Plans for UK’s most operationally challenging railway junction north of East Croydon station

[editor]

Now here's a hefty project:

See video here:

Unblocking the Croydon bottleneck – The Croydon Area Remodelling Scheme - Network Rail

We're proposing to unblock the bottleneck to provide more frequent, more reliable services across the Brighton Main Line and its branches.

www.networkrail.co.uk

Network Rail is asking passengers and the community to help shape its proposals to remove the UK’s most operationally challenging railway junction as a public consultation on the scheme enters its final month.

The flat railway junctions, located to the north of East Croydon station, regularly cause delays to the 1,700 trains that pass through the area each weekday as trains often need to stop to allow others to pass in front of them. This creates a bottleneck that amplifies delays on the Brighton Main Line, its branches and the wider network.

Network Rail is proposing to replace the flat junctions with new viaducts, bridges and dive-unders to separate the tracks, creating clear routes for trains and removing the current need for trains t

UK’s most operationally challenging railway junction to be unblocked as part of Brighton Main Line proposals

Network Rail is asking passengers and the community to help shape its proposals to remove the UK’s most operationally challenging railway junction as a public consultation on the scheme enters its final month.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

More: https://carsconsultation.com/wp-con...-Croydon-Phase-2-Consultation-Booklet-web.pdf

*I'll merge the related threads once I can think of an all inclusive title!

 

[cupid_stunt]

Wow, that's some project!

 

[Dogsauce]

Delivery by 2033 if all goes according to plan. The timescale for stuff like this is bewildering, but a big job.

 

[TopCat]

It's a lot of money and disruption for a few minutes off a journey. It currently takes as little as 12 mins from Victoria to E Croydon.
Not against the proposals but having grown up in Croydon I'm suspicious.

 

[Dogsauce]

That’s a few minutes off each of the 1,700 trains passing through each weekday. Multiply by number of passengers on those trains and that’s a lot of minutes people are getting back. Say conservatively there’s 100 people on each train, two minutes saved would be 0.65 years of life saved every weekday.

 

[davesgcr]

Lots of hidden restraints in the present layout which the public do not see - the worst being a conflict with up trains bound for London Bridge getting in the way of down trains from Victoria.

An extra pair of platforms would be invaluable in easing the flow .

Seasoned operators have been mulling over this layout for a good 10 years , so planning is great , but I fear for the delivery of it in terms of project management , compared to how BR remodelled it last time in the early 1980's (which was pretty painless , but that was in a different century of course)