Hi
You are quite right about the article - I think the double track round the shed is relatively easy to attain from the station end as there is space for two tracks under the bridge (Empress Road??) but that would make foot/car/van access to the shed very difficult. At the North end there is a pinch point at the corner of the shed......but why put two tracks in, as there would have to be only a single track over the MML ?? It would be nice to have an "official" indication of the current plans in detail.
With the MPD unable / unwilling to relocate they will ultimately have to accept some significant curtailment of their freedom of movement to and from the shed - once the tracks are in then the end of uncontrolled movement of vehicles and plant across an open passenger line is inevitable. Expect to see a gated crossing interlocked with the signalling. It will also result in the almost complete, if not total, loss of the space currently used for staff parking.
As for why it is advantageous to extend the double track as for North as possible, I shall try to explain. Yes, it has been determined that the formation will be single track by the time it reaches the new Bridges 328 (over the Midland route) and 329 (Railway Terrace). However there is still a quarter-of-a-mile of formation between there and the current location of the loco shed, and, from an operational point of view, there is a great deal of advantage to be had extending the double track as far to the north of Loughborough Central as is possible - and certainly beyond the current location of the loco shed.
In order to get a single track through the westernmost span of Bridge 332, which it would have to go through to clear the shed, the junction would of necessity be some way to the south of that bridge - barely 200 yards past the current Down Platform Starting signals.
There is very little impediment to the double track extending 100-150 yards north of Bridge 331 over the canal. The quarter-of-a-mile of extra double track between these two possible locations for the junction would make a massive amount of difference to the operational capability of the remodelled Loughborough.
The cost of restoring both sides of Bridge 331 is not a great deal more than restoring only the Down side. There would have to be some remodelling of the layout immediately north of the station, as the Up and Down mains would have to be slewed appreciably to the west (there goes the shed's parking) in order to get them under the western span and past the shed, but I am assured this is achieveable.
The reason for this desire to have the double / single junction as far north as possible ? Well . . .
The line south of Loughborough is, operationally, extremely well equipped, with the ability to handle a considerable number of trains, and the flexibility to permit degraded working to be not too degraded. To the north, however, it is essentially a single track with little or no signalling and, with the best will in the world, this situation is unlikely to change significantly before through services become a possibility. Being brutally realistic - it will take decades before the line to the north can operate with anything approaching the flexibility of that to the south, and longer still before it has comparable capacity.
Having the junction south of the existing shed is tantamount to an open invitation for operational mayhem on any day when more than one or two trains are run as a through service to the north of Loughborough. There is plenty of scope for a train delayed "down the Ruddington branch" to bring Loughborough to a total standstill, and taking some scenarios, for example significant delays during one of the GCR's famously intensive gala timetables, to the extreme, to gridlock the entire line.
The GCR already has an operational pinch point to the south of Rothley, where the current single line to Birstall commences. By necessity it appears they will end up with another, with this one at the single busiest point of the line. To fail now to ensure that everything possible is done to mitigate the risk to services that this future restriction poses may well see generations of railwaymen, yet to be born, banging their heads against the cab wall / handbrake wheel / lever frame / operations desk and cursing their forebears !