London freight
With ever more frequent passenger trains, is there a danger of freight paths being squeezed out of the timetable? PAUL SHANNON studies the freight usage of busy suburban lines in and around London
With ever more frequent passenger trains, how is freight competing on the busy suburban lines in and around London?
Lord Adonis’s suggestion that daytime freight paths should be surrendered in favour of passenger services ( RAIL 841) highlighted the very real issue of capacity constraints on the busiest stretches of the UK rail network.
On the main line, the problem is exacerbated by the speed differential between express passenger and freight trains. In urban and suburban areas speed is usually less of an issue, but service frequency often limits freight paths - especially where there are flat junctions and conflicting movements.
The accompanying table (right) gives an idea of the increase in suburban passenger frequencies around London over the past three decades.
Essentially, two routes carry most rail freight between terminals on the east side of London and locations to the north, west and south of the capital.
One of those routes is the North London Line (NLL), which runs from Stratford to Camden Junction and then continues either to the West Coast Main Line via Primrose Hill or to Willesden Junction via Gospel Oak.
On a typical weekday, between 1000 and 1600 around six trains use part or all of the Stratford-Camden Junction route in each direction. These are mainly intermodal trains to and from Felixstowe and empty aggregate trains returning to Acton from places such as Harlow and Dagenham.
In theory, the NLL could take a lot more freight. The signalling allows freight paths alternating with the ten-minute interval passenger trains, and Network Rail has provided Up and Down freight loops between Westbourne Road Junction (near Highbury & Islington) and Camden East Junction to give added flexibility.
In reality, however, it’s not so simple. Eastbound freight from Primrose Hill conflicts at Camden Road with westbound trains via Gospel Oak. And if a freight train has been standing before Camden Road awaiting a path, it can take several minutes for it to clear the section. The same issue applies to any eastbound freight trains using the connection from Camden Road to the East Coast Main Line (ECML), such as the daily train of empty rail carriers from France to Scunthorpe.
Further limitations occur where the NLL joins other busy routes. At its eastern end, it abuts the four-track Great Eastern Main Line (GEML), where the off-peak passenger service averages around 14 trains an hour each way. This is a particular pinch point for any trains to and from North Thameside, as they have to cross all four tracks between Stratford and Forest Gate Junction.
Most of the available paths beyond Forest
Gate Junction on the GEML then appear to be taken up by Felixstowe intermodals, with little potential for growth in this or other traffic. There has been a ban on rush-hour freight through Stratford station for decades, but even in the middle of the day it can be hard to accommodate freight.
The other route across north London is the Gospel Oak-Barking Line (GOBLIN), which provides a convenient link to and from North Thameside avoiding the Stratford bottleneck, but which has no easy connection with the Great Eastern Main Line. GOBLIN currently carries around four freight trains each way between 1000 and 1600 - a mixture of intermodal, automotive, cement and aggregates. Its off-peak passenger service of four trains an hour leaves plenty more room for freight, and it is a more useful route now that it is (almost) electrified.
Heading north out of the capital, neither the Great Eastern line via Broxbourne nor the East Coast Main Line carries a significant amount of freight. The main limitation on the latter is the two-track section through Welwyn North, although that can be avoided by running via Hertford. The installation of a bridge over the ECML at Hitchin, for Down Cambridge trains, has also removed a long-standing pinch point, albeit mainly for the benefit of passenger trains.
In recent decades, there has been a huge increase in passenger frequency on the Midland Main Line (MML), with roughly 15 trains each way between 1000 and 1600 on weekdays.
Most southbound freight via the MML runs during the night, because an early morning delivery suits customers in the London area. However, there are usually three or four northbound trains during the daytime, plus six or seven reserved ( but unused) paths. The main flows are aggregates and cement, plus occasional oil trains.
The timetable as it stands doesn’t seem to preclude freight growth, and is helped by the flying junction at Silkstream (north of Hendon), where trains on the slow lines can run to and from Dudding Hill Junction without conflict.
It’s also worth mentioning that the MML serves one of the closest rail freight terminals to central London - at Churchyard Sidings, just outside St Pancras. Currently receiving up to three trains a day of aggregates and cement, this is a very valuable asset.
The West Coast Main Line ( WCML) is by far the busiest of the freight arteries heading north from London. This is partly because it is electrified and its loading gauge allows 9ft 6in containers to be carried on standard wagons, but also because it offers the most direct route from London to the West Midlands and northwest England - prime territory for deepsea intermodal traffic.
On a typical weekday between 1000 and 1600, about half a dozen freight trains pass through Watford Junction in each direction - mostly intermodal to and from Felixstowe or London Gateway, but also some cement and aggregate traffic.
Although the WCML passenger service has become more intense, with around 18
The West Coast Main Line is by far the busiest of the freight arteries heading north from London. It offers the most direct route from London to the West Midlands and northwest England - prime territory for deep-sea intermodal traffic.
trains per hour in each direction, there are sufficient paths for current and foreseeable freight needs. The fact that intermodal trains run at 75mph allows them to dovetail well with limited-stop passenger trains. Northbound freights have plenty of space in the sadly under-used Wembley yard to await an onward path, and they then generally have a clear run to Rugby. Likewise southbound trains usually work straight through from Rugby to Wembley or Willesden, where they can wait for a path across London.
One route that looks tempting on paper, but which hasn’t carried any regular through freight since the 1960s, is the Chiltern Main Line via High Wycombe.
This line’s capacity has improved since Network Rail restored double track between Princes Risborough and Aynho Junction, although the passenger service frequency has increased as well. Also, its usefulness for freight is limited by the line’s W7 loading gauge - far too tight for intermodal trains.
As things stand, only the southern end of the Chiltern line carries freight, in the form of industrial and domestic waste to Calvert landfill site in Buckinghamshire.
The main north-south freight route across the capital is the West London Line ( WLL) from Willesden Junction to Clapham Junction. With its various junctions at both ends it can cater for most traffic flows on the north-south axis, although there is no direct connection from the MML.
After several decades of minimal passenger traffic - essentially a rush-hour shuttle between Kensington and Clapham Junction, plus occasional InterCity trains - the WLL regained a regular all-day passenger service in 1994. Today it carries five trains an hour between 1000 and 1600.
As for freight, the WLL carries roughly two southbound and eight northbound trains in the inter-peak period. One reason for the imbalance is that northbound there are several empty aggregate workings returning to Acton, having run loaded to southern destinations during the night. Other daytime flows routed via the WLL include infrastructure traffic from Hoo Junction to Whitemoor, empty rail carriers from France to Scunthorpe, and bottled water from France to Daventry. In theory, there should be a lot more Channel Tunnel traffic.
Given the current passenger timetable, the WLL has plenty more room for freight. And the fact that it is now fully electrified enhances its potential, although currently the only electric-hauled freight booked that way is the weekly GBRf china clay train between Antwerp and Irvine. Were there to be a further increase in passenger traffic, the first impact on freight would be the risk of conflicting movements at Mitre Bridge and Latchmere Junctions.
An alternative north-south route for some trains is the Dudding Hill Line, which runs from a triangular junction north of Cricklewood on the MML to another triangular junction at Kew on the Hounslow loop line. It also has spurs to and from the WCML, the Chiltern line, the NLL and the Great Western Main Line (GWML).
The Dudding Hill Line is freight-only from its north end to Acton Wells Junction, and that stretch includes some of the last manual signal boxes in the London area - Dudding Hill Junction, Neasden Junction and Acton Canal Wharf. It currently carries around four or five trains in each direction between 1000 and 1600. Uniquely among the cross-London corridors, the line has not been electrified as a through route and there are no plans to do so.
The pinch point on the Dudding Hill Line is at Acton Wells Junction, where three routes converge from the north and two diverge to the south. But even there, the off-peak passenger service of four trains an hour in each direction leaves ample paths for freight. A typical weekday has around ten freight movements each way between 1000 and 1600, and that number could comfortably be doubled. Many of the trains use the incline between Acton Wells Junction and the GWML, and can be staged at Acton yard when necessary.
The lightly used freight-only section north of Acton Wells Junction might have the potential to take the pressure off other routes. In theory, a west-to-east train could be sent via Dudding Hill Junction, Cricklewood and Gospel Oak-Barking as an alternative to the NLL. However, at Cricklewood such a train would have to cross all tracks of the MML on the flat, which makes the idea a lot less attractive.
The small yard on the north side of the GWML at Acton fulfils a vital role for the staging, splitting and joining of aggregate trains to and from London and the South East. Much of the activity happens at night, but there are typically six or seven departures and a similar number of arrivals during the interpeak period.
At the west end of the yard, all freight uses the freight-only incline from Acton Wells Junction. At the east end, freight and passenger trains share the same tracks,
At first sight, Clapham Junction looks like a formidable freight bottleneck, with the off-peak passenger timetable amounting to around 50 trains an hour in each direction. However, most freight keeps clear of the busiest passenger lines.
although conflicting movements have been eliminated now that Network Rail has provided a dive-under line for eastbound passenger trains as part of the Crossrail project.
To the west of Acton, passenger frequencies have increased and the four tracks now carry around 18 trains an hour each way between 1000 and 1600. Freight trains typically amount to eight in each direction during that period - mainly aggregates, but also a few other flows such as Bristol-Felixstowe and Southampton-Garston intermodal.
As things stand at the moment, there is no obvious shortage of freight paths. The only significant route conflict occurs when freight trains access the Brentford branch via Southall yard - to do this, they have to cross both Up and Down main lines on the flat.
On the former Southern Region, a series of connections between Latchmere Junction (north of Clapham Junction) and Factory Junction (on the Chatham main line out of Victoria) caters for freight traffic on various different routes. Most of the tracks carry passengers as well as freight, although the curve between Latchmere Junction and Longhedge Junction is effectively freight-only. That curve passes under all 12 tracks that connect Clapham Junction with Victoria and Waterloo.
At first sight, Clapham Junction looks like a formidable freight bottleneck, with the off-peak passenger timetable amounting to around 50 trains an hour in each direction. However, most freight keeps clear of the busiest passenger lines.
Freight trains routed via the Hounslow loop - typically four or five a day each way between the peaks - use the northernmost tracks through Clapham Junction, while those between the West London Line and the Wimbledon and Croydon lines use the station’s southernmost tracks.
Of the various radial routes south of the river, the busiest for freight is the former South Eastern & Chatham main line via Wandsworth Road and Denmark Hill.
The two-track section east of Denmark Hill carries five passenger trains an hour in each direction between 1000 and 1600, which means there are ample gaps for freight. On a typical weekday there are around half a dozen freight movements in each direction in the inter-peak period - mainly aggregates, but also including any Channel Tunnel traffic and the daily Mountfield to Southampton gypsum empties.
The freight throughput via Wandsworth Road should increase thanks to two new flows which have either recently started or are about to start - steel from South Wales to Grain and aviation fuel from Grain to Colnbrook. Paths for these trains seem to have been created without too much difficulty. When the first rake of tank wagons was delivered to Grain for the Colnbrook flow, Freightliner used a ‘very short-term planning’ path which left Wembley at 1026 and incurred only one brief stop for pathing purposes at Dartford Junction.
Overall, at the time of writing, there are sufficient paths for rail freight on established routes in and around London. The trickiest section is the Great Eastern Main Line between Stratford and Forest Gate Junction, where current usage leaves very little slack - and a certain amount of slack is necessary in any timetable to prevent one late-running train from causing delays for the rest of the day.
If Felixstowe traffic continues to grow it will need to make greater use of the non-electrified cross-country route via Ely. Elsewhere, any capacity issues are focused on flat junctions and crossings, rather than on passenger and freight trains sharing the same tracks. Where possible, grade separation such as the new Acton dive-under would be a great help.
Or maybe - in opposition to Lord Adonis’s thinking - the way forward is for any extra passenger trains only to use paths which freight is unlikely to need in the foreseeable future. That would give rail freight the place that some say it deserves.