Killingworth
Established Member
All has gone very quiet since the TWAO was confirmed; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/network-rail-hope-valley-capacity-order
It came into force on the 18th April; http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/446/made After a public announcement by Network Rail that work should start in 2019 nothing has been heard. At that time 3 years was suggested for construction, more than twice as long as the timetable set out in the evidence submitted to the public inquiry.
The DfT seems to have buried the public inquiry into Platforms 15 and 16 at Piccadilly. That would give some help to East Midlands' Liverpool - Norwich service down the valley which is now so unreliable that many are giving up using it, the average delay at present being over 10 minutes, and some by almost an hour. That's on a journey timed at 50 minutes for 45 miles!
However the new freight passing loops at Dore and Bamford, plus the redoubling of the tracks through Dore & Totley station, should improve reliabilty and ensure more trains from the Sheffield direction can arrive into the Manchester area as planned. If delivered.
Is the lack of Platforms 15 and 16 now a constraint on the plan to add another fast service on this route? Is the Hope Valley scheme now being quietly deferred because 15 and 16 are blocked, that extra path another straw on the camel's back?
In the original Manchester Hub planning it was envisaged that the new train would go to Liverpool or Preston. Chester or Blackpool have also been suggested. At one stage it was being suggested that there should be two extra fast trains an hour. They'd never fit in at present.
If the grand plan has now been scuppered by platform 13 and 14 congestion across Manchester, improvements in the reliabilty of the current TP Cleethorpes - Manchester Airport, EM Liverpool - Norwich and Northern Piccadilly - Sheffield services are still essential. TP are operating more 6 car trains. Longer trains seem to be the answer to lack of route capacity for all 3 operators
By completing the Hope Valley scheme Northern's hourly service should be able to call at all stations. At present there are weird gaps as the trains skip along to avoid blocking freight paths - that are often not used. 2 hours 33 minutes out of Sheffield to Dore & Totley in an evening. It's quicker to walk the 4 miles. Many get a bus, taxi or are picked up in Sheffield, but it's possible to go out to Grindleford and come back before the next direct train!
Completing the loops will also allow those freight trains being fed in and out of the national network to follow more closely their planned paths, helping to save delays elsewhere across the nation. The Peak District quarries are increasingly busy as more stone and cement is being used on building projects in the south, exported - and in winter going to coal fired power stations. This means more of the scheduled paths are being taken up.
The East Midlands refranchising tender says Liverpool - Norwich will be split at Nottingham from December 2021, with the Liverpool - Nottingham section awarded to either Northern or TP. Or kept with East Midlands!
Local users in the Hope Valley are hoping the 2019 start date might allow the scheme to be completed in time for that December 2021 EM transfer date. I should imagine EM crews must dread being allocated to that service at present!
A few pictures. Empty freight trains go quickly, but the loaded train heading into Totley Tunnel delayed an EM service for 7 minutes before it had cleared the Dore junctions to go south.
Grindleford station is long enough to take at least 6 cars, although only half that is used today. There would be room on both sides of the tracks there to put in short loops to hold a slow stopping train and allow a fast to go past. Two rusting loop/sidings are still there, disconnected on the north side and a live siding facing west for engineering use to the south.
Dore & Totley used to have 4 platforms, all long enough to take 6 cars - until 3 were demolished and the last reduced to 4 car length in 1985 when the line was singled for 2/3 mile through the station!
Where the line should be redoubled south of Dore station has seen recent work and hopes were raised that this was preparation for that. It seems not as the completed drainage work appears to be just where the old track used to be until lifted in 1985.
There's a temperature gauge attached to the track in this picture. A Network Rail employee has been stationed here nearly every day for the last month to ensure the track hasn't buckled in the heat; a speed restriction has been imposed at hottest times.
It came into force on the 18th April; http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/446/made After a public announcement by Network Rail that work should start in 2019 nothing has been heard. At that time 3 years was suggested for construction, more than twice as long as the timetable set out in the evidence submitted to the public inquiry.
The DfT seems to have buried the public inquiry into Platforms 15 and 16 at Piccadilly. That would give some help to East Midlands' Liverpool - Norwich service down the valley which is now so unreliable that many are giving up using it, the average delay at present being over 10 minutes, and some by almost an hour. That's on a journey timed at 50 minutes for 45 miles!
However the new freight passing loops at Dore and Bamford, plus the redoubling of the tracks through Dore & Totley station, should improve reliabilty and ensure more trains from the Sheffield direction can arrive into the Manchester area as planned. If delivered.
Is the lack of Platforms 15 and 16 now a constraint on the plan to add another fast service on this route? Is the Hope Valley scheme now being quietly deferred because 15 and 16 are blocked, that extra path another straw on the camel's back?
In the original Manchester Hub planning it was envisaged that the new train would go to Liverpool or Preston. Chester or Blackpool have also been suggested. At one stage it was being suggested that there should be two extra fast trains an hour. They'd never fit in at present.
If the grand plan has now been scuppered by platform 13 and 14 congestion across Manchester, improvements in the reliabilty of the current TP Cleethorpes - Manchester Airport, EM Liverpool - Norwich and Northern Piccadilly - Sheffield services are still essential. TP are operating more 6 car trains. Longer trains seem to be the answer to lack of route capacity for all 3 operators
By completing the Hope Valley scheme Northern's hourly service should be able to call at all stations. At present there are weird gaps as the trains skip along to avoid blocking freight paths - that are often not used. 2 hours 33 minutes out of Sheffield to Dore & Totley in an evening. It's quicker to walk the 4 miles. Many get a bus, taxi or are picked up in Sheffield, but it's possible to go out to Grindleford and come back before the next direct train!
Completing the loops will also allow those freight trains being fed in and out of the national network to follow more closely their planned paths, helping to save delays elsewhere across the nation. The Peak District quarries are increasingly busy as more stone and cement is being used on building projects in the south, exported - and in winter going to coal fired power stations. This means more of the scheduled paths are being taken up.
The East Midlands refranchising tender says Liverpool - Norwich will be split at Nottingham from December 2021, with the Liverpool - Nottingham section awarded to either Northern or TP. Or kept with East Midlands!
Local users in the Hope Valley are hoping the 2019 start date might allow the scheme to be completed in time for that December 2021 EM transfer date. I should imagine EM crews must dread being allocated to that service at present!
A few pictures. Empty freight trains go quickly, but the loaded train heading into Totley Tunnel delayed an EM service for 7 minutes before it had cleared the Dore junctions to go south.
Grindleford station is long enough to take at least 6 cars, although only half that is used today. There would be room on both sides of the tracks there to put in short loops to hold a slow stopping train and allow a fast to go past. Two rusting loop/sidings are still there, disconnected on the north side and a live siding facing west for engineering use to the south.
Dore & Totley used to have 4 platforms, all long enough to take 6 cars - until 3 were demolished and the last reduced to 4 car length in 1985 when the line was singled for 2/3 mile through the station!
Where the line should be redoubled south of Dore station has seen recent work and hopes were raised that this was preparation for that. It seems not as the completed drainage work appears to be just where the old track used to be until lifted in 1985.
There's a temperature gauge attached to the track in this picture. A Network Rail employee has been stationed here nearly every day for the last month to ensure the track hasn't buckled in the heat; a speed restriction has been imposed at hottest times.
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