• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Most limited service stations on a well served line

Status
Not open for further replies.

SprinterMan

Established Member
Joined
20 Sep 2010
Messages
2,341
Location
Hertford
Some stations simply don't attract the custom to warrant a good service, while some aren't given a good services and so do not attract custom, but it is a bit suspicious when there are lots and lots of limited service stations on lines with an otherwise good service. 2 examples of this are:

Nottingham - Skegness
Limited service stations: Netherfield, Radcliffe, Elton & Orston, Ancaster, Rauceby, Swineshead, Hubberts Bridge, Thorpe Culvert, Havenhouse

(I am aware that some people may not consider Netherfield/Radcliffe/Ancaster/Rauceby as limited service stations, but judging by their passenger numbers they deserve a far better service than what they get so I am including them to illustrate the limited stop service patter of the line)

Norwich - Peterborough
Limited service stations: Spooner Row, Eccles Road, Harling Road, Lakenheath, Shippea Hill, Manea

As can be seen, not all of these stations have low passenger numbers, so it is curious as to why the service is so bad. Is it just a legacy or poor service left by Central Trains, or laziness on the part of EMT or GA, or both. In particular, Netherfield/Radcliffe/Ancaster/Rauceby/Swineshead/Eccles Road/Harling Road/Manea all do reasonable passenger numbers, and so deserve a better service.

Can anyone else think of any lines like this, where there are lots of limited service stations on a line with an otherwise good service?

Adam :D
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

TheWalrus

Established Member
Joined
6 Oct 2008
Messages
1,983
Location
UK
Pewsey has over 203,000 passengers per year but only services around every 3 hours during the day. Surely it deserves more?
 

dk1

Veteran Member
Joined
2 Oct 2009
Messages
15,822
Location
East Anglia
Eccles & Harling Road stations have reasonable numbers of students & a few commuters to Norwich. Spooner Row & Lakenheath are too far from any real population & are poorly used anyway. It is definatley not laziness on the TOCs part because they are trying to compete with road on speed between Norwich/Cambridge. When the service re-commenced 10 years ago Anglia Railways advertised a journey time of 70 minutes & did not stop at Brandon & only reluctantly did at Attleborough. Perhaps more calls can be added in a couple of years when the service hopefully goes twice hourly. It is hard to please everyone but they have to look after the prime revenue flow.
 

Rhydgaled

Established Member
Joined
25 Nov 2010
Messages
4,568
As a kind-of contrast to this, I think Llandrindod Wells (4 trains a day) has similar passenger usage to Pembroke Dock (every two hours service). Perhaps that's an indication that the HOWL should have a more frequent service, but with most serving only principle stations (4 trains a day is probably plenty for a halt like Sugar Loaf).
 

barrykas

Established Member
Joined
19 Sep 2006
Messages
1,579
How about Angel Road on the West Anglia Main Line? Prior to the reconstruction of the Angel Road viaducts as part of an upgrade of that section of the A406 in the 1990s, it was served by half hourly trains between Liverpool Street and Hertford East.

Following the reconstruction, the service was cut back to hourly calls, and the entrance to the station moved from Angel Road itself (the erstwhile A406) to a new road, Conduit Lane, situated some 150 metres from the country end of the platforms and accessed by numerous stairs, a bridge under the road, and then a path squeezed in between the running lines and a scrap yard, which takes you to the Down platform. To get between platforms involves crossing a footbridge with 32 steps on either side.

Your "reward" for all this is 4 down trains in the morning (1 to Hertford East, 3 to Bishops Stortford), no down trains at all from 0948 to 1617, then another 7 in the afternoon peak (2 to Hertford East, 5 to Bishops Stortford), with the last train at 1947, and no service at weekends.

The story in the up direction isn't much better, with 6 in the morning (1 to Liverpool Street, 5 to Stratford), no service from 0952 to 1552, then another 5 to Stratford, with the last train at 1952, and again no service at the weekend.

Another example in London is Sudbury and Harrow Road, which sees just 4 down services in the afternoon/evening (3 to West Ruislip, 1 to Gerrards Cross) and 4 up services in the morning (3 from Gerrards Cross, 1 from Aylesbury).
 

Be3G

Established Member
Joined
14 Sep 2012
Messages
1,595
Location
Chingford
How about Angel Road on the West Anglia Main Line? Prior to the reconstruction of the Angel Road viaducts as part of an upgrade of that section of the A406 in the 1990s, it was served by half hourly trains between Liverpool Street and Hertford East.

Following the reconstruction, the service was cut back to hourly calls, and the entrance to the station moved from Angel Road itself (the erstwhile A406) to a new road, Conduit Lane, situated some 150 metres from the country end of the platforms and accessed by numerous stairs, a bridge under the road, and then a path squeezed in between the running lines and a scrap yard, which takes you to the Down platform. To get between platforms involves crossing a footbridge with 32 steps on either side.

On the odd occasion that I'm on a train calling at Angel Road, I always have a look to see how many people get on/off – it's only a few (I think the most I've counted is seven). I can understand why; particularly in the dark, the walk isn't particularly pleasant! It's a shame though, as the station's not far from one of London's few Ikea stores. In fact I did once use the station to drag home a load of shopping from the large Tesco next door.
 

Liam

Established Member
Joined
29 Dec 2010
Messages
1,246
Chathill, Acklington, Widdrington and Pegswood on the ECML.

Balmossie, Monifieth, Barry Links and Golf Street between Dundee and Carnoustie. 3 trains per day.
 

tractakid

Member
Joined
12 Nov 2012
Messages
852
Location
Milton Keynes
Peartree. 10(?) services an hour pass through the station, but only 5 per day actually stop there.

Indeed, I once found a route on NRE Journey Planner that sent me through the station twice before arriving a third time to stop (in addition to an overnight stay... no one would do this but it was still suggested!)
 

SprinterMan

Established Member
Joined
20 Sep 2010
Messages
2,341
Location
Hertford
Chathill, Acklington, Widdrington and Pegswood on the ECML.

Balmossie, Monifieth, Barry Links and Golf Street between Dundee and Carnoustie. 3 trains per day.

2 excellent examples there. With your first example, I think what they need to do is run a 2-hourly Newcastle - Edinburgh all stations stopper with something like a 317 or 321 (hey don't we have some 317/7s in storage or something :P ) and all these stations would see massive growth. The only issue might be pathing in case things get a little cozy with an XC or EC 125mph pathed train.

Adam :D
 

ANorthernGuard

Established Member
Joined
8 Oct 2010
Messages
2,662
Ardwick, god knows how many trains pass there in a day but only about 4 actually stop there lol, Followed by Styal.
 

MidnightFlyer

Veteran Member
Joined
16 May 2010
Messages
12,857
Belle Vue is on the Manchester-Bredbury-Romiley line and is only served by 1tp2h each way - there's currently 2tph each way over the line itself: Bredbury, Reddish North and Brinnington are served by all 4, and nearby Ryder Brow by 1tph.
 

Mojo

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
7 Aug 2005
Messages
20,382
Location
0035
Bordesley has 8 or 9 tph passing through in each direction yet only gets one train per week, except on Football Saturdays where a couple of additional services stop.

Pilning has 4tph in each direction passing through but only one train per week each way calls.
 

Liam

Established Member
Joined
29 Dec 2010
Messages
1,246
Breich - 2 tpd, the Shotts Line has 2tph in each direction most of the day.

Springfield - 5 tpd, the line between Ladybank and Dundee gets 2 or 3 tph in each direction.
 
Joined
20 Mar 2012
Messages
704
Chathill, Acklington, Widdrington and Pegswood on the ECML.

Balmossie, Monifieth, Barry Links and Golf Street between Dundee and Carnoustie. 3 trains per day.

Actually its 2tpd for the stations between dundee and carnoustie.
 

ATW Alex 101

Established Member
Joined
28 Dec 2010
Messages
2,083
Location
Ellesmere port
Conwy, the line through there sees a healthy amount of trains but the service at Conwy station isnt great and I do feel it wouldnt be too bad if there was a decent service.
 

mlambeuk

Member
Joined
19 Feb 2013
Messages
228
Location
York
Hessle, Ferriby, Broomfleet, Eastrington and Wressle: are only served by a small number of services.
 

nicobobinus

Member
Joined
16 Oct 2011
Messages
133
Location
NE London
On the odd occasion that I'm on a train calling at Angel Road, I always have a look to see how many people get on/off – it's only a few (I think the most I've counted is seven). I can understand why; particularly in the dark, the walk isn't particularly pleasant! It's a shame though, as the station's not far from one of London's few Ikea stores. In fact I did once use the station to drag home a load of shopping from the large Tesco next door.

I really do think that if Angel Road was given a better service, and was given better access options than off the top of that road, it would see more passengers. A clue can be seen in the 192 bus that shadows the line between Angel Road - Northumberland Park - Tottenham Hale, which has seen a dramatic rise in use in the last 10 years, and a substantial proportion of the journeys made involve travel from IKEA and the local residential/industrial area around Angel Road to the nearest decent railhead at Tottenham Hale. In 2000 the route (actually it's predecessor, the 363) ran every 20 minutes and rarely loaded more than a handful of passengers, now it runs every 8 and regularly leaves people behind at the first stop on northbound journeys out of Tott Hale. The bus is often 2/3 empty by the time it gets into the back streets off Montagu Road (within easy walk of Angel Road station). I believe if the rail service to the two stations in the area were attractive enough, many people would be using that instead rather than decamping from the rail network at Tott Hale to find a bus.

Unfortunately, while the route is in it's current two-track state it isn't in Greater Anglia's interests to promote ridership at the intermediate stations between Tott Hale and Cheshunt - it's a squeeze to path what runs down there already, and the local stoppers do seem to be little more than an operational inconvenience to work round the fast Stansted/Cambridges. But there are large scale regeneration plans for the area (google the Meridian Water masterplan) and any major progress with that would certainly need some improvements to the rail facilities at Angel Road.
 
Last edited:

Toots

Member
Joined
24 Oct 2009
Messages
275
Denton and Reddish South..one train per week one way only, and Clifton,one train each way per day.....
 

rownd

Member
Joined
28 Jul 2012
Messages
47
Location
Midlands
Does this still only have two trains per day, Mondays to Fridays, no service Saturdays, Sundays or Bank Holidays ?

Slightly better at Salwick, it gets a Saturday service as well now!

From the current NRT
Monday-Saturday only
To Colne: 0713, 0813, 1615
To Blackpool South: 0707, 0809, 1209, 1609
 

Eng274

Member
Joined
19 Aug 2010
Messages
796
Lockerbie and Carstairs on the WCML. The former isn't too bad due the the occasional TPE but Carstairs doesn't fare well given the number of trains that pass through - not that it needs that many services right enough.

Springfield in Fife only has 2 or 3 trains per day per direction AFAICS.
 

MidnightFlyer

Veteran Member
Joined
16 May 2010
Messages
12,857
Lockerbie and Carstairs on the WCML. The former isn't too bad due the the occasional TPE but Carstairs doesn't fare well given the number of trains that pass through - not that it needs that many services right enough.

Carstairs did see some increase in service from December however, there is now an off-peak local SR service from Glasgow-Edinburgh via Carstairs, roughly every 2-3 hours, creating about 5 extra services a day each way. Great to see.
 

mlambeuk

Member
Joined
19 Feb 2013
Messages
228
Location
York
Teesside Airport, South Bank and British steel Redcar have a very limited service on the Darlington to Saltburn line.
On the Tyne valley line you have: Dunston and Blaydon.
 

Be3G

Established Member
Joined
14 Sep 2012
Messages
1,595
Location
Chingford
I really do think that if Angel Road was given a better service, and was given better access options than off the top of that road, it would see more passengers. A clue can be seen in the 192 bus that shadows the line between Angel Road - Northumberland Park - Tottenham Hale, which has seen a dramatic rise in use in the last 10 years, and a substantial proportion of the journeys made involve travel from IKEA and the local residential/industrial area around Angel Road to the nearest decent railhead at Tottenham Hale. In 2000 the route (actually it's predecessor, the 363) ran every 20 minutes and rarely loaded more than a handful of passengers, now it runs every 8 and regularly leaves people behind at the first stop on northbound journeys out of Tott Hale. The bus is often 2/3 empty by the time it gets into the back streets off Montagu Road (within easy walk of Angel Road station). I believe if the rail service to the two stations in the area were attractive enough, many people would be using that instead rather than decamping from the rail network at Tott Hale to find a bus.

Unfortunately, while the route is in it's current two-track state it isn't in Greater Anglia's interests to promote ridership at the intermediate stations between Tott Hale and Cheshunt - it's a squeeze to path what runs down there already, and the local stoppers do seem to be little more than an operational inconvenience to work round the fast Stansted/Cambridges. But there are large scale regeneration plans for the area (google the Meridian Water masterplan) and any major progress with that would certainly need some improvements to the rail facilities at Angel Road.

I couldn't agree more about all of that. I remember taking a few trips on the 363 – that and the 517 were commercial buses if memory serves, which TfL (or maybe it was London Transport back then?) competed with by a combination of 192/377/491. As you say, it wasn't the busiest of buses… and I've certainly experienced a few cramped 192s! Though I do wonder if, considering the local demographic (i.e. income status etc.) there might be a greater tendency to use the bus rather than train because it's cheap; Tottenham Hale is, after all, a fairly significant bus interchange too.

As for the Meridian project… I remember looking through the plans to see if I could find promising signs of redevelopment of Angel Road station, but saw nothing. If I recall correctly, there seemed to be more focus on providing an easy walking route to Edmonton Green. :(
 

STEVIEBOY1

Established Member
Joined
31 Jul 2010
Messages
4,003
Ardwick, god knows how many trains pass there in a day but only about 4 actually stop there lol, Followed by Styal.

I thought when they built the line to Manchester Airport, they said that Styal would not loose their services.

Another under used station which always surprises me as it on a fairly busy line is Tees Side Airport as well as the Brigg to Gainsborough line which I understand only has a Saturday service. There is a line from Stockport to I think Redditch which is not often used either.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top