£100m Proposal to redevelop Leicester (London Road)

59CosG95 · 1 Jul 2019

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/how-100m-plan-radically-change-3032538

Leics' most popular regional fish-wrapper (the Mercury) has picked up on a story to 'pivot' Leicester ~~Midland~~ London Road station round by 90 degrees clockwise and completely overhaul the station.
Personally, I hope it goes ahead; it could finally allow London Rd to be raised to allow clearance for future electrification.

The area around Leicester rail station could be totally transformed as part of a £100 million revamp of the area.

Leicester City Council is bidding for Government cash to turn a long-held ambition of ‘pivoting’ the London Road station into a reality.
Changing the focus of the station would create room for commercial development at the site as well as making the station easier for people to access.

Huge sums of money could be available to the council as part of Whitehall’s Transforming Cities fund.

Full details of a draft bid are yet to be revealed but key elements of the scheme are:

Moving the London Road entrance to the station to Station Street, where it was originally built by the Victorians.

Moving the pick up/drop off area and taxi rank from the porte cochere to the Station Street area opening up space for the development of a potential food court and shops.

Building a multi-storey car park on the current station car park freeing up the site for a large office and commercial development while maintaining the number of spaces.

Public realm improvements to make the station more accessible to pedestrians and cyclists.

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said the plan was in its early stages but the city council was working with Network Rail, which owns the station, and Abellio which has been awarded the new franchise to run trains on the Midland Mainline.

He said: “The area around Leicester station has enormous potential.

“We have been working closely with Network Rail and the operator and have been encouraged by Abellio’s enthusiasm for the changes we would like to see.

“We have amazing connectivity to London with journey times of just an hour.

“But I don’t think anyone would pretend the station works very well as it is.

“There is not enough room for the taxis and people hate driving in there to pick up and drop off.

“There is the prospect of turning the station round and making better use of the area vacated by the taxis.

“I think it’s fair to say the improvements made outside the main entrance a couple of years ago have not worked as anyone would have wished so there is the potential to make better use of that space.

“There is potential to have a quality office development on the station car park by turning surface level spaces in to multi-storey provision.”

He added: “It is early days and nobody is writing any cheques yet.

“It would require considerable Government funding, and we are looking at getting tens of millions of pounds, some council funding as well as investment from a third party.

“It is a scheme that we think stacks up in any case.”

The council’s director of planning transportation and economic development Andrew Smith told a council meeting details on Thursday.

He said: “Leicester Railway Station is a major transport hub – the number of passengers going through it each year at last count was about 5.4 million.

“That has grown significantly and it is set to grow further because of the natural growth in railway patronage but also because of the additional investment in rail – the schemes that improve East/West connectivity, HS2, improvements to the Midland Mainline – will bring additional passengers.

“The new franchisee has committed to to investing significant amounts of money to improve the station.

“We want to work alongside them to ensure the station has better integration as a transport hub – ensuring it connects well for bus passengers, for cyclists and walkers."

Mr Smith added: "It is probably fair to say the station doesn’t work as well as it could do as part of the transportation structure and as a gateway to the city as well.

“There is an opportunity to improve the public realm at the station.

“These are the sort of things we will be having conversations with the franchise holder and Network Rail about.”

Mr Smith said there was challenge to deliver additional office space in the city centre adding: “One of the opportunities could present itself in and around the rail station area.”

LeicestershireLive has contacted Abellio for comment.

RailUK Forums

mallard · 1 Jul 2019

Leicester station obviously needs work, but that's mainly to bring the platforms out of the 1970s and add additional capacity. Currently trains regularly wait outside the station due to lack of available platforms, which can break connections between services. If the talk of reinstating the Nottingham-Coventry via Leicester and Nuneaton services ever comes to be, I doubt Leicester will be able to cope without additional platform capacity.

This work sounds like it's largely focussed on moving the concourse to create retail space. There's nothing particularly wrong with the concourse (although putting the departure board back in the old position should be considered, with the current position you basically have to stand in the way of most of the traffic flow to look at it) and the station building is a very well preserved (and presumably listed) Midland Railway structure that would be a great loss if demolished or moved to a less prominent location.

hooverboy · 1 Jul 2019

mallard said:
Leicester station obviously needs work, but that's mainly to bring the platforms out of the 1970s and add additional capacity. Currently trains regularly wait outside the station due to lack of available platforms, which can break connections between services. If the talk of reinstating the Nottingham-Coventry via Leicester and Nuneaton services ever comes to be, I doubt Leicester will be able to cope without additional platform capacity.

This work sounds like it's largely focussed on moving the concourse to create retail space. There's nothing particularly wrong with the concourse (although putting the departure board back in the old position should be considered, with the current position you basically have to stand in the way of most of the traffic flow to look at it) and the station building is a very well preserved (and presumably listed) Midland Railway structure that would be a great loss if demolished or moved to a less prominent location.

I agree. For a hub as big as leicester with a few terminating/turnaround services thrown in, 4 platforms is insufficient.
needs at least 2 more of the same length.

yorksrob · 1 Jul 2019

Surely they're not planning to flatten the main building on the bridge ?

MadMac · 1 Jul 2019

On a side note, was it ever called Leicester Midland?

edwin_m · 1 Jul 2019

hooverboy said:
I agree. For a hub as big as leicester with a few terminating/turnaround services thrown in, 4 platforms is insufficient.
needs at least 2 more of the same length.

There is a scheme, which has no committed funding, to separate the east-west and north-south flows through Leicester. It would reinstate the four-track layout between Syston and Wigston and would add two or possibly three platforms in the sidings area to the east of the existing platforms. However I can't see how they would be full length except by demolishing the bridges both ends and taking chunks of land to widen the formation north and south of the station. Nor do they need to be, as the east-west trains are always likely to be shorter than the London trains. The only trains that terminate are the Ivanhoe service and the Birmingham, both of which would use the new east side platforms, as would any extra Birmingham or Coventry trains. There doesn't seem to be much potential for new services to terminate on the west side (the only one I can think of is Burton and that's a long shot) and with no routine overtaking there is no need for extra west side platforms.

59CosG95 · 1 Jul 2019

MadMac said:
On a side note, was it ever called Leicester Midland?

Oops, you're right - it never was! Should've been London Road.

DPWH · 2 Jul 2019

I believe Leicester Midland is a pretty widely used unofficial name.

Kettledrum · 2 Jul 2019

whatever the scheme finally turns out to be, will it need to include any future proofing to provide passive provision for any additional platforms in future.

It would be a shame if all the space was built on, leaving no scope for any further expansion of railway infrastructure in future.

edwin_m · 2 Jul 2019

Kettledrum said:
whatever the scheme finally turns out to be, will it need to include any future proofing to provide passive provision for any additional platforms in future.

It would be a shame if all the space was built on, leaving no scope for any further expansion of railway infrastructure in future.

See my post #6. The constaint on extra platforms is the width available south of and to some extent north of the station. I don't see that putting the main building in the car park to the east creates any extra constraint.

Flying Phil · 2 Jul 2019

DPWH said:
I believe Leicester Midland is a pretty widely used unofficial name.

I am/was a Leicester lad, and we always called the three main stations "London Road", "Belgrave Road" and "Central". Sometimes I heard "the Midland Station" but not often.

whhistle · 2 Jul 2019

edwin_m said:
The only trains that terminate are the Ivanhoe service and the Birmingham, both of which would use the new east side platforms, as would any extra Birmingham or Coventry trains.

A good idea, especially if the "slow" lines will include an overpass / dive under the existing mainline at the Wigston curve.
Means no more waiting at South Wigston, although by the looks of it, that station may need closing (unlikely because of the college) or relocating to the other side of the footbridge, which means the triangle junction may need moving too.

The car park has been crying out for a multi-storey for ages. The current spaces are some of the smallest (and most expensive!) I've ever parked in!
It's a shame the old BTP office / parcels depot seems to be out of use as this would be ideal space.

The huge problem is access from the south-ish side of the city. You'd come up Tigers Way but have to then pootle round before making a U turn and coming back. Whether there would be provision to turn right across the London Road I'm not sure - especially as they're only just re-modelling the junction (again!).

duffield · 2 Jul 2019

yorksrob said:
Surely they're not planning to flatten the main building on the bridge ?

As they mention redeveloping the taxi rank area (the porte cochere) which is located in the front of that building into a food court, it doesn't sound like it. Sounds like that area will be similar to Nottingham after it was redeveloped.

yorksrob · 2 Jul 2019

duffield said:
As they mention redeveloping the taxi rank area (the porte cochere) which is located in the front of that building into a food court, it doesn't sound like it. Sounds like that area will be similar to Nottingham after it was redeveloped.

Well, that would be quite nice. Does Leicester Midland have a nice inner booking hall like Nottingham ?

DynamicSpirit · 3 Jul 2019

mallard said:
Leicester station obviously needs work, but that's mainly to bring the platforms out of the 1970s and add additional capacity. Currently trains regularly wait outside the station due to lack of available platforms, which can break connections between services. If the talk of reinstating the Nottingham-Coventry via Leicester and Nuneaton services ever comes to be, I doubt Leicester will be able to cope without additional platform capacity.

I'm curious. As I understand it, Leicester currently sees 5 through trains per hour each way, (4tph on the London-Nottingham/Sheffield route and 1tph Birmingham-Stansted) plus one terminating from the North (Leicester-Lincoln) and one from the South (Leicester-Birmingham) each hour. So, effectively 6 trains an hour each way, although with the a couple of terminators occupying platforms for longer than a through train would.

There must be hundreds of stations around the country that see at least 6 trains an hour each way served without difficulty by just two platforms (although admittedly without the issue of terminating trains). So I'm somewhat curious as to how - if you are correct - 4 platforms is insufficient for that number of trains at Leicester.

DPWH · 3 Jul 2019

I believe that there is a plan to add a platform 5 to the east of the station(?), there is space there for a little one.

It would also be possible to add a short platform 0 to the west, but I think you'd also then have to have a turnout on the current platform 1 north of the bridge to access it and that would clearly reduce the usable length of platform 1. That would leave platform 2 as the only full length north-bound platform, though I believe 3 and 4 can also be used by north-bound trains if necessary.

It might also be possible, probably with track alterations, to shunt terminators from the south into a siding to the north which would free up platform capacity. There is no space to the south for sidings, so terminators from the north couldn't do this. Those are the options as far as I can tell.

ForTheLoveOf · 3 Jul 2019

DynamicSpirit said:
I'm curious. As I understand it, Leicester currently sees 5 through trains per hour each way, (4tph on the London-Nottingham/Sheffield route and 1tph Birmingham-Stansted) plus one terminating from the North (Leicester-Lincoln) and one from the South (Leicester-Birmingham) each hour. So, effectively 6 trains an hour each way, although with the a couple of terminators occupying platforms for longer than a through train would.

There must be hundreds of stations around the country that see at least 6 trains an hour each way served without difficulty by just two platforms (although admittedly without the issue of terminating trains). So I'm somewhat curious as to how - if you are correct - 4 platforms is insufficient for that number of trains at Leicester.

The issue is, as you say, the terminators, plus flat junction conflicts. Terminators eat considerably greater platform capacity than through-running services - you can timetable anything up to say 8-10tph calls on plainline double track without massive difficulty, as long as everything follows a similar calling pattern. In order to make the pathing work for the Birmingham-Leicester locals whilst giving an acceptable level of reliability, the usual turnaround time is 28 minutes. It would be very difficult to plan to have another train turnaround for that length of time in the same platform in the 'other' half of the hour, and it would give rise to not insubstantial performance risks if you did do that.

Now, in theory you could turn around both the Birmingham locals and the Lincoln locals in the same platform, since the Lincolns only have around 7-8 minutes' turnaround most hours, but unfortunately the timings of the paths either side of Leicester mean that the two services are sat in Leicester at the same time. So that effectively means that during the times when those services are in Leicester it is a two-platform station for all intents and purposes. Throw in the fact that the Stansted-bound service and the Birmingham local have a tight conflict in the southern station throat, blocking access to all platforms from the south, and suddenly that layout is looking rather restrictive. Not to mention the fact that the Syston south curve is only single track, so again if delays have happened then this can magnify things.

Essentially it's just a rather restrictive layout which needs (in my view) grade separation of the CrossCountry services so they don't conflict with anything else. Or if, as will no doubt be the case, this is deemed "too expensive", then at least adding a few extra platforms will reduce delays caused by a lack of accessible platforms.

whhistle · 3 Jul 2019

Also thinking about plans to introduce a Coventry - Leicester train...
While it may seem pie in the sky at the moment, just like many other projects, it'll be forced through.

edwin_m · 3 Jul 2019

ForTheLoveOf said:
The issue is, as you say, the terminators, plus flat junction conflicts. Terminators eat considerably greater platform capacity than through-running services - you can timetable anything up to say 8-10tph calls on plainline double track without massive difficulty, as long as everything follows a similar calling pattern. In order to make the pathing work for the Birmingham-Leicester locals whilst giving an acceptable level of reliability, the usual turnaround time is 28 minutes. It would be very difficult to plan to have another train turnaround for that length of time in the same platform in the 'other' half of the hour, and it would give rise to not insubstantial performance risks if you did do that.

Now, in theory you could turn around both the Birmingham locals and the Lincoln locals in the same platform, since the Lincolns only have around 7-8 minutes' turnaround most hours, but unfortunately the timings of the paths either side of Leicester mean that the two services are sat in Leicester at the same time. So that effectively means that during the times when those services are in Leicester it is a two-platform station for all intents and purposes. Throw in the fact that the Stansted-bound service and the Birmingham local have a tight conflict in the southern station throat, blocking access to all platforms from the south, and suddenly that layout is looking rather restrictive. Not to mention the fact that the Syston south curve is only single track, so again if delays have happened then this can magnify things.

Essentially it's just a rather restrictive layout which needs (in my view) grade separation of the CrossCountry services so they don't conflict with anything else. Or if, as will no doubt be the case, this is deemed "too expensive", then at least adding a few extra platforms will reduce delays caused by a lack of accessible platforms.

Since all the other trains pass through Leicester and none of them overtake there, a two-platform station is sufficient in the few minutes each hour when both terminators are present. It is also permitted at Leicester for two trains to use opposite ends of the same platform at the same time, with the only restriction that they can't arrive from opposite directions within a few minutes of each other.

So I'd say the present four platforms are adequate for the current service level. As I pointed out above, any extra Birmingham/Coventry services could use the planned new tracks and platforms on the east side, along with the Ivanhoe service (as Syston will only have platforms on these tracks).

mallard · 3 Jul 2019

If you look at the peak times (afterall, that's when capacity is most needed), there are more like 7-8 services (due to terminators, they're not all seperate trains) per hour in each direction, rather than just 6.

Looking in detail at the 1800-1900 timetable, there are 16 passenger services that use the station in that hour. Platform 1 is taken up by a terminator between 1807 and 1818 (WTT times, since they're how capacity is planned) and between 1849 and 1855. Platform 4 is taken between 1818 and 1826. At 1855 an XC unit makes a shunt movement from platform 1 to 4, although I'm not sure what that achieves (it departs at 1918 in the "up" direction, being one of only 5 XC services timetabled to use P4; 3 of those being units that stable there overnight).

Both departures from platform 1 will (usually, the lines are actually reversible, but this facility is rarely used) cross over to the "up" line at the station throat and then cross both lines again at Wigston junction. The departure from platform 4 blocks access to platform 3 for "up" trains. Due to these movements, the 1812 arrival ("down" on P2) and 1818 departure ("up" XC from P1) as well as the 1816 arrival ("down" XC on P2) can easily conflict, as can the 1824 arrival ("up" on P3) and 1826 departure ("down" Ivanhoe from 4).

There is also only a 2 minute gap between the 1818 departure (XC to Stansted) and 1820 arrival (EMT to Nottingham) on platform 2.

With such tight timings during the peaks, it's fairly easy to see how even a minor delay to a service can cause problems.

e.g. If the 1812 arrival from Nottingham is delayed, it may prevent the 1818 to Birmingham from departing on time, which may then block the station throat delaying the 1816 arrival from Birmingham and if this doesn't depart P2 at 1818, there's little chance that the 1820 arrival from St. Pancras will be on-time either. If you look at RTT, this variations of this scenario happens fairly regularly, including on Monday this week...

cactustwirly · 3 Jul 2019

DynamicSpirit said:
I'm curious. As I understand it, Leicester currently sees 5 through trains per hour each way, (4tph on the London-Nottingham/Sheffield route and 1tph Birmingham-Stansted) plus one terminating from the North (Leicester-Lincoln) and one from the South (Leicester-Birmingham) each hour. So, effectively 6 trains an hour each way, although with the a couple of terminators occupying platforms for longer than a through train would.

There must be hundreds of stations around the country that see at least 6 trains an hour each way served without difficulty by just two platforms (although admittedly without the issue of terminating trains). So I'm somewhat curious as to how - if you are correct - 4 platforms is insufficient for that number of trains at Leicester.

A big problem atm, is that the departures are bunched together, for example the xx08 ex Sheffield often runs late, and blocks the platform, so the xx13 ex Nottingham has to wait outside the station.

gordonthemoron · 3 Jul 2019

I hardly think that Leicester needs a new office block, just build a bigger car park

Steve030719 · 3 Jul 2019

gordonthemoron said:
I hardly think that Leicester needs a new office block, just build a bigger car park

Agreed!

Meerkat · 3 Jul 2019

Isn’t there plenty of space to the north of the station to build somewhere to hide terminating trains?

InTheEastMids · 3 Jul 2019

All of the above plus freight trains...
Aggregates North-South (some, but not all goes via Melton-Corby)
Containers East-West.

GingerSte · 4 Jul 2019

edwin_m said:
There is a scheme, which has no committed funding, to separate the east-west and north-south flows through Leicester. It would reinstate the four-track layout between Syston and Wigston and would add two or possibly three platforms in the sidings area to the east of the existing platforms. However I can't see how they would be full length except by demolishing the bridges both ends and taking chunks of land to widen the formation north and south of the station. Nor do they need to be, as the east-west trains are always likely to be shorter than the London trains. The only trains that terminate are the Ivanhoe service and the Birmingham, both of which would use the new east side platforms, as would any extra Birmingham or Coventry trains. There doesn't seem to be much potential for new services to terminate on the west side (the only one I can think of is Burton and that's a long shot) and with no routine overtaking there is no need for extra west side platforms.

4-tracking seems to be relatively easy (read: cheap) in this case, but I would keep the East/West trains on the west of the station. This would remove the need for a flyover south of the station. There would be fewer trains north of the station, so grade separation would be less needed then.

DPWH said:
I believe that there is a plan to add a platform 5 to the east of the station(?), there is space there for a little one.

It would also be possible to add a short platform 0 to the west, but I think you'd also then have to have a turnout on the current platform 1 north of the bridge to access it and that would clearly reduce the usable length of platform 1. That would leave platform 2 as the only full length north-bound platform, though I believe 3 and 4 can also be used by north-bound trains if necessary.

It might also be possible, probably with track alterations, to shunt terminators from the south into a siding to the north which would free up platform capacity. There is no space to the south for sidings, so terminators from the north couldn't do this. Those are the options as far as I can tell.

You could always extend platforms 1&2 to the north, under the Swain Street Bridge. You might have to slew the track for P1 to the west a touch. It would be a bit like Burton Station, which is OK for people getting off the trains under the bridge, but people wouldn't want to wait there. Most people heading north would be alighting anyway, in this case.

With regard to extra platform space on the east, making the carriage sidings into a single through line (instead of 4 dead end lines) would be a start. Some space for expansion is taken up by a car park for the flats on Conduit Street. However, there looks to be space on the other side of Conduit Street for that car parking. I imagine a deal could be done. This would give you space for an island platform with 2 platform faces. You're then talking in terms of 0,1&2 for Birmingham/Coventry/Lincoln, 3&4 for MML down, and 5&6 for MML up.

This also gives the opportunity to have fasts overtake slows, and for northbound freight to pass through without having to cross the down line (eating capacity).

While we're at it, I would look into services from Burton. I know that a west-north chord would be prohibitively expensive. However, using the existing west-south arrangement, and adding a siding for trains to reverse would be a lot cheaper. Burton->Leicester trains would enter this siding, the driver would use a walking route (or a platform) to change ends, and then the train would join the down line. to platform 0, 1 or 2 (mentioned above). If you really wanted to, you could make it a platform open to the public and have a suburban station serving the Knighton Fields area.

edwin_m · 4 Jul 2019

GingerSte said:
4-tracking seems to be relatively easy (read: cheap) in this case, but I would keep the East/West trains on the west of the station. This would remove the need for a flyover south of the station. There would be fewer trains north of the station, so grade separation would be less needed then.

The main reason for four-tracking is extra capacity for east-west freight, none of which terminates in the area so it must all cross the main lines somewhere. A flyover would be very difficult at Syston but less difficult at Wigston. Also the current and former freight lines are to the east so running the east-west traffic that side reduces the changes needed to the existing layout.

GingerSte said:
You could always extend platforms 1&2 to the north, under the Swain Street Bridge. You might have to slew the track for P1 to the west a touch. It would be a bit like Burton Station, which is OK for people getting off the trains under the bridge, but people wouldn't want to wait there. Most people heading north would be alighting anyway, in this case.

There's no need to extend the existing "long" platforms, as the trains that use them are limited in length by the platforms at St Pancras.

GingerSte said:
With regard to extra platform space on the east, making the carriage sidings into a single through line (instead of 4 dead end lines) would be a start. Some space for expansion is taken up by a car park for the flats on Conduit Street. However, there looks to be space on the other side of Conduit Street for that car parking. I imagine a deal could be done. This would give you space for an island platform with 2 platform faces. You're then talking in terms of 0,1&2 for Birmingham/Coventry/Lincoln, 3&4 for MML down, and 5&6 for MML up.

I don't think the east side platforms could be full length. This doesn't matter if they are only used by the Birmingham/Stansted/Lincoln trains which are shorter anyway, but would matter for London trains.

GingerSte said:
This also gives the opportunity to have fasts overtake slows, and for northbound freight to pass through without having to cross the down line (eating capacity).

Under the proposed re-modelling freights and other east-west traffic doesn't conflict with north-south traffic at all, it just stays on the east. There are alreadly loops for north-south overtaking. With the relatively low east-west frequency overtaking could be catered for by bi-directional running on two tracks through the station if there isn't any space for a loop somewhere nearby.

GingerSte · 4 Jul 2019

I agree that if you were going to 4-track, then it would be easier at Wigston. I was trying to avoid it altogether, but if it's still needed for freight, then your plan would be better.

The P1 lengthening was based on providing a "Platform 0", for which the approach and switch would eat into the south end of P1. Sticking the Birmingham reversers on the east side would remove the need for it.

londonmidland · 4 Jul 2019

Is there any reason why the XC Brum terminators terminate in P1 rather than P4?

I know the train arrives on the west side of the station from the west however it means you have to cross the down fast to access the up fast when heading back to Birmingham. I know this will mean blocking the up fast temporarily whilst it crosses over to platform 4 however it seems a lot less complex?

Sometimes when the XX:18 Stansted is running a few minutes late, the XX:18 Birmingham has to wait for it to clear the points. When the Birmingham does get the road, it then delays the XX:25 Nottingham, as it has to cross over to the up fast, so the Nottingham has to wait outside the station for the Birmingham to cross over.

It might not be the busiest station when it comes to trains per hour however when trains are running late for whatever reason, you can end up with a lot of conflicting moves.

That’s before accounting for any freight, which can’t always use the UDS aka the line ‘round the back’ if it is already occupied with something.

InTheEastMids · 4 Jul 2019

edwin_m said:
I don't think the east side platforms could be full length. This doesn't matter if they are only used by the Birmingham/Stansted/Lincoln trains which are shorter anyway, but would matter for London trains.

I agree, the existing P1-4 are ~300m long so accommodating long trains is a non-issue.
Two minutes with Google Earth makes me think it's feasible to add an island with 2 platforms >150m long which isn't short in the context of XC or EMR regional services

£100m Proposal to redevelop Leicester (London Road)

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