Why is the GEML always closed on weekends?

[Sad Sprinter]

It seems that every weekend for several years now it is closed. Isn’t this incredibly inconvenient for East Anglia being stranded from London every weekend? Especially when the route serves 3 University towns which will have students going and returning from home.

 

[700007]

It seems that every weekend for several years now it is closed. Isn’t this incredibly inconvenient for East Anglia being stranded from London every weekend? Especially when the route serves 3 University towns which will have students going and returning from home.

Sadly the GEML is an incredibly high maintenance line and somewhere or other will always need constant attention from the engineers. I know it is not ideal but sadly it is something that has to be done. Even when there are trains running, there's still engineering works going on!

 

[306024]

Whatever the perception, it hasn’t been closed “every weekend for several years”. But yes there have been some major renewals that can only take place with bus replacements, whether that is track or overhead line. Colchester track renewal currently taking place, with lots of points being replaced. Maryland East crossover replacement to look forward to in the new year, so no let up yet.

 

[LAX54]

Sadly the GEML is an incredibly high maintenance line and somewhere or other will always need constant attention from the engineers. I know it is not ideal but sadly it is something that has to be done. Even when there are trains running, there's still engineering works going on!

Although it 'seems' like it's closed every weekend, it is not, yes, we have had the Colchester block over the past and next few weeks, and a big Colchester block at Christmas, but before that we had through trains to London at weekends for a good few weeks, as has been said the GEML has to be one of the busiest in the Country, and is pounded by trains 24 hours a day.

 

[rower40]

Not quite GEML, but not far away...
As I write this, I’m on 1N51, the first train over the fens from Ely to Peterborough.
2 car - full standing and then some.
It left Ely on time at 1116.
So why nothing earlier for escaping East Anglia on a Sunday?
Don’t say there’s no demand, or this train wouldn’t have upwards of 300 bodies on board.

 

[iphone76]

Living on the Southend Line, it really has been closed most weekends for the last 10 years or so. I really hope when the overhead works are finished in March we can have weekends back for a few years.

 

[Mills444]

Sadly the GEML is an incredibly high maintenance line and somewhere or other will always need constant attention from the engineers. I know it is not ideal but sadly it is something that has to be done. Even when there are trains running, there's still engineering works going on!

What makes the GEML so high maintenance?

 

[306024]

What makes the GEML so high maintenance?

The tonnage of traffic that it conveys. A very intensive passenger service and a considerable volume of freight, mostly to and from the port of Felixstowe, the largest container port in the country.

 

[Class 170101]

Not quite GEML, but not far away...
As I write this, I’m on 1N51, the first train over the fens from Ely to Peterborough.
2 car - full standing and then some.
It left Ely on time at 1116.
So why nothing earlier for escaping East Anglia on a Sunday?
Don’t say there’s no demand, or this train wouldn’t have upwards of 300 bodies on board.

The problem is this route only closes on a Saturday night - subject to engineering haulage to / from Whitemoor and on some Sunday nights - again dependant upon engineering haulage to / from Whitemoor but also if its the allocated freight route to / from Ipswich on Sunday night - shared with the GEML. This weekend it would be open as the route via GEML is closed around Colchester.

There is an earlier train in the summer period (late May to September) from Ipswich to Peterborough via Ely.

 

[306024]

Not quite GEML, but not far away...
As I write this, I’m on 1N51, the first train over the fens from Ely to Peterborough.
2 car - full standing and then some.
It left Ely on time at 1116.
So why nothing earlier for escaping East Anglia on a Sunday?
Don’t say there’s no demand, or this train wouldn’t have upwards of 300 bodies on board.

The fens require considerable maintenance to keep linespeeds without the need for TSRs. There is an earlier train in the summer from Ipswich, but whether the maintenance times could be relaxed to allow earlier trains all year is for Network Rail to say.

 

[Bald Rick]

What makes the GEML so high maintenance?

The tonnage of traffic that it conveys. A very intensive passenger service and a considerable volume of freight, mostly to and from the port of Felixstowe, the largest container port in the country.

And it also has (or rather, had) the oldest OLE in the country. Almost all replaced now.

Add to that, it is built on very poor geology.

 

[86246]

The overcrowding on 1N51 was not helped this morning by the first scheduled service, 2E74 from Ipswich, being heavily delayed by a broken down freight train and ended up terminating at Ely. On the occassions I have caught the 2E74 on a Sunday morning it has been very busy from March.

 

[TheBigD]

Not quite GEML, but not far away...
As I write this, I’m on 1N51, the first train over the fens from Ely to Peterborough.
2 car - full standing and then some.
It left Ely on time at 1116.
So why nothing earlier for escaping East Anglia on a Sunday?
Don’t say there’s no demand, or this train wouldn’t have upwards of 300 bodies on board.

Train is booked a 3 car XC 170 (193std/9first).
Train is shortformed due to yesterday's 1622 and 1922 Birmingham-Stansted services being shortformed 2 vice 3.
No idea why they were shortformed though.

As regards the earlier escape from Anglia, the signalboxes on the Leicester-Peterborough line are only open 1200-2200 (approx, some boxes vary a little).
Earlier Stansted-Peterborough services could run, and indeed did during Central Trains days, it would require extra diagrams for both drivers and Guards and as Cambridge depot already has a higher ratio of Sunday turns than other XC 170 depots it would be quite hard to resource.

 

[LAX54]

And it also has (or rather, had) the oldest OLE in the country. Almost all replaced now.

Add to that, it is built on very poor geology.

There was a lot, a LOT of OHL to replace, including the masts etc in places, it was like a complete new OHL wiring job, but still run a full service weekdays of electric trains !

 

[Bald Rick]

There was a lot, a LOT of OHL to replace, including the masts etc in places, it was like a complete new OHL wiring job, but still run a full service weekdays of electric trains !

Indeed. Arguably it was more than a new electrification job, as the old stuff had to come down first. AIUI, roughly three times as much stuff came out compared to what has gone back in.

As an aside, when was the last time the wires came down on the GE west of Shenfield? I think it was April 2011, but happy to be proved wrong.

 

[LAX54]

Indeed. Arguably it was more than a new electrification job, as the old stuff had to come down first. AIUI, roughly three times as much stuff came out compared to what has gone back in.

As an aside, when was the last time the wires came down on the GE west of Shenfield? I think it was April 2011, but happy to be proved wrong.

Going 'East' a bit, twice at St Botolphs, on the curve, but I think that is still the old stuff still there, and a couple of weeks ago, a bit fell down at Colchester Junction, there also seems very few ESR's between Colchester & Norwich now as well

 

[apinnard]

In some places the line sits on geology that is prone to causing "wet spots" that effectively make the track ride bumpy. This in turn means that drainage and ballasting has to be renewed quicker than in other parts of the country. The section from Shenfield to Colchester, in places, is particularly bad.

The overhead line equipment was installed at various intervals from just before World War II to the late 1980's. The WWII vintage wiring wasnt tensioned with weights so needed replacing due to age and sagging issues in the heat and the 1980s wiring kit was/is cheap and nasty.

A lot of signalling needed renewing over the last 10 years, namely the Marks Tey/Colchester area to Thorpe-Le-Soken and Walton. You've also got the S&T renewals going on in deepest Norfolk right now, to replace old semaphores.

As an aside, Clacton station throat and depot was missed off as NR run out of money. There are still some interesting LNER style search light signals here and the ageing signal box is still functional with its mechanical levers, so I guess in time that will get replaced too.

It's a heavily used railway carrying loads of freight and high intensity passenger diagrams. It really does need a lot of TLC.

 

[700007]

Indeed, I don't think many other lines can boast running a train service every 3 minutes on the electric local line and every 2 minutes on the fast at the height of the peak. It's used so intensively because of high demand.

 

[LAX54]

Indeed, I don't think many other lines can boast running a train service every 3 minutes on the electric local line and every 2 minutes on the fast at the height of the peak. It's used so intensively because of high demand.

and of course such an intense service, is why when one train fails, or a simple track / signal fault happens, it all snowballs (delays) very VERY quickly !

 

[Bald Rick]

Going 'East' a bit, twice at St Botolphs, on the curve, but I think that is still the old stuff still there, and a couple of weeks ago, a bit fell down at Colchester Junction, there also seems very few ESR's between Colchester & Norwich now as well

That’s going east a lot!

What I was getting at, is has any of the new OLE failed? I don’t think it has.

 

[DarloRich]

It seems that every weekend for several years now it is closed. Isn’t this incredibly inconvenient for East Anglia being stranded from London every weekend? Especially when the route serves 3 University towns which will have students going and returning from home.

This statement is fairly wide of the mark. There has been some fairly important renewal of aged infrastructure over recent years.

 

[306024]

That’s going east a lot!

What I was getting at, is has any of the new OLE failed? I don’t think it has.

I’m struggling to think of an occasion to be fair. Of course the two major dewirements on the old kit at Church Lane Ingatestone proved the need to do all this work.

Seven Kings points on the up main need relaying too. The ballast seems to remember where it came from after tamping so needs digging out completely to remove the 50mph TSR.

 

[Bald Rick]

I’m struggling to think of an occasion to be fair. Of course the two major dewirements on the old kit at Church Lane Ingatestone proved the need to do all this work.

Seven Kings points on the up main need relaying too. The ballast seems to remember where it came from after tamping so needs digging out completely to remove the 50mph TSR.

One of those Church Lane ones was huge, but also fortunate happening over Christmas.

 

[dk1]

Seven Kings points on the up main need relaying too. The ballast seems to remember where it came from after tamping so needs digging out completely to remove the 50mph TSR.

The blades are missing though. Are they awaiting digging out before being inserted?

 

[xc170]

This statement is fairly wide of the mark.

Do you use this route on a regular basis?

Every weekend may be an exaggeration, but an understandable one.

My grandparents moved to Clacton 10 years ago so I use the route at weekends roughly monthly, I'd say with some confidence that it's closed in part 40-50% of the times I've used it.

I have a young child now so have a pushchair and associated baggage with me so unless it's a direct train, I'll use the car, using the underground or rail replacement coach isn't an attractive option.

The general feeling among the locals in Clacton is that they do not have a usable weekend rail service.

 

[DarloRich]

Do you use this route on a regular basis?

Every weekend may be an exaggeration, but an understandable one.

My grandparents moved to Clacton 10 years ago so I use the route at weekends roughly monthly, I'd say with some confidence that it's closed in part 40-50% of the times I've used it.

I have a young child so have a pushchair and associated baggage with me so unless it's a direct train, I'll use the car, using the underground or rail replacement coach isn't an attractive option.

The general feeling among the locals in Clacton is that they do not have a usable weekend rail service.

No worries. When would you like aged infrastructure upgraded to deliver a better service? Please set out your workings here:

 

[306024]

The blades are missing though. Are they awaiting digging out before being inserted?

Apparently there’s something called ballast memory, in that whatever you do the ballast settles back where it came from unless you dig it right out and start again. Hence the long running 50 TSR. Didn’t realise the blades were missing (you’ll have a better view than me these days). The missing blades may be co-incidental, don’t know.

 

[dk1]

Apparently there’s something called ballast memory, in that whatever you do the ballast settles back where it came from unless you dig it right out and start again. Hence the long running 50 TSR. Didn’t realise the blades were missing (you’ll have a better view than me these days). The missing blades may be co-incidental, don’t know.

Okay, thanks. Originally I just assumed they where waiting a bespoke part but it's been on for what seems like a year now.

 

[xc170]

No worries. When would you like aged infrastructure upgraded to deliver a better service. Please set out your workings here:

I'm not saying the work isn't needed, my point is that although exaggerated, the OP has a very valid point, the line does seem to be closed at weekends on a very regular basis.

No need to be patronising.

 

[DarloRich]

I'm not saying the work isn't needed, my point is that although exaggerated, the OP has a very valid point, the line does seem to be closed at weekends on a very regular basis.

No need to be patronising.

I am not being patronising. I ask a question. If not weekends then when?

Some of the ohle equipment is or was ancient. It needs sorting to deliver a reliable modern service. There is lots to do!