The Anonymous Widower

Up And Down The Gospel Oak To Barking Line

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been taking photographs of various parts of the Gospel Oak to Barking Line (GOBlin).

There would still seem to be a lot to do to restore the railway to operation as a non-electrified railway.

However, the National Rail on-line timetable is showing that from Monday, the 13th of February, 2013, a four trains per hour (tph) service will be working.

It is also worthwhile looking at Transport for London’s Track Closures Six Months Look Ahead. This is usually reliable and states the following.

There is no London Overground service between Gospel Oak and Barking until late February 2017. Replacement buses are running.

It also lists no substantial closures on the GOBlin in the next six months.

There is also this article on Global Rail News, which is entitled Electrification of London Overground’s Gospel Oak-Barking line 80% complete.

These various statements and my pictures could point to a coherent interim set of objectives.

An Interim Set Of Objectives

Both Transport for London and Network Rail will want to get the line open for the following trains as soon as possible.

  • Engineering trains to support the finish of the electrification and station works.
  • Diesel-hauled freight trains.
  • Restoration of the four tph passenger service using the two-car Class 172 trains.

It could be that from the point of view of the electrification, the engineering trains are the most important.

So what will need to be done to meet these interim objectives.

Hopefully, the line will reopen to passenger traffic before the end of February 2017. But no-one would complain, if it happened earlier.

Finishing The Project

Once the limited objectives are met and trains are running, the following will need to be done to complete the modernisation.

  • The completion of platform lengthening, as at Harringay Green Lanes station.
  • Erection of the missing gantries.
  • Installation and testing of the overhead wires.

All of these tasks , can probably be done alongside of the working railway, as similar work has been done on the North and East London Lines and Crossrail.

The contractors will have the following advantages.

  • The track and signalling will be complete.
  • It can probably be arranged that overnight very few trains will use the line.
  • They will have a working double-track railway to bring in supplies and specialist rail-mounted equipment.
  • No electric trains will need to run on the line.
  • They will soon have light evenings in which to work.

If they can fit construction around the passenger service, everybody will benefit.

Handling Regenerative Braking

 

Little has been said about regenerative braking on the GOBlin.

I think, it will be likely, that the Class 710 trains will be able to use regenerative braking on the line, as it typically saves around 20% of the energy required to drive a train.

In Class 710 Trains And Regenerative Braking, I discussed the issues.

I came to the conclusion, that it is highly likely, that onboard energy storage will be used to handle regenerative braking on the Class 710 trains and thus the method would be used on the GOBlin.

As the prototype Aventra is now being tested, any design issues of handling braking energy will probably be resolved soon.

But prudence probably dictates that regenerative braking with batteries must be shown to work before the electrification design is finalised.

So could this explain, the delay in putting up the overhead wires?

Handling Regenerative Braking For Freight Trains

This is more complicated, as the freight locomotives on the UK network are not the most modern units.

I’m not sure, but the Class 92 could probably work the route using rheostatic braking.

Conclusion

I think that this project has been planned to open up a non-electrified railway before the end of February 2017.

This probably gives least disruption to all of the stakeholders.

  • Passengers get a four tph service.
  • Freight operators can run trains through under diesel haulage.
  • A route for engineering trains is maintained to assist in the finishing of the line.

But also by delaying the electrification, they can make sure they incorporate all of the lessons learned by the test running of the Class 345 trains.

Some might think it’s a bit of a dog’s breakfast, but in truth, it could be some very clever project management, which has minimised the closure of the line.

 

January 20, 2017 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , | 2 Comments

Laura Kuenssberg On The Southern Rail Dispute

This article on the BBC by Laura Kuenssberg is entitled The politics behind the Southern rail dispute.

It is a must-read for everyone who uses trains to get to and from work or for important journeys.

This is said.

One former senior minister tells me that “successive secretaries of state” in charge at Transport have wanted to “get rid of guards on trains”. The ambition is to bring down the cost of rail travel for the tax payer and the train passenger.

With that considered to be a long term ambition, it’s no surprise that the RMT, the only union that represents guards, wants to fight this every step of the way. Union sources deny it, but it’s suggested that they have dug in in this dispute, because if they lose it, they also lose a big chunk of their industrial muscle.

If there have to be guards on trains, a strike works if they walk out. If services can run with drivers on their own, their power to disrupt would be reduced. It’s worth noting that the RMT has more than 80,000 members, nearly ten times as many as the drivers’ union, ASLEF. It’s ASLEF that has agreed to meet Southern for talks tomorrow.

So like it or not the traditional guard is going the way of the dinosaurs.

Can rail passengers and  hard-pressed tax-payers afford to pay for a vanity job, which if abolished would result in no loss of employment, but as Laura points out, a considerable loss of industrial muscle.

It is interesting to look at the future in the shape of Merseyrail’s new trains, that I wrote about in Thoughts On Merseyrail’s New Trains.

  • The trains will be designed to fit the platforms for step-free entry and exit for all passengers.
  • The trains will be designed for as high a level of passenger safety as possible.
  • The trains will have a high degree of automation.
  • Automatic Train Operation may be implemented in the Loop Line under Liverpool.

The trains will be designed for Driver Only Operation. This article on the BBC, which is entitled Merseyrail driver-only trains: RMT sets guards decision deadline.

This is said.

A train operator has two weeks to give “cast-iron” assurances that guards will be retained or risk dispute, rail union RMT has said.

I have a feeling that Merseyrail have been cunning here and that as it is three years before the trains run, natural wastage and other factors, will mean that the second men and women on the trains by 2020, will be running under new contracts.

Liverpudlians like a good fight and I have a feeling that in this dispute the RMT and its guards will be severely outnumbered.

January 20, 2017 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , | Leave a comment

Surrey Has A Budget Crisis

This article on the BBC is entitled Conservative-led Surrey County Council plans 15% council tax hike.

This is said.

A Conservative-run council wants to raise its tax by 15% in the next financial year, blaming government cuts and increased demand for social care.

Surrey County Council leader David Hodge said the government had cut its annual grant by £170m since 2010.

Surrey definitely has a budget crisis.

An old friend of mine was a senior executive in a FTSE-listed mining and resources company.

We were having lunch and he said that of all the areas in the UK, Surrey was the most likely to find a sizeable oil-field.

He also said, that Oil Exploration would be transformed if there was a Local Extraction Tax.

So why aren’t Surrey encouraging the Oil Companies to foind the black gold to pay for all those services that the County needs?

In fact, if you type “fracking Surrey” into Google, you’ll find nothing but hostility..

After all they’ve already found one sizeable field recently at Horse Hill, as I wrote about inThe Oil Find That Will Settle The Result Of The Election.

I’m afraid, you can’t have your cake and eat it!

January 20, 2017 Posted by | Health, World | , | Leave a comment