Modern Railways – April 2019

54 Modern Railways April 2019 http://www.modern-railways.com

With Railtrack’s plan of a couple of decades

ago for another two tracks at Welwyn North

now but a pipedream in today’s more

straitened circumstances, any extra capacity

that technology can yield will be welcomed.

WOODWALTON ON LIFE SUPPORT

While ETCS offers opportunities, the quest

for further infrastructure opportunities will

continue. One of the outstanding items in the

East Coast programme established a decade

ago is re-quadrupling at Woodwalton, south

of Peterborough. ‘This is intuitively a good

scheme as we’ve got a slow line on the down

side but no complementary facility on the up

side’ says Mr Horne. ‘Thus a London-bound

GTR service diverting on to the slow line

through Huntingdon has to slow to 40mph

for the crossover, which is destructive of

capacity and adversely affects performance.’

Contrary to reports, Mr Horne says the

Woodwalton project ‘isn’t dead yet’. It is true

that so far the cost of doing it has come in too

high to make it worthwhile, but Network Rail

is undertaking a review of the project and

Mr Horne still holds out hope that it will be built.

It seems, however, that the Northallerton freight

loops, another noughties proposal, are not going

to happen. The decline of coal traffic has reduced

demand for freight paths on the northern end of

the East Coast route, but residual freight traffic could

still get in the way of passenger services, given the

anticipated demand for passenger paths on the

line. TransPennine Express is planning a half-hourly

frequency from Manchester to Newcastle via

York, FirstGroup wants to introduce an open

access service to Edinburgh and Virgin Trains East

Coast was proposing extending the hourly York

terminator from King’s Cross on to Newcastle.

One way of freeing up capacity on this

stretch suggested in the consultation for the

proposed new CrossCountry franchise (now

scrapped in favour of a direct award to the

incumbent, Arriva) would be to curtail one of

CrossCountry’s pair of hourly trains to Newcastle.

These trains (one from the South West to

Scotland and one from the South Coast to

Newcastle) currently run close to each other;

the idea is that one of them could terminate

at Leeds, Doncaster or York, with Newcastle

passengers transferring to other services.

At the north end of the route, extra capacity

has just come on stream in the shape of

platforms 5 and 6 at Edinburgh Waverley. Taking

advantage of the former Motorail area, these

two platforms are capable of accommodating

10-car Azumas. This will allow the Edinburgh

terminators to be shifted away from the through

roads, a valuable move with the Anglo-Scottish

service intensification that is planned.

YORKSHIRE

At Leeds, an upgrade to the roof, brightening

the station concourse, is due to be finished in

time for the UCI cycling championships coming

to Yorkshire in September. This is coupled to

public realm works in the front of the station.

Coming later is a new platform 0, principally for

Northern services, on which work is expected

to get going in earnest next January.

The December 2019 timetable will see the

King’s Cross to Harrogate service going to

two-hourly frequency, taking advantage of

bi-mode technology by extending what are

currently Leeds terminators. An old siding

on the up side north of Harrogate station

is being revived to act as a turnback.

An idea coming up the wish list is the York

North project, which would reverse track

rationalisation undertaken in the 1980s between

York and Skelton Junction. With Northern

planning to double frequencies between York and

Harrogate, extra capacity would come in handy

here. There are no concrete proposals as yet.

POWER SUPPLY

Less apparent than dramatic earth-moving and

concrete-pouring projects, but essential none the

less, is the power supply upgrade (PSU). With all

the new services coming on to the East Coast in

recent years, and yet more planned, the power

supply has needed improvement. Work on the

southern end of the route has been completed,

but there is more to be done in the North.

Extra capacity in Edinburgh: the first service train to leave from the new platforms 5 and 6  at

Waverley was this LNER Class 91 on the 14.30 to Kings Cross on 28 February 2019. The new platforms

will accommodate terminating services and free up space on the through roads. Ann Glen

InterCity225: driving van trailer No 82205

passes Hornsey with a service from Leeds

on 25 February 2019. Jamie Squibbs

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