Bristol to Birmingham Corridor Strategic Rail Study - June 21

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Surprised that slow crawl stopping just outside Bournville, Selly Oak, and the rest of those lovely stations on the way into Birmingham isn't considered to be a capacity constraint. That bit looks ripe for four-tracking too.

I thought that bit already was four-track?

The Camp Hill line in effect is two more tracks ... reducing to one for the corner round towards New Street.

[Red Squirrel]

...and you'll have spotted that several services to the South and West are terminating at Moor St under this scheme:

The STBs have each recognised the value of modal shift in their strategies for rail. For example,
Midlands Connect notes the major opportunity presented by the full scope of High Speed 2, with
improved connections from south and west of Birmingham achieved by creating new links to
Birmingham Moor Street (adjacent to the HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) Curzon Street station). This coupled with the increase in
trains per hour to Bristol and Cardiff is intended to encourage modal shift to rail and economic growth
across the Midlands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO3CaJieLK8

[ChrisB]

That youtube link isn’t working?

[Red Squirrel]

It's a short clip from the A-Team. John 'Hannibal' Smith (played by George Peppard) says: "I love it when a plan comes together!"

[chopper1944]

Cogload 1931 comes to mind

[grahame]

An update from Evesham Journal

GLOUCESTERSHIRE could benefit from a number of improvements to rail services, according to the recent findings of a Network Rail study.

In addition to supporting planned housing and employment growth in the county, the improvements would also reduce car emissions and contribute towards the council’s carbon reduction targets.

[snip]

The recommendations in Network Rail’s report include:

• An hourly Cardiff to Birmingham service calling at Ashchurch for Tewkesbury;

• A metro-style service between Gloucester and Bristol, which will initially provide two trains per hour as part of the committed MetroWest service improvements and then four trains per hour under Network Rail’s proposals;

• Improved connections to Worcester, transforming a two hourly service into a half hourly service;

• An additional Swindon to Gloucester/Cheltenham service; and

• Improved connections to the North Cotswold Line with additional stops planned for Worcestershire Parkway.

_{Edit: corrected syntax of url tag - Red Squirrel}

[ChrisB]

Not sure there’s any change or update here, just the local press catching up on old news

[Red Squirrel]

Not sure there’s any change or update here, just the local press catching up on old news

Agreed; not much new - but this bit of the Evesham Journal item was new to me, and very welcome:

At its meeting on September 22, Gloucestershire County Council’s cabinet is being asked to endorse the findings of the report and agree next steps to move the study forward.

This includes the council becoming part of the Bristol to Birmingham Rail Partnership.

Cllr David Gray, cabinet member for environment and planning, said: “Network Rail’s report supports and reinforces the findings of our own Gloucestershire Rail Investment Strategy.

"It is crucial that we continue to engage with National Rail.

"This will enable us to maximise the environmental and economic opportunities identified, as well as ensuring we meet existing and future demand for rail services in Gloucestershire."

This report is going to need all the supporters it can get if some of the more expensive elements are to happen!

[ChrisB]

Yes, that is good (new) news! I can’t believe the county is not yet part of the partnership!

[Red Squirrel]

This document is worth a read! Put the kettle on first though. There's quite a lot of interesting proposals for increasing capacity at Gloucester, Cheltenham and various other places, but my jaw dropped when I read this:

Westerleigh Junction

The recommended TSS introduces three additional services per hour (the two additional Bristol to Gloucester services and the MRH Bristol service) through Westerleigh Junction – which is already a capacity and performance constraint for services in this corridor and on the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) to London and South Wales. The additional MRH service may not require intervention, but neither additional Bristol to Gloucester service can be accommodated without intervention, which would be major, complex, and costly at this location. However, any intervention would have much wider benefits (and may also be triggered by off-corridor service enhancements) and may be required to deliver acceptable performance robustness for any more trains through the junction.

One potential solution would be to introduce four-tracking west of Westerleigh Junction to allow parallel departures between services departing towards Yate and Hullavington. Again, no feasibility work has been undertaken on this option and the complexity is understood.

I feel a bit light-headed... time for another cup of tea, I think.

 https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/2108166/bristol-to-birmingham-corridor-strategic-study-final-report-v10.pdf

You'll be disappointed if you click that link now - the document has disappeared.

[grahame]

 https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/2108166/bristol-to-birmingham-corridor-strategic-study-final-report-v10.pdf

You'll be disappointed if you click that link now - the document has disappeared.

Yeah ... and it wasn't one I had grabbed for the archive either!  One of the purposes of that is to have documents here even after lost off other sites, but it's a bit of a "process" to scape them all, and prone to wrong-side errors.

A couple I have just scraped from Gloucestershire - NOT the one you want, though.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/glrx1.pdf
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/glrx2.pdf

And from Oxfordshire:
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/Oxfordshire-Rail-Corridor-Study-.pdf

[ChrisB]

 https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/2108166/bristol-to-birmingham-corridor-strategic-study-final-report-v10.pdf

You'll be disappointed if you click that link now - the document has disappeared.

Yeah ... and it wasn't one I had grabbed for the archive either!  One of the purposes of that is to have documents here even after lost off other sites, but it's a bit of a "process" to scape them all, and prone to wrong-side errors.

I have it locally stored - but the max attachment size is 4096Kb - and this pdf file is 22,000+Kb.
Graham - I'll email it to you for loading!

[grahame]

 https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/2108166/bristol-to-birmingham-corridor-strategic-study-final-report-v10.pdf

You'll be disappointed if you click that link now - the document has disappeared.

Yeah ... and it wasn't one I had grabbed for the archive either!  One of the purposes of that is to have documents here even after lost off other sites, but it's a bit of a "process" to scape them all, and prone to wrong-side errors.

I have it locally stored - but the max attachment size is 4096Kb - and this pdf file is 22,000+Kb.
Graham - I'll email it to you for loading!

Thank you - goodness - I hope my email will take it.  If not I will find you an alternative - WANT this one ;-)

[ChrisB]

Well, BTInternet managed to send it….let me know!

[Robin Summerhill]

Well, BTInternet managed to send it….let me know!

I use WeTransfer for large files