Sugiyama’s algorithmic framework for layered graph drawing is commonly used in practical software. The extensive use of dummy vertices to break long edges between non-adjacent layers often leads to unsatisfactorial performance. The worst-case running-time of Sugiyama’s approach is O(|V||E|log|E|) requiring O(|V||E|) memory, which makes it unusable for the visualization of large graphs. By a conceptually simple new technique we are able to keep the number of dummy vertices and edges linear in the size of the graph and hence reduce the worst-case time complexity of Sugiyama’s approach by an order of magnitude to O((|V| + |E|)log|E|) requiring O(|V|+|E|) space.