700007
Established Member
I listen with open ears to hear what the other issues are that may surface next week. Sounds interesting.
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Greater Anglia 2019 - What could possibly go wrong?
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Its a real shame the WA route has to bimble along slowly from Coppermill Jn via Hackney Downs, otherwise its mostly 80+mph line speed all the way to Bishop's Stortford.
700007
Established Member
Congestion and flat junctions unfortunately. In an ideal world with unlimited space and money, you would want a number of diveunders around Coppermill and Bethnal Green.
If Stratford ever got redesigned maybe they could allow for speedier transitions between the Temple Mills and Mains to divert the Stanex and Cambridge services that way.
If you're coming from Stansted that way you'd get the Vic line at Tottenham, Central/Jubilee/DLR/Crossrail and NLL at Stratford. Might be good for the airport
If you're coming from Stansted that way you'd get the Vic line at Tottenham, Central/Jubilee/DLR/Crossrail and NLL at Stratford. Might be good for the airport
I think the Belgian Desiro units might have air con units on the roof but the loco hauled I11 and M6 stock definitely don't. Nor do the Dutch VIRM double decker units. The point is that temperatures in the 30s are not unusual, especially around London, so air con needs to work up to 35 degrees at least. If it can't then don't bother and have windows that open.
F Great Eastern
Established Member
really off-topic but the livery on the Belgian units is absolutely gorgeous in person, the way it shines, the silver effects and the finish is probably the best I've ever seen, a real head turner.
In conjunction with Crossrail 2, a second set of tracks from Coppermill junction, bypassing Clapton, grade seperated giving access to the "fast" tracks down through Hackney, plus additional tracks into Liverpool Street with new LO platforms underneath Broad Street (and a station at Shoreditch), thus separating the LO lines from the Cambridge/Airport lines throughout, with Crossrail 2 to Hertford and Harlow entirely on it's own tracks.
I don't know how they have the cheek to call it the Stansted Express.
I think the timings on the GEML are partially a problem because of how they intermingle faster and slower running trains. I'm sure the theoretical TT is OK, but how it actually runs is not. I've been on a Braintree train that was pulled over for 5 minutes past Chelmsford, to let through a "faster" train (as per the driver); except that the train let through stopped at Hatfield Peveral, whereas we didn't, so we were held up again waiting for it to clear that station. Madness.
I think the timings on the GEML are partially a problem because of how they intermingle faster and slower running trains. I'm sure the theoretical TT is OK, but how it actually runs is not. I've been on a Braintree train that was pulled over for 5 minutes past Chelmsford, to let through a "faster" train (as per the driver); except that the train let through stopped at Hatfield Peveral, whereas we didn't, so we were held up again waiting for it to clear that station. Madness.
306024
Established Member
Not necessarily. Where was the previous Braintree service? If that was late coming up from Braintree then running your train beyond Chelmsford would give it nowhere to go approaching Witham, delaying trains behind you. Not saying this was the case, but sometimes things aren't as obvious as they appear.
As a semi regular Diss to London traveller, I frequently find we crawl along after Colchester. Often I've resigned myself to being late for whatever appointment I've got, only to find we arrive bang on time.
I think the GEML is just at capacity between Colchester and Liverpool Street. It's not uncommon to pass queues of trains on the slow lines as we trundle along at about 40mph on the 'fast'.
Really it needs widening to 6 tracks, but that's never going to happen.
I think the GEML is just at capacity between Colchester and Liverpool Street. It's not uncommon to pass queues of trains on the slow lines as we trundle along at about 40mph on the 'fast'.
Really it needs widening to 6 tracks, but that's never going to happen.
I think thanks to the awful signalling system in the wild fields of Suffolk and Norfolk even the "quiet" end of the GEML is fairly full.
There is a few minutes recovery time in the mainline services, and the timings do allow for the congestion and slower running down towards London. There is no point, for example, timing trains to be doing 80-90mph all the way from Shenfield - London when they infact just won't be.
dk1
Veteran Member
I was about to post exactly the same. This is the reason the Braintree branch would be better served as a shuttle. It causes such pain at times of disruption due to the very limited flexibility at Witham.
700007
Established Member
I, for the life of me, can't remember where I saw this - might be another thread on this forum a while back, but wasn't there a suggestion to make Braintree a shuttle at all times off-peak and allow Clacton-on-Sea to double up to 2tph, using the old Braintree path?
samuelmorris
Established Member
Was that maybe part of the Atkins report?
dk1
Veteran Member
Can't say I've heard that one but makes sense. In a perfect world a passing loop would be provided on the allowing a doubling of frequency as a shuttle then use that as a sweetener for the loss of through working on/off the branch.
samuelmorris
Established Member
For all the branches that still only see 1tph really. Will likely never happen but if these areas are expanding I think it probably would be justified.
306024
Established Member
The Cressing loop plan. Difficult to find now under the pile of dust.
The Cressing loop was all costed out and planned but the local MPs failed to make a business case for it. I think a certain local MP was far more interested in other more grand projects. So funding was never allocated and James Cleverly has always told his Braintree constituents that there is no business case for the Cressing loop. All that is happening now is that the locals who would use Freeport or Braintree are driving to Kelvedon, Witham or even Chelmsford.
JC regularly gets included in Twitter complaints re the BTR line perhaps campaigning to help his constituents re Cressing loop would have helped reduce the complaints.
Whilst we are on the subject the Southminster line needs loops at Woodham and Burnham for the same reasons. don't suppose we will ever see either.
Whilst we are on the subject the Southminster line needs loops at Woodham and Burnham for the same reasons. don't suppose we will ever see either.
Well the quiet end may not have much spare capacity, but it's not congested so you generally nip along at line speed.
I'm aware things will be timed with the reality in mind. It's just frustrating that "Norwich in 90" would be just about achievable for every train if they didn't get stuck in amongst all the local and metro services after Colchester.
As usual this part of the world is a forgotten backwater when it comes to transport.
There's not one from Braintree at that time AFAIK. They're not that frequent...
dk1
Veteran Member
Things are very tight at Witham during peak hours with as little as five minutes between trains departing platform 4 from Braintree & the next arriving from Liverpool Street to go in & onto the branch. Frequency goes up to its maximum capacity of roughly every 45 minutes. Off peak the occupation is only xx35-xx15 giving 20 minutes recovery.
The 09:00 from Norwich must be the most reliable out of the four to achieve the 90 so far. The 17:00 from Norwich usually does well until the London suburbs.
The 11:00 and 19:00 usually catch up with the preceding service around Diss. The signalling doesn’t help with that but hopefully the new trains will help with the station calls and improved acceleration.
Sleepy
Established Member
1900 will always struggle as if anything goes wrong with evening peak the 1830 will accrue delays before Ipswich.
EssexGonzo
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Talking of aircon, I got on a 345 the other evening during the Shenfield disruption and it was was arctic - in a good way, proper cooling.
The refurbed 321s and 360s, on the other hand, are always far too warm. Is that because GA keep the thermostat turned high or is it generally inferior fridge kit on those? The units don't look any smaller than those on the 345s. The C2C trains always feel cooler than the GA trains too.
The refurbed 321s and 360s, on the other hand, are always far too warm. Is that because GA keep the thermostat turned high or is it generally inferior fridge kit on those? The units don't look any smaller than those on the 345s. The C2C trains always feel cooler than the GA trains too.
samuelmorris
Established Member
I think it's the temperature set, they still cope as well when it's 32 outside as when it's 25. The equipment therefore must be capable enough.
dk1
Veteran Member
Whilst waiting around doing shunt moves this morning I watched the 09:00 depart Norwich. The loadings in every carriage where very healthy indeed. Surprisingly the dusty bins on the closely following 09:03 had far more passengers on than I expected proving that traffic on the GEML is not all London centric.
Yes when I caught the bins from Diss last week the train was already quite full. Oddly, most people did seem to be going all the way to London though?
Dreadful train though, just horrible.
Edit: of course it was full of people going to London, the 0900 was cancelled that day!
Dreadful train though, just horrible.
Edit: of course it was full of people going to London, the 0900 was cancelled that day!
dk1
Veteran Member
Haha the edit made me laugh. It really is an awful stand in for the route & the reliability of the Renatus air-con is going to be hideous with the weather forecast this week. Twitter will be interesting.
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