Clay Cross tunnel closure 27th May - 11th June 2023 - timetable impact

[2192]

Clay Cross tunnel is having major trackwork being done 27 May to 11th June (BBC local news website for Derby).

Work to start on Derbyshire rail tunnels

The work is taking place between 27 May and 11 June and Network Rail is telling passengers to plan ahead.

www.bbc.co.uk

Work is due to take place in a 183-year-old tunnel, designed by railway pioneer George Stephenson, which Network Rail said will affect services.
Tracks are being updated in both Clay Cross Tunnel and Milford Tunnel on the Midland Main Line in Derbyshire.
The work is due to take place between 27 May and 11 June.
Network Rail told passengers to plan ahead and said there would be a replacement bus service between Derby and Matlock.

Are London -- Sheffield trains going straight up the Erewash Valley route, avoiding Derby?
Are Cross Country Derby - Sheffield trains likewise going via the Erewash?
If so platforms 3 & 4 at Derby are going to be rather busy!
Have revised timetables been published?

 

[jfollows]

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/se...23-05-29/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt may be a good starting point to answer your questions, or https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/se...29/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=passenger&order=wtt which shows all passenger services through Alfreton on 29 May.
Essentially yes in answer to your first two questions.

 

[swt_passenger]

Clay Cross tunnel is having major trackwork being done 27 May to 11th June (BBC local news website for Derby).
Are London -- Sheffield trains going straight up the Erewash Valley route, avoiding Derby?
Are Cross Country Derby - Sheffield trains likewise going via the Erewash?
If so platforms 3 & 4 at Derby are going to be rather busy!
Have revised timetables been published?

Yes to EMR avoiding Derby. As seen on RTT. As shown on EMR website, cross refers to XC:

Amended service via Derby until Sunday 11 June | EMR

www.eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk

Yes to XC being diverted. As seen on RTT. Is shown on the XC monthly engineering work poster, extends 27 May - 11 June. One hour delay on the usual diversionary route.

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So revised timetables are all in online systems, I haven’t found any pdfs yet, but they are there as @Edvid has found.

 

[Edvid]

There are PDF timetables on the linked EMR page as well; just click on the Intercity Route tab on expand it.

 

[2192]

Thanks, everyone.

 

[JD2168]

Will all the EMR Trains on the Sheffield to London service be a 10 car to have more available seats with the service being hourly?

 

[Edvid]

The 'second' London-Sheffield hourly will regress to London-Derby during the closure, so I doubt it.

 

[Llandudno]

Will all the EMR Trains on the Sheffield to London service be a 10 car to have more available seats with the service being hourly?

I think we know the answer to that one…!

 

[Wyrleybart]

Will all the EMR Trains on the Sheffield to London service be a 10 car to have more available seats with the service being hourly?

Do EMR have many 4 car 222s ?
Not sure you can call at Chesterfield with 10 car 22x

 

[londonmidland]

Do EMR have many 4 car 222s ?
Not sure you can call at Chesterfield with 10 car 22x

We don’t have any 4 car 222s anymore. They’ve all been converted to 5 car. Regarding Chesterfield, yes, you can have 10 car call there but not all doors will open there as the platform is not long enough. Selective Door Operation (SDO) is used at stations with short platforms.

 

[Wyrleybart]

We don’t have any 4 car 222s anymore. They’ve all been converted to 5 car. Regarding Chesterfield, yes, you can have 10 car call there but not all doors will open there as the platform is not long enough. Selective Door Operation (SDO) is used at stations with short platforms.

Thanks for clarifying that

 

[rower40]

The XC diversion (reverse at Derby, then via Trent Junction and Erewash Valley, rejoin at Clay Cross Jn) only adds about 20 mins, but to save re-writing the timetables north of Leeds or south of Derby, the voyagers are all dawdling through Doncaster AND Leeds to slot into the next hourly path.

 

[InOban]

AIR the tunnel was closed only a few years ago for major work. I'm surprised that it needs closed again. And I don't suppose that they will take the opportunity to install fixings for future OHLE....

 

[Hairy Bear]

AIR the tunnel was closed only a few years ago for major work. I'm surprised that it needs closed again. And I don't suppose that they will take the opportunity to install fixings for future OHLE....

Not been closed for a long time, so your wrongly remembering.
Bit difficult to install fittings when there relaying rails and working on the tunnel linings.
All in good time.......

 

[43066]

Not been closed for a long time, so your wrongly remembering.
Bit difficult to install fittings when there relaying rails and working on the tunnel linings.
All in good time.......

It seems particularly “wet”, as far as tunnels go. Certainly the worst on the MML.

 

[The Planner]

The XC diversion (reverse at Derby, then via Trent Junction and Erewash Valley, rejoin at Clay Cross Jn) only adds about 20 mins, but to save re-writing the timetables north of Leeds or south of Derby, the voyagers are all dawdling through Doncaster AND Leeds to slot into the next hourly path.

Normal for pretty much any XC block anywhere.You drop back to the next path.

AIR the tunnel was closed only a few years ago for major work. I'm surprised that it needs closed again. And I don't suppose that they will take the opportunity to install fixings for future OHLE....

Where is the money and plan for that come from? There are not just pots of cash, design, resource etc just hanging about to do that.

 

[class 9]

It seems particularly “wet”, as far as tunnels go. Certainly the worst on the MML.

There's been a lot of work on the tunnel roof in recent years, yes it's wet, a lot better than it was 10 years ago.

 

[IrishDave]

Normal for pretty much any XC block anywhere.You drop back to the next path.

Difference is, before the pandemic, most blocks like this only meant dropping back half an hour and having Edinburgh-Reading and Newcastle-Bristol services. Now it means dropping back an hour because the Reading-Newcastle paths just aren't there.

 

[Llandudno]

I think the paths are still there it’s just that XC don’t bother to use them!

 

[Watershed]

I think the paths are still there it’s just that XC don’t bother to use them!

They're not all entirely there, partly because other services (and particularly freight) has encroached. With XC not having used the paths for so long, there's every change they could be told to lump it if they wanted to reinstate all the services - not that this is likely to happen in the foreseeable future.

 

[bib]

For the first week of works at least, it looks like most of the southbound trains maintain their normal timing between Sheffield-Leicester, and keep the approx 2hr Sheffield-London journey time. Whereas the northbound trains are delayed by 10-15mins of pathing time on the erewash valley, I assume they get stuck behind the Northern Nottingham-Leeds service.