West Coast Misery

The West Coast Mainline is to be closed between Milton Keynes and Hemel Hempstead for every weekend until Christmas. This is so they can replace one set of crossovers between the fast lines and slow lines.

It says something about the ill-considered rationalisation of tracks over the past 30 years that they're making no attempt to divert any services over alternative routes; all potential alternate routes (Manchester-St Pancras via the Hope Valley line and the Midland Main Line, or Birmingham-Banbury-High Wycombe-Marylebone) have had to be ruled out because those lines are already at capacity with existing services. Instead passengers must endure the misery of being bussed round the blockade, and continue their journeys to London in commuter trains.

This is a problem that predates privatisation. Penny-pinching economies in the 80s and 90s removed extra tracks and loops, to give a network that could cope with the current timetabled traffic, and no more. So when traffic increases, or worse still, another line is blocked, the lines can't take the strain.

I can't believe the fragmentation involved with privatisation has helped, though. I suspect there's a bit of HSE-related sillyness that's made it necessary to close all four tracks in the first place.