70014IronDuke
Established Member
- Joined
- 13 Jun 2015
- Messages
- 4,089
Like many on these forums, I'm excited to see real action when it comes to re-openings (yes, congratulations to you, Cowley, on your recent good news), but I do wonder why more effort is not put in to improve, or better still, inaugurate, Sunday services on some existing routes.
Derby – Crewe is one well known black spot in this regard, Carlisle – Kilmarnock via the G&SW is another, but to my mind as most deserving of all is the Ivanhoe Line (or what exists of it), ie the local stations north of Leicester, namely Syston, Sileby and Barrow-u-Soar – which have no Sunday service whatsoever.
The latest annual entrance-exit numbers (ie 2023-24) for these three stations come to a combined total of 418,000, ie an average figure of 139,000 each. (That strikes me as a great success, not sure what others think.)
Ironically, most of the Ivanhoe trains continue fast on the Nottingham – Newark section, past local stations which boast trains on Sundays (even if not very many), yet none of these stations, including Lowdham (the most important on that stretch) has anything remotely like the passenger traffic generated over only six working days by the Ivanhoe stations.
Apart from a lack of will and money (presumably), is there any reason why a Sunday service can not be operated on this route? Are the MML slow lines at capacity because of the need for maintenance work diversions on the fast?
Is it all down to a lack of will on the part of the local Leicester district administration, which is not exactly famous for promoting the reopening the Coalville - Burton route, is it?
Are no pressure groups not at work trying to sort something out? It strikes me as a tragic failure to fully utilise existing infrastructure, with a need to incur only operating costs.
Derby – Crewe is one well known black spot in this regard, Carlisle – Kilmarnock via the G&SW is another, but to my mind as most deserving of all is the Ivanhoe Line (or what exists of it), ie the local stations north of Leicester, namely Syston, Sileby and Barrow-u-Soar – which have no Sunday service whatsoever.
The latest annual entrance-exit numbers (ie 2023-24) for these three stations come to a combined total of 418,000, ie an average figure of 139,000 each. (That strikes me as a great success, not sure what others think.)
Ironically, most of the Ivanhoe trains continue fast on the Nottingham – Newark section, past local stations which boast trains on Sundays (even if not very many), yet none of these stations, including Lowdham (the most important on that stretch) has anything remotely like the passenger traffic generated over only six working days by the Ivanhoe stations.
Apart from a lack of will and money (presumably), is there any reason why a Sunday service can not be operated on this route? Are the MML slow lines at capacity because of the need for maintenance work diversions on the fast?
Is it all down to a lack of will on the part of the local Leicester district administration, which is not exactly famous for promoting the reopening the Coalville - Burton route, is it?
Are no pressure groups not at work trying to sort something out? It strikes me as a tragic failure to fully utilise existing infrastructure, with a need to incur only operating costs.