Point of order Mr Speaker, the Kirkcaldy down loop isn't a loop at all, it's what remains of the yard. It was used for a long time to shunt things out of the way and reverse the Kirkcaldy terminators, all since extended further up the coast. Nowadays there's nothing scheduled to use it, although it's a useful cripple siding in extremis.
Thornton North DPL is still signalled for use, although is normally only ever used in disruption. There's a once daily service that is timetabled through it; 1N79 Glasgow Queen Street - Dundee.
Here is today's working. It's timetabled through the loop because it means that another service can use a parallel route from Kirkcaldy to Leven at the same time. I expect that when either of these services are more than five minutes late, they both use the main line.
The up loop gets more use, with a couple of services usually timetabled daily. The up Caledonian Sleeper usually spends ten minutes waiting for a HST to pass. The Aberdeen - Oxwellmains cement empties also sits in the loop for twenty minutes or so. This is unusual in that it's freight timetabled over the Forth Bridge and through Waverley; the light weight of the empties and the late hour mean that the 20mph speed limit for freight over the bridge isn't an issue.
Thornton North UPL is definitely still in use, it was used on Friday by the sleeper, and over last night by a test train.
Inverkeithing UPL sees regular timetabled services throughout the day; there's a few Leven - Edinburgh services which sit there to be overtaken by a HST, and the Aberdeen - Oxwellmains cement empties again.
