As the new franchise holder is planning a number of new routes from Kings Cross, is there now any chance of more new platforms at K.X. I would have thought when the recent refurb was done there would have been an opportunity to do this, there is/was quite a bit of space betwenn KX & STP stations to all at least a couple of platforms.
There'll be no need for additional platforms, because they won't really be new routes. But in any case there is no longer any room at all between the stations.
The small number of extra arrivals at Kings Cross (only 1 or 2 per hour) will be after the morning peak ends, and there's significant spare platform capacity because by the time these service pattern changes occur (2018 ish?) half the Great Northern trains will have disappeared into the Thameslink tunnels. Most of the additional frequencies at the northern end of the network will turn out to be covered by extensions of current short workings.
Hypothetically (and greatly simplifying the probable solutions) if all the present Newcastle terminators ran to Edinburgh, and York terminators to Newcastle, and some Leeds terminators ran through Leeds, it wouldn't affect Kings Cross at all.
As an even simpler example, a '
new route to Sunderland' just means an early departure from Newcastle is rescheduled off the depot an hour earlier, and does an ECS trip to Sunderland and back in service, then picks up its normal timings. Return in the evening. So its more comparable with Virgins 'new route to Blackpool' in that it has no effect on most of the route.
