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From Clapham Junction to Ostkreuz, the stations in a transit network where the tracks split apart are often among the most important. In today’s video we talk about why and how to design a fantastic junction station. Enjoy!
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The one next to the bridge to the north of southbank
Great video! In metro junction stations, it's quite common to need very compact layouts, and many junction stations end up being stacked. La Fourche in Paris, Can Tries | Gornal in Barcelona…
The truth is, the hesitation to adding all-service junction stations because "it will add too much time" is really silly. With modern, high-acceleration EMU's and high-performance European (electric!) locomotives (SBB re450's/re455's galore!), you only add 90-150 seconds per stop, which is not really that much. That's taking your express average speed from 100kmh to 92-95kmh, which may sound big since "oOoO duh number looks smaller now, now its super slow!" but oftentimes, you can count on one hand how many more minutes you add when you make 2 or 3 extra stops. Its really not that much when you weigh the benefits and drawbacks of such important stations.
I think the reason why Stouffville line trains skip Scarborough is because the time penalty per stop is much longer, I imagine something around ~180 seconds (but that's probably conservative), since those crappy diesels take SOOOOO long to accelerate. Which goes to show, that having such crappy performance trains closes SOOO many doors to your network, not just with not being able to have more stations, having much MUCH lower frequency per track (15tph per american mainline track is pathetic, 24tph should be a MINIMUM, though with a mix of EMU's and electric loco-hauled trains per track, I've calculated up to 32 is possible [20 loco and 12 EMU, at most, in service its probably more like 50-50 loco-to-EMU, but most likely 40-60 loco-to-EMU], anyways, more than TWICE what most north american tracks are capable of!), or, the most evident, much MUCH lower average speeds, but also cases like this; avoiding such critical transfer stations because they add too much time to your trips. Basically, crappy trains (the diesel locos in this case) really restricts what a network like GO can do. I'm basically adding on to what you always say, but it doesn't hurt to say it more and build advocacy!
Off-topic, speaking of crappy diesels and train upgrades, I really hope GO gets a big order from Stadler, consisting of many locos from one of their amazing locomotive platforms (I really like the euro6000's and euro9000's), a bunch of good old FLIRTs, and maybe a few KISS's, because why not! The economies of scale would be good with one manufacturer, and the best service type is mix of both locomotive-hauled express service and EMU local service!
Rennweg Station in Vienna is a very overlooked station in Vienna, however is an important junction station in Vienna as it is the last/first station to connect the main line to the branch line that connects Vienna Airport to the city and with an island platform can allow for cross platform transfers.
Perth station in Scotland is on my commute and it’s also a great junction station
W video
A great example of the importance of junction stations:
In Melbourne, the southeastern portion of the rail network is formed by the lines Pakenham & Cranbourne (usually just treated as one line because they branch pretty far out from the city), the Frankston, and the Sandringham. Frankston and Pakenham/Cranbourne junction (although not physically, they run as two sets of parallel track) at Caulfield, and the Frankston, Pakenham/Cranbourne and Sandringham lines all join up at South Yarra.
Soon, the Cranbourne/Pakenham, the busiest line(s) on the network, will be getting their own dedicated tunnel under the city (it's planned to open next year). There was a huge debate – lots of politics which I don't care to get into – about where the line should go underground. Ultimately, they decided to put the tunnel entrance before South Yarra station; tantalizingly close, it's just around the bend from the station entrance. In doing so they've removed the connection with the Sandringham line. Originally, if you were on the Cranbourne Line, you'd transfer to the Sandrigham directly at South Yarra. Soon, you'll have to change trains at Caulfield to the Frankston line to then transfer at South Yarra. What was once an easy trip now entails changing lines for a four stop journey just to change lines again. With Melbourne being notorious for train line closures, this has added another point of failure to your journey. If the Frankston line is down there is now no way to South Yarra by train (from the southeastern corridor) without making a lengthy backtrack from the city.
A little extra context for people who are still interested: After the connection at Cauilfield, the Frankston and Cran/Pak lines have a pretty strange stopping pattern. As mentioned, both lines run parallel as two sets of track all the way through the CBD, although the Cran/Pak usually enters the city loop. Between Caulfield and South Yarra, the Cran/Pak runs express through Malvern, Armadale, Toorak, and Hawksburn, while the Frankston stops. Both lines have platforms at all stations on this segment. If you were getting on at, say, Toorak, you'd take a Frankston train to South Yarra to access the Cran/Pak running into the city loop. With the new section of tunnel opening, suddenly the passengers at these stations have no way of accessing it without backtracking (yuck) all the way to Caulfield before changing and coming back the way they came all just to access the tunnel. Of course the easiest fix would be to have the Cran/Pak stop at Hawksburn, to allow these passengers to access the tunnel.
A final point: South Yarra also has a great interchange with various tram lines which run into the Southbank area, which has no heavy rail. I've used it multiple times to change to trams when I'm travelling around the King's Way/St Kilda Road area. A decision to remove a junction that has weakened the network in the area significantly.
Kraków Główny
Petticoat Junction … overrated or underrated?
I was just in Vancouver last week and I dont understand why Waterfront Station (Expo Line and Canada Line) are not connected within Fare Paid Zone. I just find it ridiculous that you need to tap out and then tap in when changing lines. The seabus is only connected via Expo Line but still not fare integrated. I think Waterfront Station is underrated with Translink.
RM is turning the bullying of metrolinx into an all stopping grade separated Scarborough station and Spadina up to 11 at this stage and I’m all here for it
Inbound and outbound are so confusing for non-North Americans. It does not tell you in what direction the train is going unless you know what one considers 'home'.
A transit system is not a big bus, it's a series of pipes!
In Manchester, I'd say Deansgate, it's just before a multiple branch points, connecting Manchester Pic and Vic together (caused controversy as it crossed the first railway bridge, Stephenson's bridge), as well as another split (nearer the station) and there's a bridge to metrolink lines (with a bidirectional platform, currently used as the Airport line bay platform), only down side is not all express services stop there.
I'm curious what you think about Secaucus Junction which is located where NJ Transit's Northeast Corridor Line crosses their Main Line.
We only have 1 tiny train station at the very edge of the city for antrak. We are getting 1 downtown soon with ACE so that'll be nice since it's just off the freeway instead of like 10+ miles away from everything. Unfortunately it's only a few commuter trains a day so not really useful for getting around the city, it's only from getting from the central valley tontge rich cities out West where all the jobs are at.
How do you feel about… let's call them 2stations1junction? E.g. Sete Rios and Campolide in Lisbon.
One junction station in London that is very definitely missing is around Acton / Old Oak Common.
The Central, Elizabeth, and Mildmay (formerly North London) lines all cross pretty close together without a station present. The Elizabeth Line meets the Central at Ealing Broadway, so that isn't such a big deal, but there are no good connections between either of them and the Overground network.
I suggest we call it Acton Junction, because Acton needs more stations 😉.
I've written some examples of shoulder stations in the corresponding video, though I've listed mostly junction stations. Even then, Mainz-Römisches Theater is a good example of a shoulder station (since it borders the Altstadt whereas the main station is closer to Neustadt) which also is a good junction station (since trains are diverging there to Ludwigshafen or Frankfurt) and are served by almost every regional train (the exceptions being regularly the RE to Ludwigshafen/Mannheim and individual cases at rush hour).
In fact, junction stations in Germany are so important that they're typically served by all almost regional trains including RE trains which would have had otherwise skipped the station. One local example: Bischofsheim is otherwise a fairly insignificant town but since trains do diverge between Frankfurt and Darmstadt, it is served by most regional trains including RE2/3 (with only isolated exceptions at rush hour).
There might be an exception when a more significant station preceeds a junction station which is what happened with Gau-Algesheim, a junction stations which is skipped since it follows the more significant Ingelheim (which is IMO a fairly justified case of skipping a junction station) as well as cases where junction stations are logical but are missing or served by only one type of train (Offenbach Ost is a notable offender) or junction stations which don't function as junction stations (Groß Gerau-Dornberg where no regional train drives between Mainz and Biblis, though it is located on a busy intercity line and reduces conflicts).
The biggest example of a missed junction station is Canterbury where two mainlines cross without an interchange
Jamaica is one of my favorite stations, and (in my opinion) the best junction station. There’s a reason it’s the USA’s third busiest station, as it connects 9 branches to the east, and four to the west/city center with 800+ trains/day on 10 tracks with lots of cross platform transfers. It’s suffered from the “Jamaica Crawl” in the past, but that’s getting better with the ongoing improvements to the adjacent interlockings.
0:19 what is a shoulder station? I tried looking it up on google but couldn't find anything
What if there are two junctions only a few miles apart? Reading is a junction station with lines going in 4 directions. But not far from there is Didcote where the line to Oxford splits off. But those trains don't stop there, they bypass the station.
Thanks for a very interesting video with wonderful graphics to help understand your points even more!
"Getting them right is critical!"
You hear that, Slabystraße?
I just came here from building my own transit system in roblox.
This video will be helpful for that.
Thank you!
This is one of the frustrating things about the MBTA red line. JFK/Umass is the last stop to transfer between Ashmont and Braintree trains, but it’s WAYY farther north than the junction. There’s even a station only served by Ashmont trains after JFK, but it’s still before the junction. This makes it so transferring from branch to branch is really slow, and a bus is much faster in most cases.
I LURV A JUNCTION
? Aren't rall major ststion junctions to 4 or more directions ..? 🤔
I really like the graphics shown in this video, great stuff reece!
BART in the SF Bay Area has multiple junctions in Oakland to spread the transfer load. Plus, they offer cross platform transfers.
Remember to try to watch the live stream tomorrow everybody😅
9 pm England time for me 😮
"If two railway lines cross each other, you expect a station."
Every junction in the Philippines: Haha, you have been fooled! There's 2 of us now!!!!
As soon as you said the word junction, I just knew Clapham Junction would get a mention. Didn't expect it to get so much of a mention, but I believe it is one of Europe's, if not the world's busiest junction stations by train movements, so makes sense.
Calgary's trains converge downtown. To connect we have to cross roads. They are really close thankfully. So are some major bus stops
Sorry you didn't mention Montreal's REM — Although it provides access to the airport from downtown, from either the northern (Deux Montagnes) line or the West Island line, one would have to go all the way to Bois Franc, get off, go downstairs, traverse the tunnel, and walk back upstairs (with your luggage) to get the airport train. A junction station or even just a cross-platform transfer at Bois Franc would have made it do-able. As it is, I'll still be taking an Uber to the airport (from the West Island) even after the REM opens (and I have a monthly pass for transport including the REM.)
Four-way junctions are also important, as instead of connecting two branches and the mainline, they connect two main lines . In Athens there's one railway only and of course several with 2 metro lines or a metro line and a mainline. The mainline junction is heavily underused, because of bad planning and slow construction, but also because of the crisis that bankrupted the railways. The railway to patras is almost definitely delayed to the next decade, by which time the station will be 20 years old with most platforms unopened, although it could become an interchange of trains to Central Athens and Piraeus (from there there are ships to the islands), Thessaloniki and Northern Greece (and Balkan neighbours), Patras and the Peloponnese , and the airport, connecting to the islands as well as the rest of the world.
Brás station in Sao Paulo ia a great example of a junction station servicing the eastbound rail lines. It was originally 2 separate railway stations, but they were connected between themselves and to a metro line some time ago. Now it services lines 3, 10, 11, 12 and 13 and not only that, is close to one of the most important shopping areas in Brazil, just outside the city center.
Hi Reece, I don’t know if anyone has made this request yet because I usually watch on Nebula, but I‘d love a video on the transit system of Nürnberg/Nuremberg Germany. It has a great transit system for a city of roughly 500k residents with Bus, Tram, U- and S-Bahn as well as great intercity connections. In my opinion, the city can be a great role model for similarly sized and even bigger cities!
You should make a video about the south wales metro
You should make a video about Bilbao's transport system, in northern Spain, which has a tram line, 2 heavy metro lines and some suburban rail (or Euskotren) lines. It is such an interesting system, and the fourth in size here in Spain
Would you ever do some videos on Irish rail infrastructure? There's some cool developments in the works at the moment and we're planning a metro system in Dublin which could be worth a look at?
Why is Metrolinx only having one line stop at the planned King/Liberty Village stop when three lines use the line?
Sydney has strange interchange stations. Sure we have Redfern and Strathfield, great junction stations, but then Granville has been demoted from a major junction station, once carrying express services to a minor junction station, carrying at most rapid services. Whilst it was built as a junction station, the express (T1 Western Lines) are so busy by Granville that the planners decided not to make it more crammed as to conserve what little peak time capacity there still is. Trains run every 3 mins on the express line (best for Sydney Trains) on peak hours and are over capacity then. So backtracking is sometimes necessary if you want to take the express and limited express services from Parramatta
Brilliant video sir!
The title of the video is quite confusing: it's not about underrated train stations, but just about how junction stations work. I think you should tell it us differently or just rename the title. But to be honest, it’s very interesting!
Wolli Creek in Sydney was added as an afterthought after the Airport Rail Link was approved (itself only built to secure the Olympics). It allowed the construction of a huge TOD suburb.
Sydenham Station in Sydney is a shoulder, shoulder station and is a great place finally developing the density and services it deserves 👍
The most underrated one on the Sydney and intercity network is probably Bombo. It's near Kiama on the South Coast and is the closest station to a beach on the entire network. It has 45 passengers daily on average,