R A I LT R AC K - The Railways Archive

Route characteristics
DESCRIPTION The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is the principal rail
route from London to the West of England and South Wales. The route
between Paddington and Didcot is a four-track railway. West of Didcot the
route is primarily two track, though with four tracks between Severn Tunnel
Junction and Cardiff. Linespeed between London and Bristol Parkway and
Chippenham is 125mph; elsewhere it is 75–100mph. The slow lines between
Paddington and Didcot are restricted to 60–100mph.
MAJOR STATIONS
London Paddington The construction stage of Phase 1 of our redevelopment
proposals for this station is due to be completed by mid-1999. This will provide
an airline check-in facility for the Heathrow Express Rail Link, escalator access to
the enlarged London Underground concourse, and a new mezzanine area to
provide a food court and improved retailing facilities. For Phase 2, we are
planning improved station and concourse facilities for Platforms 9–12.
In addition, we are continuing to work towards meeting our customer
requirements in relation to improved ingress and egress for taxis and coaches in
the departures road.
BOTTLENECK ANALYSIS Two current bottlenecks were identified in the
1998 NMS: Paddington–Reading–Basingstoke and Bath–Bristol–Severn Tunnel
Junction. Didcot–Swindon was identified as a potential bottleneck. Until 2001,
we plan that growth will be met through restructuring the timetable. In addition,
we are committing to a programme of infrastructure enhancements, as follows, in
order to accommodate future services.
Paddington–Reading–Basingstok e A key bottleneck is the route section
between Heathrow Airport Junction and Acton. This section is already operating
at the limit of practical capacity (26 trains per hour) in the peak and close to the
limit in a number of off-peak hours. We have identified a p r o g ramme of
enhancements to meet a series of future customer aspira t i o n s .
• Remodelling at Acton by 2002 to accommodate the proposed Heathrow–
St Pancras two-train-per-hour service. This would create capacity for a total of
28 trains per hour.
Route vision
Our vision for the GWML is for a world-class reliable high-capacity route serving
the rapidly growing markets in the M4 corridor and at Heathrow Airport. We
will provide high-quality passenger interchanges while keeping the heritage appeal
of major Brunel Stations. We aspire to a fastest journey time of 1 hour 40
minutes from Paddington to Cardiff.
The route has witnessed strong growth over the last two years. Utilisation
has increased by up to 35% on the main lines between Acton and Airport
Junction in the peak. Route capacity is being fully utilised over some sections as
identified in the bottleneck analysis, and reliability has suffered as a result. Our
main priority is to improve reliability, with improving timetable robustness and
high levels of asset performance being our first goals.
We forecast that passenger demand on existing services will grow by
around 30% over the next ten years. The Franchising Director and our
customers have aspirations to run additional services that cater for this
demand and to venture into new markets such as Heathrow Airport and
London Services Orbital.
• A later enhancement by 2006 of two additional tracks between Airport
Junction and Southall, along with grade-separated junctions, would provide
capacity to a total of 30 trains per hour, accommodating four trains per hour
on the Heathrow–St Pancras service.
• The option, in addition, of providing two extra tracks between West Ealing
and Acton and creating an extended loop between Airport Junction and
Slough by 2006 would give capacity of 34 trains per hour which would
accommodate all customer aspirations on this route throughout the day.
• Adding an extension of the two extra tracks between Southall and West
Ealing by 2010 would provide further capacity to cater for growth in freight
and suburban services, creating a total capacity of 42 trains per hour.
In addition to these enhancements, we have identified a series of alterations
elsewhere on the GWML to utilise the capacity generated by easing this key
bottleneck. These are: extra platforms at London Paddington, Bristol Temple
Meads, Bristol Parkway and Swindon; Reading remodelling phase 2 (including one
extra platform and improved access from the west); Didcot East crossover
doubling; additional looping capacity at Swindon; Westerleigh Junction speed
increase; Filton Junction remodelling; and Severn Tunnel additional signal section.
Bath–Bristol–Se vern Tunnel Junction Analysis of this bottleneck showed
that the following capacity improvements are required: an additional signal section
in the Severn Tunnel; additional platforms at Bristol Temple Meads; and
remodelling at Filton Junction. A possible later enhancement to accommodate
Bristol light rapid transit is to install additional lines and stations from Bristol to
Filton, including remodelling of Dr Days Junction.
Didcot–Swindon Capacity is forecast to limit future growth by 2003. Measures
include increasing looping capacity between Didcot and Swindon and increasing
platform capacity at Swindon Station.
We also expect significant increases in the number of freight trains.
We will optimise and increase route capacity to meet the aspirations of the
Franchising Director and our customers with a programme of route
improvements. Shorter journey times on the GWML are important, to make rail
more competitive with the M4 and so help to reduce the peripherality of South
Wales and the South West. We will optimise the journey time achieved by
existing rolling-stock and prepare to make the most of the potential offered by
new vehicles.
A further goal is to upgrade facilities, the passenger environment, carparking
capacity and interchange opportunities at key stations, while keeping
heritage character.
We will also provide connections to a number of new and developing
freight terminals and enhance route capability to handle freight intermodal traffic.
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