What A Difference A Small Length Of Track Will Make!
For some years it has been an ambition of Lancashire County Council to reinstate a short four hundred metre length of railway called the Todmorden Curve, which was lifted in 1972.
Northern Rail will provide an hourly service from Burnley Manchester Road and Accrington to Manchester Victoria from May 17th.
If I look at the timetables, there is one train an hour between Burnley Manchester Road and Manchester Victoria tomorrow that takes sixty-five minutes with a change at Hebden Bridge.
By comparison, on Monday, May 18th, the one-change service still runs but there is an additional direct train every hour taking fifty-two minutes.
That’s quite an improvement in service made by just four hundred metres of new railway line.
Hopefully, there will be another big improvement when the line is electrified, which should happen in the next few years.
The Design Of Tram Or Tram-Train Stations
When I wrote the article about using tram-trains in Blackpool, I wanted to include a picture from an existing UK tramway to show what a stop might look like on the Colne Line after conversion to tram-train operation, if that should be decided. The only tramway near me is the Croydon Tramlink, for which my Freedom Pass is valid, so I went to take some pictures.
Some more are shown in this article about Birkbeck Tramlink stop.
I believe that the pictures show the sort of stations you would get on a line like the Colne Line, if you used Class 399 tram-trains instead of Class 142 trains. As Birkbeck shows you can have single-track bi-directional stations in addition to the more normal ones with two platforms, either on the outside of the tracks or as an island between them.
If I’d gone to any other UK tramway and a good few on the continent like Strasbourg, I’d have found similar good design. Although some don’t quite get the step-free access quite as good as Croydon and Strasbourg do.
But next time you get into a Class 142 or some of their dreadful cousins to go to work or for a bit of pleasure in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds or Sheffield, think what train travel could be like in a brand new tram-train that sped you to your destination in complete comfort, in a faster time, than your current scrapyard special.
The experience will be even better, if the stations you use have all of the superb step-free access that you get in Croydon, Strasbourg and Edinburgh.
To sum up my ideal tramway must have.
1. Low floor trams or tram-trains with level access from the platform, with no gap between.
2. Gentle slopes up from street level to the platforms if possible.
3. As few lifts and escalators as possible to break down.
4. Crossing the tracks should be a simple walk across.
5. A shelter on every platform.
6. Good information on use and ticketing, with maps of the network and the local area at every stop and on every vehicle.
7. Multiple next stop displays with a clock on the vehicle. Trains and trams, are well behind London’s buses in this area.
8. Contactless bank card and cashless ticketing. Anything else is so last millennium! If one of the biggest cities in the world; London can do it across all their modes of transport and well upwards of a dozen transport operators, surely all smaller ones can!
9. Free wi-fi!
10. An on-board Train Captain like the Docklands Light Railway!
I’ve never used a tram network that scores ten! Croydon Tramlink scores about eight.
Birkbeck Tramlink Stop
Birkbeck is a stop on the Croydon Tramlink and I took these pictures this morning.
It is a rather unusual stop in that a double-track Crystal Palace Line has been turned into a bi-directional single track railway and a bi-directional tram line. Both lines have stops on the outside.
Note the wire fences to stop people and animals straying onto the electrified railway line.
The tram stop is very much a typical tram stop for Tramlink, with a platform the right height for entry to and exit from the low-floor trams that run on the line, a rudimentary shelter, information and maps and a well-presented ticket machine.
Because of the bi-directional nature of the line, passengers use it to go to either Croydon or Beckenham Junction. Provided they know where they intend to go, I suspect passengers don’t have too much trouble getting on the right tram.
This Google Earth image shows the layout of the lines between the junction where the lines join and Beckenham Junction station.
Birkbeck To Beckenham Junction
Beckenham Junction is shown by the red arrow and the green line is the rough direction of Tramlink Line 2. Note the sharp cyrve at the far left of the image, where Tramlink joins the Crystal Palace Line.
This second Google Earth image shows an enlarged view of the rail station and tram stop.
Birkbeck Station
Note the two platforms and two single-track lines with a fence between them.
I think it is true to say, that if the Tramlink was being designed today, they would seriously look at using tram-trains on this branch, as these could just join the main lines at the junction and then proceed to the station at Beckenham Junction, where there is even a bay platform, that could be used to turn the trams back to Croydon,
But the system they use at Beckenham has been proved to be very safe.
The Anonymous Widower 