Trivia: Furthest away points that act upon each other for timetabling

[Egg Centric]

Not very easy for me to explain what I mean but I'll have a go - what are the furthest away (spatially, temporally, or both) timetabling constraints that have an effect on each other that you're aware?

To illustrate what I mean - and this is an example I've just made up and I'm aware the times and other things don't make sense - imagine that a Thameslink service was scheduled to leave Brighton at 10:01 rather than 10:00 because it had to switch to the slows at Luton at 11:01 rather than 11:00 as a freight service from Radlett had to pass through at Luton at 10:59 since it couldn't depart Radlett any sooner as it had a 6 hour loading and couldn't get there sooner than 4:59 due to something something in Motherwell at 21:00 the previous day.

In this particular really awful example, which I probably shouldn't have given, something in the working timetable is having an effect on the working timetable 13 hours and a few hundred miles away.

What are the "best" real life examples of this? If my question is unclear I can go and find an actual one but I was typing on my phone.

 

[CarrotPie]

I expect one could make the argument that everything in the timetable is inter-dependent, though that kind of defeats the question.

 

[Ianigsy]

A couple of thoughts- the single track section past Long Rock depot affects everything arriving and departing from Penzance and the positions of passing loops between Inverness and Aviemore will determine timings for the Caledonian Sleeper and Highland Chieftain in particular, both of which have to fit into London suburban railways.

 

[SargeNpton]

Any station that has a direct train to/from Birmingham New Street. So you are looking at places as far afield as Penzance and Edinburgh.

 

[The Planner]

Any station that has a direct train to/from Birmingham New Street. So you are looking at places as far afield as Penzance and Edinburgh.

Yes and no, you normally don't end up flexing over a large geographical scope as XC will just drop back a path.

Not very easy for me to explain what I mean but I'll have a go - what are the furthest away (spatially, temporally, or both) timetabling constraints that have an effect on each other that you're aware?

To illustrate what I mean - and this is an example I've just made up and I'm aware the times and other things don't make sense - imagine that a Thameslink service was scheduled to leave Brighton at 10:01 rather than 10:00 because it had to switch to the slows at Luton at 11:01 rather than 11:00 as a freight service from Radlett had to pass through at Luton at 10:59 since it couldn't depart Radlett any sooner as it had a 6 hour loading and couldn't get there sooner than 4:59 due to something something in Motherwell at 21:00 the previous day.

In this particular really awful example, which I probably shouldn't have given, something in the working timetable is having an effect on the working timetable 13 hours and a few hundred miles away.

What are the "best" real life examples of this? If my question is unclear I can go and find an actual one but I was typing on my phone.

The Carstairs blockade caused problems at London Gateway with freight.

A couple of thoughts- the single track section past Long Rock depot affects everything arriving and departing from Penzance and the positions of passing loops between Inverness and Aviemore will determine timings for the Caledonian Sleeper and Highland Chieftain in particular, both of which have to fit into London suburban railways.

Sleeper has plenty of give in it. It needs to hit its slots at Rugby, but its not normally horrendous.

 

[Chris Hamilton]

I was shown the breakdown of allocated delay minutes for an all day power failure in Motherwell a few years back. A whole bunch of delays minutes were claimed by GWR, as delayed XC trains through the area were causing cascading conflicts on single line sections at the Tamar crossing and Largin Viaduct, as well as through pinch points such as Westerleigh Junction to Temple Meads.

While not timetabled that way, it shows that almost any two points on the network can affect each other.

 

[sjm77]

As has been mentioned the Highland Chieftan has to be planned around passing loops on the Highland Mainline but also it has to fot through the 2 track bottleneck at Welwyn.