edwin_m
Veteran Member
On this type of junction where a branch curves away from a main line curving in the opposite sense, there is a tradeoff between speeds on the two routes. A junction without cant would allow more equal speeds and it was probably like that historically. However it has probably been re-designed in the meantime to give the main line a cant to allow higher speeds, which results in the branch having a negative cant and a lower speed. Reasons for this will be the need for journey time savings on the ECML, combined with trains that can reach higher speeds closer to Waverley, and the fact the diverging route was and still is less important.Presumably it wasn’t always like that?
It would most likelky still be possible to re-model for higher speeds on the branch but this would result in lower speeds on the main line, unless there is money and space for a major realignment of the whole junction.