51-588: The Windermere branch line , also called the Lakes line , is a branch railway line which runs from Oxenholme on the West Coast Main Line to Windermere via Kendal in the county of Cumbria , North West England . The line has a loading gauge of W6. The 10 mile (16 km) long line, which opened on 20 April 1847, was originally built as the Kendal and Windermere Railway and at its southern end connected into
102-480: A double-track main line , with through links to destinations including Morecambe Euston Road , Preston , Manchester Exchange and London Euston , it was reduced to a single line branch in May 1973 when the West Coast Main Line (which it joins at Oxenholme) was re-signalled & electrified. Freight traffic to the last active depot at Kendal had previously ceased in 1972. There are no passing loops or sidings on
153-510: A common sight along railroads in industrial and rural cities alike. As automobile and roadway technology improved throughout the early and mid-20th century, most low volume industry spurs were abandoned in favor of the greater flexibility and economic savings of trucking. Today, railroads remain the most economical way to ship large quantities of material, a fact that is reflected in industrial spurs. Most modern day spurs serve very large industries that require hundreds, if not thousands, of carloads
204-456: A dispute over pay and working conditions. Northern urged the travelling public to avoid travelling on its services on any of the planned dates for the strikes, being only capable of operating a minimal timetable due to the number of staff involved. Northern took over all the services operated by Arriva Rail North on 1 March 2020. Below is a simplified list of frequent Monday to Saturday off-peak services, as of December 2023 timetables. Due to
255-423: A main line. Branch lines may also connect two or more main lines. An industrial spur is a type of secondary track used by railroads to allow customers at a location to load and unload railcars without interfering with other railroad operations. Industrial spurs can vary greatly in length and railcar capacity depending on the requirements of the customer the spur is serving. In heavily industrialized areas, it
306-464: A mainline, they tend to have lower maintenance and signaling (train control) standards. Before the rise of the long-distance trucking in the early 1930s, railroads were the primary means of transportation around the world. Industries of the era were commonly built along railroad lines specifically to allow for easy access to shipping. Short (under a mile, oftentimes only several hundred yards) industrial spurs with very small (under ten car) capacities were
357-473: A parliamentary train on the Stockport–Stalybridge line between Stockport and Stalybridge calling at Reddish South , Denton , and Guide Bridge . From 1992 until 2018, this service ran once weekly. Multiple campaigns were conducted to request increase in services to the line, but in 2022, Transport for Greater Manchester published two surveys in relation to the line. As of May 2023, there
408-469: A reduced service on Saturdays due to industrial action . By November 2018, Arriva were re-evaluating their future involvement in the franchise due to a combination of declining passenger numbers as a result of the chaotic May 2018 timetable change and increasing compensation claims as a result of falling punctuality. In June 2019, the DfT's operator of last resort, DfT OLR Holdings, conducted due diligence into
459-786: A section of the West Rail line . Discontinued services include the Sha Tau Kok Railway and the Wo Hop Shek Branch . A spur line to Siu Sai Wan has been proposed. Delhi On the Delhi Metro , the Blue Line has a Branch Line with 8 Stations, linking Yamuna Bank to Ghaziabad via Anand Vihar ISBT and terminating at Vaishali. The first section of the Branch opened on 8 January 2010 with Anand Vihar as its terminal with six stations. It
510-523: A subsidy for grain transport, and instead allowed railways to absorb branch line subsidies freely without making effort to improve the profitability of the lines. The term "grain-dependent branch lines" began being used as early as 1978 to refer to the special case of these branch lines in agricultural areas whose viability depended on the economics of grain transport. The Western Grain Transportation Act of 1983 addressed this case specifically, but
561-471: A tender to acquire a contract for up to 450 new trains to replace the older rolling stock in their fleet. In 2024 Northern issued a tender for up to 329 new trains. The 329 trains are made up of 45 three coach electric multiple units, 16 four coach electric multiple units, 108 three coach multiple mode units, 128 four coach multiple mode units and 32 four coach battery electric multiple units. Former train types operated by Northern include: services across
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#1732844562374612-775: A train operating company due to poor performance since Connex South Eastern in 2003. On 1 March 2020, the franchise became directly operated by DfT OLR Holdings with the stated objective to "stabilise performance and restore reliability for passengers". By mid-2020, Northern had considerably curtailed its services in response to the significant decline of passenger travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic . From 15 June 2020, both passengers and staff on public transport in England, including Northern services, were required to wear face coverings while travelling, and that anyone failing to do so would be liable to be refused travel or fined. In 2021 Northern
663-461: A year. There is an international branch line between Italy and Vatican: the 300-metre Vatican Railway , connecting from the Pisa-Rome railway mainline at Roma San Pietro railway station , to Vatican City station . Many British railway branch lines were closed as a result of the " Beeching cuts " in the 1960s, although some have been re-opened as heritage railways . The smallest branch line that
714-417: Is not uncommon for one industrial spur to have multiple sidings to several different customers. Typically, spurs are serviced by local trains responsible for collecting small numbers of railcars and delivering them to a larger yard, where these railcars are sorted and dispatched in larger trains with other cars destined to similar locations. Because industrial spurs generally have less capacity and traffic than
765-501: Is one train per day between Sheffield and Cleethorpes , via Gainsborough Central and Brigg . This service runs on weekdays only. The service was suspended between January and October 2022 due to concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between October 1993 and May 2023, this service ran on Saturdays only, but had three trains each way and on weekdays, a few peak services terminated at Gainsborough Central . Northern took over all of
816-566: Is said to have been paid for by the Department for Transport. In August 2013, the Department for Transport announced that the line was to be electrified as part of the wider scheme to wire many other routes in the North West of England such as the Manchester–Preston line . The £16 million scheme would have allowed through trains from Lancaster and points south to use electric stock (such as
867-552: Is still in operation in the UK is the Stourbridge Town Branch Line from Stourbridge Junction going to Stourbridge Town . Operating on a single track, the journey is 0.8 miles (1.3 kilometres) long and the train takes around two and a half minutes to complete its journey. In North America, little-used branch lines are often sold by large railroads to become new common carrier short-line railroads of their own. Throughout
918-529: The Bay of Plenty Region , lines were built inland to provide rail access to large logging operations. Today, many of the branch lines have been closed, including almost all of the general-purpose country lines. Those that remain serve ports or industries far from main lines such as coal mines, logging operations, large dairying factories, and steelworks . In Auckland and Wellington , two branch lines in each city exist solely for commuter passenger trains. For more, see
969-607: The Class 350 "Desiro" units) rather than the current DMUs and also improve capacity on the route to allow new direct services to London Euston . Funding was approved in 2014 and electrification was planned to be undertaken in CP6 , which covers 2019–2024. However, on 20 July 2017 it was announced that electrification of the Windermere branch had been cancelled. As an alternative, Northern originally planned to utilise Class 769 multiple units on
1020-629: The Department for Transport (DfT) awarded Arriva a contract to operate the Northern franchise as Arriva Rail North . It commenced in April 2016 and was originally scheduled to run until March 2025. Within two years, the franchise was being widely criticised, in particular for troubled implementation of a new timetable in May 2018 that resulted in widespread delays and cancellations. Later in 2018 performance continued to suffer, with many passengers protesting and
1071-717: The Gladstone Branch in New Jersey; as well as the New Canaan Branch , Danbury Branch , and Waterbury Branch in Connecticut . The Long Island Rail Road also refers to its services as "branches". In Chile, there are a lot of branch lines on its main line, of only a few remain operational. Most only operating in turistic services (like the Antilhue-Valdivia branch line), others have been taken over by other railways (like
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#17328445623741122-1013: The Grand Trunk , Canadian National , or Canadian Pacific ) which would acquire formerly independent short line railways for use as branch lines, with the short line often continuing to exist as a subsidiary. For example, when the Canadian Pacific acquired the Algoma Eastern Railway (a short line) in 1930, it soon after abandoned much of the Algoma Eastern mainline, but retained sections close to Algoma Eastern–Canadian Pacific junctions as short branch lines or spurs. The National Transportation Act of 1967 provided government subsidies for branch lines. Western railway development in Canada worked in concert with land settlement and cultivation, as pioneers were settled near railway lines, often on land
1173-620: The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway . In 1859 it became part of the London and North Western Railway , then the London, Midland and Scottish Railway at the 1923 Grouping . Upon nationalisation in 1948, it was managed by the London Midland Region of British Railways . On privatisation in 1994, it was initially operated by First North Western , then First TransPennine Express from 2005 and since April 2016 by Northern . Originally built as
1224-761: The North South Line between Jurong East and Choa Chu Kang stations was operated as a separate line, known as the Branch line . It was merged into the North–South Line with the opening of the Woodlands Extension in 1996. The future Jurong Region Line and Cross Island Line will also have branch lines. New Zealand once had a very extensive network of branch lines, especially in the South Island regions of Canterbury , Otago , and Southland . Many were built in
1275-672: The South Tseung Kwan O Spur Line to LOHAS Park station , opened in 2009. Earlier, a spur line was built in 1985 on the East Rail line to serve Racecourse station , bypassing Fo Tan station . Also, the Tsim Sha Tsui Extension [ yue ] was built in 2004 on the East Rail line to serve East Tsim Sha Tsui station . However, after the Kowloon Southern Link was completed in 2009, this spur line turns into
1326-513: The list of New Zealand railway lines . Northern (train operating company) Northern Trains , trading as Northern , is a British train operating company owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT), after the previous operator Arriva Rail North had its franchise terminated at the end of February 2020. The company commenced operating the Northern franchise on 1 March 2020, taking over from Arriva Rail North. The prior operator had its franchise terminated early by
1377-539: The Carlisle signaller. Once the train has made its journey to the terminus and back again, the staff must be returned to the cabinet before the train can either leave for the south or make another return trip along the single line. Due to the lack of a run round loop at the Windermere terminus all services need to be operated by Diesel Multiple Units , or locomotive-hauled trains operating in top and tail mode. In BR days,
1428-471: The DfT in January 2020 amid widespread dissatisfaction over its performance, particularly in respect of poorly implemented timetable changes. The DfT had opted to hand the operation of the franchise over to the operator of last resort . At the commencement of operations, Northern publicly stated that its immediate aims were to improve service reliability and to proceed with the introduction of new rolling stock. For
1479-789: The North Replaced by Class 150 , Class 156 , Class 158 , Class 170 , and Class 195 units. services in the North West services in West Yorkshire Northern currently has depots for its train crew at Ashington (conductors), Barrow-in-Furness , Blackburn , Blackpool North , Buxton , Carlisle , Darlington (drivers), Doncaster , Harrogate , Huddersfield , Hull Paragon , Liverpool Lime Street , Leeds , Manchester Piccadilly , Manchester Victoria , Middlesbrough (conductors), Newcastle , Sheffield , Skipton , Wigan Wallgate , Workington and York . Northern's fleet
1530-455: The Northern franchise and suggested that the Government may step in to revoke its franchise agreement, bluntly referring to the service as "completely unacceptable". On 29 January 2020, the DfT announced its decision to terminate Arriva Rail North as operator of the franchise, to be taken over by the DfT's operator of last resort. This was the first time that a franchise has been removed from
1581-666: The San Rosendo-Talcahuano branch line, which has been taken over by Biotrén and the Laja-Talcahuano train service) however, there is one branch line that still remains as fully operative. The Talca-Constitución branch line, which uses trains with bus motors. Two extensions to the MTR rapid transit network were built as branches of existing lines: the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line to Lok Ma Chau station , which opened in 2007; and
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1632-599: The U.S. state of New Jersey . The line is a short branch of the Northeast Corridor Line , running from Princeton Junction northwest to Princeton with no intermediate stops. Also known as the "Dinky Line", at 2.9 mi (4.7 km) it is the shortest scheduled commuter rail line in the United States. The run takes 4 minutes, 47 seconds. Other than the Princeton Line, other surviving branch lines include
1683-469: The United States and Canada, branch lines link smaller towns too distant from the main line to be served efficiently, or to serve a certain industrial site such as a power station either because of a location away from the main line or to reduce congestion. They were typically built to lower standards, using lighter rail and shallow roadbeds when compared to main lines. Much of Canada's branch line history relates to large rail transport conglomerates (such as
1734-609: The cancelled branch line electrification. In 2023, the former Cumbria County Council, now Westmoreland and Furness Council submitted a bid to the UK Government to create a dynamic passing loop. This would run to the west of Burneside station and include reinstating the missing platform. The whole project would include line speed improvements, as well as the much discussed electrification. The branch line appears in fiction in Arthur Ransome 's children's novel Pigeon Post ; with two of
1785-465: The children releasing a pigeon at Strickland Junction before they go up the little branch line that led into the hills (and to the Lake). Branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line . A very short branch line may be called a spur line . Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located on
1836-527: The extensive nature of the network, it has been split by region, then majority rail line. One of the changes to the December timetable is the four trains per day service between Huddersfield and Castleford (which was frequently run as a bus rail replacement service), has been moved to TransPennine Express , and extended to start at Manchester Piccadilly , and run to York via Castleford . Twice weekly on Saturday mornings, once in each direction, Northern operates
1887-552: The first president of the Canadian National Railway , said that although most branch lines cannot pay for themselves, they are even essential to make main lines pay. In the United States, abandonment of unproductive branch lines was a byproduct of deregulation of the rail industry through the Staggers Act . The Princeton Branch is a commuter rail line and service owned and operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT) in
1938-542: The franchise believing the both operational and financial performance to be "unsustainable". In October 2019, the Secretary of State for Transport , Grant Shapps , issued a request for proposals to incumbent operator Arriva and the operator of last resort, which would result in termination of the franchise with either Arriva to be awarded a short-term management contract or the operator of last resort to take over. In January 2020, Shapps publicly criticised Arriva's operation of
1989-534: The late 19th century to open up inland regions for farming and other economic activities. The branches in the South Island regions were often general-purpose lines that carried predominantly agricultural traffic, but lines elsewhere were often built to serve a specific resource: on the West Coast , an extensive network of branch lines was built in rugged terrain to serve coal mines, while in the central North Island and
2040-403: The latter, both the Class 195 diesel multiple units and Class 331 electric multiple units were brought into service fully during December 2020. Services have been disrupted by wider events, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic . Northern is also being affected by the 2022–2024 United Kingdom railway strikes , the largest national rail strikes in the UK in three decades. In December 2015,
2091-567: The line would be suspended and replaced by a bus service to allow for driver training. The service suspension was initially to be for 2 weeks until 18 June 2018 but this was later extended until 2 July 2018. However, on 17 June 2018 charter train operator West Coast Railways introduced its own services on the line, which attracted substantially more passengers than the regular Arriva Rail North services. The reason for this may be that no fares were charged to passengers. The £5,500 per day reported cost (total approx £80,000 over two weeks of operation)
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2142-475: The nine Class 156/9 units formerly used by Greater Anglia, although they were renumbered back to 156/4s before the transfer. For the December timetable change in 2022, five more Class 156 units were transferred. The final Class 156 units were delivered in May 2023. The Class 319s were withdrawn on 2 January 2024. Between October 2023 and July 2024 17 Class 323 units were transferred from West Midlands Trains to Northern Trains. In August 2023, Northern issued
2193-556: The railways had owned. However, by the mid-20th century, railways began neglecting lines in western agricultural regions. This was historically driven by factors such as the Crow Rate , which regulated the price railways could charge for shipping grain. Railways had little incentive to invest in rural Prairie branch lines, but were legally unable to abandon them under the National Transportation Act , which also did not provide
2244-464: The rolling stock operated by its predecessor, namely Class 142 , 144 , 150 , 153 , 155 , 156 , 158 , 170 and 195 diesel multiple units and Class 319 , 321 , 322 , 323 , 331 and 333 electric multiple units . All Class 321 and 322 units were withdrawn in mid-2020 and moved to Greater Anglia . All Class 153s were sent to storage by December 2021. 23 Class 156 units were transferred from East Midlands Railway , which includes eight of
2295-505: The route, which is operated under "One Train Working with Train Staff " regulations, with only one train allowed on the line at any time. Entry to and exit from the branch is controlled by the signalling centre at Carlisle and before a service can proceed beyond the branch platform at Oxenholme , the driver must collect the train staff from a cabinet on the platform, which is electrically released by
2346-430: The route; these are Class 319 electric multiple units converted to function as bi-mode units , which would operate under electric power between Manchester and Oxenholme and then under diesel power on the Windermere branch. However, it was later announced that new Class 331 'Civity' units would be installed with batteries with trials starting from 2021. Platform 3 at Oxenholme Lake District was electrified in 2018 despite
2397-410: The service was operated as a self-contained shuttle and passengers were required to change at Oxenholme but since privatisation , some through trains to Lancaster , Preston and Manchester Airport have been operated. Passenger services are operated by Northern using Class 195s and more recently by Class 153 and Class 156 diesel multiple units . Previously Class 175 "Coradias" operated
2448-441: The services provided by First North Western and TPE until 2006. Class 158s can also occasionally be seen on the route as a replacement for booked units. Services over the line are operated by the new Northern franchise, having taken over from First TransPennine Express in April 2016, however, four service a day continues past Oxenholme to Manchester Airport . On 4 June 2018 Arriva Rail North announced that all trains on
2499-496: Was further extended to Vaishali in 2011. The line is planned to be extended from Vaishali to Mohan Nagar via Sahibabad Station to link with the main line. The East West Line of the MRT system in Singapore has a two-station branch to Changi Airport . The first station, Expo , opened in 2001. It was extended to Changi Airport station the next year. From 1990 to 1996, the section of
2550-448: Was given a contract by the Department for Transport to run services for three years, with an optional extension of a further two years. The contract was updated in 2022, to run until 1 March 2025. Northern is one of several train operators affected by the 2022–2024 United Kingdom railway strikes , which are the first national rail strikes in the UK for three decades. Its workers are amongst those who voted to take industrial action due
2601-488: Was repealed in 1994 in the wake of the North American Free Trade Agreement and budget-balancing initiatives in favour of a one-time payout by the federal government directly to farmers, to arrange transport of grain themselves. From the mid-1970s to the late 2010s, more than 9,300 kilometres (5,800 mi) of Prairie branch lines were abandoned or had a discontinuance of service. David Blyth Hanna ,
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