Curious Rail Construction At Ipswich Station
I came into Ipswich station today on a train from Lowestoft and took these pictures before I got on a train to London.
They would appear to show the following.
- An electrified line has been created to the North of Ipswich Yard between the Felixstowe Branch Line and Ipswich station.
- Some construction on the far side of the siding that lies next to the platform used for Lowestoft and Felixstowe trains.
Could the construction, be tye start of work for a dedicated platform for the Felixstowe Branch?
Consider the following about traffic on the Felixstowe Branch Line.
- According to this article in Rail Magazine, there are now twenty-three daily freight trains out of Felixstowe.
- The freight trains are getting longer and I have seen trains hauled by a pair of Class 66 locomotives.
- Passenger trains are a single-car Class 153 train every hour.
- The Class 153 train takes twenty-six minutes.
- The line is around fifteen miles of unelectrified line.
- The Freightliner motive power depot is going to be moved from Ipswich to Felkixstowe.
- The December 2016 Edition of Modern Railways is saying that a 1.4 km loop will be built on the branch and six level crossings will be closed.
Despite the last two points, the single track branch line must be very much full.
There are also issues with the Class 153 trains at Ipswich.
- Do they sometimes find it difficult to get through all the freight trains to the bay platform at Ipswich?
- Sometimes, they use the end of the main platform 2, but as the Flirts will be longer, this won’t be possible when the new trains arrive.
- Various reports have said that two bay platforms are needed; one for Felixstowe services and one for Lowestoft services.
We don’t know their actual plans, but Greater Anglia would probably love to put a modern electric train on the Ipswich-Felixstowe route.
Electrification of the Felixstowe Branch is not even likely.
- Electrification of the Felixstowe Branch without wiring all the way to Nuneaton would probably not be good value for money.
- Where would Freightliner get all the electric locomotives?
- The Port of Felixstowe isn’t wired and might not want wires all over the place with cranes everywhere!
- The Gospel Oak to Barking Line will be electrified and what effects will this have?
The only bright spot on the horizon is Greater Anglia’s new Flirts, which could release fifteen well-maintained and reliable Class 90 locomotives.
A modern two-coach train, even if it was a diesel, would have benefits.
- It would be faster and thus scheduling the crowded route could be easier.
- It might attract more passengers to the line, especially, if there was space for bicycles and buggies.
- It should be more reliable.
But I suspect Greater Anglia would want an electric train with all the trimmings.
So am I right, that a new electrified line has been created into the station in a place where a new platform can be created?
- I might be wrong and it could have been there for years to enable the movements of electric locomotives, without blocking the main line.
- But there are certainly modern style gantries and supports for the overhead wires.
- The existing bay platform 1 is wired. Why? No current or possible electric services could use the platform.
But something is certainly happening.
- Is it a new platform or just tidying up?
- Is it a walkway to enable train drivers to get to locomotives in Ipswich Yard?
- Is it a short platform to take up to a two-car train?
There is one other possibility, that fits with my observations at Maidenhead and the Marlow Branch, that I wrote about in Bourne End Station And Improving The Marlow Branch Line.
At Maidenhead, I came to the conclusion, that electric trains (Class 387s?) with on-board energy storage were going to be used on the Marlow Branch to Bourne End, with a diesel shuttle between Bourne End and Marlow.
Is the current Platform 1 at Ipswich, which could probably accommodate a five-car Aventra going to be used in the same way?
Consider how an electric train with on-board energy storage, would work the Ipswich-Felixstowe service.
- I’ll assume that a fully-charged train starts from the new depot at Manningtree or some othe suitable overnight stabling.
- The train positions early in the morning for the first service from Felixstowe, using overhead power to Ipswich and on-board power on the branch.
- Passengers load at Felixstowe and the train proceeds to Ipswich under on-board power to the current Platform 1 at Ipswich.
- The train would sneak into the platform on the North side of Ipswich Yard, well out of the way of the Great Eastern Main Line and any freight movements.
- If the platform was busy and the train had to wait at a signal, it could even up pantograph to start the recharging of the on-board storage.
- Once in Platform 1, the train would either start or continue the charging process.
- The pantograph would be lowered, when the charging was complete or the train was approaching the limit of the overhead wiring on its way out to Felixstowe.
The process would continue all day.
But Aventras will be a clever train. This is a snippet from an article in the Derby Telegraph.
Unlike today’s commuter trains, Aventra can shut down fully at night and can be “woken up” by remote control before the driver arrives for the first shift.
So could we see a train parked at Felixstowe overnight, ready for the driver to get into a nice warm train?
I used to live round the corner from Felixstowe station and as the train would be in full view of the Police Station opposite and electrifically dead, I doubt there would be any security problem.
A five-car Aventra parked overnight with an appropriate all-over paint scheme might even encourage new passengers to give it a try.
Obviously, the suitable Aventra doesn’t exist yet, but putting in a new short platform 0 at Ipswich station, that can accept a three-car train, would mean.
- Platform 2 would no longer be needed for terminating trains at Ipswich.
- Twelve-car Flirts could work the London-Norwich services, without terminating services interfering.
- Felixstowe and Lowestoft services would have a short platform 0 and a longer platform 1, to use appropriately.
- The infrastructure would be ready for the Aventra with on-board storage.
But surely the biggest advantage is that a second bay platform would probably be to make it possible to schedule all trains such that if passengers were changing between the various lines to Bury St. Edmunds, Cambridge, Felixstowe, London, Lowestoft and Norwich, it was a convenient process of less than ten minutes.
Whether an Aventra with on-board storage will ever appear on this route is unknown at present, but there could be other advantages to running such a train on the Felixstowe Branch.
- Electrification of the branch can be kicked into some very long grass or buried at sea.
- The branch gets a massive increase in passenger capacity, without losing any paths for freight trains.
- The extra capacity with plenty of space for bicycles and buggies.
- Greater Anglia get a line for training drivers to use on-board storage.
- Bombardier get a demonstration of a train with on-board energy storage.
It could be a win for all parties.
Why I Like The Heathrow Southern Railway Proposal
Rail Projects
For nearly twenty years I spent a lot of time talking to project managers and reading about the implementation of large projects and systems.
It has led me to various conclusions about large projects and what makes some succeed and others fail.
If you look at rail projects over the last few years, you get some very good examples of projects and some very bad ones too!
Look at how the following factors affect the outcome.
Size
In my view, size can be discounted, as it doesn’t seem to affect the outcome. There’s been good and bad projects of all sizes.
I think it’s just as likely to get a severe problem on a small project as a large one.
Stations
There has been the occasional station project delivered late, but in general stations have been on time and mostly on budget.
Some like Canary Wharf, Kings Cross, Manchester Victoria, Reading and St. Pancras aren’t small and a few existing ones have been rebuilt around a working station.
The project management has been good, but could it also be that building a station, with the exception of the tracks, is not much different to constructing any other complicated hi-tech modern building, like an office block, university building or a hospital?
Tunnels
In all the tunnels built in London over the last fifty years, there has only been a couple of problems with the actual tunnels during construction and since.
None were serious!
I think until proven otherwise, we seem to have tunneling under control.
Tracks, Chords, Bridges and Dive-Unders
Over the last few years, several major bottlenecks have been removed at places like Acton, Hitchin, Ipswich, Jane Croft, Norton Bridge and other places by creating lengths of new railway. Sometimes, they have even been electrified.
Network Rail and their contractors seem to have improved dramatically, since the dark days of Hatfield.
I’ve Started So I’ll Finish
I believe that the best way to give a project problems, is to get everybody all geared up to start work, only for management or politicians to have second thoughts.
Give The Public Bread And Circuses
We can’t rate Crossrail yet, but Thameslink has not been a very happy project.
A lot of Thameslink’s problems have been magnified by the way they have treated the public.
Crossrail on the other hand has been open, as to what is happening and hasn’t been slow to use things like archaeology to their advantage.
Large Projects Should Be A String Of Smaller Ones
In my view large projects should be a string of smaller projects, that can be done independently.
If you look at Crossrail, the largest project is the creation of the tunnels through London, which can be built without affecting the existing railway. When they are virtually complete, then the tracks are changed to connect the new and old railway.
In some ways it’s a bit like building a housing estate on a greenfield site, where you put in the roads and services first and then build all the houses.
With Crossrail, very few Londoners or travellers will have had their daily lives disrupted.
The smaller, but still large projects are now being built along the tunnels.
Crossrail has been well-designed around a project plan that allowed it to be built.
Thameslink on the other hand, is several big projects, all of which have the ability to cause major disruption.
- The creation of two new tracks from London Bridge to Charing Cross.
- The total rebuilding of London Bridge station.
- The Bermondsey dive-under to untangle the tracks.
- The project is also complicated by the introduction of the new Class 700 trains.
As these projects are all being done at the same time, it is a recipe for chaos and disruption.
Thameslink is very delayed from its original planned finish date and it has been started and stopped more times than a 73 bus on Oxford Street.
Electrification
Electrification is the fox in the chicken coop, especially when it is being added to existing lines.
Look at these schemes.
- Great Western Electrification
- North Western Electrification
- Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Program
You could even include the Gospel Oak to Barking Line Electrification, where things don’t seem to be going very fast on a smaller scheme.
Is it we’re just not any good at it, or is it that electrifying old infrastructure, with all the problems that brings, a very difficult job.
The Heathrow Southern Railway
It is outlined on this web site, which I suspect will become more informative. If you want to know more, buy the December 2016 Edition of Modern Railways.
This Google Map shows Heathrow Airport and the area to the South and South-West.
South And South-West Of Heathrow Airport
Note the A30 road going diagonally across the map South of the Airport.
South of this road is a row of three stations; Staines, Ashford and Feltham, which are all on the Waterloo to Reading Line. To the West of Stains, the Staines to Windsor and Eton Line branches away to the North via Wraysbury.
The proposal for the Heathrow Southern Railway envisages.
- A short tunnel into the existing Heathrow Terminal 5 station, which was designed to accept a line from the West
- A rail link alongside the M25 to a junction on the Staines to Windsor and Eton Line just West of the M25.
- A chord at the junction of the Staines to Windsor and Eton Line and the Reading to Waterloo Line to allow trains to go between the Airport and Reading.
- The rail link alongside the M25 would continue South and connect the Airport to Chertsey station on the Chertsey Branch Line. This would allow trains to run between the Airport and Woking.
This Google Map shows where the rail link would go between Terminal 5 and Staines.
Terminal 5 To Staines
Staines is the station at the South of the map with Wraysbury at the West. \they are joined by the Staines and Windsor and Eton Line, will will have a connection to the Airport.
This Google Map shows Stainesstation and the rail lines in detail.
The line to the North West goes to Windsor, whilst the one to the West goes to Reading. The line to the East goes to Waterloo via Feltham, Twickenham and Clapham Junction.
It might be tight to create a chord between the Windsor and Reading Lines, but Heathrow Southern Railway believe there is room for a bay platform at Staines station. They also propose, that Staines could be another Crossrail destination.
This Google Map shows the route to connect the rail link to Chertsey station.
Chertsey Station And The M25
Chertsey station is in the South-East corner of the map, with Thorpe Park Resort in the North East corner.
The junction between the rail link from Terminal 5 and the Chertsey Branch, would probably be close to the motorway.
So why do I like this proposal?
The main work needed for the core of the railway is as follows.
- Create a rail tunnel into the existing station at Heathrow Terminal 5.
- Build a railway alongside the M25 to connect to existing rail lines to Waterloo, Stains and Woking.
- Update the railways and stations under Heathrow to allow trains to go from Old Oak Common through the Airport and out the other side.
Once the core is complete, a succession of smaller projects would connect the railway to longer distance services at Basingstoke, Clapham Junction, Old Oak Common, Reading and Waterloo stations.
There is a lot to like about the concept.
Construction
These points apply to the construction of the rail link.
- Much of the difficult construction work is probably inside the fence at Heathrow, creating the connection to Terminal 5 station.
- The problems of constructing on this route alongside the motorways, are probably well-known.
- The M25 could even be put in a tunnel, with the railway on top.
- The map in Modern Railways shows no tunnels except for the one to Terminal 5 and just three rail bridges.
- I doubt there would be much demolition of properties.
- Land take inside built-up areas would be minimal, with junctions outside of the towns and villages.
I feel that with good project management the railway could be built without disrupting existing rail services or road traffic.
Electrification
The route would be electrified with the following points applying.
- Heathrow Terminal 5 station is electrified at 25 KVAC overhead.
- Most of the lines South-West of Heathrow are electrified using 750 VDC third-rail.
- Modern trains like Crossrail’s Class 345 trains and Thameslink’s Class 700 trains can handle both systems.
- There is no electrification of existing railways.
- Electrification of any new railway could use third-rail, to be less visually intrusive.
I doubt there will be any problems with electrification.
Connectivity
The new link provides excellent connectivity to places like Basingstoke, Clapham Junction, Guildford, Paddington, Reading, Richmond, Waterloo, Windsor and Woking.
It also has excellent links to these services.
- Crossrail at Heathrow, Old Oak Common and Paddington.
- South Western Railway at Guildford, Waterloo and Woking.
- Chiltern and HS2 at Old Oak Common.
- Great Western Railway at Paddington and Reading.
The Heathrow Southern Railway is so much more than a link into Heathrow from the South and West.
South Western Railway
The new franchise for London and the South-West would appear to be ambitious and it has already decided to change its rather assorted suburban trains for a new fleet of Class 701 trains.
These new trains are from the same Aventra family as Crossrail’s Class 345 trains.
South Western Railway also has a common part-owner with Great Western Railway, which must mean that co-operation between the two operators is more likely, than a turf war about who runs services into Heathrow.
In some ways though, one of the biggest strengths of the Heathrow Southern Railway, is that it could take the pressure of the South West Main Line and allow some services to use Paddington instead of Waterloo as a terminus.
Heathrow’s Plans
Heathrow may get a third runway, but their plans do envisage a complete rebuilding of the airport into two main terminals; East and West, which would be served by all trains.
Whatever they do, one of Heathrow’s biggest problems is the pollution caused by the road traffic servicing the airport.
A comprehensive rail network stretching East and West of the airport, must surely help in reducing this pollution, by bringing more passengers, works and freight into the airport on electric trains.
Funding
Because of the possible returns on capital, I suspect that it would be very easy to finance privately.
Conclusion
It is definitely one of those projects, where by creating something a bit out of the ordinary, leads to lots of other worthwhile things.
Out Of The Mouths Of Brummies
The December 2016 Edition of Modern Railways has a special report on railways and trams in the West Midlands.
There are some choice quotes from those involved in planning the future of the rail network in the area.
On HS2
“It’ll be half an hour from Birmingham Interchange station to the Crossrail interchange at Old Oak Common. That means Birmingham Airport will be in London Zone 4, timewise.”
On Stations
“Nobody looks at their strategic value to the community”
On New Street Station
“The Birmingham New Street Gateway rebuilding has quadrupled the passenger circulation area in the station, but it hasn’t addressed the key issue of lack of track capacity”`
On Battery Power For Trams
“Since then there has been lots of work and we’re now comfortable that battery technology has advanced sufficiently for it to be viable.”
“Under test conditions with plain straight track a tram could travel 20 km catenary-free. In practice, this would be rather less for a fully laden tram ascending the 9% gradient on Penfold Street. The longest catenary-free run we’ve envisaged is around 2 km, and we’re comfortable we can achieve that”
On More Trams
“They will have to be bespoke to a degree in order to operate catenary-free, but the rail sector is embracing alternative technology and on-board energy store so we may be looking at something more advanced afain.”
Conclusion
It’s all upbeat and it looks like Birmingham is looking forward to the battery trams.
No-one mentioned the B-word!
The Anonymous Widower 