Speed limits through Rugby station

[jrayfield21]

Does anyone know the speed limits for the different lines at the station in Rugby? Thanks.

 

[jfollows]

Does anyone know the speed limits for the different lines at the station in Rugby? Thanks.

See the Sectional Appendix, https://sacuksprodnrdigital0001.blob.core.windows.net/sectional-appendix/Sectional Appendix full PDFs September 25/London North Western (South) Sectional Appendix September 2025.pdf

Pages 51 & 51A.

 

[zwk500]

Alternative version of the same document here: https://vaildata.uk/sa?lor=MD101&seq=029&name=RUGBY&alt=MD101-029&alt=MD101-030&alt=LNW(S)2&alt=MD105-007

Down Coventry (Platform 1) 60mph
Down Fast (through line) 100/EPS (Tilting trains) 115/125
Down Slow (P.2) 75
Platform 3 line 25.
Up Fast (P.4) 100/EPS125
Up Northampton (P.5) 75
Up Slow (P.6) 60

Speeds shown in mph for primary direction of travel through the platforms themselves. Down = Northbound, Up = Southbound, wrong-direction moves are possible at 40mph for all lines except Down Fast.

 

[Brubulus]

Alternative version of the same document here: https://vaildata.uk/sa?lor=MD101&seq=029&name=RUGBY&alt=MD101-029&alt=MD101-030&alt=LNW(S)2&alt=MD105-007

Down Coventry (Platform 1) 60mph
Down Fast (through line) 100/EPS (Tilting trains) 115/125
Down Slow (P.2) 75
Platform 3 line 25.
Up Fast (P.4) 100/EPS125
Up Northampton (P.5) 75
Up Slow (P.6) 60

Speeds shown in mph for primary direction of travel through the platforms themselves. Down = Northbound, Up = Southbound, wrong-direction moves are possible at 40mph for all lines except Down Fast.

I thought voyager EPS speeds had disappeared and been replaced with MU speeds or is it that MU is also limited to 100 on the down fast?

 

[louis97]

Alternative version of the same document here:

Slightly out of date however!

 

[The Planner]

I thought voyager EPS speeds had disappeared and been replaced with MU speeds or is it that MU is also limited to 100 on the down fast?

No MU speed through the station.

 

[zwk500]

Slightly out of date however!

Not through the platform area itself, unless I'm reading the document wrong?

 

[louis97]

Not through the platform area itself, unless I'm reading the document wrong?

No, however its still out of date, not for the specific question by the OP but they may then want to look elsewhere and so I think its important to mention.

 

[The Planner]

No, however its still out of date, not for the specific question by the OP but they may then want to look elsewhere and so I think its important to mention.

Sectional Appendix is the bible. Nothing else counts when it comes to baseline infrastructure.

 

[zwk500]

No, however its still out of date, not for the specific question by the OP but they may then want to look elsewhere and so I think its important to mention.

Fair enough.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Oct 2025 ==

Sectional Appendix is the bible. Nothing else counts when it comes to baseline infrastructure.

I think @louis97 was meaning that the OP may want to check other areas of the network, and that the VailData's sectional appendix is the December 2024 version so now may be out of date where other areas have been amended.

Similarly the Vail Data's indexing is somewhat iffy and there's various pages missing or that display on the wrong page numbers. For @jrayfield21 - the NR website PDFs are the final word.

 

[louis97]

I think @louis97 was meaning that the OP may want to check other areas of the network, and that the VailData's sectional appendix is the December 2024 version so now may be out of date where other areas have been amended.

Quite!

 

[jrayfield21]

Thanks for the responses, I feel like most trains going past platform 4 (UFL) are going fairly slow compared to the DFL, even the pendolinos which i would assume would be going 125mph.

 

[zwk500]

Thanks for the responses, I feel like most trains going past platform 4 (UFL) are going fairly slow compared to the DFL, even the pendolinos which i would assume would be going 125mph.

Pendos are 125mph through both UFL and DFL

 

[jrayfield21]

I understand that, but even today I saw pendolinos consistently go past platform 4 much slower than on the DFL

 

[Watershed]

I understand that, but even today I saw pendolinos consistently go past platform 4 much slower than on the DFL

It's possible there is a Temporary/Emergency Speed Restriction (TSR/ESR) or that they were being signalled through under restrictive aspects (e.g. double yellow).

 

[Efini92]

I understand that, but even today I saw pendolinos consistently go past platform 4 much slower than on the DFL

If they have come from Coventry, it’s 75 through the crossover onto the up fast.
The signal sections are also quite long round there, so if one is following another on the UP fast it’s much slower.

 

[jrayfield21]

Ok that makes sense, thanks

 

[QueensCurve]

Sectional Appendix is the bible. Nothing else counts when it comes to baseline infrastructure.

I hope it is more evidence-based than the bible.

 

[zwk500]

I hope it is more evidence-based than the bible.

It's got as many inconsistencies...

e.g. this screenshot of Kensington Olympia showing down platform loop as non-passenger running line, yet the platform is rated Permissive Passenger.

 

[Bald Rick]

I understand that, but even today I saw pendolinos consistently go past platform 4 much slower than on the DFL

It's possible there is a Temporary/Emergency Speed Restriction (TSR/ESR) or that they were being signalled through under restrictive aspects (e.g. double yellow).

Mine went through P4 at 125 this evening. The best way to see Rugby!

typically, of the 9-10 Avanti trains an hour southbound through Rugby:

2 stop (1 in P4, 1 in P5)

2 more are off the flyover, and will at best be accelerating from the 75 restriction a few hundred metres north

1 will be ex Chester/North Wales, formed of 805 stock, limited to 100 mph through the station

1 will be ex Liverpool more often than not formed of 807 stock, limited to 100mph through the station

the other 3-4 are non stop and will be at 125 if they have had a clear run from at least 2-3 signals back.

essentially there is roughly a 30-40% chance that a non-stop train will be through at 125 if it has a clear run.

 

[jrayfield21]

Nice, I was there from 1pm to 25 past. Saw some fast ones on the DFL but not P4

 

[Tilting007]

Nice, I was there from 1pm to 25 past. Saw some fast ones on the DFL but not P4

100 TSR at Trent Valley Junction for route towards Coventry. Has been there quite a while now.

 

[MarkWi72]

Compare this to the pre-remodel days of BR in the 80s. 60mph max I think on the through lines.

 

[zwk500]

Compare this to the pre-remodel days of BR in the 80s. 60mph max I think on the through lines.

Compare the layout as well. 1 big island platform with mid-platform 'scissor' crossovers on the through platforms and bays in the middle, IIRC. Somewhere at home I've got an old Quail showing it.

 

[jfollows]

Attached says May 1973, revised 1976. From my collection.

 

[zwk500]

Attached says May 1973, revised 1976. From my collection.

Having just done a quick google search it appears the Scissors are an even older layout!

 

[jfollows]

https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/lnwrrm2537.htm shows a similar layout in circa 1910. That station dates from 1885.

 

[Senex]

Having just done a quick google search it appears the Scissors are an even older layout!

The scissors were part of the original design of the new station in the 1880s.

 

[MarkWi72]

Thankyou for the diagram. That's how I recall it and it was archaic in the 80s. New in the 1880s.

 

[cambsy]

I remember Rugby in the old days, with station canopy and its unusual station lay out with 75mph, so when it was upgraded to 125mph for Trent valley upgrade and VHF timetable, it was massive difference and good work how they got 125mph through the complex layout at Rugby.