4 ms·

London? London has 13 major railroad stations and they're all dead ends.[1] Crossrail, with expensive tunnels, now provides some east-west through services. [1

London? London has 13 major railroad stations and they're all dead ends.[1] Crossrail, with expensive tunnels, now provides some east-west through services. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Major_railway_stations_of_London_map.svg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Major_railway_stations_...

zimpenfish 1y ago
Pretty sure London Bridge has through trains (Thameslink) and also Blackfriars. e.g. today's 18:24 from Horsham to Peterbrough going through London Bridge at 19:31, Blackfriars at 19:37 and then St Pancras (for a triple!) at 19:46 https://www.thetrainline.com/live/departures/london-blackfriars/L2NhbGxpbmdQYXR0ZXJuL1kzNjEzMy8yMDI1LTA3LTIz https://www.thetrainline.com/live/departures/london-blackfri...
- lpribis 1y ago
  Yeah the only through-running trains through the actual city centre are the Elizabeth line and Thameslink. If you count slightly outside the city centre, you could also consider the West London Line (southern and overground), and the other overground from Croydon to Islington to be throu-running. But they slightly miss the city centre.
- Animats 1y ago
  There's a fan-out at London Bridge to three more stations, but everything dead-ends within 2km or so. You can't continue west or north and get out of London on any of those tracks.
  - lmm 1y ago
    No, trains through London Bridge and Blackfriars continue North via a tunnel through City Thameslink, Farringdon, St Pancras and join the Midland Main Line or East Coast Mainline.
  - zimpenfish 1y ago
    > You can't continue west or north and get out of London on any of those tracks. I literally posted a train going through London Bridge and north out of London!
desas 1y ago
> Terminating a train and turning it around takes a lot of space, space that is usually unavailable in a city center. This doesn't happen in London in my experience. Trains don't turn around, instead every train is double-ended. The driver gets out of the cab at the terminus, walks to the other end of the train and gets in the other cab. They can do it faster than the passengers disembark.
- frosted-flakes 1y ago
  That's what turning around a train means. The point is that a train at a terminal station is "occupying" a disproportionately long section of track, and as a result you need a multi-tracking and a ridiculous number of platforms to allow storage of trains to handle enough trains... while a through-running station can achieve the same capacity with just two tracks and 2-4 platforms.
  - schoen 1y ago
    Huh, I never thought of that as the reason for the small number of long-distance platforms in, for example, Berlin Hauptbahnhof (all through-running) compared to some other big-city stations that are terminal.
- Animats 1y ago
  There are several solutions to turning around at a terminal. Sometimes there's a turnaround loop. Grand Central has two, one on each level. Older systems would detach the engine, rotate it on a turntable, and reattach it at the other end of the train. Double-ended trains are far more common today, since control from either end was solved long ago.

zimpenfish 1y ago

Pretty sure London Bridge has through trains (Thameslink) and also Blackfriars. e.g. today's 18:24 from Horsham to Peterbrough going through London Bridge at 19:31, Blackfriars at 19:37 and then St Pancras (for a triple!) at 19:46 https://www.thetrainline.com/live/departures/london-blackfriars/L2NhbGxpbmdQYXR0ZXJuL1kzNjEzMy8yMDI1LTA3LTIz https://www.thetrainline.com/live/departures/london-blackfri...

lpribis 1y ago
Yeah the only through-running trains through the actual city centre are the Elizabeth line and Thameslink. If you count slightly outside the city centre, you could also consider the West London Line (southern and overground), and the other overground from Croydon to Islington to be throu-running. But they slightly miss the city centre.
Animats 1y ago
There's a fan-out at London Bridge to three more stations, but everything dead-ends within 2km or so. You can't continue west or north and get out of London on any of those tracks.
- lmm 1y ago
  No, trains through London Bridge and Blackfriars continue North via a tunnel through City Thameslink, Farringdon, St Pancras and join the Midland Main Line or East Coast Mainline.
- zimpenfish 1y ago
  > You can't continue west or north and get out of London on any of those tracks. I literally posted a train going through London Bridge and north out of London!

desas 1y ago

> Terminating a train and turning it around takes a lot of space, space that is usually unavailable in a city center. This doesn't happen in London in my experience. Trains don't turn around, instead every train is double-ended. The driver gets out of the cab at the terminus, walks to the other end of the train and gets in the other cab. They can do it faster than the passengers disembark.

frosted-flakes 1y ago
That's what turning around a train means. The point is that a train at a terminal station is "occupying" a disproportionately long section of track, and as a result you need a multi-tracking and a ridiculous number of platforms to allow storage of trains to handle enough trains... while a through-running station can achieve the same capacity with just two tracks and 2-4 platforms.
- schoen 1y ago
  Huh, I never thought of that as the reason for the small number of long-distance platforms in, for example, Berlin Hauptbahnhof (all through-running) compared to some other big-city stations that are terminal.
Animats 1y ago
There are several solutions to turning around at a terminal. Sometimes there's a turnaround loop. Grand Central has two, one on each level. Older systems would detach the engine, rotate it on a turntable, and reattach it at the other end of the train. Double-ended trains are far more common today, since control from either end was solved long ago.