I'm slightly surprised that nobody has suggested a station at Center Parcs, which could be a major selling point of a scheme like this (not that I'm wholly backing the proposal, just that it's a good hook for those wanting to justify it)
There's probably more of a market from Leeds/ Skipton/ Settle/ Appleby etc to Penrith (and vice versa) than there is for Leeds/ Skipton/ Settle/ Appleby etc to Langwathby/ Lazonby & Kirkoswald/ Armathwaite, so I can see that argument (which leave a 150 shuttling from Appleby to Carlisle every couple of hours?)
Many reasons against it, including the fact that you'd be spending a lot of money whilst making electrified freight even less likely on the WML (given the need to divert via Armthwaite etc)
I can't see why this money wouldn't be better spent increasing capacity on the Preston-Blackburn-Clitheroe-Hellifiel-S&C route
Lancaster to Appleby must be a very small market, and if freight wants to divert it'll go via Blackburn.
Yeah, the Clitheroe line is the elephant in the room here - if it's so important to get diesel hauled freight off the WCML (and the slow climb at Shap) then surely you'd just divert it via Clitheroe - the S&C is double track with only a bi-hourly passenger train so there's surely a lot of capacity for WCML freights to be diverted
I thought that the 'slow freight' issue was more to do with the steeper sections via Shap
This is the problem - the problem with the freight is Shap - coming up with a plan that doesn't reduce the number of freight trains struggling up and over Shap isn't much help
Presumably the 'extra' passenger trains diverted from the S&C would be relatively slow DMUs anyway. Not really clear that they would help the WCML capacity mix very much.
Another problem, given the fact hat S&C passenger services are probably always going to be pathed at 75mph, given the fact that you can't 100% guarantee a 90mph/100mph unit would always be allocated
Leeds-Glasgow would be better served by headway upgrades on the S&C (and maybe a couple of speed upgrades)
Leeds-Glasgow would be better served as London-Glasgow via the ECML and Leeds.
If Leeds to Glasgow is so important then the easy thing to do do double the existing frequency would be just one extra Voyager (i.e. extending XC's existing Leeds - Edinburgh services that don't already extend to Glasgow)
But London - Leeds - Settle - Carlisle - Glasgow? Really?