That's right. The layout at Whitmore is DS US DF UF, where Up is towards London.
The alternative says that, but it would make more sense to allow trains already on the Fast Lines from Stafford to be able to stay on the fast lines and merge with the HS2 traffic at a flat junction. But you would still need a crossover on the Stafford line south of Whitmore to allow some trains on the fasts to move over onto the slows to get out of the way of the HS2 traffic.
The mayors need to keep the immediate costs to an absolute minimum to get any hope of getting this built.
Agree. But it would be possible to add grade separation later at minimal cost, by allowing HS2 northbound to merge onto the Down Slow, as shown here:
View attachment 154835
I'd build a flat junction off the fasts (solid blue line), with passive provision for HS2 to continue north with grade separation at a later date.
When necessary (not in the first phase), I'd build a viaduct to take northbound HS2 trains over all four lines to merge onto the Down Slow just before Baldwin's Gate village (dotted blue line).
This layout would:
- minimise disruption to the WCML, keeping all tracks where they are today
- Put 110mph HS2 trains on the slows to Crewe, allowing 125mph Pendolinos from Birmingham to overtake them around the curves in Baldwin's Gate
- Reduce curvatures for northbound and southbound HS2 traffic
- Exploit the local topography to lift the HS2 chord over the WCML on a single bridge, with a short viaduct.
You'd need a double staircase crossover in the vicinity of Stableford to allow fast trains from Stafford to move across onto the slows, to get out of the way of the main HS2 traffic, and a (single?) staircase in the vicinity of Madeley, to allow HS2 trains and trains from Wolverhampton to get onto the fasts.