Suggestions for new short-ish lines

[65477]

Stansted to Braintree or Chelmsford and (possibly? I'm not quite sure if it's under 15 miles) Crossrail 2, sticking with lines which would benefit Harlow.

Braintree - Chelmsford obviously already exists, most of Stansted to Braintree would be a reopening. There's certainly not the demand for links to Stansted from the east. The various bus services over the years have struggled and seem to mainly cater for people who work at the airport.

 

[The Ham]

Braintree - Chelmsford obviously already exists, most of Stansted to Braintree would be a reopening. There's certainly not the demand for links to Stansted from the east. The various bus services over the years have struggled and seem to mainly cater for people who work at the airport.

Whilst buses and rail are both public transport, there's certainly a prevailing feeling from some (and not just rail enthusiasts) that they prefer to use a train over a bus (even to the point where they may not have used a bus for years).

As such, buses aren't always a good indicator on his popular a train line would be.

 

[Bevan Price]

1. Chapel en le Frith (Midland Line) to LNWR line , with Manchester - New Mills terminators extended to Buxton via reopened Chapel en le Frith Central station.

2. Leigh (new station) to Walkden (on Wigan/Atherton/Manchester line).

 

[Pigeon]

Watchet to Barry Island is only 15 miles as the crow flies and there's no development in the way. No-brainer really.

It's also only 15 miles from Llangurig to Ystrad Meurig, and it's a stretch that would have made all the difference if they'd built it to begin with.

 

[greataj]

A Stansted to Braintree line, with a station in Dunmow and services extending probably out to Witham for GEML connections I think would be well received if it existed, but in reality is simply not justifiable. Much of that route would be largely parrallel to the A120 where there are already numerous bus/coach services and a rail link along such a route would probaly yield little additional benefit for travel between the airport to the likes of Chemsford, Colchester and Ipswich which would form the bulk of that rail link.

One that's close to my roots which would be the Leicester-Burton freight line re-opening to passenger services with stations in Kirby Muxloe, Coalville and Ashby. There's a few complexities with it but in the scheme of things seems a fairly simple one to do. I'm not sure where that's at currently but has been a long talked about proposal. If it were to happen, it would seem a golden opportunity to exend the much talked about Birmingham-Leicester XC services through Leicester to Peterborough, then in it's place on Platform 1 in Leicester to terminate a new Burton train from that route.

 

[Magdalia]

Stansted to Braintree

most of Stansted to Braintree would be a reopening.

A Stansted to Braintree line, with a station in Dunmow and services extending probably out to Witham for GEML connections I think would be well received if it existed, but in reality is simply not justifiable. Much of that route would be largely parrallel to the A120 where there are already numerous bus/coach services and a rail link along such a route would probaly yield little additional benefit for travel between the airport to the likes of Chemsford, Colchester and Ipswich which would form the bulk of that rail link.

Stansted-Braintree would need to be a new railway, it would not be able to use the existing trackbed, apart from a small part at the Braintree end.

The first issue that has to be addressed is Stansted Airport station, which has inadequate capacity for the existing service. A new line out of the south west end would run into capacity constraints, and would have to negotiate all of the road access in and out of the airport. The alternative is to go out to the north east, I don't know if this is technically feasible, but it is going in the wrong direction to get to Dunmow.

The second issue is Dunmow where the B1256 has taken the trackbed through the town, and the viaduct over the Chelmer Valley was demolished in 1977.

Taking these together there is no prospect of using the existing trackbed on the Stortford side of Dunmow, but, on both sides of Dunmow, the trackbed has been converted into the Flitch Way, owned by the County Council and part of the National Cycleways network route 16.

Flitch Way

Map Ref: TL 759 226 to TL 519 212 Braintree Station to Start Hill (near Bishops Stortford) The Flitch Way runs for fifteen miles from Braintree station to Start Hill near Bishops Stortford and...

www.friends-of-the-flitch-way.org.uk

The Flitch Way​

Map Ref: TL 759 226 to TL 519 212
Braintree Station to Start Hill (near Bishops Stortford)

The Flitch Way runs for fifteen miles from Braintree station to Start Hill near Bishops Stortford and is an important greenway and wildlife corridor. For most of the way it provides a safe traffic free environment for walkers, cyclists and horse riders and forms part of National Cycle Network Route 16.

Finally, the Braintree-Witham line is only single track, so, even if pots of money were spent on building a new railway between Stansted and Braintree, it wouldn't be possible to run very many trains through to Witham.

 

[William3000]

Cambridge isn't the only destination in the East of England

The peat in the Fens is mostly no more then 4 metres deep. It just needs piles. How do you think they support the bridges over the river?

Cambridge isn’t but it’s an economic powerhouse, huge life sciences cluster, and has several FE colleges, and HE institutions. Cambridge station alone has more passengers that Norwich, Peterborough, and Ipswich combined!

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To be fsir there are some big viaducts in the fens, not least the new A14 near Offord.

Offord isn’t in the Fens - it’s clay soil not peat.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

Heathrow Southern/Western Rail Links

 

[Ken H]

Crossgates - Whinmoor. Halt near Stanks. Single track would do it. Whinmoor is a deprived area of Leeds.

 

[daodao]

1. Chapel en le Frith (Midland Line) to LNWR line , with Manchester - New Mills terminators extended to Buxton via reopened Chapel en le Frith Central station.

2. Leigh (new station) to Walkden (on Wigan/Atherton/Manchester line).

There is a significant height difference between the ex-Midland and ex-LNW lines south of Chapel-en-le-Frith, so joining them could be quite difficult.

It would be a good idea to convert the Atherton line to Metrolink, with a branch to join the current Leigh busway (on the former LNW Leigh-Manchester line) near Ellenbrook and then continue to Leigh town centre.

 

[xotGD]

Consett to Newcastle has been talked about.

In fact, there is a whole network across County Durham that could be developed/reinstated.

 

[JamesT]

Would a second pair of tracks from Oxford to Didcot bypassing the intermediate stations count as a new line?

 

[InkyScrolls]

Skipton to Colne, and a cross-Bradford link, of course!

RailForumsUK bingo!

 

[Senex]

It would be a good idea to convert the Atherton line to Metrolink, with a branch to join the current Leigh busway (on the former LNW Leigh-Manchester line) near Ellenbrook and then continue to Leigh town centre.

Instead of (or as well as) doing that, why not put the old fast lines back along with a better junction in Wigan and create a fast route from Manchester to the north, something that neither Manchester nor Liverpool has and would not get under the HS2 proposals. (It's true that Birmingham's gateway to the north is pretty lousy too, but that's being dealt with by the Delta Junction.)

 

[Nottingham59]

The great benefit of rail travel is supporting economic activity and growth through agglomeration benefits in big cities. But the rail networks in all of our big cities are congested to the point where they cannot grow.

So it seems to me that if we're going to grow rail modal share, then the greatest need is for new long platforms in the centre of the biggest cities, and new lines from the centre to the edge of the conurbation.

• Leeds: Leeds is at the eastern end of the Liverpool-Leeds built up area, and at the northern end of the Birmingham-Leeds corridor. It already had west facing bay platforms, but needs new south facing bays. I'd put them where the HS2 station was due to go, with connections to the line out to Woodlesford and Normanton. Plus a new chord on the proposed HS2 alignment (between Goose Hill junction and New Crofton) to access the ECML line to Doncaster and London. All with passive provision to allow HS2 Phase 2B(East) at some time in the future.
• Manchester: Is in the midle of the Liverpool-Leeds corridor, and at the northern end of the Manchester-Birmingham corridor. It already has plenty of south-facing bay platforms at Piccadilly, so the need is for through platforms in the city centre. Rather than a new line in an expensive tunnel all the way out to the airport, I'd re-quad the lines lines out to Chat Moss and to Guide Bridge to get the extra capacity into and out of the city. If HS2 Phase 2B(West) ever gets built, I'd route that to approach Manchester from the West, via the Golborne Link and a new chord in the vicinity of Barton Aerodrome onto the Chat Moss route.
• Sheffield: In the middle of the Birmingham-Leeds axis, it needs increased North-South capacity. Build four tracks from Dore junction to Nunnery Junction. (Does this count as a new line?)
• Birmingham: The Curzon St and Moor St will provide new platforms. HS2 will provide connections to London and to the North West, and the southern Bordesley chord will give access to the south west. The missing piece is either the north-facing chord at Bordesley, to Moor St, or connections at Washwood Heath or Kingsbury to allow Curzon St to reach the Birmingham-Derby line. That would make Curzon St/Moor St a new Hauptbahnhof for Birmingham, allowing New St to evolve into a dedicated commuter station.
• Edinburgh: Convert platforms 8, 9, 10 at Waverley to handle 400m trains, accessed by a new tunnel under the castle to the line to Carstairs and the WCML, allowing full length HS2 trains to serve Edinburgh.

 

[mangyiscute]

However, I don't think my suggestion counts as one - a South to West curve at Yeovil Junction to enable North - South trains to reverse in for connections.

I've always thought the simplest solution would be to build a platform on the Heart of Wessex line as close to Yeovil Junction as possible and install a footbridge linking the stations - as far as I can tell it wouldn't be anything more than a half mile walk which while not ideal is much better than having to pay a lot more to reinstate track. The best way to do this would then be also move the platforms at the existing Yeovil Junction station closer to the crossover of the tracks to also reduce that interchange walk, although then costs would obviously go up and the trains that currently reverse in the station wouldn't be able to reverse at a platform anymore.

 

[YorksLad12]

Another one east of Leeds; a connection between South Milford and Sherburn-in-Elmet. This would allow the Leeds-York stoppers to get out of the way of the faster services, while improving connections between the two neighbouring areas and with Leeds for commuter traffic. There never was a north-to-west connection made, though the north-to-east one is used by York-Hull services (I think). You'd have to cross the A162, but the railway does that anyway further along.

 

[Class15]

How about a curve between the Gospel Oak - Barking line at Wanstead Park and the Great Eastern at Manor Park that would allow freight to head from Ipswich and Felixstowe onto the GOBLIN and avoid the busiest parts of the NLL, allowing extra services between Camden Road and Stratford that have often been talked about.

 

[The Ham]

A few which could be useful (may not all be viable):

- making platform 5 at Woking a through platform
- making platform 5 at Basingstoke a through platform
- adding a freight loop (or two) between Basingstoke and Eastleigh
- sections of redoubling between Exeter and Honiton
- grade separated junction southwest of Reading (Southcote Junction)
- Hythe to Totton (Southampton)
- Ringwood to Ashurst
- Ringwood to Christchurch
- Marlborough to the B&H

 

[telstarbox]

A curve connecting Maidstone West and Maidstone East wouldn’t go amiss. Would make things easier with direct London trains for commuters in villages like Aylesford, Snodland, Wateringbury. Would also make freight operations easier in some cases.

Anyone in those places will already be driving to West Malling for the direct trains there.

 

[devon_belle]

I think geography precludes it, but a South-East connection between the Mole Valley and North Downs lines at Dorking would be useful for diversions, especially with an Arundel chord to prevent the need for reversals to get to Brighton. Would require electrification (might as well go to Guildford while you're at it), and some improvements to fit trains onto the West Coastway as well. Idea came to mind based on several recent threads.

 

[The Ham]

Anyone in those places will already be driving to West Malling for the direct trains there.

Not everyone can drive, and arguably rail shouldn't be relying on people being able to drive at part of its business model.

 

[65477]

How about a curve between the Gospel Oak - Barking line at Wanstead Park and the Great Eastern at Manor Park that would allow freight to head from Ipswich and Felixstowe onto the GOBLIN and avoid the busiest parts of the NLL, allowing extra services between Camden Road and Stratford that have often been talked about.

Although not impossible hard to see permission being given to take a corner off Manor Park Cemetery.

 

[30907]

Not everyone can drive, and arguably rail shouldn't be relying on people being able to drive at part of its business model.

Snodland already has peak-hour trains to/from St Pancras taking 45min or so - making them half hourly would be cheaper than building a new railway

 

[Bletchleyite]

Edinburgh: Convert platforms 8, 9, 10 at Waverley to handle 400m trains, accessed by a new tunnel under the castle to the line to Carstairs and the WCML, allowing full length HS2 trains to serve Edinburgh.

Waverley already has two 400m+ platforms - 1/19 and 10/11. You'd probably want to renumber, though, as "the train now arriving at platforms 1 and 19" might confuse people. The idea of splitting/joining on the "Scotland superfasts" was more I think because 2tph at 200m has more value to people than 1tph at 400m (plus there's far less scope to extend Glasgow Central).

 

[Mgameing123]

Shelford on the old Haverhill line trackbed to a park and ride station next to the A11/A505 junction. Crossing the A11/A505 gets a lot more expensive. This would be the southern end of a Cambridge Metro running through to Waterbeach or Ely.


Definitely, especially now I know that it obliterates an IKEA. That's what I call a win win!

Can't it just follow the A5?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Jan 2025 ==

There are lots of campaigns focussed on reopening closed railway lines. But what short-ish lengths of new line (up to about 15 miles long, as per the Selby diversion) could be built to give major improvements to the rail network? A couple of suggestions to kick off:

1. Morpeth bypass - not a particularly original idea, but fairly obvious in terms of journey time improvement and freeing up the existing line for local services.

2. Newark cut-off - connect the Nottingham-Newark and Newark-Retford lines, outside Newark itself to avoid new major river crossings and the flat crossing. XC services to Nottingham take up capacity at Birmingham and terminating them at Nottingham is a big waste. A cut-off at Newark (plus upgrading Nottingham-Newark) would turn Nottingham into a XC through station. Nottingham would get a proper connection North (sorely lacking at present) and the North would also get regular direct services to South Wales. As this extension would serve Doncaster, the existing XC services through Sheffield could all run via Leeds, providing much-needed capacity increase on the Leeds-Birmingham service.

Any other ideas? Please add them below!

Bourne End - High Wycombe and then a cord that allows trains from the Reading direction to access the Bourne End line.

 

[Halifaxlad]

I would construct a new line adjacent to the A629 at Skipton to create a loop not because of 'reversal anxiety' as I for one dont have that, but to reduce platform occupation of the through lines and to speed up services.
It would also remove the need for all freight services to run round at Skipton. (2.27km) Potentially P5 could be brought back into use for terminating services.

I would put a chord in at Bradford from Hall Lane to Ripley road enabling through services, a new through station could then be constructed upon the existing line. (908 meters)

Another new line from Upper Poppleton across the ECML past Rawlcliffe & Clifton Moor before connecting into the Scarborough line. To remove all conflict between the ECML & Harrogate line services. (6.22km)



Other short lines I support

A Newark bypass
A Bradford through line (I dare say) but in conjunction with other lines.
A new Bradford - Huddersfield line (as within the technical annex to the IRP.)
A reopened Crigglestone curve (as suggested by Greengauge 21)

 

[JohnElliott]

A chord between the East Grinstead branch and the Redhill-Tonbridge line, and another between Redhill-Tonbridge and the Brighton mainline, so it's possible to run Oxted-Gatwick without reversing -- and run through London-Gatwick-Brighton if there's a closure at Stoat's Nest or Purley.

 

[MarkyT]

How about a curve between the Gospel Oak - Barking line at Wanstead Park and the Great Eastern at Manor Park that would allow freight to head from Ipswich and Felixstowe onto the GOBLIN and avoid the busiest parts of the NLL, allowing extra services between Camden Road and Stratford that have often been talked about.

It's possible for GE freight to reach Goblin from Stratford via High Meads Loop, Lea Bridge and Tottenham South Curve. A major capacity problem with this is crossing the West Anglia Main Line however. That might be solved by grade separation at Tottenham South Junction, to permit the freights on the chord to pass over the fasts. The trains still eventually join NLL at Gospel Oak however as that's the only way to get to the WCML at Wembley.

I suggest an additional double track Belsize tunnel bore (2.4km) alongside the MML and passing under both fast and slow tracks whie underground to allow trains from Goblin to get to Hendon Lines on the south side of the MML at West Hampstead. WCML bound trains could then proceed to Cricklewood before turning left onto the Dudding Hill Line. Near Taylors Lane Power Station a new junction would lead to a single line ramping down to a new 0.9km 'mousehole' tunnel connecting to Wembley yard, emerging at low level next to the Willesden Relief Lines adjacent to their bridge diving under WCML Fasts and Slows, then rising up into the yard area. New tunnel: Orange. New Surface track: Yellow.

The new Belsize bore could also be used by the proposed West London Orbital (WLO) service, allowing its West Hampstead branch to be joined to the current Suffragette Line, clearly with new low level through platforms at Gospel Oak.

Any gaps in electrification would need filling clearly, although its likely WLO will do most of Dudding Hill and Hendon lines anyway.

Together these measures could allow most cross London freight to be diverted away away from the NLL.

 

[Class15]

It's possible for GE freight to reach Goblin from Stratford via High Meads Loop, Lea Bridge and Tottenham South Curve. A major capacity problem with this is crossing the West Anglia Main Line however. That might be solved by grade separation at Tottenham South Junction, to permit the freights on the chord to pass over the fasts.

Yes, this is the problem, and I don’t think Tottenham South grade separation would be all that much cheaper than the Manor Park connection. Also going via High Meads interacts with the NLL at Channelsea, crossing both tracks.

The trains still eventually join NLL at Gospel Oak however as that's the only way to get to the WCML at Wembley.

But avoiding the part of the NLL that needs the extra passenger services - Highbury & Islington to Stratford.