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On OpenTrainTimes* I often used to see "clever" use of the bidirectional lines into Ely to shave a few seconds off other services. Clever to an enthusiast that is, or a smart-ass signaller. Not so clever to the "normals" who then have to rush down the long underpass due to the resulting last...

I just got back from a trip to Belgium, where trains are in a mostly white livery with red and blue accents. They all look grubby and unappealing, and no amount of scrubbing removes the graffiti stains from the white parts. Also considering GBR is more like a GER, with Scotrail and TFW...

I’m not getting this Heathrow thing. If you want HS2 to reduce demand for flying, and avoid the need for a third runway, then it doesn’t need to go to Heathrow at all - it needs to go to where all those plane passengers head to Heathrow from - which presumably is central London…

There would be an Ely-Cambridge portion on the Norwich-Peterborough and the Peterborough-Norwich. And now I see the problem - there would be a Cambridge-Ely waiting to attach going to Peterborough or Norwich, so three bits of train to play with and a massive dwell at Ely to detach one and...

Extra services between Peterborough-Cambridge and Norwich-Cambridge, without extra paths through Ely North

Combine it with cutting Norwich-Liverpool back to Peterborough and you get Peterborough-Cambridge, Norwich-Cambridge and Norwich-Peterborough direct trains, with far less imported delay. Still a nightmare?

Sounds far too sensible. If freight demand has fallen too with ships switching from Felixstowe to London instead, the only remaining services to fit in are the additional Peterborough - Ipswich every other hour, and another hourly Kings Lynn service. Would those extra 3 paths per hour really...

Quite. Every other country in the world would just build a modern bridge right alongside to carry the extra two tracks. No widening, no worrying about hiding the original, or even matching the original style. This country is in danger of becoming a sclerotic museum exhibit.

Given the restricted space I’d think the entire thing would need to be bridge with no embankments.

Resurrecting this again after re-reading the various grade separation ideas. What if the existing junctions remain, but with addition of a single track flyover for passenger trains only, headed for Kings Lynn (if space permitted it could potentially branch off to the Norwich down line too, but...

Does it even really need these kinds of hugely expensive interventions though (whether official proposals or crayon versions)? If you stand on a platform at Ely there will be no trains for ages and then they all turn up at once - maybe there’s scope to play with the timetable, even if it meant...

The tunnel is only W8 I believe - is that big enough for the current container flows from Felixstowe? Even if it's fine, the sharp curve and subsequent low line speed at the Cambridge end surely rules out freight on that route? For EWR I'd think reversal of freight at Ely would be more likely...

I came up with this crayon-special a few years ago (before EWR spoiled things by choosing the other route into Cambridge) The distances involved might be a bit far to count as a Metro though!

mods note - split from this thread https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/cambridge-south-new-station-opening.141520/ I asked that during the consultation. The answer was: "A layout featuring two island platforms in the North location would not be a viable option as it would necessitate...

I’ll bet you play golf

They never said the entire thing was 40 years old. They could even have just kept quiet, got on with the work and not given out any detail at all. But why let facts get in the way of a good whine eh?

The bypass was a case of planning to ask for forgiveness rather than permission - if the investigations had been more extensive, the final bill would have been the same but the project would likely have been cancelled instead!

Fair enough. Judging by how long and how many times this "essential" upgrade has been put off, I predict it won't get funded at all.

At this point I'd say go back and read the first page of this thread, because otherwise we'll be just going round in circles regarding the crossings...

I don't know if you were replying to me there, but I just want to clarify that the suggestion to run in a triangle was to provide both Ely-Ipswich and Cambridge-Ipswich direct services, not Ely-Ipswich via Cambridge. The reason is to avoid the long layovers a simple Ely-Ipswich shuttle would...