Trivia: Most trains departing from a station at the same time

[ASharpe]

I plan on getting the 1338 from Shipley to go to Halifax - not decided whether to go via Leeds or Bradford yet but both depart at the same time. In addition there is a 1338 to Skipton.

So Shipley has 3 trains departing the same time in each direction of the triangle (Ilkley does miss out) - can anywhere else beat that?

 

[JonathanH]

Waterloo has xx20 departures to Woking, Exeter and Reading departing simultaneously.

 

[class ep-09]

There used to be 3 at Waterloo : departure to Woking (stopper ) , Salisbury ( or beyond ) and ( I can’t remember where exactly ) another train on the “Windsor “ side of the station departing 20/50 past each hour ,
That was few years ago though .

 

[JonathanH]

That was few years ago though .

Still happens at xx20.

Edinburgh has 1700 departures to Glasgow Queen Street, Dundee and London Kings Cross (also happens in some other hours and half hours).

Manchester Piccadilly gets close to four with xx50 departures to Windermere or Barrow-in-Furness, xx51 departures to Buxton, Rose Hill Marple and Manchester Airport, but I can't see an hour when the Cumbria train actually goes at xx51.

 

[greatkingrat]

Canonbury has four simultaneous departures from four platforms at various points during the day (eg 0949/1049/1149).

Clapham Junction has seven 0758 departures to Waterloo x2, Reading, Yeovil Pen Mill, Victoria, London Bridge (via Crystal Palace) and East Grinstead.

 

[hexagon789]

I plan on getting the 1338 from Shipley to go to Halifax - not decided whether to go via Leeds or Bradford yet but both depart at the same time. In addition there is a 1338 to Skipton.

So Shipley has 3 trains departing the same time in each direction of the triangle (Ilkley does miss out) - can anywhere else beat that?

Glasgow Central used to have four services departing simultaneously in the evening peak from the high-level platforms:

It appears there is a set of 4 simultaneous departures in the middle of the day though:

1404 to Ayr
1404 to Neilston
1404 to Whifflet
1404 to Dalmuir

Two are from the low level station however.

It has 3 simultaneous departures a few times throughout the day though.

Still happens at xx20.

Edinburgh has 1700 departures to Glasgow Queen Street, Dundee and London Kings Cross (also happens in some other hours and half hours).

The Glasgow QS is technically 1701.

There is however:

1330 to London King's Cross
1330 to Aberdeen
1330 to Inverness

 

[PGAT]

Clapham Junction has seven 0758 departures to Waterloo x2, Reading, Yeovil Pen Mill, Victoria, London Bridge (via Crystal Palace) and East Grinstead.

That’s sounding like the winner here as no stations have more departures than Clapham Junction

 

[hexagon789]

Clapham Junction has seven 0758 departures to Waterloo x2, Reading, Yeovil Pen Mill, Victoria, London Bridge (via Crystal Palace) and East Grinstead

I wouldn't count that.

3 are 07:58:00
3 are 07:58:30
1 is 07:59:00

 

[greatkingrat]

I wouldn't count that.

3 are 07:58:00
3 are 07:58:30
1 is 07:59:00

They are all advertised with a public departure time of 0758, even if the working timetable is slightly different.

 

[PGAT]

On the departure boards at Clapham Junction they don’t publicise the departures for trains to Waterloo or Victoria

 

[AM9]

If counting all national rail departures from Liverpool St between 17:00 and 17:30, there are:

17:00 Norwich; Enfield; Reading​

17:12 Clacton; Abbey Wood; Maidenhead​

17:15 Enfield; Shenfield; Paddington​

17:18 Chingford; Abbey Wood Reading​

17:21 Cheshunt; Shenfield; Paddington​

17:30 Norwich; Enfield; Reading​

and that isn't counting LU departures that could be another 4.

 

[James H]

Watford Junction has simultaneous departures at xx:45 for:

• St Albans Abbey (LNR)
• Euston (Overground)
• Euston (LNR)

 

[150249]

Glasgow Central used to have four services departing simultaneously in the evening peak from the high-level platforms:

It appears there is a set of 4 simultaneous departures in the middle of the day though:

1404 to Ayr
1404 to Neilston
1404 to Whifflet
1404 to Dalmuir

Two are from the low level station however.

It has 3 simultaneous departures a few times throughout the day though.


The Glasgow QS is technically 1701.

There is however:

1330 to London King's Cross
1330 to Aberdeen
1330 to Inverness

I'd say that the random times such as 1404 are rarest of the lot

 

[lione87023]

Pre March 2020 Birmingham New Street had 3 xx30 departures. Virgin/Avanti to Euston, XC to Cardiff Central and XC to Newcastle. It was let down by the fact that the XC to Manchester was at XX31...

 

[NSE]

In theory, couldn’t Clapham Junction have 15? The northbound SWML fast would only allow you to have a departure from 7 or 8. Initially I had the West London Platforms 16/17 down as only having a platform 16 departure (assuming the train arrived from the south and waited for another to depart 14 at the same time) but couldn’t there be a simultaneous northbound from 17? I know that’s the one that’s signalled to turn trains. How far can they go before they have to switch the normal northbound running line? Even if two simultaneous departures meant the Platform 17 simply left the platform and waited at the next signal, would it theoretically be possible? Pretty interesting if Clapham Junction could have 16.

 

[zwk500]

In theory, couldn’t Clapham Junction have 15? The northbound SWML fast would only allow you to have a departure from 7 or 8. Initially I had the West London Platforms 16/17 down as only having a platform 16 departure (assuming the train arrived from the south and waited for another to depart 14 at the same time) but couldn’t there be a simultaneous northbound from 17? I know that’s the one that’s signalled to turn trains. How far can they go before they have to switch the normal northbound running line? Even if two simultaneous departures meant the Platform 17 simply left the platform and waited at the next signal, would it theoretically be possible? Pretty interesting if Clapham Junction could have 16.

It looks like you can't have a wrong-road departure from Platform 17 - there's no protecting signal at Latchmere Jns. I could be wrong, I don't have acces to a signal diagram to check if there's a JI on 17. So you could have 14 departures in theory.

 

[PGAT]

It looks like you can't have a wrong-road departure from Platform 17 - there's no protecting signal at Latchmere Jns. I could be wrong, I don't have acces to a signal diagram to check if there's a JI on 17. So you could have 14 departures in theory.

You can as trains were terminating there regularly until September

 

[zwk500]

You can as trains were terminating there regularly until September

Sorry, should have been clearer - I think you can depart from P17 northwards but only to the normal northbound line (can't remember which way is up around there). You go direct over the crossover when starting back towards Kensington.

 

[Snow1964]

London Bridge has 4 trains at 08:15 (to Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Hayes and Brighton) and a terminator (from Hayes / Tattenham Corner) so 5 with same public time and 3 trains a minute later at 08:16 (to Cambridge, Gravesend and Cannon Street)

So could argue 8 trains within 60 seconds by public timetable

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Jan 2023 ==

There used to be 3 at Waterloo : departure to Woking (stopper ) , Salisbury ( or beyond ) and ( I can’t remember where exactly ) another train on the “Windsor “ side of the station departing 20/50 past each hour ,
That was few years ago though .

Have been on morning rush hour train just outside Waterloo and 5 trains were awaiting platforms (including on main relief), 4 trains left about same time and all 5 proceeded into the platforms side by side. Was about 12 years ago, 4 together side by side was not uncommon in SWT days, but I only remember 5 entering station together once.

 

[greatkingrat]

In theory, couldn’t Clapham Junction have 15? The northbound SWML fast would only allow you to have a departure from 7 or 8. Initially I had the West London Platforms 16/17 down as only having a platform 16 departure (assuming the train arrived from the south and waited for another to depart 14 at the same time) but couldn’t there be a simultaneous northbound from 17? I know that’s the one that’s signalled to turn trains. How far can they go before they have to switch the normal northbound running line? Even if two simultaneous departures meant the Platform 17 simply left the platform and waited at the next signal, would it theoretically be possible? Pretty interesting if Clapham Junction could have 16.

You could have an ECS train departing P7 to Clapham Yard at the same time as a train departs P8 to the Up Fast, which would give 16 departures (although not all in service).

 

[ASharpe]

Turns out it's far more common than I thought. I should have guessed Clapham Junction would be the winner.

Despite several years of traveling from Guildford then up the ECML I have a bit of a blind spot for Clapham Junction and never want to use it. Once changed trains there to get a coach from Victoria Coach Station and bought a day travelcard to get there. I joined this forum and went to fares workshop soon after. No surprised based on my current location but I've used Clapham Yorks. more often.