The Anonymous Widower

Freight Through Nuneaton

Nuneaton is where freight trains between Felixstowe and the North West and the West of Scotland,  join and leave the West Coast Main Line (WCML).

This Google Map shows the rail lines through Nuneaton station.

Freight Through Nuneaton

Note how the WCML runs diagonally North-West to South-East, though Nuneaton station.

Freight trains from Felixstowe arrive and turn North alongside the WCML before crossing the WCML on a flyover.

Trains can either go straight on to Birmingham and the West Midlands or turn North using the 2012-built single-track Nuneaton North Chord to proceed up the WCML.

This Google Map shows the flyover and the Nuneaton North Chord.

Nuneaton Flyover And North Chord

Trains from the West Midlands to Felixstowe take the flyover in the other direction, but trains from the WCML proceed through Nuneaton station and then turn off to Felixstowe.

This Google Map shows the WCML to the South of Nuneaton station, with the line to Coventry turning off to the West and the line to Felixstowe turning off to the East.

Lines South Of Nuneaton Station

As I came through the area today from North to South, I took these pictures.

I didn’t take any south of the station, as I was sitting on the wrong side to show the line going East.

The Nuneaton North Chord was a one-mile chord and cost £25.6million, which in terms of railway projects isn’t a lot of money.

But it is one of a pattern of short railway lines that have been built or planned in recent years to unlock the potential of the UK’s railways.

• Bicester Chord was opened in 2015 as part of a £130million project to extend Chiltern services to Oxford.
• Hitchin Flyover  was opened in 2013 at a cost of £47million.
• Ipswich Chord was opened in 2014 at a cost of £59million.
• North Doncaster Chord was opened in 2014 vat a cost of £45million.
• Tinsley Chord is being built to enable tram-trains to run between Sheffield and Rotherham at a cost of £2million.
• Todmorden Chord was opened in 2015 at a cost of £9million.

But iit is not all plain sailing, as the saga to create the Ordsall Chord in Manchester shows. Plans show it should be finished in December 2016 at a cost of £95million, but a determined local protester has stuck the development in the Courts with the local Councils, Network Rail, the train companies and the Government on the other side.

I do wonder how many of these short railway lines and chords can and should be built.

March 10, 2016 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Freight, Nuneaton Station, West Coast Main Line