Are the UKs railways falling apart?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

And we've just waited at Norton Junction while the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) train from Warminster to Great Malvern, which would have been a useful connection, is sent in front of us.

I'm not familiar with the layout at Shrub Hill. Would the Great Malvern train have been able to get past if your train had gone in first?

[SandTEngineer]

And we've just waited at Norton Junction while the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) train from Warminster to Great Malvern, which would have been a useful connection, is sent in front of us.

I'm not familiar with the layout at Shrub Hill. Would the Great Malvern train have been able to get past if your train had gone in first?

No. But there is the option to share the platform (its divided by a 'mid-platform' signal) so the Malvern train could have been held in the front part and the Foregate Street train accepted in the rear part.

[John R]

To be fair, the next train to Hereford was due only 10 mins after the service from London arrived, so the delay wasn't that excessive.

[grahame]

And we've just waited at Norton Junction while the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) train from Warminster to Great Malvern, which would have been a useful connection, is sent in front of us.

I'm not familiar with the layout at Shrub Hill. Would the Great Malvern train have been able to get past if your train had gone in first?

No. But there is the option to share the platform (its divided by a 'mid-platform' signal) so the Malvern train could have been held in the front part and the Foregate Street train accepted in the rear part.

Excellent diagram showing Worcester layout at http://www.roscalen.com/signals/Worcester/

[IndustryInsider]

If ever there was a layout that was not fit for the modern railway, then just take a look at that layout at Worcester!  The map is slightly out of date now, as the cattle/milk dock platforms alongside Platform 1 are now lifted, and the siding at Henwick is no longer connected to the main lines, though I think there are still plans to alter the layout and provide a turnback siding there for the new IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) services.  Minor alterations at Shrub Hill will also be required to accommodate 10-car IET's, assuming they're not going to use SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) which would limit the efficiency of the layout even more.

As for the mass of sidings and freight lines north of the platforms - the less said about their usefulness these days the better!  Rip it up and start again.  Though lack of money and architectural importance of the station buildings make that unlikely!

[Worcester_Passenger]

And we've just waited at Norton Junction while the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) train from Warminster to Great Malvern, which would have been a useful connection, is sent in front of us.

I'm not familiar with the layout at Shrub Hill. Would the Great Malvern train have been able to get past if your train had gone in first?

No. But there is the option to share the platform (its divided by a 'mid-platform' signal) so the Malvern train could have been held in the front part and the Foregate Street train accepted in the rear part.

Indeed so. The Warminster - Great Malvern is operated by GWR, and would be on the same platform, whereas the 10-minutes-later Birmingham - Hereford is operated by London Midland and goes from the other platform, over the bridge. Personally I'd've thought that holding the GWR train would have given the delayed passengers the impression that GWR cared about them.

Alas, not the case.

[Worcester_Passenger]

If ever there was a layout that was not fit for the modern railway, then just take a look at that layout at Worcester!  The map is slightly out of date now, as the cattle/milk dock platforms alongside Platform 1 are now lifted, and the siding at Henwick is no longer connected to the main lines, though I think there are still plans to alter the layout and provide a turnback siding there for the new IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) services.  Minor alterations at Shrub Hill will also be required to accommodate 10-car IET's, assuming they're not going to use SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) which would limit the efficiency of the layout even more.

As for the mass of sidings and freight lines north of the platforms - the less said about their usefulness these days the better!  Rip it up and start again.  Though lack of money and architectural importance of the station buildings make that unlikely!

Please don't get me started on Shrub Hill, though I suppose that it is an example of how the railways are falling apart. The maintenance of the buildings is non-existent. Most useful thing would be another visit from the Queen - the place got painted last time she came (a long time ago).

The "architectural importance" of the buildings isn't all that great, though it would be enormously improved by demolishing the dreadful 1960s office block in front of the station.

The car parking is minimal (and extortionate) and what there is is all on the west side of the station. It'd be sensible to have a car park on the east side of the station, probably on the (largely unused) freight lines.

The City Council missed a trick when the Warndon Villages housing was put in - they should have insisted that the developers paid for the rebuilding of the Newtown Road underbridge at the south end of the station. It's a single lane with traffic lights.