Through The Acton Dive-Under
As I left Ealing Broadway station to return to Paddington, it rather caught me by surprise and I only just got the camera out in time.
Hence the quality of the pictures.
Track Layout At West Ealing For The Greenford Branch Line
These pictures show the track layout, where the Greenford Branch Line leaves the Great Western Main Line.
The basic track layout is simple.
The track from the bay platform 5 in West Ealing station and a track that joins to the Up Slow Line through platform 4 come together in a short length of single track, that then splits again to form the double track of the Greenford Branch Line.
Whilst I was waiting on West Ealing station, a freight train came down the Down Slow Line and then through Platform 3 of the station, before going down the branch line. So there must be another crossover to allow trains to change tracks.
The pictures are described in detail as follows.
- The Greenford Branch Splits/Joins Outside West Ealing Station – The track to the left, goes to the bay platform 5.
- The Greenford Branch Changes From Single To Double Track At The Start Of The Branch – The branch is double-track until outside Greenford station.
- West Ealing Sidings To The Top-Left And The Greenford Branch To The Right – The Plasser site is in the middle.
- The Greenford Branch Joins The Great Western Main Line – The bay platform 5 is straight ahead.
I suspect that when the timetable changes in May, the track layout will be in its final form.
Changing At West Ealing Station
This morning I changed at West Ealing station onto the Greenford Branch Line, after taking one of the new Class 387 trains from Paddington, which now run at a frequency of two trains per hour (tph).
It was not the best of experiences.
My train arrived and I assumed that they would be a few minutes to allow me to get across from Platform 3 to Platform 5.
But by the time I got there, the train had long since left, so I had a twenty-seven minute wait on a draughty and cold platform.
GWR could do one of three things.
- Arrange the schedules, so that transferring passengers have time to catch the shuttle train.
- Put up a temporary shelter, until the new station is built.
- Run four tph on the Greenford Branch.
I wasn’t the only passenger, who was a bit fed up.
Drayton Green Station
Drayton Green station is the first station on the Greenford Branch Line.
I took these pictures of the station and the nearby bridge, this morning.
Note.
- The station is a tidy station, with shelters and information.
- There are gentle steps up and down from the nearby road bridge to access the two platforms.
- The station fits the current two-car Class 156 train, that works the branch.
I’ve seen far worse stations on my travels around the UK.
The Current Service
The current two trains per hour (tph) service is provided by a single two-car Class 156 train, that shuttles between bay platforms at West Ealing and Greenford stations.
Two trains could provide a four tph service.
Electrification
In an ideal world, the branch would be electrified.
- There is occasional freight traffic.
- It might serve as a diversion route.
- It might be a way of serving Old Oak Common station and the nearby depots.
- Crossrail will increase the number of passengers on the branch.
But to electrify the area around Drayton Green station could be expensive.
I’m no expert, but it does strike me, that not only is the bridge rather low, but also the parapets of the bridge certainly are.
So I suspect that electrification of the branch meeting all the regulations, would need an expensive new bridge, which would need several months of closure, with the resulting inconvenience to passengers.
But there is an alternative for passengers and that is to use electric trains with onboard energy storage to work the line.
Consider.
- Greenford station is electrified with 750 VDC third-rail electrification.
- West Ealing station is electrified with 25 KVAC electrification.
- Out and back is only 5.4 miles.
Or the current Class 156 train could continue until it fell to pieces.
As the branch is not busy, two two-car trains delivering a 4 tph service could be sufficient for some years.
But I very much feel that the operator and the passengers would prefer an modern electric train.
A Timelapse Video Of Ordsall Bridge Replacement Over Christmas 2016
I have created a post of this video, to make it easy to find.
I was pointed to the video from this page from Place North West.
Carluccio’s Goes Posh
Not my words, but that of the waiter.
It was a good quick breakfast.
The tea-pot certainly solves the dreaded tea-bag problem.
Passing The Completed Acton Dive-Under
I took these pictures as I passed the Acton Dive-Under going towards Paddington.
It looks substantially complete.
The dive-under is on the Slow Line into Paddington, soon after Ealing Broadway station.
It was a very clever piece of engineering to create the Acton Dive-Under in the middle of a working railway with trains passing on either side.
I’m certain, there are other places on the UK’s rail network, where a similar technique can be used to sort out places, where two rail lines need to cross each other.
Shuttling Between Greenford And West Ealing Stations
T took these pictures as my Class 165 train shuttled between Greenford station and the new bay platform at West Ealing station on the Greenford Branch Line.
It seemed to work very well, except for the signalling, which was generally on the blink on the Great Western Main Line, this morning.
I don’t think that GWR had been giving out their information well, about what was happening on the branch.
I met two passengers, who hadn’t heard it was a shuttle and one was surprised that she had to change to get to Paddington.
There was no-one to ask either and another passenger and myself gave the best information we knew or couple find.
The Future Of The Branch
It will be interesting to see what happens to the service on this branch.
This page from AlwaysTouchOut includes this.
The Greenford – Paddington half-hourly branch line service would be cut back to West Ealing to avoid conflicts with Crossrail services; however, to compensate for this, the frequency will be doubled to every 15 minutes with connections to Crossrail trains at West Ealing.
As each trip takes about twelve minutes, one train can do two out-and-back trips in an hour which explains the two trains per hour (tph) frequency for the shuttle.
To run four tph would require a second train.
- One train would start at Greenford and the other at West Ealing on the hour, at say XX:00.
- They would arrive at the other end at XX:12, before returning at XX:15.
- They would arrive at their start station at XX:27, before returning at XX:30..
- They would arrive at the other end at XX:42, before returning at XX:45.
- Finally, the trains would return to their start station at XX:57.
The process would go on all day.
There could be problems with such a service.
- Freight trains share use of the line and could sufficient paths be created in the timetable?
- The Class 165 trains are not of a modern design and would need to be updated with wi-fi and poossibly other features.
- Running longer than two-car trains could need platform lengthening at the intermediate stations.
One plan that has been mentioned on the Internet could be to handover the branch to London Overground, who would use two of their four-car Class 710 trains.
Consider.
- They are electric trains, but Bombardier have confirmed to me, that the trains are wired to be fitted with onboard energy storage.
- So they could charge their storage, whilst waiting in the bay platform at West Ealing station and travel back and forth on stored energy.
- The Class 710 electric trains would probably be faster than the current Class 165 diesel trains.
- Four electric tph would be a true Turn-Up-And-Go service and a powerful passenger magnet.
- They are too long for the platforms at Drayton Green, Castle Bar Park and South Greenford station, but selective door opening could be used.
- As the trains will be walk-through, passengers would move to an appropriate place to enter and exit the train.
I suspect too, that as Network Rail and Chiltern Railways have plans to use the Acton-Northolt Line to access a second Chiltern terminal at Old Oak Common station, that some innovative uses of the Greenford Branch Line might be suggested.
If two Class 710 trains did work the branch, it would be a doubled frequency and a four-fold increase in hourly capacity.
The Refurbishment Of Holland Park Tube Station
I stopped off at Holland Park tube station this morning, to take a look at the refurbishment.
The clocks would also seem to have had a makeover.
But there still seems some work to do!
The Refurbished Tottenham Court Road Tube Station
I took these pictures of the Central Line platforms at Tottenham Court Road tube station.
It does seem to me that it’s wider than it used to be.
The Anonymous Widower 