Turnaround time

[Tom B]

Recently, I used the Edinburgh - Glasgow shuttle for the first time. The 12:15 departure from Edinburgh arrived at Queen Street at 13:08, being up as returning at 13:15. This struck me as a very tight turnaround for a busy mainline service.

I realise that many tube lines have turnaround times as short as 4 minutes (although usually longer), but a mainline service in a complex urban area I would have thought would have required a little more recovery time.

Obviously there's a cost benefit (one less set and crew), but does reliability manage ok?

 

[hexagon789]

Recently I used the Edinburgh - Glasgow shuttle for the first time. The 12:15 departure from Edinburgh arrived at Queen Street at 13:08, being up as returning at 13:15. This struck me as a very tight turnaround for a busy mainline service. I realise that many tube lines have turnaround times as short as 4 minutes (although usually longer), but a mainline service in a complex urban area I would have thought would have required a little more recovery time. Obviously there's a cost benefit (one less set and crew), but does reliability manage ok?

Generally it manages fairly well, slight delays aren't uncommon but they can do turnaround in 5 mins or slightly less.

Most of the schedules (though not all) have some form of allowances (engineering or pathing) in one or two places en route, so a min or two late start can often be recouped without trying too hard as well.

 

[Dr Hoo]

The operating concept of a round trip/diagram between Edinburgh and Glasgow in two hours has been standard practice for decades. Neither Edinburgh Waverley nor Glasgow Queen Street have loads of spare platform capacity for lengthy turnarounds.

 

[PaulLothian]

Very easy, in my experience, for trains out of Queen Street to regain any lost time before reaching Croy. Have seen several turnarounds under 7 minutes.

 

[brad465]

I once got an SWR service from Waterloo to Sherborne, where in the inbound service was over 30 minutes late, to the point that it was arriving shortly before the outbound service to Exeter was due to leave. Despite this they turned it round in about 5 minutes and it left only a few minutes late, despite the many passengers boarding it.

The fastest turnaround time I've seen scheduled is on the Bromley North line pre-covid: in the peak a 4tph frequency ran, which required a 2-3 minute turnaround. In order to achieve this a 466 unit had 2 drivers, one in each cab, so one switched off and the other switched on according to direction of travel, saving time walking between and setting up cabs. Now though the fastest here is 5 minutes, enough for only 1 driver.

 

[jammmmmsssssss]

The Sheringham line has a turnaround of 3 or 4 mins most of the time

 

[dk1]

The Sheringham line has a turnaround of 3 or 4 mins most of the time

And I still have time to spare and a quick chat with the guard on a 3.5min turnaround at Cromer with a 755/4. Some people just don’t get on with it

 

[Halish Railway]

I think the Manchester Piccadilly to Hadfield services take the cake for short turnarounds, with two three minute turnarounds at Glossop, another three minute turnaround at Hadfield and an eight minute turnaround in a typical set of round trips.

 

[aftv]

Brighton - Seaford services had 5 minutes to turnaround at Seaford when they were worked by 313s.

 

[jammmmmsssssss]

And I still have time to spare and a quick chat with the guard on a 3.5min turnaround at Cromer with a 755/4. Some people just don’t get on with it

Yeah I have had some drivers that take ages at both Cromer and Sheringham, so we end up being a few minutes late

 

[DelW]

St Erth to St Ives runs as a half-hourly shuttle with a public running time of 10 minutes each way. IIRC it did so even when Lelant P&R was in use, giving a running time of about 13 minutes.

 

[sharpener]

And I still have time to spare and a quick chat with the guard on a 3.5min turnaround at Cromer with a 755/4. Some people just don’t get on with it

Then you are the ideal person to do the on-site training at Letchworth as in this thread.