Coventry to Nuneaton rail upgrade given go ahead

[Eagle]

Great news for the area, north Coventry will now have access to a rail station, without having to wind your way down to J6 of the ring-road (where the station is).

There's overall a bus at least every five minutes between the Ricoh and the city centre, takes about 15 minutes from memory.

 

[Class172]

There's overall a bus at least every five minutes between the Ricoh and the city centre, takes about 15 minutes from memory.

A train should be easily able to beat that. Does the bus go via Foleshill or Sky Blue Way?

 

[Eagle]

A train should be easily able to beat that. Does the bus go via Foleshill or Sky Blue Way?

Foleshill usually, although there are some routes via Stoke.

 

[swt_passenger]

I note that this is defined as "NUCKLE - Phase 1", are there any documents outlining phase 2, or is that redoubling Cov-Ken?

It is no longer called NUCKLE Phase 1. The best and final documentation presented to DfT refers to it as 'Coventry Nuneaton rail upgrade'. The words Kenilworth and Leamington no longer appear in the executive summary or the business case documents - logically that means phase 2 is a completely separate project now.

As I wrote in the post before yours, NR already have the track doubling for freight and the second XC service included as a CP5 proposal. That means Warwickshire County Council will no longer need to campaign for that aspect to be done...

 

[ivanhoe]

Personally speaking, I thought the cancellation of the tunnel project under the West Coast Main Line and thus preventing direct trains from Leicester to Coventry , made the Nuneaton Coventry Service almost worthless. There is nothing in the DFT statement to suggest that the extra money being spent is going to be of value unless of course the project was chosen for political reasons; ie local MP could be Tory.

 

[The Planner]

The tunnel under the WCML is there, but it would mean either adding another station at Nuneaton. There is no way you could run into the current station.

 

[bnsf734]

I think there would be scope for a Birmingham /Nuneaton / Bedworth /Coventry service run by London Midland. A back of envelope calculation says this should be do-able within an hour meaning a half hourly regular interval service should be able to be run with 2 DMU's. This would have the added advantage of adding more seats between Nuneaton and Birmingham, which as most trains Nuneaton/Birmingham are full and standing can only be a good thing.

As a Nuneaton resident its great news that the rail upgrade has finally been given the go-ahead, it's been long enough coming!

Calv

 

[Class172]

In my opinion, the best way to increase capacity between Birmingham and Nuneaton would be as the new Worcester-Nuneaton cross-city service mentioned further up the page.

 

[The Planner]

Too much freight knocking about to do it, you would need loops somewhere between Whitacre and Abbey Jn. The fact it is steep doesnt really help that.

 

[giblets]

Found the correct documents, and although pointed out before that this has changed to a CP5 proposal, the original plan, which was based around a London service from the now defunct Wrexham/ Shropshire trains was:
NUCKLE
Phase 2: Provision of a new station at Kenilworth.
Phase 3: Provision of a through rail service from Leamington Spa to Nuneaton via
Coventry
Phase 4: Extension of the service north from Nuneaton towards Leicester and the
East Midlands.

I am guessing phase 3 is separate as P2 would be based on XC stopping here

 

[Trog]

The tunnel under the WCML is there, but it would mean either adding another station at Nuneaton. There is no way you could run into the current station.

I thought that was filled in and replaced with a small concrete box underbridge four or five years ago.

 

[tbtc]

In my opinion, the best way to increase capacity between Birmingham and Nuneaton would be as the new Worcester-Nuneaton cross-city service mentioned further up the page.

The best way would be to lengthen the trains on the Birmingham - Leicester service - a two car DMU between these two cities isn't enough.

Given the number of Birmingham - Coventry trains, I don't think there's much to be gained by running Birmingham - Nuneaton - Coventry.

 

[swt_passenger]

Found the correct documents, and although pointed out before that this has changed to a CP5 proposal, the original plan, which was based around a London service from the now defunct Wrexham/ Shropshire trains was:
NUCKLE
Phase 2: Provision of a new station at Kenilworth.
Phase 3: Provision of a through rail service from Leamington Spa to Nuneaton via Coventry
Phase 4: Extension of the service north from Nuneaton towards Leicester and the East Midlands.

I am guessing phase 3 is separate as P2 would be based on XC stopping here

I do think that phase 3 and 4 are now overtaken by events. With the wcml VHF timetable, and LM now running all their 3 tph through to Northampton and beyond, and NR planning for both services running via Coventry, I just don't think NR will want more trains causing crossing conflicts at Coventry. It will be easier to stop both XC services - though what that will do to their overcrowding I don't know...

 

[Eagle]

...ie local MP could be Tory.

City of Coventry is entirely Labour, county of Warwickshire is entirely Tory. You decide

 

[Batman]

I'm sure they can find one extra 153 somewhere

You're having a laugh.

LM already have a shortage of 153's.

Could a new Birmingham - Nuneaton - Coventry service be linked into the proposed Tamworth/Nuneaton - Worcester/Herford cross city service?

The RUS talks about either Nuneaton or Leicester as possible terminuses, but I'm sure it won't be that difficault to change that to Coventry.

Winecote, Willington, Water Orton and South Wigston would still get hourly services and you could get a half hourly service at Hinkley by adding a stop on the Birmingham - Stanstead service. Only thing is that you'd still only have 2 tph Birmingham to Leicester, and you can't do couple and split at Nuneaton because the Coventry and Leicester trains use different sets of platforms.

And then there is the issue of what franchise the line will run under; LM or XC?

I'd prefer to say XC, but I've talked elsewhere about my plan for reducing the number of franchises down to 12. That would see most of LM (all minus the Snow Hill Lines) merged with the whole of EMT and the XC 170 services.

So my service pattern for the Coventry - Nuneaton line would see;

1tph Coventry - Nuneaton shuttle

1tph Coventry - Nuneaton - Birmingham - Worcester - Hereford.

Both opperated by 170's.

 

[Class172]

I'd prefer to say XC, but I've talked elsewhere about my plan for reducing the number of franchises down to 12. That would see most of LM (all minus the Snow Hill Lines) merged with the whole of EMT and the XC 170 services.

So basically you want the return of Central Trains but with the Snow Hill lines going to Chiltern I guess.

 

[Eagle]

So basically you want the return of Central Trains but with the Snow Hill lines going to Chiltern I guess.

Like Central Trains but with frequent services to London Euston and St Pancras.

 

[Batman]

Like Central Trains but with frequent services to London Euston and St Pancras.

Yep.

Please let me know if you want me to give you exact details of the franchises.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

For fun we reduce them to 1 - call it "British Rail"!

 

[Batman]

If there is a hourly Birmingham - Nuneaton - Coventry service (stand alone, not part of a cross city project) when slots and platforms would it use at New Street, cus there arent many I can think of unless you're prepared to have slightly uneaven timings on the cross city north.

 

[tbtc]

Could a new Birmingham - Nuneaton - Coventry service be linked into the proposed Tamworth/Nuneaton - Worcester/Herford cross city service?

The RUS talks about either Nuneaton or Leicester as possible terminuses, but I'm sure it won't be that difficault to change that to Coventry

There may be some marginal traffic in Birmingham - Bedworth or Coleshill - Coventry, but any paths from Birmingham to Nuneaton would be better extending to Leicester.

Are there spare paths through New Street for such a service though?

 

[Class172]

There may be some marginal traffic in Birmingham - Bedworth or Coleshill - Coventry, but any paths from Birmingham to Nuneaton would be better extending to Leicester.

Are there spare paths through New Street for such a service though?

I think so but only if it is combined with an existing service (less time at platform) such as the BHM-HFDs.

 

[Batman]

I think so but only if it is combined with an existing service (less time at platform) such as the BHM-HFDs.

I think there is platform capacity at New Street for that if you connect services through to Worcester and Hereford.

You would have to use platforms 8 and 11 for cross city trains (as at present), platforms 9 and 10 as through platforms for Cross Country trains, and platforms 7 and 12 for terminating trains, as well as the Rugeley train at xx39.

 

[Waverley125]

in terms of future-proofing the project, it would seem to me that the Leicester-Nuneaton-Coventry-Kenilworth-Leamington corridor would be a very good candidate for future electrification and intensive service, given HS2 is likely to see long distance trains on the WCML calling at Nuneaton again.

 

[paulb1973]

in terms of future-proofing the project, it would seem to me that the Leicester-Nuneaton-Coventry-Kenilworth-Leamington corridor would be a very good candidate for future electrification and intensive service, given HS2 is likely to see long distance trains on the WCML calling at Nuneaton again.

Both ends of the Coventry - Nuneaton line are electrified albeit only for short distances. Was consideration given to electrify the Rugby/Leamington & Kenilworth areas in the 1960's as a diversionary route for the WCML?