HS2 Euston - number of platforms... again...

[themiller]

To be fair you don't need the 11th platform if the eastern leg is not being built.

But the trains will still be leaving Euston on the HS lines and going to the new ‘end of line‘ before continuing onto the current lines so no reduction in overall number of trains.

 

[Bletchleyite]

But the trains will still be leaving Euston on the HS lines and going to the new ‘end of line‘ before continuing onto the current lines so no reduction in overall number of trains.

There won't in my understanding be quite as many trains to the eastern side, because the ECML will remain the main route for stations to Newcastle, whereas with the full eastern leg trains would have operated from e.g. Euston to Newcastle, which I don't believe is now planned as it'd be slower than the ECML.

In essence the original plan replaced nearly all long distance services on the WCML, MML and ECML, but the descoped version only does the WCML and MML plus serving Edinburgh via Carlisle (but that doesn't require more paths as they're portions of the Glasgows).

 

[Gareth]

The actual trains are 200m, though, a 400m train will be two of them. Therefore, it will be possible to run 200m on quieter services, just like is done now on various multiple unit operations.

It'll be interesting to see what the daily 400m vs 200m ratio turns out to be on those services, when the time comes.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It'll be interesting to see what the daily 400m vs 200m ratio turns out to be on those services, when the time comes.

I suspect it might be similar to when 9 vs. 11 car Pendolinos are used. A 200m train is about 8 and a bit Pendolino coaches, to give you an idea. (It's likely, though, that they'll be 8 x 25m sets)

 

[popeter45]

would the 10 platforms be fine if HS2 was in decades to come extended north of Manchester to Scotland or would that entail more platforms? (i.e. would is the limit on services defined by Euston Capacity or HS2 phase 1 Capacity?)

 

[The Ham]

would the 10 platforms be fine if HS2 was in decades to come extended north of Manchester to Scotland or would that entail more platforms? (i.e. would is the limit on services defined by Euston Capacity or HS2 phase 1 Capacity?)

Maybe.

Although a longer answers is probably not.

Maybe, in that if the Eastern Leg isn't built or HS East is built (Making the Eastern Leg less useful from London) then there could be extra parts available to provide an increased frequency which would likely be needed to justify an new line.

Probably not, in that you'd probably be looking for >6tph along a line to justify it. Which would either mean more capacity from London or Birmingham and/or services from Manchester. Whilst currently there's probably just enough capacity at London to cater for that, if we see much growth in rail use it may well be that there's a need for extra capacity to the core network if there's not any additional HS lines built.

 

[BayPaul]

Well, quite. All I was saying was that the plan is for 3tph 400m services on London-Birmingham/Manchester. I make that about double the existing capacity, along with fewer intermediate connections along the way, but the government nonetheless believes it will be necessary.

Isn't it great that the new infrastructure is being built with ample capacity for future growth in this respect - a frequent RailUK Forums complaint. Even if on day 1 every train is 200m (unlikely) I still wouldn't see the money spent on 400m platforms as a waste, as it surely won't be long before most of the trains need to be full length

 

[Gareth]

Like I said, it will be interesting to see.

 

[WesternBiker]

I have just taken another look at the artist's impression of the revised concourse. To me, it bears more than a passing resemblance to the original design for the Liverpool Street rebuild proposed by British Rail in 1975, which had large hexagonal "Xanadu" skylights with angular pillars (or at least, that is how Modern Railways described the design at the time). What we ended up with was, of course, very different!

 

[thomalex]

Just a heads up that this station is going to sit alongside the exiting one with Network Rail looking at options to redevelop. It will very much be a separate project.