Ideas for the Burton - Coalville - Leicester line

[yorkie]

If the Burton - Leicester via Coalville line is ever reopened, what would your ideas be on what services should be run on it, and what infrastructure would you put in place to enable this?

 

[Aictos]

If the Burton - Leicester via Coalville line is ever reopened, what would your ideas be on what services should be run on it, and what infrastructure would you put in place to enable this?

I think a hourly service to start would be beneficial with direct services running the full length of the Ivanhoe line but extended to Derby at one end to provide connections onto XC IC services.

 

[jfowkes]

For the junction at Leicester, which seems to be the major sticking point, a reversal seems the only pragmatic choice. You can't get a curve in without very expensive land purchases.

Rather than joining the existing lines, a dive-under the would be a nice-to-have? Then extend the slows all the way into Leicester. Network Rail have plans/aspirations/hopes to four-track to Wigston anyway.

 

[HOOVER29]

Around Moira the track work is decidedly ropey. It’s been the same for a fair few years. Where I live at Ashby it’s not too bad as recent track renewal work with metal sleepers took place around 5 yrs ago & with only the monthly test working & the empties from Tinsley to Bardon the line has really deteriorated further. What it’s like towards Burton or Leicester I haven’t a clue.
Could the answer be in light rail?
Something needs to be done as the local road network is filling fast. It can take an hour to travel from Ashby to junction 22 of the M1, a distance of about 8 miles.
It takes my sister nearly an hour to travel to Burton to work in the morning (9 miles) & longer in the evening.

 

[TheBigD]

Does the area still look to Leicester and Derby for employment etc, or does the local population now look towards Birmingham for jobs etc? Is the scheme that was proposed in the 1990s still relevant for today?

 

[Tomnick]

For the junction at Leicester, which seems to be the major sticking point, a reversal seems the only pragmatic choice. You can't get a curve in without very expensive land purchases.

A recent study suggested that the time taken for a reversal each way would push the journey time just too far to run an hourly service with two (?) units though, IIRC.

 

[AlastairFraser]

Does the area still look to Leicester and Derby for employment etc, or does the local population now look towards Birmingham for jobs etc? Is the scheme that was proposed in the 1990s still relevant for today?

The reopening of this line would still facilitate that because all the passengers from say Swadlincote(Church Gresley),Ashby,Swannington etc. will able to be go to Burton to connect with a quick XC service into Birmingham and,if that wasn't sufficient, the Cross City Line could be extended with a relatively small investment to Burton from Litchfield Trent Valley via a stop at Alrewas,serving the National Memorial Arboreteum and providing a quick link to the Trent Valley line from Burton.

 

[MidlandMainlie]

For the junction at Leicester, which seems to be the major sticking point, a reversal seems the only pragmatic choice. You can't get a curve in without very expensive land purchases.

Rather than joining the existing lines, a dive-under the would be a nice-to-have? Then extend the slows all the way into Leicester. Network Rail have plans/aspirations/hopes to four-track to Wigston anyway.

I wonder if there is enough room for a flyover before before the Putney Rd bridge/short tunnel?

Grade separation of both junctions would allow services to use the slow platforms at Leicester without crossing the fasts.

 

[Roast Veg]

The best (but prohibitively expensive) solution would be to build a long dive under at a 100m radius curve. If the junction is at the west end of the disused sidings then the descent can be made over some distance, then the Ivanhoe line can pass under the MML for a distance underground, ascending back up on the alignment of the current service road - passing under Putney Road bridge through the second bore. The connection to the MML can then be made just before the Welford Road bridge.

 

[Dr Hoo]

100 metres radius sounds unbelievably tight for a through passenger line. I thought that 200 metres was regarded as a reasonable minimum for new construction. (Roughly equivalent to ‘ten chains’ in oldspeak.)

 

[duffield]

100 metres radius sounds unbelievably tight for a through passenger line. I thought that 200 metres was regarded as a reasonable minimum for new construction. (Roughly equivalent to ‘ten chains’ in oldspeak.)

I've seen references to 100m being around the absolute minimum for general traffic use historically. What I can't find is any reference to what NR would accept as an absolute minimum, but I think they might allow significantly below 200m if (say) 10mph was the speed limit.

The curve at Firsby on the Skegness branch (one of the sharpest I have traversed) seems to be *very* roughly 150m radius based on Google maps (I can't find an accurate figure for it online) - I wouldn't think you would want to go much below that.

 

[Dr Day]

What is the problem re-opening the line is intended to solve?

That may focus minds on what the priorities should be - end to end journey time, commuter access to Leicester, through access to the rest of the National Rail network etc?

A standalone light rail concept system may not be appropriate in this instance but in principle could reduce some of the capex to upgrade/facilitate sharper radii curves etc and certainly opex (lower staff costs, simpler signalling including line-of sight) but may be tricky with the residual existing freight services, severe gradients for battery-powered or diesel trams and have few synergies of being part of 'the railway'. Either way these kind of potential re-openings may call for some slightly different thinking to get a positive business case to get them off the ground - re-opening something 'as was' which was built to carry freight won't necessarily be a reasonable value for money solution to today's passenger transport problems.

 

[jfowkes]

I don't live locally, but I'd say the priority should be regular services to Leicester and Burton for commuters, local leisure travel and for onward connections. I wouldn't prioritise through services unless it worked operationally to extend Ivanhoe services onto the line - I imagine the number of passengers wanting to travel Nottingham-Coalville to be very low compared to Leicester-Coalville (for example). I can't imagine that there is demand for through services to London, even at peak times.