Cross Country - Manchester to South + East

[Bayum]

What route do XC trains take out of Birmingham New Street to Longbridge? I’ve tried to follow on GoogleMaps but the only route I can follow includes Pineapple Road station but none of the services on RTT pass through here so I’m not sure where they go.

Any ideas?

 

[yorkie]

They can take either route, but the ex-Manchester trains are more likely to go via Pineapple Road, while ECML services almost exclusively go via Bourneville.

This avoids a reversal, but some trains are booked to reverse.

Pineapple Road isn't a timing point, so many systems won't show trains passing through if they are not booked to call.

 

[Bayum]

So why aren’t XC shown on RTT as passing through? If it were one or two, I’d understand but an entire day’s worth of trains?

 

[yorkie]

Liffords East Jn appears in the data as a passing point, so try looking there.

Realtime Trains | Departures from Lifford East Jn all day on 19/03/2026

Train information at Lifford East Jn all day on 19/03/2026. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[Bayum]

Liffords East Jn appears in the data as a passing point, so try looking there.

Realtime Trains | Departures from Lifford East Jn all day on 19/03/2026

Train information at Lifford East Jn all day on 19/03/2026. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

But for someone who doesn’t know the area, not very useful as a waypoint.

 

[WTT Gremlin]

So why aren’t XC shown on RTT as passing through? If it were one or two, I’d understand but an entire day’s worth of trains?

Pineapple Road (and the other new stations on the Camp Hill lines) are not a Mandatory TIPLOCs (Timing Point Locations) - the stations are only required for a schedule Stopping.

RTT fills in intermediate locations/timings into schedules that are not in the Working TT - the WTT times can be differentiated being 'Bold' in RTT detailed view.

I would suspect that as the stations are a) new, and b) not yet open they are not yet set up to be automatically added with informed guestimation timings.

But for someone who doesn’t know the area, not very useful as a waypoint.

The railway planning geography is available online via the NR Operational Rules page - Section 2 of the relevant Timetable Planning Rules.

Additionally, every single train shown at Pineapple Road 'running' today on RTT in the detailed view of the schedule has Lifford East Jn (and Bordesley Jn - though this will also show trains routed towards Tyseley and beyond) as a Timing Point.

 

[AndrewE]

But for someone who doesn’t know the area, not very useful as a waypoint.

If you look at a train like https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:C72670/2026-03-19/detailed#allox_id=0 and then the NewAdlestrop map it's usually possible to work it out, but having an old large-scale railway-specific map is the best help!

 

[Trainguy34]

Pineapple Road (and the other new stations on the Camp Hill lines) are not a Mandatory TIPLOCs (Timing Point Locations) - the stations are only required for a schedule Stopping.

Is there a list of what stations are Mandatory TIPLOCs? That's something I find quite interesting and I just wondered if there was an easier way then digging through RTT.

 

[WTT Gremlin]

Is there a list of what stations are Mandatory TIPLOCs? That's something I find quite interesting and I just wondered if there was an easier way then digging through RTT.

On the NR Operational Rules page (web address below) are the various Timetable Planning Rule documents (TPRs) split by route/region.

2026 v2 is for the current timetable [Dec25] - the v4 for the following May timetable.

Section 2.1 is the Planning Geography for each Line of Route (LOR) and starts description of what the various formatting and codes mean.

Operational Rules - Network Rail

The Engineering Access Statement (EAS) and the Timetable Planning Rules (TPR) are collectively referred to as the Operational Rules.

www.networkrail.co.uk

 

[Trainguy34]

On the NR Operational Rules page (web address below) are the various Timetable Planning Rule documents (TPRs) split by route/region.

2026 v2 is for the current timetable [Dec25] - the v4 for the following May timetable.

Section 2.1 is the Planning Geography for each Line of Route (LOR) and starts description of what the various formatting and codes mean.

Operational Rules - Network Rail

The Engineering Access Statement (EAS) and the Timetable Planning Rules (TPR) are collectively referred to as the Operational Rules.

www.networkrail.co.uk

Oh perfect, thanks!

 

[The Planner]

Is there a list of what stations are Mandatory TIPLOCs? That's something I find quite interesting and I just wondered if there was an easier way then digging through RTT.

They are in bold in the TPRs.

 

[WTT Gremlin]

They are in bold in the TPRs.

…and underlined…

Just bold are conditional with a mandatory element.