WCML after HS2 opens

[LadyVee]

Thanks all, very helpful replies!

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Thanks all, very helpful replies!

Welcome to the forum by the way.

 

[zwk500]

So if you were designing a railway service, your two biggest markets are Milton Keynes and Northampton, so why would you provide Northampton with the same service level as Wolverton or Long Buckby which are barely a small fraction of the size, it makes no economic sense.

Wolverton and Long Buckby have wider catchment areas than just the settlements of the same name - Wolverton is MK north and Long Buckby is essentially a parkway station. However the bigger part of it is operational - you are travelling through those stations, stopping costs 2 minutes. Not stopping on the Slow lines reduces capacity as freight then needs to avoid delaying the passenger trains, so the cost of the stop is offset slightly as the journey time penalty would be there anyway.
If you're going to be penalised 2-3 minutes stuck behind a freight, you may as well take the opportunity for a bit of extra revenue, especially at Long Buckby which being the far side of Northampton from London is less costly to delay Northampton passengers at.

 

[Jimini]

Wolverton and Long Buckby have wider catchment areas than just the settlements of the same name - Wolverton is MK north and Long Buckby is essentially a parkway station. However the bigger part of it is operational - you are travelling through those stations, stopping costs 2 minutes. Not stopping on the Slow lines reduces capacity as freight then needs to avoid delaying the passenger trains, so the cost of the stop is offset slightly as the journey time penalty would be there anyway.
If you're going to be penalised 2-3 minutes stuck behind a freight, you may as well take the opportunity for a bit of extra revenue, especially at Long Buckby which being the far side of Northampton from London is less costly to delay Northampton passengers at.

Most trains stop at Northampton for a good 10-15 minutes anyway, so no end-to-end journey time gains to be had.

 

[JW4]

Not the first thread on this,

WCML Passenger Services after HS2

Reading the thread about the future of HS2, I was wondering what passenger services are planned to run on the WCML after HS2 opens (to either Birmingham or Crewe) especially for those travelling from/to north of Crewe. Is a direct service still planned to run from say Preston, Wigan and...

www.railforums.co.uk

The WCML after HS2

Hi Call me dumb but once HS2 is built and all the longer distance passenger traffic has been moved over, what's going to happen on the old WCML south of Crewe? Will people from places like Milton Keynes and Rugby have to catch loads of stopping trains just to get to Cheshire to catch the faster...

www.railforums.co.uk

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Aug 2023 ==

Them being both closed for replies is probably why this one opened up

 

[87015]

I don’t know why we have this debate so often with speculation.

The indicative plan (which of course is subject to change) is as below. This is published in the HS2 full business case, which is a public document. Variations are being worked on, but they are variations of this, and not a complete rehash


View attachment 140986View attachment 140987

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Aug 2023 ==



No, it wouldn’t add capacity.

And the driver of maintenance on the line on future will be freight, not the linespeed of the fastest trains.

The slow line/LNR patterns shown there are pre-Covid and have already been entirely rehashed, so going back to that as base to vary seems most odd if that’s still the base as you say.

 

[BrianW]

When is (was?) HS2 due to open, where from and where to?? There is So much can and will change between now and then, but interesting to speculate
A new government, or two, or four? Howevermany ministers, departments, franchises or whatever TOCs, fright, stock, Covids 2 and 3, Commuting, WFH, and WTx ...
Maybe a new MK or two?
From Not in my Backyard to Not in my Lifetime. No platforming at Euston and Cancel Culture- enjoy watching Abandoned Engineering. Hoping to be wrong.

 

[Bald Rick]

The slow line/LNR patterns shown there are pre-Covid and have already been entirely rehashed, so going back to that as base to vary seems most odd if that’s still the base as you say.

Well, admittedly that’s quite a large variation, but the principle still stands in terms of what the ‘Avanti’ service will look like, and (broadly) service patterns South of Rugby even if country origin points are different.