Electrifying Coventry to Leamington?

[Amy Worrall]

According to this BBC news article, the Coventry to Leamington line will be electrified.

Warwickshire rail upgrades welcomed by user group

Confirmation that rail services in Warwickshire are to be upgraded have been described as "very good news" by a commuter group.

Network Rail said new stations would be built at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry and Bermuda Park near Nuneaton.

The line between Coventry and Leamington will also be electrified.

Frank Shaw from the Solihull and Leamington Rail Users Association said the plans would make "a huge difference to this area".

The upgrades are part of £37.5bn plan to develop the UK's railway infrastructure over the next five years announced by Network Rail.

Extra trains

Mr Shaw said: "This is very good news and a great improvement.
"The electrification of the Coventry to Leamington line has been talked about for a long time now and I suspect it's not a quick project to get under way, but it's very welcome."


(read more)

My question is, why? The line through Leamington is not electrified, so unless they're going to run some sort of shuttle service, there's nowhere for the trains to go. Currently it's only used by the hourly Manchester to Bournemouth service.

Or are there plans to electrify the Chiltern line as well?

 

[YorkshireBear]

According to this BBC news article, the Coventry to Leamington line will be electrified.

My question is, why? The line through Leamington is not electrified, so unless they're going to run some sort of shuttle service, there's nowhere for the trains to go. Currently it's only used by the hourly Manchester to Bournemouth service.

Or are there plans to electrify the Chiltern line as well?

They are electrifying oxford to coventry i believe as part of the electric spine?

 

[tbtc]

This is part of the plan to electrify the freigh route "electric spine" from Southampton to the Midlands, converting the Basingstoke to Southampton section from third rail to overhead, so would allow the Manchester XC services to be EMU run (well, apart from the Bournemouth bit?)

No plans *yet* to wire the Chiltern line.

 

[gazthomas]

I believe this is being driven by freight to/from Southampton but it will no doubt open opportunities for new passenger services too.

 

[anthony263]

This is part of the plan to electrify the freigh route "electric spine" from Southampton to the Midlands, converting the Basingstoke to Southampton section from third rail to overhead, so would allow the Manchester XC services to be EMU run (well, apart from the Bournemouth bit?)

No plans *yet* to wire the Chiltern line.

I cant remember where I read it but I noticed a post saying that it looks like the wires will be extended from Southampton to Poole.

If its true then I suspect the section between Poole & Weymouth could be wired during CP6. Of course perhaps crosscountry can extend some of their trains to Poole again.

 

[Amy Worrall]

Ah, fair enough.

As a Coventry resident who works in Leamington, I'd love them to get more things running on that line. I commute by bus rather than train, partly because the train is only hourly and is always crowded. Hence I'm interested in any developments relating to the line. I'm still hoping that at some point Kenilworth station will get funded…

 

[YorkshireBear]

Ah, fair enough.

As a Coventry resident who works in Leamington, I'd love them to get more things running on that line. I commute by bus rather than train, partly because the train is only hourly and is always crowded. Hence I'm interested in any developments relating to the line. I'm still hoping that at some point Kenilworth station will get funded…

Electrification can often bring around improvemnts to service, i think that the single line makes it difficult.
Does anyone know if there is any possibility of doubling?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Ah, fair enough.

As a Coventry resident who works in Leamington, I'd love them to get more things running on that line. I commute by bus rather than train, partly because the train is only hourly and is always crowded. Hence I'm interested in any developments relating to the line. I'm still hoping that at some point Kenilworth station will get funded…

Wires will run through to Nuneaton.
More doubling of the Coventry-Leamington line as well to increase capacity.
New stations between Coventry and Nuneaton, extra north-facing bay platform at Cov (two different schemes).

This is what it says in the new NR CP5 plan published today:

NR LNW Route Plan p29:

Leamington to Coventry capacity enhancement
This is part of a wider ‘Electric Spine’ programme, which will create a high-capacity passenger and freight electric railway corridor from the South Coast through Oxford, Bletchley, Bedford via the Midland Main Line to the East Midlands and the North West. Capacity enhancements on the route between Leamington Spa and Coventry have been identified as required to support the future electrified services planned to operate on the ‘electric spine’ route

 

[cle]

I believe they are doubling it.

 

[joeykins82]

If memory serves the DfT HLOS spec at the time was for all electric spine routes to be double track with 25kV OHLE. Interesting to see confirmation that the DC-AC conversion will extend as far down the SWML as Poole.

 

[JamesRowden]

Electrification can often bring around improvemnts to service, i think that the single line makes it difficult.
Does anyone know if there is any possibility of doubling?

Doubling Coventry to Leamington is part of the project. After the upgrade it is planned that both Reading-Birmingham XC services will run via Coventry.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Doubling Coventry to Leamington is part of the project. After the upgrade it is planned that both Reading-Birmingham XC services will run via Coventry.

That will be a doubling of frequency over the line so theres at least one improvement for the OP.

 

[Amy Worrall]

That will be a doubling of frequency over the line so theres at least one improvement for the OP.

That is good news

 

[tbtc]

That will be a doubling of frequency over the line so theres at least one improvement for the OP.

And hopefully the electric trains will be longer than the Voyagers that currently run the XC service from Coventry to Leamington.

 

[swt_passenger]

If memory serves the DfT HLOS spec at the time was for all electric spine routes to be double track with 25kV OHLE. Interesting to see confirmation that the DC-AC conversion will extend as far down the SWML as Poole.

It isn't really confirming it very well, becaue I've found that other supporting documents issued at the same time, eg the 'Wessex route' business plan, still has it only going to Southampton... :roll:

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Doubling Coventry to Leamington is part of the project. After the upgrade it is planned that both Reading-Birmingham XC services will run via Coventry.

Replacing the single-track A46 bridge will not be cheap.
I haven't quite seen a commitment to double the whole line, but certainly more of it.

Edit: here's another morsel, from the LNW Route Plan p31:

Leamington Spa – Coventry capacity enhancement with additional double track.

 

[JamesRowden]

Replacing the single-track A46 bridge will not be cheap.
I haven't quite seen a commitment to double the whole line, but certainly more of it.

The HLOS document does only state 'additional double track' but with the requirement of at least 3 trains per hour in each direction (2Xpassenger, 1Xfreight) I expect that anything left as single track will need to be quite insignificant to not cause too many timetabling complications.

 

[pinguini]

It will be great to see a station at the Ricoh arena, especially with the shopping centre and huge 24 hour Tesco there.

 

[swt_passenger]

Replacing the single-track A46 bridge will not be cheap.

There's a long term agreement that the Highways Agency will pay for sorting that out. It was a deferred cost when the bridge was put in apparently, came up in earlier discussions...

 

[Lrd]

24 hour Tesco there.

So, just because an area has a 24 hour Tesco then there should be a station?

 

[anthony263]

So, just because an area has a 24 hour Tesco then there should be a station?

Don't worry there was a study done on a proposed station on the Vale of Glamorgan line where is passes near to the Bridgend police Headquarters/Tesco extra and about 100 yards from Bridgend college.

It would have been a good idea since it was serving the college and retail outlets close by but may have ended up reducing the number of passengers using Bridgend station

 

[The Planner]

There's a long term agreement that the Highways Agency will pay for sorting that out. It was a deferred cost when the bridge was put in apparently, came up in earlier discussions...

That is a standard clause put in all road building schemes which require to cross a railway, I have yet to hear of a situation where it has been called upon and been successful, it certainly wasn't in the Wrexham Saltney scheme.

Coventry to Nuneaton is still subject to funding as it is a Coventry led scheme, not NR. Kenilworth new station is dependent on the new station scheme pot/lottery. If Kenilworth does go ahead (which I strongly suspect it will...) then it will require partial re-doubling. XC have aspirations for both trains to go that way which will require the lot to be doubled if Kenilworth is there, but that is hugely reliant on lots of other schemes coming to fruition elsewhere in the country.

 

[HSTEd]

With dual voltage units abounding on British rail, why would there be a requirement for the SWML electrification conversion to be extended all the way to the end of the line for XC to go all the way?

 

[Geezertronic]

Doubling Coventry to Leamington is part of the project. After the upgrade it is planned that both Reading-Birmingham XC services will run via Coventry.

Would that mean another 2 trains p/h through the Cov-Birmingham line in addition to what runs through there already?

 

[Cherry_Picker]

because an area has a 24 hour Tesco then there should be a station

It's fun when you carefully delete parts of a quote to make it mean something different, isn't it?

There should have been a stadium at the Ricoh when it first opened.
Long story short, it is a very busy area and the railway line runs within 50 yards of it. It's on the extreme outskirts of Coventry and very difficult to get to on foot because of the nature of the roads which surround it.
The case for a station there is overwhelming as far as I can see. There is a huge retail park there, plus a 30,000 seater stadium which gets used for football and music, there is a casino and an indoor arena there too. And a Tesco.

 

[Philip Elliott]

The second track will be re-instated from Milverton - Kenilworth. Hopefully someone will see sense and some more from the Coventry end will be done but I doubt it will ever be double throughout - it never was. Allegedly the LNWR left the cutting north of Kenilworth single to deliberately reduce capacity so they would have a reason to block the GWR ever using the route to access the Coventry/Nuneaton coal field.

 

[Trog]

Almost all of what was double track from the Coventry end has already been redoubled.

 

[TimGuyUK]

The second track will be re-instated from Milverton - Kenilworth.

OK I properly am..

I live on the second from last close on the Guys Cliffe side of the Line coming out of Leamington, before the road bridge @ old Milverton. Does anyone know where the doubling will start? Is there a map yet?

I haven't been contacted by Network Rail as yet although there have been rumors for a while.

Bang goes my retirement nest egg. Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee buy me out Network Rail.

 

[YorkshireBear]

OK I properly am..

I live on the second from last close on the Guys Cliffe side of the Line coming out of Leamington, before the road bridge @ old Milverton. Does anyone know where the doubling will start? Is there a map yet?

I haven't been contacted by Network Rail as yet although there have been rumors for a while.

Bang goes my retirement nest egg. Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee buy me out Network Rail.

Surely it will barely effect you? I imagine the redoubling will not require any property purchasing, and the electrification will make trains quieter even if theres more of them.

 

[JamesRowden]

Would that mean another 2 trains p/h through the Cov-Birmingham line in addition to what runs through there already?

It would mean one extra train per hour between Cov-Birmimgham (plus any extra freight services) because the Bournemouth-Manchester service already takes that route but the Southampton/Reading-Newcastle service presently runs fast between Leamington Spa and Birmingham New Street via Solihull.