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After many a false dawn over the years, preliminary work has now started on the Banbury resignalling project which will mean the closure of Banbury North and South signalboxes (control transferred to the West Midlands Signalling Centre), replacement of the many semaphore signals with modern colour light signalling (presumably based on axle counters) and a modified track layout that, AIUI, includes removal of the bay platform and widening of the current platform 3 to create a new through platform along the formation of the current 'Up Goods Loop'.  Time to get down there quick if you want to record the absolute block signalling still in operation at this busy main line location!

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/infrastructure/single-view/view/siemens-starts-work-on-banbury-resignalling.html (http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/infrastructure/single-view/view/siemens-starts-work-on-banbury-resignalling.html)

First closures over the Mayday bank holiday I understand.

Yes, platform 4 will become a full length up platform! A number of the stabling lines are going too, to preserve the up goods loop, and hence why Chiltern want to develop a new depot at Banbury, south of the south signal box.

That all makes sense in providing a nice flexible layout.  Hopefully bi-directional signalling will be provided to all platforms and Platform 1 will also be modified to increase the line speed as the current 15mph limit is quite restrictive.  If anyone has any access to maps and plans then please post them here as I've been unable to source any as yet.

I'm hoping to set up a meeting with an NR LNWR manager (who are in Birmingham Mailbox I believe) sometime soon, and those are something I'm going to try for, certainly

No, it's not - for two reasons.

1. The 20012011 calendar on the desk - unless NR do have a time machine that works forwards (we all known they have one that goes the other way).
2. Because it's nothing like the right layout - in fact, it's the Crewe and Stockport line (Cheadle Hulme lower right)!

It's actually 2011.  ;) :D ;D

Oops. Must have been looking through the wrong end of my own time machine. Obviously I wasn't suggesting that the time machine NR don't have has that kind of range.

No it isn't apparently - only the part of the island at the north end (beyond the staircase/witing enclosure will become a platform - through, yes, but not full length, just 5 cars.

 through, yes, but not full length, just 5 cars.

Why

Graham has just posted in another thread that by 2045 there will be double or more the number of passengers.

So why spoil the ship for hapeth of tar! It's something we seem very good at in this country.

No money to build the island out behind the waiting area/staircase, which if you know the station, their boundary walls are actually the edge of the island

Yes, does seem a slightly short-sighted decision, but passive provision is being made to extend it as and when needed - which may well be sooner rather than later.  More details of the new layout at the station here:

http://www.townend.me/files/banbury.pdf (http://www.townend.me/files/banbury.pdf)

And details of the new depot here:

http://npa.cherwell.gov.uk/AnitePublicDocs/08154090.pdf (http://npa.cherwell.gov.uk/AnitePublicDocs/08154090.pdf)

As can be seen from the map, the South Box will get demolished shortly after closing next year, to allow for the current 15mph down loop platform to increase to 30mph.  The newly built platform has 25mph access.  All platforms are bi-directional, crossover speeds are increased from 15mph to mostly 40mph and the access to the up freight loop raises to 50mph meaning freights will get out of the way much quicker than they currently do.

These are most welcome improvements, but overall though, I'm a little disappointed a 'proper' job hasn't been made of the blank canvas created by closure of the two boxes as a few corners have been cut.  The new platform being only 5-car length isn't great and it looks from the diagram that access to and from the depot isn't particularly flexible requiring shunt moves to access all platforms except platform 1.

This is correct - moves from other platforms/the south will need a shunt move. They'll regret that.

.....and as I have said in discussions before about depot layouts, they will come to regret a single exit point.... ::) :P

Possibly both at the same time too....!

Yes - it would make economic long term sense to invest for traveller numbers in 30 years time. However the rail industry and governments do not have all the cash resources as well as staff resources to look that far ahead for action now. 30 year ahead problems are therefore very low on the priority ratings to be built into today's projects when many other current needs cannot be met.

Passive provision is at least a start

The Didcot to Banbury map at opentraintimes has been altered to reflect the new track and signals at Banbury.  Nothing currently showing on them as there's no trains yet of course.  The map has also been extended north as far as just before Leamington Spa, and the line from Oxford to Oxford Parkway is shown ready commencement of trains in December.

http://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/oxford

In connection with the work, lots of additional freights through Taplow. Mostly container trains.

The new diagram linked to above shows mo direct access from the south to Banbury depot without a shunt, as I discussed a few months ago

Good to see the new signalling up and running this morning as planned.  Less good to see an axle counter failure at Kings Sutton around lunchtime causing delays of up to an hour.  Normal working resumed at 15:24 so hopefully won't cause too much hassle in the peaks.

On time & within budget no less!

Trains running up to 15 late as at the time of this post...

Yes, though noticeable how the lack of passing places on the Chiltern Line south of Bicester is causing hassles with on time stoppers in front of delayed fast trains from Marylebone.  The loop at South Ruislip is being used to get the fasts past, but other than that the next realistic* option is right down the line at Bicester.  Reinstatement of a through bi-directional loop at Beaconsfield would be so useful on such occasions.

* Signalling at Princes Risborough does allow for a down train to be overtaken, but it's quite a time consuming process due to the linespeeds involved.

Was working at Banbury North Signalbox today and en route from Oxford saw the queue of up trains between Anyho Jnc and Banbury around Kings Sutton. My goodness, signalling equipment is heavy! But he-ho all for a good cause. Beautiful 'box though.

For clarity, the box is shut - they are running visits in the few weeks before that too is demolished.

If you're volunteering there on the 27th, I'll see you there (as a visitor)

Actually, it's delayed stoppers affecting on-time fasts in the evening peak that causes problems.

In the morning, any delayed fasts on the up at Risborough passing stoppers is very easy.

Well, actually, it's both isn't it.  A late stopper will delay an on time fast, and (as happened quite a lot yesterday) a late fast that departs after an on time stopper will then incur significant further delay when it catches the stopper up. 

All part of the problem of running an intense skip-stop timetable on a two track railway without enough passing points.

I noted several stoppers/semi-fasts recessed in the South Ruislip platform yesterday, to allow fasts to pass as best they could but the benefits were limited as the stopper then got in the way of later fast trains that had caught them up further along the line.

A bi-directional loop at Beaconsfield, or even better Gerrards Cross (but that would be more expensive) would be very useful.

GCX is bidirectional through the station, but in the peak, it would delay incoming services, so doesn't tend to get used as compounding the delays results

Yes that's not useful in the majority of cases, nor is the similar situation at High Wycombe in the up direction.

That section is used in the timetable to allow fast trains to pass slows in the up direction

Very interesting.  It looks as if the signalling boundaries are shown, and I guess OL is "Oxford to Leamington" under WMCC control, but is "NA" on the Bicester to Aynho section right - it doesn't seem obvious so is it just a placeholder?

Do the signals that aren't showing either red or green (such as 7122 Banbury P4 up direction) signify a limitation in the data feed?

Paul

That platform/siding is decommissioned. There is still (disconnected) track in the platform, waiting to be lifted.

More interesting is 7120 - its possible that the freight loop is not yet commissioned, and 9128- the bi-directional southbound signal off the down through iine - I'll see if that's been replaced tomorrow morning. I didn't look this morning..

Yet trains are using P4 - as I write 1H44 is sitting there due to depart at 1244?   Does that mean there is another signal that isn't shown on the diagram?

Paul

The new platform 4 is now at the other end of the island - the north end, protected by signal 9135 northbound. Interestingly, there is currently 1H43 sitting in the south end loop behind '1244' in the platform! Something slightly amiss there!

7122 protects the exit from the through line that now holds the built-out new platform 4 onto the up main line.

9128 signal has been replaced and commissioned as has 9135 and 7122.  Not sure about 7120.  Perhaps there is no data feed for the blank signals, or it just hasn't been added yet.  The '1244' you see would be a signaller reminder of the time of departure of the train in the platform.

The black boxes are not geographically accurate as I understand it.  There is however a separate one for each direction for each platform, and having watched it for a few cycles of the timetable the southbound Chiltern stopping service always appears in the right hand box next to 7122, with its departure time in the other box to its left.  I'm fairly sure the train will however be physically alongside P4 during its period between arrival and departure?  Next one at 1300, 1U27, appeared in the LH box on arrival and then became 1H46 in the right hand box.   

(This happened while I was editing this post, I guess the sequence will show again in another hour.)

Likewise in the down direction, the box for 7129, is not drawn alongside the platform where a train would be standing.

Paul

ok, understood.

7122 protects the platform 4 through line out onto the UP mainline, not sure why it is white though. Ditto 7120 which protects the freight UP loop onto the UP mainline, again, why it's white?

It's not always the case with those maps, but they are pretty accurate for the Banbury area.  The only mistake is showing a full length platform 4, as it is only half the length of platform 3 and located at the northern end.  The starting signal (OL7122) is actually located alongside OL7120 and OL3124 so is some way from the end of the platform - something drivers are not particularly happy about and are pressing for an 'OFF' indicator so they don't misread or read across their signal.  So, yes, they would be located alongside the platform.

In the down direction, OL7129 is actually located where it shows on the map.  There is a banner repeater for it at the northern end of platform 1, near the North Box.  This is to allow a freight train to be put recessed there if necessary and the Down Goods Loop towards OL7143 is fully occupied.

As for blank signals, perhaps 'poggs' can enlighten us, but I suspect that the data feed is missing, or incorrectly interpreted. There are other black signals in the area that was resignalled.


Having thought about what you said, I think you'll find Gerrards Cross is only bi-directional in the up direction, so outgoing trains would be delayed when it's used and there's no way of one train passing another in the down direction - so that is only possible at South Ruislip, Princes Risborough (slow linespeeds) and Bicester North (blocks the up line).  For me, that's not enough.

High Wycombe in the up direction does indeed have the odd timetabled pass move, but only during quiet times of the day as there's nearly always a down train on the horizon that would get clobbered, especially when it comes to a delay recovery scenario.  That's not so much of a problem though as you have the passing point just down the line at Princes Risborough.

Also, there really could do with being a couple more signals between Haddenham and Bicester too as that can also hold things up a little.

Yes - perhaps 'not geographically accurate' was a poor choice of words.   Problem is presumably because the author is using a standardised set of building blocks for his drawings, and the minimum length he uses for a bidirectional platform is presumably that of the two 'black boxes'?   So it is hard to see how he could draw it more logically, except perhaps by increasing the the whole of P1, 2 and 3 as well, so that P4 can be shown at one end of P3;  IYSWIM...

Paul

Not even half-length - just 5 coaches long. Not sure how long platform 2 is (12 I think, but maybe 13)

133 metres against 300 metres.  So, just under half, or 133/300ths if you want to be precise...

Press release here:  http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/gbp-76m-signal-and-track-upgrade-completed-on-time-as-network-rail-reopens-railway-between-banbury-bicester-and-leamington

Not sure where you got those figures from, but it certainly seems shorter than 44.333% of the adjoining platform. It only runs from the north end of the island as far as the enclosed waiting area glass wall on the island...looks just over a third of the full length

44.333% is only 10% more than a third at 33.333%, so would 44.333% reasonably fall into the description of 'just over a third'?  ;) ;D

What may affect the rough estimate is that the platform building isn't midway along the island, it is offset towards the London end, and a quick check with Google Earth satellite view suggests the dimensions IndustryInsider posted are correct to within a few metres.  The old bay at the south end was only about 85 metres long.

Paul

I got the lengths from the official Network Rail signalling alterations notice ('yellow peril') so I'd expect them to be pretty accurate.

All signals at Banbury are now reporting whether 'on' or 'off' on opentraintimes with the exception of Platform 4 in the up direction (OL7122).