Ely West Curve

[Jimcam]

Am I correct in thinking that the only passenger service to use Ely West Curve is the 1556 Sundays only Norwich to Manchester Piccadilly?

 

[dk1]

Am I correct in thinking that the only passenger service to use Ely West Curve is the 1556 Sundays only Norwich to Manchester Piccadilly?

Yes, that’s the only regular booked passenger service.

 

[Jimcam]

Thanks. Do you know why it does that, rather than make the stop at Ely like all other trains on that route?

 

[Watershed]

It'll be to maintain route knowledge for the EMR crews. That said I'm struggling slightly to see how one instance a week is enough, even if it's only Norwich crews that sign it.

It's used during disruption to make up time by skipping the Ely reversal.

 

[dk1]

Thanks. Do you know why it does that, rather than make the stop at Ely like all other trains on that route?

I think it’s just route retention for the crews. It’s been only that train for around 20 years now. Others do occasionally traverse the curve if there is say a problem with equipment in the rear cab.

 

[LowLevel]

It'll be to maintain route knowledge for the EMR crews. That said I'm struggling slightly to see how one instance a week is enough, even if it's only Norwich crews that sign it.

It's used during disruption to make up time by skipping the Ely reversal.

It was Nottingham crews for at least 20 years, then changed to Norwich in May, prompting the usual panic to make sure they were all current on it.

In practice it's usually just refreshed on route refresh days by watching a short video. Nothing really to it!

Most crew at both depots sign it.

 

[172007]

It'll be to maintain route knowledge for the EMR crews. That said I'm struggling slightly to see how one instance a week is enough, even if it's only Norwich crews that sign it.

It's used during disruption to make up time by skipping the Ely reversal.

Route refresh can be done using route learning films etc.

It can be that if a depot does not have any booked work over a route the depot ceases to sign that route or part of that route so 1 train a week is there to keep the Ely West Cirve on the depot route card.

 

[jfollows]

I did it a year ago along with @yorkie and @yorksrob in an HST, but it was a long time since I first used it when it was more regularly used in the 1970s.