Moving Football From Hampden To Murrayfield Is Vandalism
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Scotsman.
I’m not bothered, as I doubt, I’ll ever go to Scotland to watch an important Scottish football match, that would be played at their National Stadium.
But, I have been to Hampden Park before.
I was there fifty years ago, when Spurs and Celtic drew 3-3 in the Glasgow Cup. I also suspect that the 91,000 plus crowd was the largest, I’ve ever been part of.
And I was at Hampden to see the athletics in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
I have no view on the historic aspects of the possible move, except that there might be an economic case.
And I also note, France, the Republic of Ireland and Wales all have a stadium, that is shared between football and rugby.
But then Germany and Italy don’t have a national stadium for football.
I can see another big argument between Edinburgh and Glasgow on this decision.
Other the last decade though, transport links between and to and from Scotland’s two major cities have changed.
- There have been extensions to the road network across Scotland.
- The rail lines are being electrified and new higher-capacity Class 385 trains are being delivered.
- Passenger numbers at both Glasgow and Edinburgh Airports have grown.
So at least getting to either stadium is becoming easier.
It will be a difficult decision to call.
Grimshaw Working On New Eden Project In Morecambe
The title of this post is the same as that of this article in the Architect’s Journal.
The Eden Project in Morecambe does seem to have the look of a serious project.
Braintree Freeport Station
These pictures show Braintree Freeport station on the Braintree Branch.
Note.
- There is one platform that can accommodate an eight-car formation of two Class 321 trains, so it must be at least 160 metres long.
- The platform is used in both directions.
- Like much of the electrification on the Great Eastern Main Line and its branches, it is not in the first flush of youth and some parts had evidence of repair.
- The station information could be better, but that is a problem on a lot of Greater Anglia’s smaller stations.
- The route to the Braintree Freeport Shopping Centre is about four hundred metres and not too taxing.
I suspect that a bit more TLC would improve this station.
But will the electrification on the Braintree Branch be replaced in the near future?
The New Class 720 Trains
I went to Braintree Freeport station in an eight-car formation of two Class 321 trains, which weren’t by any means full.
In Comparing Greater Anglia’s Old And New Electric Multiple Units, I said this.
Given that the Class 720 is a modern train, designed with passengers, staff and operators in mind, I can’t see any problems with replacing the current eight-car trains with a five-car Class 720 train
I also suspect that if required, an extra car could be added to make six-car trains with a length of 146 metres, that would be shorter than an eight-car Class 321 train. .
If a single Class 720 train isn’t enough capacity for the Braintree Branch, then by adding a passing loop at Cressing station, the frequency of trains on the branch can be doubled, which could attract more passengers to the route.
Could the Braintree Branch Have The Electrification Removed?
This may seem like a retrograde step, but consider the following.
- I’m fairly certain, that the Class 720 trains, which are Aventras have been designed to use batteries to handle regenerative braking and the trains have a useful range on battery power.
- The Braintree Branch is only six miles long.
- The electrification will have to be replaced or upgraded in the next few years.
- Building the loop at Cressing station without electrification would be a cost saving.
- There are no other services on the branch, except the occasional diesel-hauled engineering train.
- The batteries would be charged between Liverpool Street and Witham stations.
I would be very surprised, if removing the electrification and using battery power is not being considered.
Conclusion
New Class 720 trains with a battery capability and the addition of a passing loop at Cressing station would improve the Braintree Branch line.
Comparing Greater Anglia’s Old And New Electric Multiple Units
Currently, Greater Anglia has the following electric multiple units, which will be replaces by new Class 720 trains.
- 68 x 4 car trains
- Length 79.32 metres.
- 100 mph operating speed.
- Acceleration of 0.55 metre per second²
- No regenerative braking
- Capacity – 260/290 seats.
- First Class section
Note the acceleration seems to be standard for all BR EMUs
- 104 x 4 car trains
- Length 79.8 metres.
- 100 mph operating speed.
- Acceleration of 0.55 metre per second²
- Regenerative braking can be fitted.
- Capacity – 309 seats.
- First Class section
Thirty trains are being upgraded to the Class 321 Renatus
- 21 x 4 car trains
- Length 81.36 metres.
- 100 mph operating speed.
- Acceleration of 0.98 metre per second²
- Regenerative braking.
- Capacity – 280 seats.
- First Class section
These are the specifications of the two lengths of new Class 720 trains.
Class 720 Train – Five Car
89 x 5-car trains
Length 122 metres
Capacity – 544 seats and 145 standing.
Class 720 Train – Ten Car
22 x 10-car trains
Length 243 metres
Capacity – 1145 seats and 290 standing.
All trains will have the following.
- 100 mph operating speed.
- Acceleration of 1 metre per second²
- Regenerative Braking (Using batteries?)
- No First Class section.
Also, these trains are modern trains will all the features passengers, staff and train operators need and desire.
How Do Old And New Trains Compare?
Ten-Car Class 720 Trains
Note that these trains are just over 240 metres long, which is conveniently the length of three Class 321 or Class 360 trains.
When the order for the Class 720 trains was announced, this was said to have been a design criteria.
So will the twenty-one Class 360 trains, which regularly run as twelve-car trains be replaced by seven Class 720 trains?
- There will be 1145 seats in the new trains, as opposed to 840 in the old.
- There will be a Universal Access Toilet and three other toilets in the new trains, as opposed to a Universal Access Toilet in each train.
- The new trains won’t have any First Class.
- The new trains will be walk-through, with no intermediate cabs.
- Operating speed and acceleration appears to be almost the same.
- The new trains will have a lot more of the things passengers need.
It appears, that everybody could be a winner.
- Passengers have 36 % more seats and better facilities.
- On-board staff can handle the whole train without needing to get off to reach the other trains.
- Network Rail won’t need to do much work to prepare for the new trains, as they fit the current platforms.
- Maintenance of one train instead of three must be easier and less costly.
Most of these arguments also apply to replacing a three-train formation of Class 321 trains, which would give a capacity increase of 24 % more seats.
But there is one big difference.
The acceleration of Class 720 trains is nearly twice that of a Class 321 train, so there could be time savings on routes like Southend and ones with a higher number of stopss.
Destinations which the new ten-car trains from Liverpool Street station could serve include, with current frequencies in train per hour (tph)
- Bishop’s Stortford
- Cambridge – One tph
- Cambridge North – One tph
- Clacton – One tph
- Colchester
- Ipswich – One tph
- Norwich
- Southend – Three tph
With the current services and the timetable improvements, the new trains would bring could mean the following trains would be needed for
- Cambridge – 2 trains for 1 tph
- Cambridge North – 3 trains for 1 tph
- Clacton – 3 trains for 1 tph
- Ipswich – 2 trains for 1 tph
- Southend – 8 trains for 4 tph
This is a total of eighteen trains, which would mean ideas like extending some of the Ipswich services to Norwich are possible.
One of the beauties of modern train design, is that lengthening and shortening trains is a relatively easy process, that was invented by Lego and refined by Microsoft with Plug-and-Play!
Five-Car Class 720 Trains Replacing The Current Eight-Car Services
Some destinations like Braintree, Colchester Town, Harwich, Kings Lynn and Walton-on-the-Naze can’t accommodate the current twelve car trains, so they can’t be served by new ten-car Class 720 trains.
So how does a five-car Class 720 train compare with two Class 321 or 360 trains working as an eight-car train.
- There will be 544 seats and 146 standees in a five-car Class 720 train.
- There will be 560 seats in an eight-car formation of Class 360 trains.
- There will be 618 seats in an eight-car formation of Class 321 trains.
- There will be about 440 seats in an eight-car formation of Class 317 trains
- The new trains are 122 metres long, whereas the current eight-car trains are 160 metres long.
- All trains have a 100 mph operating speed.
- The Class 720 and 360 trains have an acceleration of around 1 metre per second², whereas the acceleration of a Class 321 train is only 0.55 metre per second².
Given that the Class 720 is a modern train, designed with passengers, staff and operators in mind, I can’t see any problems with replacing the current eight-car trains with a five-car Class 720 train.
I also suspect that if required, an extra car could be added to make six-car trains with a length of 146 metres, that would be shorter than an eight-car Class 321 train.
Five-Car Class 720 Trains Replacing The Current Four-Car Services
There is only one electric service on Greater Anglia, that needs to be run using a four-car train and that is the service between Wickford to Southminster stations on the Crouch Valley Line.
Under Infrastructure in the |Wikipedia entry for the Crouch Valley Line, this is said.
Only Wickford and South Woodham Ferrers have platforms long enough to accommodate 12-coach trains, while each of the other stations on the line can accommodate eight coaches, though services on the line are typically only formed of four carriages due to the short terminus platforms at Wickford being able to only accommodate one four car unit.
So it would appear that the platform at Wickford station needs to be lengthened!
Or does it?
I’ve read that Greater Anglia plan to run four tph between Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria stations, so trains will pass through Wickford station in both directions every fifteen minutes.
Helpfully, both services seem curently to be in the station at the same time.
So if this happens after the fourth train is added to the schedule, there will be a fifteen minute window, where there is no train movements at Wickford station.
So instead of using the current platform, a five-car Class 720 train could stop in one of the main platforms to discharge and pick-up passengers.
Hopefully, the better acceleration of the Class 720 trains could be able to run along the branch in well under thirty minutes to allow a genuine two tph service, as opposed to the current difficult timetable of a train every forty minutes.
Greater Anglia does run other four-car trains at times, but surely running a five-car train wouldn’t really matter and it may attract more passengers.
Conclusion
Greater Anglia seem to have made a good choice of train size.
Freedoming – Freeport Braintree Shopping Centre
Freeport Braintree has its own Braintree Freeport station.
Judging by my journey today, it is not as successful as Bicester Village and it hasn’t been discovered by the Chinese Shopping Army.
But I was able to get there for £7.65 by buying a ticket with my Senior Railcard from the Freedom Pass forward operating base of Shenfield station.
I should say, you can get to Shenfield station at any time with a Freedom Pass, but you must use TfL services like TfL Rail, or buy an extension ticket from Zone 6.
These pictures show the Shopping Centre.
It didn’t seem to be as busy as I expected for a Bank Holiday Monday, but the Centre is very typical of this type of shopping attration.
Do they come in flatpacks from IKEA?
Passenger numbers for stations in the area in 2016-2017 were as follows.
- Braintree – 788,000
- Braintree Freeport – 82,698
- Cressing – 33,176
- White Notley – 10,552
- Witham – 2,344,000
Bicester Village station by comparison gets 1,311,000 passengers.
Would More Trains Help?
The Braintree Freeport station only gets one train in each direction per hour.
Would more trains help?
Network Rail are looking at the possibility of a passing loop at Cressing, which would allow a doubling of frequency.
But if the current trains aren’t that busy on one of the premium hopping days of the year, I have my doubts.
Will The New Trains Help?
New trains often do help increase visitors to a town, city or attraction.
But I do wonder if a lot of the customers come from the North of Braintree and to get there from the major towns and cities of Cambridge, Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich means a change of train at Witham, where the main East Anglian expresses don’t stop.
So they drive! Or take the train to London!
Conclusion
The train passenger statistics tell the truth and they should be watched.
If they rise substantially and the new trains fill up, then perhaps that passing loop at Cressing should be built!
Thoughts On The Morecambe Bay Eden Project
When the BBC reported this on Friday, they got a generally good reaction from the local residents they interviewed.
Articles in the Guardian and The Times have been positive, with support from local and national politicians and other worthies. The Times too, has extensive positive comments from readers.
For a project like this to be built, let alone be successful, it needs to have this sort of response on the first day.
It is a project that obviously touches a happy nerve, sirs memories or just ticks all the right boxes with lots of people.
So where will the Eden Project be built?
This Google Map shows the town of Morecambe and psart of the coast and bay to the North of the town.
Nothing has been said about the location, but there would appear to be plenty of space.
I’ve only ever been to Morecambe once, when I visited the town on my trek to visit all 92 English football clubs to raise money for pancreatic cancer research at Liverpool University. My brief visit to Morecambe is described in 92 Clubs – Day 21 – Milton Keynes, Morecambe, Newcastle. This was my initial comment on the town.
The town was a bit of a surprise, as I thought it would be like Blackpool only smaller. It is smaller, but it is in much better state than its larger resort down the coast. You wouldn’t see anything as tasteful as this on a roundabout in Blackpool.
My previous visit was very much a quickie, as I had to continue to Newcastle.
The Eden Project By Train
On their web site, the Eden Project, says this about getting to their Cornish attraction by train.
We are just a few miles from St Austell railway station, which is on the main line from London Paddington and is well served by buses to Eden. You could also take the train to Luxulyan, Bugle or Par, for a more scenic journey or to continue your trip on foot or bike.
They also give a discount for visitors that arrive by public transport. As they should!
If I was going, I’d take the Night Riviera to St. Austell and then use a bus to the Eden Project from the bus station at St. Austell station to complete the journey.
The Proposed Morecambe Eden Project By Train
So how would getting to the proposed Eden Project at Morecambe compare?
In Getting To The Proposed Morecambe Eden Project By Train, I laid out how a large zero-carbon rail system could develop around Morecambe.
I also concluded that journeys to and from Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, London and Manchester, could be made zero-carbon.
How cool is that?
Freedoming – Hertford East Station
Getting to Hertford East station cost me £5.80.
Wikipedia says this about the station.
The station was listed in 1974 as a Grade II* listed building; in 1996 the buffer stop lights on platform one were separately listed in their own right.
Sadly, I didn’t photograph the buffer stops.
Capacity Of The Station
One of my reasons for going to Hertford East station was to look at the capacity of the station.
I always feel that a single platform can handle four trains per hour (tph), as this regularly happens on the Overground.
So Hertford East station should be able to handle at least four tph.
But unfortunately, there is a single platform station at Ware on the way to the West Anglia Main Line.
So this probably explains why Hertford East doesn’t have a four tph service to London.
Freedoming – Bebo Cafe In Hertford
I had gone to Hertford East station to take a few photographs of the West Anglia Main Line on the way and check a few things.
Finding myself in a town, I only knew vaguely, I walked towards the centre and found the Bebo Cafe.
It describes itself as a Gourmet Cafe and Coffee … on its incomplete web site.
I think it fills that bill.
Especially, as the very nice sandwich I had, was made on gluten-free bread.
I shall return!
Freedoming
Over the last couple of weeks, I have been asked out to lunch, coffee or a drink by several old and new friends, who live in towns and cities outside of London’s Zone 6 boundary.
I have also visited several places for my own purposes.
The Zone 6 boundary is important, as I can travel there using my Freedom Pass.
So to get to these towns, I need to buy an extension ticket from the Zone 6 boundary.
Some of these are extremely good value if you use a Senior Railcard,
- Bishops Stortford – £7.00
- Hertford East – £5.80
- Uckfield – £9.25
- Woking – £5.35
These prices are all for Off Peak Day Returns.
What Are My Objectives?
I am not really sure at the moment, but I do like travel, good food, visiting museums and galleries, looking at old and modern engineering.
So it may just be a load of old rubbish, but it will also be fun!
Class 700 Trains Don’t Have Destination Boards On The Side
I was intending to go between St. Pancras and London Bridge stations, so as I was close to the Thameslink platforms, I decided to use London’s hidden North-South link.
As I approached the platform, I saw a train had just arrived and it would either be going via London Bridge or Elephant & Castle stations.
So I looked on the side of the train for a destination board, which is present on many trains in the UK.
But there wasn’t one!
Luckily, a station man was on the platform and I asked him. He said it was a Rainham train, which meant it was via London Bridge.
So it was a train I wanted and I duly boarded, after taking this picture.
As Thameslink is a complicated route, surely there should be displays on the side saying things like.
- Rainham via London Bridge and Greenwich
- Brighton via Gatwick Airport
- Cambridge via Finsbury Park
- Sevenoaks via Elephant & Castle
It would make boarding safer and quicker, if all trains had details on their sides.
I know there are excellent displays on the platform, but I couldn’t see one from where I stood.
The Anonymous Widower 