The Anonymous Widower

Could The Hall Farm Curve Be Built Without Electrification?

The Hall Farm Curve was a five-hundred metre curve that used to connect the Chingford Branch Line to the Lea Valley Line, thus enabling direct services between Stratford to Chingford via the new Lea Bridge, James Street and Walthamstow Central stations.

This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the lines in the area around Coppermill Junction.

Coppermill Junction

It is a much-needed route, as anybody who has taken the bus between Walthamstow and Stratford can testify.

I have heard rumours that it will be rebuilt, but nothing has been published yet.

The last rumour said it would be a single-track bi-directional line, as I wrote in Rumours Of Curves In Walthamstow

If this were to be built, there would need to be appropriate cross-overs, so that the trains could go on the right lines to and from Chingford and Stratford.

As in a few years time, the Stratford-Chingford service would be likely to be run by Aventras and no other electric train would be likely to use the curve, would it not be possible to not electrify the curve.

In Bombardier’s Plug-and-Play Train, I showed that all Aventras will have a certain amount of onboard energy storage to handle regenerative braking and enable short movements using stored energy.

So could the Aventras use their onboard energy storage to navigate the curve? The pantograph could be raised and lowered appropriately in Lea Bridge and St. James Street stations.

Conclusion

Building the Hall Farm Curve without electrification is possible, if Aventras use the line exclusively for passenger services.

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September 4, 2016 - Posted by AnonW | Transport | Aventra, Chingford Branch Line, Hall Farm Curve, Trains