The Uckfield Branch Is Almost Ready For Longer Trains
These are some of the pictures, that I took on the Uckfield Branch of the Oxted Line.
I can’t believe that they’ve spent all this money, just to run an eight, ten or twelve car train formed by formations of Class 171 trains.
Increased Services To Uckfield
On my trip, the line seemed exceedingly busy for one with just a single service an hour. When coming back North, I was passed by a Class 171 train going South, somewhere South of Ashurst station, which prompted me to take the picture of the passing loop.
So it would seem that my observations, ehich also included the sight of a long string of Class 171 trains at South Croydon, could point to Southern testing or training drivers on the line, to see if they can operate a more frequent service to Uckfield. After all, if the service were to be every half-hour to Uckfield, logic says, this would generate more business. They’ve certainly got the capacity at Uckfield with a new station with a long twelve-car platform and a large car park, which is now free to all users at weekends.
There is also an electrified two trains an hour service from East Grinstead to Victoria, which calls at Oxted station. There is probably scope, if you get the service pattern right, to get a two trains per hour service from both Oxted Line termini that serves London Bridge, Victoria and Farringdon for Crossrail, either direct or with one very easy change.
An Uckfield To Oxted Shuttle
Could Southern be planning to link a two train per hour service from Oxted to Uckfield, with the East Grinstead trains, to effectively give passengers on the Uckfield Branch, a two train per hour service to London? Perhaps, they will be using an Oxted to Uckfield shuttle to fill in the gaps between the London trains, as I suspect there aren’t the paths available for all Uckfield trains to go to a London terminus.
There would just be an easy interchange at Oxted or East Croydon.
Timings could be adjusted so that.
- A Southbound Victoria to East Grinstead service would allow cross platform interchange to the Oxted to Uckfield shuttle.
- The Northbound East Grinstead to Victoria service would call at Oxted a couple of minutes after the shuttle arrived.
As Southern know the traffic numbers and passenger behaviour, I’m sure they’ll get the timings right.
The Bay Platform Puzzle At Oxted Station
On Sundays, the service on the Uckfield Branch is just a diesel shuttle between Oxted and Uckfield, with a same platform interchange to the East Grinstead to Victoria service at Hurst Green station.
So why have Network Rail electrified the bay platform at Oxted Station?
There are three possible reasons.
- Network Rail are just future-proofing the Uckfield Branch, so that if it is electrified, they can still run the Sunday shuttle.
- The East Grinstead branch is very busy at times and an East Grinstead to Oxted shuttle could be used to give passengers access to the less busy Uckfield services.
- There is the possibility, that the Oxted branch will be served by an IPEMU in the future. This platform is being prepared, so it can charge the train’s on-board energy storage.
With respect to reason three, Oxted to Uckfield would also be a very good test track for IPEMUs and driver training, especially as there is only one passenger train an hour in both directions.
Hopefully, the reason will become clearer when the May 2016 timetable changes are announced. Although, nothing is known at present!
Trains To Work The Uckfield Branch
In my view there are only two trains that could work the line.
- Class 171 trains in an appropriate formation and as I wrote in Strings Of Class 171 Trains On Test, they certainly have acquired enough of these trains.
- Electrostar trains with an IPEMU capability.
I’d always assumed that Electrostar IPEMUs would be based on Class 387 trains, as Southern run them on Thameslink and Gatwick Express. Porterbrook have also ordered twenty from Bombardier.
But after writing Are The TOCs Arguing Over The Class 387 Trains?, and getting a tip-off (Thank you! John!) , I took a look at the closely related Class 377 trains and wrote Will Southern Fit On-board Energy Storage To Class 377 Trains?
The Class 377 train is an interesting possibility for conversion to an IPEMU for use by Southern.
- Bombardier has said that it could convert other recently-built Electrostars to IPEMUs
- The trains have regenerative braking, but it is not always used according to this article on railway-technical.com.
- Southern have over two hundred Class 377 trains in various sub-types with three, four and five car sets.
- Class 377 trains already work the East Grinstead Branch of the Oxted Line.
Because of the issue of the wasting of regenerative braking energy, there could be a financial case to convert some or all of Southern’s Class 377 trains to IPEMUs, whether they are used as such or not!
A mixture of the diesels and IPEMUs would also be an alternative.
I’ll now look in detail at the three alternatives. For this analysis, I’m assuming that Southern will want to improve the service with these objectives.
- At least two trains per hour from Uckfield to Oxted.
- Passengers can travel to and from both London Bridge and Victoria from both branches of the Oxted Line, with an easy change.
- Longer trains to Uckfield.
- Improved numbers of passengers using the trains between the Oxted Line and London.
I’m certain, that Southern could also have the long term objective of becoming an electric train only company, with all the positive operational and marketing benefits that that will give them.
They may also want to show that there is a demand for more capacity from the area to London, so that they can push for a reopening of the Wealden Line to Lewes.
Class 171 Trains To Uckfield
This solution works, as it has been running for years and given that Southern will soon have more trains, twelve car platforms, improved stations and car parking on the branch, it is an option they could implement for the May 2016 timetable change.
Electrostar IPEMUs To Uckfield
There are two ways this could be done.
Electrostar IPEMUs could work the whole line from London Bridge to Uckfield, charging their batteries on the London Bridge to Oxted section of the route. This would mean that the change to access Victoria would not always be a simple one at Oxted. It could involve a platform change at East Croydon.
I think a better alternative would be for Electrostar IPEMUs to work the current hourly London Bridge to Uckfield service and use another Electrostar IPEMU to work a shuttle between Oxted and Uckfield to fill in the half-hours and provide two trains per hour. It would charge the batteries in the bay platform at Oxted. This would not need another path between Oxted and London Bridge.
There are issues that must be settled before Electrostar IPEMUs can run to Uckfield.
- The technology has been shown to work on a four-car Electrostar, but will it work on a two or three train formation?
- How do you recover a failed Electrostar IPEMU from the Uckfield Branch? Southern wouldn’t want one incident to ruin everything!
- Will IPEMUs be created from Class 387 trains or Class 377 trains? The latter trains already work the East Grinstead Branch.
Because of the problems with the availability of Class 387 trains, I suspect Class 377 trains could be converted.
But whatever train is used, there would be tremendous kudos for the company that ran the first successful battery trains in the UK.
A Mixture Of Class 171 And Electrostar IPEMUs To Uckfield
One of the problems of running an intensive train service, is what do you do when a train fails? Sod’s Law also states, it will always fail at the worst time, in the most difficult place on the network.
In other words, an IPEMU will one day, fail with a flat battery or some other IPEMU fault at Uckfield station. Another train or a Thunderbird locomotive will have to go in and pull the train out.
To facilitate this, all trains run by Southern have the same Dellner couplings. Wikipedia says this about the couplings, when highlighting the difference between Class 170 and Class 171 trains.
The Class 171 Turbostar is a type of diesel multiple unit (DMU) train built by Bombardier Transportation (previously ADtranz) at its Litchurch Lane Works in Derby, England, which is identical to the Class 170, except for the replacement of the BSI (Bergische Stahl Industrie) coupler with a Dellner coupling. This provision was made to allow emergency joining with Class 377 DC third-rail electric units.
Remember that some of Southern’s Class 171 trains have been converted from Scotrail’s Class 170 trains.
As a Class 377 train is an Electrostar train, it would appear that a Class 171 train could easily rescue a stalled Electrostar IPEMU or vice-versa.
So could a conservative and safety-first approach, see an hourly London Bridge to Uckfield service worked by Class 171 trains, with a shuttle from Uckfield to Oxted run by a Electrostar IPEMU?
The East Grinstead Branch
The East Grinstead Branch of the Oxted Line has a two trains per hour service to Victoria worked by Class 377 trains.
Would there be any benefits on running Class 377 trains with an IPEMU capability on this line?
- If identical trains worked the Uckfield Branch, there must surely be operational advantages and benefits in the training of drivers and other staff.
- If the Oxted line is one of those with a poor power system, then there would be cost savings on electricity.
It would not appear that there are other connections, that can use the IPEMU capabilities of the trains, except fantasy ones, like running down the Bluebell Line to Sheffield Park.
Conclusion
I believe we could see an improved service to Uckfield with the May 2016 timetable change.
I think that the service will still be run initially by Class 171 diesel multiple units, but that when they are available, Electrostar IPEMUs could be tried out on the Uckfield Branch possibly as a shuttle between Oxted and Uckfield.
As passenger numbers increase and IPEMU reliability and acceptance is proven, I suspect that this line could be one of the first in the UK to be run solely by IPEMUs.
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