Busiest single track lines

[whole diary]

[simonw]

Purely out of the curiosity, what are the busiest (trains/passengers) single track rail lines, and should they be upgraded?

Over the past two weeks I have heard references to regarding Melksham, Worcester Parkway and Severn Beach line and was wondering should these lines be upgraded, and when.

[SandTEngineer]

Purely out of the curiosity, what are the busiest (trains/passengers) single track rail lines, and should they be upgraded?

Over the past two weeks I have heard references to regarding Melksham, Worcester Parkway and Severn Beach line and was wondering should these lines be upgraded, and when.

In our region I would suggest the St.Erth to St.Ives line.  Half hourly service most of the day, only two or three minute turnaround at each end, four car trains jam packed in the summer (and reasonably busy two car trains in the winter).

[bobm]

Henley branch would qualify now it has a half hourly service much of the day.   Windsor branch has a pretty intensive service too - every 20 minutes at times.

[Timmer]

Moreton to Dorchester South on the Weymouth to Waterloo line. 4 Trains an hour.

[grahame]

Plenty of half-hourly services on single track lines already mentioned ... and others such as the Falmouth branch and also Weston Milton to Weston-super-mare.

In terms of capacity enhancement needs, it comes down to how long the single line section is, and whether intermediate signals allow trains to follow each other.

[LiskeardRich]

Purely out of the curiosity, what are the busiest (trains/passengers) single track rail lines, and should they be upgraded?

Over the past two weeks I have heard references to regarding Melksham, Worcester Parkway and Severn Beach line and was wondering should these lines be upgraded, and when.

In our region I would suggest the St.Erth to St.Ives line.  Half hourly service most of the day, only two or three minute turnaround at each end, four car trains jam packed in the summer (and reasonably busy two car trains in the winter).

Falmouth more so all year round

[bobm]

Although Falmouth is a single line with a passing loop which makes it different to the others quoted.

[John R]

Cardiff Bay has 5tph in each direction but it's not an issue as its one train shuttling up and down. As soon as you introduce regularly used passing places then 2tph rapidly becomes the maximum that can reliably be run. A good example is the Rhondda branch where any delay will soon have knock on implications that could last for hours.

[phile]

Purely out of the curiosity, what are the busiest (trains/passengers) single track rail lines, and should they be upgraded?

Over the past two weeks I have heard references to regarding Melksham, Worcester Parkway and Severn Beach line and was wondering should these lines be upgraded, and when.

In our region I would suggest the St.Erth to St.Ives line.  Half hourly service most of the day, only two or three minute turnaround at each end, four car trains jam packed in the summer (and reasonably busy two car trains in the winter).

No need.  The same unit/s shuttles up and down.

[rower40]

Elsewhere, I believe the most congested single line is the mile-long single-bore tunnel under the runway at Stansted Airport.  4 Stansted Express each way per hour, 1 all-stations stopper to Stratford, 1 Cross-country to Birmingham New Street, and (newly-introduced) all-stations to Cambridge.  Platform space at the Airport is also an issue, but the tunnel itself is the main headache for the train planners.

[grahame]

20 trams per hour (10 in each direction) at Navigation Road's single tram platform ...

[simonw]

My idle question has provided a very interesting response.

I would imagine that most single track lines, these days where once dual tracked, and are unlikely to be re-doubled tracked unless the benefits of smart signals, and passing points, including multiplatform stations can add the capacity needed.

So, I wonder if NR^» (Network Rail - home page)/DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) have a list of single track lines due to be upgraded, and the reason for the upgrade (mixed use, ie commute, freight, high speed, etc)

[John R]

There has been quite a lot of redoubling over the last 15 years, and we can even see some requadrification happening close to home. Though I suspect the current financial position of NR^» (Network Rail - home page) may make future schemes a little less likely, particularly as many of the obvious candidates have been done.

[Chris from Nailsea]

My idle question has provided a very interesting response.

Thanks for posting your topic here, simonw. 

In my experience, there is no such thing on the Coffee Shop forum as an 'idle question'.

Any such query will generally produce a wide range of replies from our very knowledgeable members, and thus enhance our collective understanding.

Thanks again for your contribution to that process. 

[The Grecian]

Whilst not the busiest in terms of numbers, I think Tisbury loop is used by almost all services all week i.e. almost everything is booked to pass there. As the loop couldn't be put at the station when installed in 1986 due to the westbound platform having been sold, it means about half of the total services between London Waterloo and Exeter are booked to spend a few minutes sitting in a field (well next to one) in Wiltshire. Redouble Wilton to Tisbury including Tisbury station and you could probably shave a fair few minutes off journey times as that's the biggest pinch point between Salisbury and Exeter. You could probably revise the journey times given west of Salisbury the only other line to fit in with is the Exmouth branch for about 1.5 miles from Exmouth Junction to St Davids. But I digress...