The Anonymous Widower

A Branch Line For Ludgershall

In the Wikipedia entry for Andover station, this is said under Future.

The new open-access operator Go! Cooperative has proposed operating a light rail service from Andover using the branch line to Ludgershall.

This sounds like another branch line that could work under Zwickau rules.

• Single track with no passing loop.
• Single self-powered train, like a Class 172 train providing a two trains per hour service.
• Simple one platform stations, with step-free level access to the train.
• Slow speed with train warning devices like horns and lights and good driver lookout.
• Standard railway signalling.

Note.

1. There would appear to be a disused platform at Andover station.
2. Trains with onboard energy storage couldn’t be used, as Andover isn’t electrified.
3. The route might be an ideal trial for a Class 230 train.
4. In Zwickau, the train goes through parkland, the town centre and across full-barrier level crossings.
5. In Zwickau, pedestrians and cyclists can cross the tracks, just like they can cross the Blackpool Tramway or the London Tramlink.
6. The Zwickau trains have a driver and conductor, as is normal on German trains.
7. Rules would have to be developed for the Army to move in their tanks by train on the branch.

You might argue that we’ve used Zwickau rules in the UK on some branch lines for years.

But, usually branch lines are worked using some ancient diesel multiple unit with these characteristics.

• Bad driver visibility.
• Inadequate warning systems.
• Poor passenger comfort.
• Terrible access from station to train.

The train at Zwickau is a standard Stadler diesel multiple unit of a modern design, with large windows and a few extra orange lights and warning devices.

But because it is a standard train, once it joins the main railway, it can speed under normal train rules along a convenient route to an important terminus, some distance away.

Off the main line, all it needs is a single-track railway and one platform stations.

Advantages

The Zwickau approach has several advantages.

• Virtually standard train with a few extra features.
• No electrification.
• Single-track with no passing loops.
• Standard railway signalling.
• Single platform stations aligned for step-free access.
• No station footbridges.
• Pedestrians and cyclists cross the line, as they would a tramway.

Perhaps the biggest advantage is that the same train runs under normal railway rules on a heavy rail line and then can switch to slow running under tram rules on a branch or perhaps an extension to a town centre station.

Disadvantages

There are a couple of drawbacks.

• Train must be a modern design with extra safety features, like lights and warning devices.
• Train must be self-powered; diesel or onboard energy storage.
• Network Rail don’t like pedestrians and cyclists crossing the tracks willy-nilly.

If the train is a modern design with good driver visibility, then the risks associated with last point are probably minimised, or at least reduced to the level of a well-designed and run tramway.

February 8, 2017 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Ludgershall Station, new s