Network Rail West of England Line Study 2020

[BrianW]

Being unsure about 'who' might interchange at Yeovil Jct (origins- destinations), found myself thinking Stourbridge 'People Mover' (maybe a bay at YJ) to Penn Mill (or 'Town'??)esp with eg 'Flywheel power' or battery, so good looking 'experiment'?
Stourbridge population 63,000; Yeovil 45,000.
Stourbrige Jct- Town every 10 mins, 3 min journey.

 

[fgwrich]

Being unsure about 'who' might interchange at Yeovil Jct (origins- destinations), found myself thinking Stourbridge 'People Mover' (maybe a bay at YJ) to Penn Mill (or 'Town'??)esp with eg 'Flywheel power' or battery, so good looking 'experiment'?
Stourbridge population 63,000; Yeovil 45,000.
Stourbrige Jct- Town every 10 mins, 3 min journey.

I believe that has been considered in the past, with Go-Op (The never really getting anywhere rail side of the Co-Op) proposing to run services along there. Nowadays it does receive a handful of services by SWT/SWR, Be-it the Waterloo - Frome - Yeovil or a Waterloo - Yeovil Pen Mill service. I'm not sure the Parry business is still going either.

 

[DerekC]

I think you'll find it's not as difficult as you may think - The A35 runs from Poole, Dorchester, Bridport, Axminster into the A303 at Honition. If anything, it is easier to drive from Weymouth to the West Country (and a more scenic and occasionally quicker route than the A303!). There are a number of Duel Carriageway stretches along the route so road traffic flows quite nicely along there

Scenic it certainly is - one of my favourite routes. Quick it ain't - and the total of dual carriageway between Dorchester and Honiton can't be more than ten miles. Start/stop all the way from the approaches to Bridport through to the Charmouth bypass are the order of the daytime in summer. Such a pity that the Southampton and Dorchester Railway didn't get to build its direct line to Exeter - but now I really am off topic!

 

[fgwrich]

Scenic it certainly is - one of my favourite routes. Quick it ain't - and the total of dual carriageway between Dorchester and Honiton can't be more than ten miles. Start/stop all the way from the approaches to Bridport through to the Charmouth bypass are the order of the daytime in summer. Such a pity that the Southampton and Dorchester Railway didn't get to build its direct line to Exeter - but now I really am off topic!

Fair enough! We sometimes use it from Hampshire as an alternative to the A303 - which of course always blocks up anywhere east of Amesbury and can sometimes tail back as far as Andover. It’s amazing how one long and tedious stretch of single carriageway can cause so many tailbacks. I have to say though when you get a clear run it can be a quick route - even in some of our 1970s buses!

 

[BayPaul]

Fair enough! We sometimes use it from Hampshire as an alternative to the A303 - which of course always blocks up anywhere east of Amesbury and can sometimes tail back as far as Andover. It’s amazing how one long and tedious stretch of single carriageway can cause so many tailbacks. I have to say though when you get a clear run it can be a quick route - even in some of our 1970s buses!

I find the A35 flows pretty well. I used to commute along it every Friday and Monday and it was generally fine. Much worse was the A31 through Ringwood and at that roundabout that they have now hamburgered on the Poole bypass. The Dorchester bypass could cause issues, but it's much better with the improvements they did for the Olympics. Certainly much easier and quicker than the train at the moment.

 

[34006]

If Network Rail acts on this report there will likely be only one improvement scheme funded This is a secondary line.
Will they select a scheme east or west of Yeovil ?

West of Yeovil gives You 1 tph Waterloo to Exeter both ways, and 1 tph Waterloo to Andover both ways.

East of Yeovil helps achieve a Devon metro Exeter to Axminster. Also helps with diverted trains from the GWR main line.

I would go for double tracking from the Tisbury loop to Dinton, but would leave Tisbury station as it is.

What do you think Network Rail will do ?

 

[Meerkat]

If Network Rail acts on this report there will likely be only one improvement scheme funded This is a secondary line.
Will they select a scheme east or west of Yeovil ?

West of Yeovil gives You 1 tph Waterloo to Exeter both ways, and 1 tph Waterloo to Andover both ways.

East of Yeovil helps achieve a Devon metro Exeter to Axminster. Also helps with diverted trains from the GWR main line.

I would go for double tracking from the Tisbury loop to Dinton, but would leave Tisbury station as it is.

What do you think Network Rail will do ?

If it’s NR’s choice I would expect them to pick the one giving more diversionary capacity!!

 

[swt_passenger]

If Network Rail acts on this report there will likely be only one improvement scheme funded This is a secondary line.
Will they select a scheme east or west of Yeovil ?

West of Yeovil gives You 1 tph Waterloo to Exeter both ways, and 1 tph Waterloo to Andover both ways.

East of Yeovil helps achieve a Devon metro Exeter to Axminster. Also helps with diverted trains from the GWR main line.

I would go for double tracking from the Tisbury loop to Dinton, but would leave Tisbury station as it is.

What do you think Network Rail will do ?

Have you got your east and west of Yeovil the wrong way round?

 

[The Ham]

If Network Rail acts on this report there will likely be only one improvement scheme funded This is a secondary line.
Will they select a scheme east or west of Yeovil ?

West of Yeovil gives You 1 tph Waterloo to Exeter both ways, and 1 tph Waterloo to Andover both ways.

East of Yeovil helps achieve a Devon metro Exeter to Axminster. Also helps with diverted trains from the GWR main line.

I would go for double tracking from the Tisbury loop to Dinton, but would leave Tisbury station as it is.

What do you think Network Rail will do ?

As to what Network Rail will do, I wouldn't be surprised if there was consideration to what might be needed in the future behind the proposals.

There's two things to consider, firstly what could the impact of Crossrail 2 on future services could be and the other is electrification.

Crossrail 2 could, given the limits on extra services between Basingstoke and Southampton, mean more services are routed along the WofE line, maybe even serving Southampton and/or Weymouth via Salisbury or Yeovil as well as maybe a 2nd train per hour or every two hours to Exeter.

Whilst Yeovil makes a good intermediate point for a rolling programme of electrification, even with bimodal trains. As such it could be useful to have as much of the route easy of there double tracked before electrification happens.

Given that 1/2 of the energy requirements of the railways are currently diesel then there's likely to need to be a significant amount of electrification over the next 30 years (even with more bimodal, battery and hydrogen trains). As such progress towards a final layout prior to electrification is likely to be an element of the thinking.

 

[Ianno87]

If Network Rail acts on this report there will likely be only one improvement scheme funded This is a secondary line.
Will they select a scheme east or west of Yeovil ?

West of Yeovil gives You 1 tph Waterloo to Exeter both ways, and 1 tph Waterloo to Andover both ways.

East of Yeovil helps achieve a Devon metro Exeter to Axminster. Also helps with diverted trains from the GWR main line.

I would go for double tracking from the Tisbury loop to Dinton, but would leave Tisbury station as it is.

What do you think Network Rail will do ?

It will be up to DfT and other funders what to do. Network Rail, in this study, merely presents the choices available.

 

[davetheguard]

(Exeter to Bournemouth is still an awkward journey)

When viewed from Devon, it certainly feels like a line from/to Dorchester is a missing gap in the network. Exeter to Weymouth is also extremely awkward and slow for the same reason. Things wouldn't be so bad if a) there wasn't the two station set-up in Yeovil, and again in Dorchester (although at least that is walkable and well signed) and b) these two towns were linked by a more frequent service than the present every two hours.

To get from Exeter to Wareham for the Swanage Railway, I've even known National Rail Enquiries give fastest journey times via Reading at certain times of day!!! Needless to say, as a result, I never got to Swanage on that occasion.

 

[yorksrob]

When viewed from Devon, it certainly feels like a line from/to Dorchester is a missing gap in the network. Exeter to Weymouth is also extremely awkward and slow for the same reason. Things wouldn't be so bad if a) there wasn't the two station set-up in Yeovil, and again in Dorchester (although at least that is walkable and well signed) and b) these two towns were linked by a more frequent service than the present every two hours.

To get from Exeter to Wareham for the Swanage Railway, I've even known National Rail Enquiries give fastest journey times via Reading at certain times of day!!! Needless to say, as a result, I never got to Swanage on that occasion.

There's an old alignment for a curve south from Yeovil Junction towards Weymouth. If this were reinstated, it would enable North - South trains to reverse into Yeovil Junction to provide better connections.

 

[JonathanH]

There's an old alignment for a curve south from Yeovil Junction towards Weymouth. If this were reinstated, it would enable North - South trains to reverse into Yeovil Junction to provide better connections.

It would also slow down the service from Weymouth to Bristol by some margin. A bit of a robbing one group (through journeys from Weymouth to Bristol) to satisfy another (connections from Weymouth to East Devon) situation.

It has been talked about from time to time but never happened - wouldn't it be easier to have a connected walkway to a low level station on the Weymouth line? Timing the bus to connect Dorchester to Axminster seems a better option.

It certainly seems a bit difficult to justify the expense of the new infrastructure on a connection that would be fairly lightly used, since it still wouldn't really do much for passengers to Bournemouth / Poole.

 

[Snow1964]

There's an old alignment for a curve south from Yeovil Junction towards Weymouth. If this were reinstated, it would enable North - South trains to reverse into Yeovil Junction to provide better connections.

There is also plenty of land to resite the station few hundred metres nearer London, and could have platforms on the Weymouth line and a reinstated south to west curve.

These days Don’t really need 2 island platforms flanking through tracks (I think one has gone) and space for goods loops on outside. The current station was built for 8 tracks (of which 4 had platform faces)

 

[yorksrob]

It would also slow down the service from Weymouth to Bristol by some margin. A bit of a robbing one group (through journeys from Weymouth to Bristol) to satisfy another (connections from Weymouth to East Devon) situation.

It has been talked about from time to time but never happened - wouldn't it be easier to have a connected walkway to a low level station on the Weymouth line? Timing the bus to connect Dorchester to Axminster seems a better option.

It certainly seems a bit difficult to justify the expense of the new infrastructure on a connection that would be fairly lightly used, since it still wouldn't really do much for passengers to Bournemouth / Poole.

There is also plenty of land to resite the station few hundred metres nearer London, and could have platforms on the Weymouth line and a reinstated south to west curve.

These days Don’t really need 2 island platforms flanking through tracks (I think one has gone) and space for goods loops on outside. The current station was built for 8 tracks (of which 4 had platform faces)

In terms of time, the detour looks rather less than the one taken by trains via Eastbourne or Castleford.

I suppose you could resite Junction station, but you'd have to build a new station and an approach road. With the current station you have a ready built extra platform and waiting room.

 

[randyrippley]

There's an old alignment for a curve south from Yeovil Junction towards Weymouth. If this were reinstated, it would enable North - South trains to reverse into Yeovil Junction to provide better connections.

The embankment was partially built but never completed. It aligns with the Clifton Maybank goods shed spur and probably would be difficult to reach from the current active parts of the station

 

[Grecian 1998]

There are a handful of good connections at Castle Cary which allow Exeter - Weymouth to be done in a little over 2 hours. Not exactly direct, but much faster than the bus and only about 30 minutes slower than driving. Unfortunately the majority of connections are poor, not helped by the fact that neither service through Castle Cary is hourly.

Platforms on the Weymouth line with a good quality walkway does seem like the easiest solution, although the fact that the line can have 3 hourly gaps in the timetable and hasn't been known for reliability in recent years can be off-putting. An hourly service sadly isn't feasible without an infrastructure upgrade unless the halts south of Yeovil were given a Parliamentary service (not that I'm advocating they should, as all of them seem to generate some journeys) and even then the service would have almost no resilience the moment anything goes wrong.

 

[yorksrob]

The embankment was partially built but never completed. It aligns with the Clifton Maybank goods shed spur and probably would be difficult to reach from the current active parts of the station

I don't think it would be an insurmountable issue.

 

[zwk500]

A Yeovil south to west chord has been discussed at various points on these threads:

Network Rail West of England Line Study 2020

Network Rail have published a study about the WoE line, particularly the Salisbury - Exeter section, which can be seen here: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/West-of-England-Study-Continuous-Modular-Strategic-Planning.pdf Whilst it's a long document, the first 9 pages...

www.railforums.co.uk

Connectivity issues between the Hampshire & Dorset coast and Devon & Cornwall

Given how minor a road the A35 is- busy perhaps, but it is narrow, twisty and goes through villages, not round them- there's an implication that the transport corridor is either A: low in demand B: hugely underserved and in need of massive investment to unlock demand or C: goes through a very...

www.railforums.co.uk

To answer some of the points raised:
The chord was completed and installed, but only connected to the goods yard south of the station (It may have had a connection to the southernmost loop platform).
To put it back as was would require a significant rebuild of the heritage center as they have shuttle tracks on the old alignment, and the south island would need to be moved/demolished to allow a junction with NR tracks cutting across the railtour connections. There are several feasible options for how it could be built on either a new or the old alignment.
Ways to improve connectivity between Yeovil Junction and Yeovil Pen Mill are being considered as part of a study into connectivity on the Heart of Wessex Line.

 

[randyrippley]

A Yeovil south to west chord has been discussed at various points on these threads:

Network Rail West of England Line Study 2020

Network Rail have published a study about the WoE line, particularly the Salisbury - Exeter section, which can be seen here: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/West-of-England-Study-Continuous-Modular-Strategic-Planning.pdf Whilst it's a long document, the first 9 pages...

www.railforums.co.uk

Connectivity issues between the Hampshire & Dorset coast and Devon & Cornwall

Given how minor a road the A35 is- busy perhaps, but it is narrow, twisty and goes through villages, not round them- there's an implication that the transport corridor is either A: low in demand B: hugely underserved and in need of massive investment to unlock demand or C: goes through a very...

www.railforums.co.uk

To answer some of the points raised:
The chord was completed and installed, but only connected to the goods yard south of the station (It may have had a connection to the southernmost loop platform).
To put it back as was would require a significant rebuild of the heritage center as they have shuttle tracks on the old alignment, and the south island would need to be moved/demolished to allow a junction with NR tracks cutting across the railtour connections. There are several feasible options for how it could be built on either a new or the old alignment.
Ways to improve connectivity between Yeovil Junction and Yeovil Pen Mill are being considered as part of a study into connectivity on the Heart of Wessex Line.

The north-west curve was built, running to the Clifton Maybank goods shed only, not to the station.
The south-west curve was never completed - the embankment was partly built, no track was laid.

 

[DDB]

There are a handful of good connections at Castle Cary which allow Exeter - Weymouth to be done in a little over 2 hours. Not exactly direct, but much faster than the bus and only about 30 minutes slower than driving. Unfortunately the majority of connections are poor, not helped by the fact that neither service through Castle Cary is hourly.

Platforms on the Weymouth line with a good quality walkway does seem like the easiest solution, although the fact that the line can have 3 hourly gaps in the timetable and hasn't been known for reliability in recent years can be off-putting. An hourly service sadly isn't feasible without an infrastructure upgrade unless the halts south of Yeovil were given a Parliamentary service (not that I'm advocating they should, as all of them seem to generate some journeys) and even then the service would have almost no resilience the moment anything goes wrong.

There was a study commissioned into how to do a clockface hourly timetable on the heart of wessex line and the study thought it was possible. It was a proper professional study as in the invitation to tender for the franchise (before the franchising process was cancelled) it asked for one the options (trains passing at yeovil) to be a priced option in tenders. So it was at least considered plausible my memory is it would have required more units and presumably staff but no infrastructure changes.

 

[zwk500]

There was a study commissioned into how to do a clockface hourly timetable on the heart of wessex line and the study thought it was possible. It was a proper professional study as in the invitation to tender for the franchise (before the franchising process was cancelled) it asked for one the options (trains passing at yeovil) to be a priced option in tenders. So it was at least considered plausible my memory is it would have required more units and presumably staff but no infrastructure changes.

Do you have a link to this study (or reference to it)?

 

[DDB]

Do you have a link to this study (or reference to it)?

No, and it is a source of great frustration to me! Can anyone else help?

It was commissioned by the relevant supporters group but they have changed name/website since and paid for by an "anonymous major Yeovil employer". From memory it looked at 4 options including splitting/joining at Westbury with the Bristol Portsmouth service and various potential crossing points for a self contained service (cut back to Bristol).
The chosen option the DfT asked franchise bidders to cost and say when it could be introduced if not at the start of the franchise was crossing at Yeovil.
The closest I can find to convince myself I really read it is on page 153 of of attachment B
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/great-western-franchise-2013

Which says

HEART OF WESSEX LINE OPTIMISATION PASSENGER SERVICES Description, objective and specification This Priced Option relates to an amendment to the TSR so as to provide strengthened Passenger Services on the “Heart of Wessex line” between Bristol and Weymouth and improved journey opportunities for passengers using Yeovil Pen Mill station. The Promoter of this Priced Option is Wiltshire County Council on behalf of the Heart of Wessex Community Rail Partnership.Price for exercising this Priced Option (in £ base date) Where this Priced Option is called in accordance with its terms, the price for this Priced Option shall be the price set out in Table 7 in Part 3 (Price in respect of the Priced Options) to this Schedule 3 and adjustments to Franchise Payments shall be made accordingly. The calling of this Priced Option by the Secretary of State shall not constitute a Change for the purpose of Schedule 9 (Changes). Timescale for implementing this Priced Option from the date it is called The timescale for the implementation of this Priced Option will be no later than [●]. The effects on the Franchise Agreement will be as follows: (a) (b) The TSR shall be amended to require: (i) (ii) eight additional Passenger Services in both directions so that the Timetable includes an hourly standard pattern timetable service between Westbury and Weymouth between 0715 and 2115; and a Sunday service in accordance with the following specification [to be confirmed]; and the inclusion in Schedule 6.1 (Committed Obligations and Related Provisions) of a new Committed Obligation in Part 1 (List of Committed Obligations) which reads: "Heart of Wessex Line Optimisation Passenger Services [x.1] The Franchisee shall by no later than [the Passenger Change Date in May 2014] commence and thereafter continue to operate the Heart of Wessex Line Optimisation Passenger Services.” Latest date for calling this Priced Option to maintain the price in paragraph 7.2 The latest date on which the Secretary of State may call this Priced Option in order to maintain the price quoted at paragraph 7.2 is [●].

However this isn't the document I was looking for which was more descriptive and contained less leaglise.

 

[Grecian 1998]

Whilst this is going quite off-topic, I really can't see how an hourly service is feasible on the Heart of Wessex with the current infrastructure. There appear to be two options:

1. Cross trains at Dorchester and Yeovil with half the services omitting Chetnole, Yetminster and Thornford. This might be just about possible if everything runs to time (and allowing for the fact that the Maiden Newton - Yeovil signalling system seems to require a short delay for northbound trains at Maiden Newton). However the services using the line have to slot in amongst express services between Bristol - Bath, Westbury - Castle Cary and Dorchester - Weymouth (OK debatable if the last one is an express but they will still get priority), with a particularly awkward manoeuvre onto the Frome cut-off for southbound services. Consequently knock-on delays are extremely common. Trying to run an hourly service this way would probably cause chaos.

2. Cross trains at Maiden Newton and Yeovil. This would add 10 minutes of waiting for every service, and trains are already around 10 minutes slower than 30 years ago despite stopping at the same number of stations (due to the need to give Westbury - Bristol an hourly service and the need to flight services around the expresses mentioned earlier).

Neither of these appear a good option. For now it might be best to try to ensure a minimum 2 hourly service (there are quite a few longer gaps) and see if that can be run reliably.

 

[DDB]

Whilst this is going quite off-topic, I really can't see how an hourly service is feasible on the Heart of Wessex with the current infrastructure. There appear to be two optionsorchester - Weymouth (OK debatable if the last one is an express but they will still get priority), with a particularly awkward manoeuvre onto the Frome cut-off for southbound services. Consequently knock-on delays are extremely common. Trying to run an hourly service this way would probably cause chaos.

If we can't get three trains an hour in each direction on a double track railway between Weymouth and Dorchester we might as well give up! The other bits are harder I grant you.

 

[zwk500]

If we can't get three trains an hour in each direction on a double track railway between Weymouth and Dorchester we might as well give up! The other bits are harder I grant you.

Weymouth to Dorchester isn't your problem, although stopping at Upwey takes out a lot of capacity. It's the distance from Maiden Newton to Yeovil Pen Mill that prevents a regular hourly timetable, as trains can't clear the single line quickly enough to allow an even repeating pattern. 2 The options to for this are drop stops at the halts and boost the linespeed enough to allow it to clear, extend the passing loops to shorten the single track, or build a new passing loop.

 

[randyrippley]

how much of that timing problem Yeovil - Maiden Newton is due to the climb at Evershot? Would using something like an 185 make a difference? Same applies northbound between Weymouth and Dorchester

 

[30907]

Weymouth to Dorchester isn't your problem, although stopping at Upwey takes out a lot of capacity. It's the distance from Maiden Newton to Yeovil Pen Mill that prevents a regular hourly timetable, as trains can't clear the single line quickly enough to allow an even repeating pattern. 2 options to this are drop stops at the halts and boost the linespeed enough to allow it to clear, extend the passing loops to shorten the single track, or build a new passing loop.

Skipping the halts on alternate services almost works; if you also resignal Maiden Newton (ISTR the section to Yeovil is token worked by the traincrew) to allow the fasts to run through non-stop, you gain a bit more, but it is still tight.
A couple of miles of double track north from Dorchester (or south of Pen Mill) would do the trick nicely, but is the expense justified?
You could alternate fasts crossing at Dorchester Jn and slows crossing at MDN, but you then mess up the hourly pattern at Castle Cary and (more seriously) Bristol.

3 trains per 4h would work, with the 4th able to turn back at Castle Cary.

Not that any of this helps Dorchester to Exeter, but it's fun

 

[zwk500]

how much of that timing problem Yeovil - Maiden Newton is due to the climb at Evershot? Would using something like an 185 make a difference? Same applies northbound between Weymouth and Dorchester

It might, although given the linespeed isn't much above 60 I doubt a 185 is going to go significantly better than a 158 (it's about 5 minutes travel time they need to knock off). And Weymouth to Dorchester isn't really the problem.

This is quite some way from the topic, so apologies mods, but there's also the question of where your services go at the north end - to make them useful you have to go through to Bristol, and you run into lots of problems trying to get between Castle Cary and Westbury (the Frome single, Castle Cary platforms, Westbury crossing moves etc).

Skipping the halts on alternate services almost works; if you also resignal Maiden Newton (ISTR the section to Yeovil is token worked by the traincrew) to allow the fasts to run through non-stop, you gain a bit more, but it is still tight.
A couple of miles of double track north from Dorchester (or south of Pen Mill) would do the trick nicely, but is the expense justified?
You could alternate fasts crossing at Dorchester Jn and slows crossing at MDN, but you then mess up the hourly pattern at Castle Cary and (more seriously) Bristol.

3 trains per 4h would work, with the 4th able to turn back at Castle Cary.

Skipping stops has the unfortunate effect of destroying the local connectivity. A line like this isn't busy enough to justify separate fast and slow services, and only skipping half the halts doesn't get the time back. Resignalling maiden Newton doesn't help much as the trains are stopping anyway because it's the only reasonable settlement between Dorchester and Yeovil. A couple of miles double track would work, but for the benefit probably not worth the cost given issues elsewhere.

BTW it does very little for Dorchester to Exeter which is where we started

I know, sorry!

 

[davetheguard]

Weymouth to Dorchester isn't your problem, although stopping at Upwey takes out a lot of capacity. It's the distance from Maiden Newton to Yeovil Pen Mill that prevents a regular hourly timetable, as trains can't clear the single line quickly enough to allow an even repeating pattern. 2 The options to for this are drop stops at the halts and boost the linespeed enough to allow it to clear, extend the passing loops to shorten the single track, or build a new passing loop.

I think it's Video125 who produce a cab ride for the line - it shows the procedure for crossing trains in the loop at Maiden Newton is very slow. The spring points approaching the loop understandably have a very low speed; then the driver has to contact the Yeovil Pen Mill signaller and insert the token in the token instrument in a hut on the platform.

All this takes time, which could be greatly reduced with conventional motorised pointwork and tokenless block working.