smallspy
Senior Member
This is the section I was looking at, and I was specifically suggesting that savings could be found IF, the track were upgraded sufficiently to permit a 90mph speed zone.
I didn't suggest this was easy or cheap!
As it turns out that stretch would be, with the exception of the several miles within Hamilton and dealing with that PSO, the one place where it would be relatively cheap and easy to increase the speeds. The area is quite flat, with few curves, and relatively few level crossings (and certainly none with sightline issues).
But it won't save you 20 minutes, even if you increase the speed limit to 200mph. The trains simply take too long to accelerate and decelerate to get those kinds of time savings.
Dan