Large stations - slow speeds. Where fastest?

[Bayum]

Many of the larger stations have slow speeds on departure. Why? Is this due to the nature of points and trains traversing these points to set them in the right path?

Which large mainline station has the fastest speed on departure?

 

[andythebrave]

Peterborough in the up direction (?) effectively unrestricted.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Which large mainline station has the fastest speed on departure?

How should we define "large mainline station" here?
The 21 Category A stations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:DfT_Category_A_stations could be a good start but I feel like Fenchurch Street doesn't quite fit there.

 

[zwk500]

Largely due to the layout of points and signals - the need to have lots of different crossovers means it all needs to be crammed in.

The second question depends on what counts as a large mainline station and what you count as the fastest speed - are you looking at individual platforms, or the general speed, or the slowest route only? And also, how quickly does it step up?

For instance, Victoria eastern is 20mph for the straight routes and 15mph for the crossovers but half a mile from the buffers it steps up to 40mph.
Peterborough on the Up Fast is 105mph but the Up Slows are 25mph.

 

[Bayum]

How should we define "large mainline station" here?
The 21 Category A stations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:DfT_Category_A_stations could be a good start but I feel like Fenchurch Street doesn't quite fit there.

Leeds, Birmingham New Street, Kings Cross etc

 

[D6130]

Kings Cross seems to have considerably faster departure speeds since the recent remodelling.

 

[zwk500]

Kings Cross seems to have considerably faster departure speeds since the recent remodelling.

That was indeed a significant part of the upgrade

Leeds, Birmingham New Street, Kings Cross etc

But are we going by platforms, usage, connections, NR managed or what?

It would also help if you could specify - are we looking for the single fastest departure route, in one direction, or are looking the highest minimum speed of any potential departure route?

FWIW B'ham New St is 10mph all lines until the tunnels. KGX is 25mph on departure, rising to 40-55mph depending on line at the tunnels. Leeds is 25mph all lines.

 

[Peter0124]

How should we define "large mainline station" here?
The 21 Category A stations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:DfT_Category_A_stations could be a good start but I feel like Fenchurch Street doesn't quite fit there.

Why is Edinburgh and Glasgow Central not there?

 

[Trainguy34]

Why is Edinburgh and Glasgow Central not there?

I think Scotland have a separate system

 

[Railsigns]

Higher speeds would reduce capacity.

 

[Some guy]

Preston is only 30 mph which if higher may have broke the record for the fastest train from London to Glasgow

 

[Mojo]

Why is Edinburgh and Glasgow Central not there?

As per the header at the top of the page; this is a list of stations categorised by the DfT. Most aspects of the railways in Scotland are under the control of Transport Scotland rather than then DfT.

 

[Welly]

Way back in the early 1990s, the centre platforms at Paddington must have had the fewest points to navigate as I remember a 125 screaming out of Platform 8 at a really fast clip!

 

[snowball]

I was always under the impression that exit from Paddington was fast compared with other large stations.

 

[zwk500]

I was always under the impression that exit from Paddington was fast compared with other large stations.

Depends which platform you're going from. P1-3 are 30mph but rising to 40mph immediately at the end of the ramp, 5-9 are 40mph from the blocks. 10-14 are 25mph, rising to 40mph at 1/4 mile.
40mph is the fastest off the blocks I've seen so far but I've not done a comprehensive check.

 

[68000]

As per the header at the top of the page; this is a list of stations categorised by the DfT. Most aspects of the railways in Scotland are under the control of Transport Scotland rather than then DfT.

Network Rail reports to the DfT and they manage both large stations in Scotland

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

125mph EPS on the Up Fast platform at Rugby is impressive.
What will 80x manage? PS is 100mph.
Rugby is a "large mainline station" although it could get by these days with something a lot simpler.

 

[driver9000]

Preston is only 30 mph which if higher may have broke the record for the fastest train from London to Glasgow

Preston is 35mph but I remember hearing the recent record run was hobbled by the long standing TSR at Carstairs.

 

[Peter0124]

Preston is 35mph but I remember hearing the recent record run was hobbled by the long ständigt TSR at Carstairs.

Pretty sure I passed Carstairs faster yesterday on a Southbound Glasgow, probably around 90-100mph.

 

[DanNCL]

Northbound from Newcastle P2 is 40mph so possibly a contender for fastest departure from a category A station? I think the increase from 20mph to 40mph is on the platform itself rather than the end ramp.

 

[jfollows]

Pretty sure I passed Carstairs faster yesterday on a Southbound Glasgow, probably around 90-100mph.

Yes, following major engineering work in recent months which removed the restriction which was in place at the time of the speed attempt.

 

[43066]

Worth noting it’s 15mph out of terminal dead end platforms everywhere.

Edited as this is a local instruction at certain locations, not across the board.

 

[M&NEJ]

Preston is 35mph but I remember hearing the recent record run was hobbled by the long standing TSR at Carstairs.

Apologies for going off topic; but does that suggest we could look forward to another attempt on the record, now Carstairs has been remodelled?

 

[coppercapped]

Worth noting it’s 15mph out of terminal dead end platforms everywhere.

Hmm... May I bring the contents of post #15 above to your attention?

 

[swt_passenger]

Pretty sure I passed Carstairs faster yesterday on a Southbound Glasgow, probably around 90-100mph.

You wouldn’t have been through Carstairs station itself at that speed though. The platform loops are much slower, 20 or 40 mph.

 

[edwin_m]

Higher speeds would reduce capacity.

Not necessarily. While a train is passing over a station throat it blocks many other conflicting routes. If it does so more quickly then (assuming the length of the throat is unchanged) it will free those conflicting routes sooner for use by other trains.

Two examples are York and Newcastle, where essentially steam-age layouts were replaced in much simpler form in around 1990. The new layouts took advantage of the greater acceleration of HSTs and 225s compared with A4s, were simpler to maintain and saved some journey time but probably didn't reduce capacity significantly.

 

[hexagon789]

Worth noting it’s 15mph out of terminal dead end platforms everywhere.

Lowestoft has a 60 limit out of Platform 3...

 

[zwk500]

Not necessarily. While a train is passing over a station throat it blocks many other conflicting routes. If it does so more quickly then (assuming the length of the throat is unchanged) it will free those conflicting routes sooner for use by other trains.

Two examples are York and Newcastle, where essentially steam-age layouts were replaced in much simpler form in around 1990. The new layouts took advantage of the greater acceleration of HSTs and 225s compared with A4s, were simpler to maintain and saved some journey time but probably didn't reduce capacity significantly.

In fact, you can increase capacity if you can speed up the conflicting moves.

 

[Snow1964]

Reading, since rebuilding and adding extra platforms on north side and the flyover by the depot, is fairly quick on all 4 main tracks, although lot slower taking the curved spur to Reading West, or the spurs to Wokingham line.

Taunton was much improved during the 1930s rebuilding too, and in recent decades the simplified layout is bit faster still.

 

[zwk500]

Reading, since rebuilding and adding extra platforms on north side and the flyover by the depot, is fairly quick on all 4 main tracks, although lot slower taking the curved spur to Reading West, or the spurs to Wokingham line.

Fastest route through Reading is 95mph on the Up/Down Main, I think.

Taunton was much improved during the 1930s rebuilding too, and in recent decades the simplified layout is bit faster still.

I would not call Taunton large in the context of what this thread is really asking for. It's very similar size and significance to Stevenage, which has 125mph through the platforms.