MAJOR CAPACITY enhancements in the Doncaster area are set to move to the Strategic Outline Business Case stage following publication of Network Rail’s latest Continuous Modular Strategic Planning study.
Two new platforms at Doncaster station are recommended to accommodate predicted growth in passenger numbers and services (including possible tram-train operation). They are expected to be located west of the existing goods lines, although the study notes it could be possible to build them closer to the station and move the goods lines at higher cost.
At South Yorkshire Junction, a new chord is proposed to allow services towards Sheffield to access the western part of the station independently of the existing West Slow lines.
The Marshgate area was found to be the most consistently congested part of the Doncaster area, and even if High Speed 2 Phase 2b abstracts traffic from the area the Leeds lines are expected to have capacity utilisation of more than 80% and the central lines of more than 100%. NR wants to investigate construction of a new chord to the west of the existing Leeds Slow line, connecting to the avoiding lines which pass over the East Coast main line. This would allow all traffic from the…
