Golborne station: A missed opportunity to make improvements to the WCML track layout in the area?

[james_the_xv]

Moderator note: Split from

Golborne Railway Station reopening updates

It is proposed to build a railway station at Golborne which is between Warrington Bank Quay and Wigan North Western and funding of £15 million has been allocated by the government. https://lowtonandgolbornenews.co.uk/golborne-station-funding-secured/ Funding which could help bring a train...

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I think the answer is yes to that, but I believe the new platforms will be on the fast lines whereas the old platforms were on the slow.

Who's idea was that then. In a post HS2 world where there's extra pressure under the conventional infrastructure north of Handsacre (not that there needed to be), putting a stop on the fast lines is ludicrous.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Who's idea was that then. In a post HS2 world where there's extra pressure under the conventional infrastructure north of Handsacre (not that there needed to be), putting a stop on the fast lines is ludicrous.

Putting them on the fasts means Down trains will not be affected.
On the slows, every Up train would block all routes through Golborne Jn.

 

[james_the_xv]

Putting them on the fasts means Down trains will not be affected.
On the slows, every Up train would block all routes through Golborne Jn.

So why not remove that bottleneck while you're at it, 4 track up to Goldborne jn, remove the signal lead, optimise the signalling.

However you look at it it's going to be a huge drain on performance in an area that's going to become very congested once HS2 starts running on conventional infrastructure. Yet again the industry not seeing beyond it's nose.

 

[The Planner]

So why not remove that bottleneck while you're at it, 4 track up to Goldborne jn, remove the signal lead, optimise the signalling.

However you look at it it's going to be a huge drain on performance in an area that's going to become very congested once HS2 starts running on conventional infrastructure. Yet again the industry not seeing beyond it's nose.

Because its a new station and thats it, it isn't there to provide other enhancements. Why is it going to be a drain on performance? It has 3 passenger trains per hour maximum.

 

[james_the_xv]

Because its a new station and thats it, it isn't there to provide other enhancements.

So we're happy as an industry to keep scopes small and the blinkers on to make things easy?

Why is it going to be a drain on performance? It has 3 passenger trains per hour maximum.

Once you add in HS2 services, it leaves little room for other growth. Seems short sighted to me when you can future proof the area for another £15m.

 

[bluenoxid]

So we're happy as an industry to keep scopes small and the blinkers on to make things easy?

It’s the difference between having a new station and having nothing.

There isn’t the incentive to build up additional capacity for just in case situations or potential next steps.

 

[The Planner]

So we're happy as an industry to keep scopes small and the blinkers on to make things easy?

Once you add in HS2 services, it leaves little room for other growth. Seems short sighted to me when you can future proof the area for another £15m.

There aren't random pots of money sat there to spend on projects just because something else is happening nearby. Golborne is third party funded. Where has the £15 million cost come from to do whatever it is you are expecting, any new signalling and layout will cost significantly more. HS2 will replace the current Scotland trains, not add to them.

 

[Zomboid]

Isn't this a case of "station here or no station at all"?

We can all get our crayons out and create something "better", but it's probably better to have the station on the fast lines and use 100mph EMUs to serve it then to put it on the slows and have the trains crossing the fast lines twice.

However, if I did get the crayons out I might look at swapping the fasts and slows round, so the Newton le Willows crossing actually achieves something, and the junction at Wigan station is into the slows. It would mean Springs Branch Junction comes into the fasts though, which might be more of a problem than Golborne being on the fasts is.