Relocating Haymarket TMD

[och aye]

Could relocating Haymarket TMD to another location have any net benefits and if so, where could a possible location be? My first thought would be, if it were to move, to relocate it to the former Portobello Freight Terminal.

 

[JonathanH]

Putting it on the east side of Waverley isn't going to be a good idea given the track layout.

 

[Darandio]

Moving it from a location adjacent to a four track railway to a two track railway would be madness.

 

[JonathanH]

Could relocating Haymarket TMD to another location have any net benefits and if so, where could a possible location be?

Is there a suggestion that the land on which Haymarket TMD sits could be better used for something else?

Part of Haymarket's work was already moved to Millerhill following the Central Belt electrification.

 

[VioletEclipse]

The only real reason I could see would be to create more capacity at Haymarket station, but given the fact that it isn't really possible to have more than the current four through tracks throught the station, I don't really think it would work that well. Unless you want to create a second set of platform for terminating trains that wouldn't go into Waverley at all.

 

[waverley47]

Could relocating Haymarket TMD to another location have any net benefits and if so, where could a possible location be? My first thought would be, if it were to move, to relocate it to the former Portobello Freight Terminal.

Portobello wouldn't work, it's not big enough. Remember that building a new depot needs a lot more space than an old one, because legacy rights expiring would mean new walking routes, proper spaces between sidings, and a general desire for straight sidings to make coupling easier.

You also couldn't move the depot to the east side of Waverley; either the capacity hit through Calton tunnels would be too great, or you'd be eating up capacity at Portobello and Haymarket Central Junctions sending everything around the sub.

You could theoretically build a new depot in Fife somewhere, and shuffle a lot of units there, along with expanding provision at Millerhill and a new depot at Perth, and collectively that would give you enough space to put the units. However in doing so, you're introducing a slight problem that the busiest station no longer has a depot nearby, and all the complications that arise from that.

There's a reason that most big stations have a depot nearby, as you can reap the benefits for diagramming and swapping units. Land prices in Edinburgh are such that talking about moving the depot would mean moving it too far out to reap those benefits.

 

[och aye]

Portobello wouldn't work, it's not big enough. Remember that building a new depot needs a lot more space than an old one, because legacy rights expiring would mean new walking routes, proper spaces between sidings, and a general desire for straight sidings to make coupling easier.

You also couldn't move the depot to the east side of Waverley; either the capacity hit through Calton tunnels would be too great, or you'd be eating up capacity at Portobello and Haymarket Central Junctions sending everything around the sub.

You could theoretically build a new depot in Fife somewhere, and shuffle a lot of units there, along with expanding provision at Millerhill and a new depot at Perth, and collectively that would give you enough space to put the units. However in doing so, you're introducing a slight problem that the busiest station no longer has a depot nearby, and all the complications that arise from that.

There's a reason that most big stations have a depot nearby, as you can reap the benefits for diagramming and swapping units. Land prices in Edinburgh are such that talking about moving the depot would mean moving it too far out to reap those benefits.

As the old saying goes "If it ain't broke, why fix it?"

 

[Devon Sunset]

It was suggested to me that a site in the Newbridge area has/is being looked at for a depot. I'm only guessing that this would be for the future battery electric trains and potentially whatever replaces the stopgap HST replacement. This could lead to Haymarket being closed in the long term but as yet it's just speculation.