upgrading the Midland Mainline to 125mph

[MCR247]

Hmm,

there's been a few articles in the Nottingham evening post recently, moaning that the local aspiration for 'Nottingham in Ninety' cannot be achieved under current NR plans. Given most of the improvements are south of Trent Junction, there will presumably be a significant reduction in the current 2 hours NOT-STP, even if it's not quite 90 mins...?

Will there be any further changes to Trent Junction? seems that NOT-STP & NOT-DBY trains really crawl through in spite of recent changes.

1h46 isn't really 2 hours...

 

[bengolding]

The best way to improve London - Sheffield speeds would be to run some services via Erewash.

At the moment there's a xx.45 slot spare at St Pancras (xx.00, xx.15 and xx.25 in the first half of the hour, but only xx.30 and xx.55 in the second half of the hour), and a service running "fast" from East Midlands Parkway to Chesterfield would cut a lot off the journey time between the two cities.

No new infrastructure required, just some more Meridians.

But having an xx45 slot as you suggest is pointless, given that it will follow the all-stopper xx30 Nottingham all the way to East Midlands Parkway. Diverting the xx55 via the Erewash would have Derby in uproar and we can't have that! Corby (and to some extent, East Midlands Parkway) toar up a good timetable. Both these stations are now white elephants.

Is there still a named "Master Cutler" service even though it goes via the slower Derby route in both directions? A few years back, the 07:27 from Sheffield arrived in just under 2 hrs by running fast from Chesterfield via Erewash and being the only service not to stop at Leicester.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

But surely this hypothetical xx.45 could be pathed around the xx.30 at Leicester?

 

[tbtc]

But having an xx45 slot as you suggest is pointless, given that it will follow the all-stopper xx30 Nottingham all the way to East Midlands Parkway. Diverting the xx55 via the Erewash would have Derby in uproar and we can't have that!

I was suggesting it as an additional service ("No new infrastructure required, just some more Meridians"), which would allow one of the Sheffield - Derby - London services to be cut back to a Derby - London one (so Derby would keep two/hour to London).

It would be pathed not to catch up the slow train fifteen minutes ahead - really the pathings need sorting out anyway, given the big "splits" in Nottingham services.

Corby (and to some extent, East Midlands Parkway) toar up a good timetable. Both these stations are now white elephants

Agreed.

Note how people's justification for any new line/ reopening ("the Alloa branch exceeded expectations significantly, so that means any line with a marginal business case is bound to be profitable because the figures always underestimate") tends to be shelved now that more recent stations (Corby/ East Midlands Parkway/ Armadale etc) have much more "realistic" passenger numbers (that feel underwhelming compared to the "above expectation" Alloa ones)...