CAPACITY CONUNDRUM
I enjoyed Julian Worth’s refreshing exposition on line capacity in your October issue. However, I thought some of the examples he used were inappropriate, especially the TransPennine one.
Yes, there are six trains an hour each way through Standedge Tunnel, but they serve two stations in Manchester. Two pairs use only Piccadilly and two more only Victoria, while the remaining two pairs shuttle round both of them, suffering extended journey times and breaking traditional connections. Two pairs of trains skip-stop or stop at smaller stations following the withdrawal of most
Diggle route Northern stopping trains, resulting in some overtaking situations so, effectively, no two pairs of stations benefit from six trains an hour and many have only one, such as ‘anywhere’ to Middlesbrough. TransPennine is a complex service pattern that requires a variety of through journeys. Which will we take out of the timetable? Middlesbrough? Hull? (sorry, Mr Williams) Scarborough? Those that provide the only service to the smaller stations perhaps? Mr Worth refers to the waste of paths caused by many trains being only three or four cars (although there are no four-cars on the Diggle route TPE trains) bu…
