Minor south WCML retimings this week

[Bletchleyite]

There have been a few minor retimings this week on the south WCML. For example the 1652 from MKC to Birmingham New St has been a 1649 some days this week including today and Tuesday but not yesterday.

Does anyone know why?

 

[Bald Rick]

There have been a few minor retimings this week on the south WCML. For example the 1652 from MKC to Birmingham New St has been a 1649 some days this week including today and Tuesday but not yesterday.

Does anyone know why?

Connected to the Manchester Piccadilly blockade.

 

[IrishDave]

Due to the Manchester Piccadilly blockade, trains are terminating at Stockport, and reduced to 2tph due to available capacity there.

The xx:13 from Euston to Manchester is cancelled, with the xx:33 from Euston retimed to xx:30 in order to call at Nuneaton (in lieu of the cancelled xx:13), with several trains in front of that retimed to enable that (xx:30 becomes xx:27, xx:23 becomes xx:20, xx:16 becomes xx:13).

Quite why 9G32 (16:16 Euston-Birmingham) has been retimed to 16:13 all this week except Wednesday is beyond me; I think that might be an error as on Wednesday it clashes with 1W51 (16:19 Euston-Northampton, retimed to 16:16 all this week).

Some more details in this post:

'Ardwick Blockade' - February 2026 (timetable alteration updates)

I believe there was also a signalling issue somewhere around Stockport on Saturday morning (the first day) which caused some delays. To compound this, some of the northbound Avanti and XC were running late due to delays elsewhere and this complicated the situation. Some trains were taking 20...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Bletchleyite]

Thanks both. I did wonder if that one being different from the others could simply be a mistake. It's not a punctual train anyway, usually leaves MKC and arrives BHM a few minutes late and Wednesday was no exception, so I doubt the practical difference was significant

Edit: on no day this week so far has it departed on time, and the retiming three minutes earlier has certainly not been made use of