Double track line rationalisation cost/benefits

[Snow1964]

Farnham-Alton was also made single track
Epsom Downs branch too (although growth and new hospital near Belmont might see part redoubling)

These are both electrified lines

 

[dk1]

Given the bits of Ely-Kings Lynn that were singled were done to simplify electrification (i.e. put masts into the embankment), would singling the lines still be considered if the (double-track) lines were being electrified today?

Crazy to think there were similar plans to single the line Diss to Trowse when electrification was being planned in the 1980s. Thank goodness penny pinching & common sense prevailed.

Trowse Swingbridge was singled as part of Norwich resignalling in 1986(?)

The tunnel under the runway at Stansted Airport is single track, as is the Stansted North Curve.

Yes it was 1986 when the new Trowse Bridge was commissioned. Tentative plans afoot to redouble it & possibly add a road for additional access into the large housing development on the old Colman's site.

Stansted tunnel is one folly I have never quite understood. Just why?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Saltney Jn-Wrexham North was singled around 1990 (partly because the new A483 route cut the line, so only a single bridge span was needed).
Half of the 10-mile single track (north of Rossett) was redoubled recently but the other half is still a constraint.

While the main Cotswold line was singled around 1973, and is now partially redoubled, further down the line the Ledbury-Shelwick Jn section was singled around 1990, with a line speed of only 65mph (was 90mph).
Worcester-Hereford therefore has a multiplicity of single line sections, and if you add the Droitwich-Stoke Works section that's 4 single line sections on a Birmingham-Hereford trip.
The Marches line (Newport-Hereford-Shrewsbury-Crewe/Chester) also came close to being singled, and it was probably the steel freight traffic to Dee Marsh that saved it.
Chester-Manchester via Northwich is another awkward route with multiple single-track sections (the route through Cheadle was always single, but the rest was singled in recent times).

 

[Snow1964]

Stansted tunnel is one folly I have never quite understood. Just why?

Have dug out an article from when it was being built, basically was done on cheap until airport usage expanded. They made provision at tunnel mouths for second bore later.

Also at the time was thought a direct line from north of Sawbridgeworth which needed a new motorway bridge might be added later, with the indirect tunnel route reverting to serve trains from north, via Peterborough etc

 

[Bill57p9]

But one frustratingly short one in this neck of the woods was British Rail’s 1980s decision to replace the chord at Dore with single track (it’s only a short section but it has huge regional consequences)

Often there may be merits to a single track lead at a junction (as well as reasons not to) but in this case it’s meant decades of reliability problems and the service to this suburban station being severely limited

BR’s decision to have the one remaining platform on the single track section between the double track MML and the double track Hope Valley line, so the “fast” services on the long distance lines mean there’s very little scope to stop anything at Dore because a one minute dwell is going to eat up a lot of capacity in the opposite direction

BR did have a bit of a liking for "simplifying" junctions in general and particularly for replacing double slips with single leads.
Newton Junction near Glasgow is a famous example as it contributed to the fatal accident in 1991.

In terms of other post-Beaching singling, Hadfield when the Woodhead route closed in 1982. I believe Ryde Pier was also post Beaching.
The Largs line is another interesting case as between Ardrossan and Hunterston it became a single bidirectional electrified line with the previous up line becoming an up goods. I believe this was all part of the electrification works in the mid 80s but happy to be corrected.

Edit: Wikipedia concurs that Hunterston to Largs was singled in 1986, and Ardrossan to Hunterston becoming single bidirectional plus up goods.

 

[yorksrob]

Definitely in the "more trouble than it's worth" category.

I think that the Marshlink was done in 1979/80.

 

[dk1]

Have dug out an article from when it was being built, basically was done on cheap until airport usage expanded. They made provision at tunnel mouths for second bore later.

Also at the time was thought a direct line from north of Sawbridgeworth which needed a new motorway bridge might be added later, with the indirect tunnel route reverting to serve trains from north, via Peterborough etc

Later plans included a large loop rejoining the WAML near Elsenham. I think the original London terminus was going go be St.Pancras.

Got a cab ride during 91 and there were 4 members of staff Inc trolley provided by ICOBS and even less passengers

 

[Peregrine 4903]

Planners still manage to screw it up despite having self-contained services, by having crews working other services

Everyone makes mistakes mate. Don't need to be so condescending.

 

[Sprinter107]

Saltney Jn-Wrexham North was singled around 1990 (partly because the new A483 route cut the line, so only a single bridge span was needed).
Half of the 10-mile single track (north of Rossett) was redoubled recently but the other half is still a constraint.

While the main Cotswold line was singled around 1973, and is now partially redoubled, further down the line the Ledbury-Shelwick Jn section was singled around 1990, with a line speed of only 65mph (was 90mph).
Worcester-Hereford therefore has a multiplicity of single line sections, and if you add the Droitwich-Stoke Works section that's 4 single line sections on a Birmingham-Hereford trip.
The Marches line (Newport-Hereford-Shrewsbury-Crewe/Chester) also came close to being singled, and it was probably the steel freight traffic to Dee Marsh that saved it.
Chester-Manchester via Northwich is another awkward route with multiple single-track sections (the route through Cheadle was always single, but the rest was singled in recent times).

It was a little bit earlier than 1990 for the singling of Shelwick to Ledbury. Its was the mid 1980s. Its 70mph between Shelwick Junction and Ledbury.

 

[edwin_m]

BR did have a bit of a liking for "simplifying" junctions in general and particularly for replacing double slips with single leads.
Newton Junction near Glasgow is a famous example as it contributed to the fatal accident in 1991.

As well as safety risks, these are bad for capacity. The number of trains through a junction can be maximised by scheduling trains in opposite directions on the same route to pass there - but only if there are two tracks available! Both a single lead and a double lead junction have four point ends, some of which are more intensively used in the single lead, so the capital saving is only a few hundred metres of plain line and I doubt there is any maintenance saving at all. The only benefit I can think of is that it makes temporary single line working slightly easier to introduce on the "branch" route.

Many single lead junctions have been converted back to double since traffic started increasing in the 1990s, including Newton, Euxton and Wigston North.

 

[Class 170101]

Speaking as a train planner, I'd be dead against singling double track railway. Single lines eat into any sort of flexibility available to the planners and if not limited to self contained services can end up dictating large parts of a train plan.

Concur with this

 

[steamybrian]

No-one has mentioned Salisbury - Exeter singling in the 1960s.
The initial layout was found to be so restrictive that-
Passing loop was inserted at/near Tisbury.
Double track/passing loop re-instated Sherborne- Yeovil Junction.
Passing loop inserted at Axminster.

Swindon to Kemble was singled many years ago but in recent times the double line has been reinstated.

 

[70014IronDuke]

Kidsgrove to Crewe (at least the junction, can't remember the name) - wasn't that done in the 80s?

 

[Greybeard33]

Chester-Manchester via Northwich is another awkward route with multiple single-track sections (the route through Cheadle was always single, but the rest was singled in recent times).

The Edgeley Junction to Northenden Junction via Cheadle line (ex LNWR) definitely used to be double track. The trackbed is double width throughout, except for the two 1970s underbridges I mentioned in #23.

I think Mouldsworth to Mickle Trafford Junction was singled in 1969, when Chester Northgate closed.

 

[Eskimo]

I think the original London terminus was going go be St.Pancras.

For the Stansted services?

 

[dk1]

For the Stansted services?

Yes mate. There were plans for a new alignment but not sure where. Needless to say the cost was very high & all plans kicked into the long grass. St.Pancras was very under utilised at the time.

 

[vlad]

Kidsgrove to Crewe (at least the junction, can't remember the name) - wasn't that done in the 80s?

I was going to ask about that one to be honest.

It's from west of Alsager to nearly Crewe actually - only a couple of miles but it means that when Avanti are redirected that way due to engineering works elsewhere (which seems to happen surprisingly often - but of course that wasn't foreseen when the line was singed) they have difficulty threading through. I've had to wait at Crewe for over 10 minutes for a late-running train to come the other way.

 

[Brissle Girl]

Have there been any major singling of existing routes post-Beeching!

The Treherbert branch above Porth was singled in around 1980, and parts of it are only now being reinstated as double track as part of the South Wales Metro project.

 

[snowball]

Wasn't one formerly planned airport rail link (possibly to Foulness/Maplin) going to use the eastern bores of Gasworks and Copoenhagen tunnels?

 

[70014IronDuke]

I was going to ask about that one to be honest.

It's from west of Alsager to nearly Crewe actually - only a couple of miles but it means that when Avanti are redirected that way due to engineering works elsewhere (which seems to happen surprisingly often - but of course that wasn't foreseen when the line was singed) they have difficulty threading through. I've had to wait at Crewe for over 10 minutes for a late-running train to come the other way.

Thanks for the clarification. I was utterly shocked when I learned about it, probably in the late 90s. I haven't been over the route since 1974, but it seemed an incredible penny-pinching decision to me, certain to store up millions of lost train-minutes over the years.

IIRC, it was all to do with the Crewe modernisation/resignalling programme in the early 1980s. It was a case of we have the money to keep the two tracks all the way, or single and electrify overhead, but we can't do both.

Others may (please) correct me if I've got it wrong.

 

[james73]

BR did have a bit of a liking for "simplifying" junctions in general and particularly for replacing double slips with single leads.
Newton Junction near Glasgow is a famous example as it contributed to the fatal accident in 1991.

Bellgrove junction was also turned into a single lead, which was a factor in the crash there in 1989.

 

[edwin_m]

Thanks for the clarification. I was utterly shocked when I learned about it, probably in the late 90s. I haven't been over the route since 1974, but it seemed an incredible penny-pinching decision to me, certain to store up millions of lost train-minutes over the years.

IIRC, it was all to do with the Crewe modernisation/resignalling programme in the early 1980s. It was a case of we have the money to keep the two tracks all the way, or single and electrify overhead, but we can't do both.

Others may (please) correct me if I've got it wrong.

It was indeed part of the Crewe "rationalisation", though I'd say mid-80s rather than early.

At the time the only service to use it routinely was the one to Derby (and, over the years, various destinations beyond). This would only ever come out of Crewe a few minutes after it went in, so I guess the logic was that there would never be a conflict. Other than a short distance out of the station, it wasn't electrified until much later, after which it started being used for EMU workings via Stoke.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Crewe was remodelled (i.e rationalised) in 1985, including partial singling of the Alsager line. It was electrified to provide a diversonary route for the WCML upgrade in the noughties. I did note before Xmas driving on the 'David Whitby Way' in Crewe (named in honour of the Great Train Robbery secondman) that the new rail overbridge does seem to be wide enough to allow for double-track should reinstatement be required.

 

[snowball]

I did note before Xmas driving on the 'David Whitby Way' in Crewe (named in honour of the Great Train Robbery secondman) that the new rail overbridge does seem to be wide enough to allow for double-track should reinstatement be required.

Yes, here's how it looks on Google satellite view.

David Whitby Way · Crewe

Crewe

www.google.co.uk

 

[zwk500]

Crewe was remodelled (i.e rationalised) in 1985, including partial singling of the Alsager line. It was electrified to provide a diversonary route for the WCML upgrade in the noughties. I did note before Xmas driving on the 'David Whitby Way' in Crewe (named in honour of the Great Train Robbery secondman) that the new rail overbridge does seem to be wide enough to allow for double-track should reinstatement be required.

I understand from previous posts on other threads that there is an overbridge that could have 2 non-electrified tracks or 1 electrified track down the middle of the arch, and there wasn't money to rebuild the bridge within that project's budget.

 

[Brissle Girl]

No-one has mentioned Salisbury - Exeter singling in the 1960s.
.

Probably because that was around the Beeching era, whereas the question posed was in respect of post Beeching singlings.

 

[AF91]

Planners still manage to screw it up despite having self-contained services, by having crews working other services

I'm not suggesting that single line sections are or need to be completely self contained. However, a through service using a single line section has the potential to completely dictate the flighting of the rest of the train plan. For that reason I'd be pushing for more single line sections to be doubled rather than the other way round.

 

[Pinza-C55]

I used to go the Public Record Office at Kew and they have the LNER Minute Books in there. One discussion in the books for 1937 was whether the Wellfield - Stockton line, which had closed to local services in 1930, should be singled as an economy measure. The conclusion was that the cost of altering the track layouts, manning the signalboxes at the passing loops ,installation of single line working equipment and recovering the redundant track was more than the cost of just leaving the line as it was. Also nobody foresaw that in 2 years the line would be useful for troop trains etc.

 

[matchmaker]

Blair Athol to Dalwhinnie only lasted just over 10 years as single track.

 

[Bald Rick]

Stansted tunnel is one folly I have never quite understood. Just why?

Stansted express was only half hourly at first, and with services to Cambridge and beyond hourly at best there didn’t seem to be that much demand. The tunnel can take 5 tph each way, and was never expected to get more than that. Even if it were double track, it couldn’t take any more services to the south, as there’s no capacity on the WAML.

I think the original London terminus was going go be St.Pancras.

Correct. Out via Kentish Town, the T&H and onto the WAML via a new chord at South Tottenham. St Pancras had oodles of capacity then.

Other than a short distance out of the station, it wasn't electrified until much later, after which it started being used for EMU workings via Stoke.

I understand from previous posts on other threads that there is an overbridge that could have 2 non-electrified tracks or 1 electrified track down the middle of the arch, and there wasn't money to rebuild the bridge within that project's budget.

That’s my understanding too. Certainly in the days of West Coast Route Mod the answer given was double track or electrification, but not both.