of Abernethy, with a chord joining the line to Hilton Jn and this new fast line crossing the Tay to join the existing Perth-Dundee line at Inchyra. This would be much shorter and quicker than continuing to run through Fife for through services not stopping.

 

[Meerkat]

I'd like to see Ladybank-Hilton Jn doubled and signalling upgraded to improve the linespeed and capacity. For long distance traffic a new fast line could run from Inverkeithing to the west of Abernethy, with a chord joining the line to Hilton Jn and this new fast line crossing the Tay to join the existing Perth-Dundee line at Inchyra. This would be much shorter and quicker than continuing to run through Fife for through services not stopping.

How much quicker, and worth dropping Leuchters (for St Andrews) out of the service?

 

[gingertom]

How much quicker, and worth dropping Leuchers (for St Andrews) out of the service?

Inverkeithing to Hilton Jn using this route would be about 20 minutes, as opposed to the current 49 mins, a saving of nearly half an hour.
Inverkeithing to Dundee, around 34 minutes as opposed to 1 hour 8 minutes. Leuchars would continue to be served by stoppers and limited stop services.
Your suggestion of Inverkeithing - Glenrothes sounds like the Halbeath bypass. It would only trim a few minutes in addition to what you gain by missing out Dunfermline, maybe 4 minutes. Of course, electrification brings its own journey time reductions, a coupe of minutes here and there.

 

[Meerkat]

How did you work those timings out?
Avoiding Kirkcaldy would surely trim more than just a ‘few minutes’ off, and you could spend a lot upgrading the rest (for all services) and still have a lot of change from the tunnelling and bridging you are proposing.
St Andrews would not be impressed with not only not getting their branch line but having Leuchars demoted to secondary line status too!

 

[gingertom]

How did you work those timings out?
Avoiding Kirkcaldy would surely trim more than just a ‘few minutes’ off, and you could spend a lot upgrading the rest (for all services) and still have a lot of change from the tunnelling and bridging you are proposing.
St Andrews would not be impressed with not only not getting their branch line but having Leuchars demoted to secondary line status too!

I work out the timings from the distance covered with a conservative estimate of the speed achievable- real time trains is a great help here.
I've used the services via Dunfermline and Cowdenbeath as a baseline for calculating the timings.
I'm sure the good burghers of Kirkcaldy would have the same objections to having their service bypassed too- in this game you can't please everybody. Speculative thread after all.

 

[Meerkat]

I work out the timings from the distance covered with a conservative estimate of the speed achievable- real time trains is a great help here.
I've used the services via Dunfermline and Cowdenbeath as a baseline for calculating the timings.
I'm sure the good burghers of Kirkcaldy would have the same objections to having their service bypassed too- in this game you can't please everybody. Speculative thread after all.

The old route looks quite twisty and indirect - I would suggest a fast route that way is going to need some serious engineering!
Fair point about Kirkcaldy but wouldn’t they be more interested in improved commuter services than the long distance ones the university folk will want?

 

[gingertom]

The old route looks quite twisty and indirect - I would suggest a fast route that way is going to need some serious engineering!
Fair point about Kirkcaldy but wouldn’t they be more interested in improved commuter services than the long distance ones the university folk will want?

can't disagree with you on any of your points. Serves to illustrate what a difficult job those higher up the food chain have in assessing the priorities on where to spend the limited resources- what exactly is it they want to achieve?