Discontinuous Electrification Through Leicester Station
Leicester station is an important station on the Midland Main Line
- Leicester is an urban area of half a million people.
- All of East Midlands Railway Intercity services call as they pass through the station.
- Leicester station is only sixteen miles North of the end of the Southern electrification at Market Harborough station.
- Birmingham New Street is 40 miles away.
- Clay Cross North Junction is 50 miles away.
- Derby is 29 miles away.
- East Midlands Parkway is 19 miles away.
- Long Eaton is 21 miles away.
- Nottingham is 27 miles away.
- Peterborough is 52 miles away.
- Sheffield is 66 miles away.
A sensible decision would probably be to extend the electrification from Market Harborough to a few miles North of Leicester, so that battery-electric trains could reach all the places in the above list.
Unfortunately, the following about the bridge at the Southern end of Leicester station, must be noted.
- The bridge doesn’t have sufficient clearance for electrification and would need to be rebuilt.
- It carries the main A6 road to London over the railway.
- The station building also spans the railway lines.
- To complicate matters, there is an important sewer either in or under the bridge.
This Google Map shows the bridge and the Southern end of the station.
It looks to me, that Leicester station and the road, would have to be closed to traffic for some time, if the bridge were to be rebuilt, to allow the erection of electrification through the area.
A solution could be discontinuous electrification.
- The electrification from the South, would finish on the South side of bridge.
- The electrification from the North, would finish in Leicester station.
- Electric trains would cover the gap of a few hundred metres on battery power.
Pantographs could be raised and lowered, where the wires exist.
- On the North side of the bridge, this could be in Leicester station, whilst passengers are getting off and on the train.
- On the South side of the bridge, this could be as far South as Market Harborough, which is sixteen miles away.
The other big problem area of electrification on the Midland Main Line is North of Derby, where the railway runs through the World Heritage Site of the Derwent Valley Mills. There might be serious opbjections to electrification in this area.
- But if electrification were to be installed between Leicester and Derby stations, the following would be possible.
- The Midland Main Line would be electrified at East Midlands Hub station.
- Power could be taken from High Speed Two’s supply at East Midland Hub station.
- Battery-electric trains could do a return trip to Nottingham from an electrified East Midlands Parkway, as it’s only sixteen miles in total.
- Battery-electric trains could reach the High Speed Two spur into Sheffield at Clay Cross from Derby, as it’s only twenty-one miles.
I am assuming, that Hitachi’s Class 810 trains will have range of over fifty miles on battery power, which fits with Hitachi’s statements.
Conclusion
Discontinuous electrification and batteries on trains can solve the problem of electrification through Leicester station.
Also. electric trains could run between London and Sheffield, if the following were done.
- The Class 810 trains were to be given a range of twenty-five miles
- Electrification were to be erected between Leicester and Derby stations.
- Electrification were to be erected between Sheffield and Clay Cross Junction, as required by High Speed Two.
The electrification could be brought forward, to bring Sheffield early benefits of High Speed Two.
South Korea Is On The Hunt For An Overseas Hydrogen Production Location
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
It is an interesting article, which talks about how both South Korea and Japan are looking to source hydrogen from another country and how Australia is in prime position.
This Wikipedia entry, which is entitled Energy In South Korea, has this breakdown of electricity production in South Korea.
- Thermal – 65.3%
- Nuclear – 31.1%
- Hydro – 1.6%
- Other – 2%
Note that at the time of writing the UK is producing 39.0% of electricity from renewables and 15.9% from low-carbon sources.
Consider.
- As South Korea imports a lot of liquified natural gas and has no oil or gas resources of its own, importing hydrogen is just replacing a carbon-dioxide producing fuel with a zero-carbon one, that is produced from renewables.
- Other than Australia, other possible sources of hydrogen mentioned include Saudi Arabia and the United States, but is their hydrogen produced from renewables or steam-reforming of methane?
- I suspect another could be South Africa, as they can develop a lot of wind power around the Cape.
I think we’ll see more countries going down the same route as Japan and South Korea and importing large quantities of hydrogen.
- Countries with lots of renewables like geothermal, hydro, solar and wind will benefit.
- Countries with plenty of gas can use steam-reforming to create hydrogen.
But surely, the biggest beneficiaries will be world-class companies, like ITM Power in Rotherham, who build electrolysers.
The Big Metro Fleet Upgrade That Could Make It ‘Easy’ To Finally Extend Train Services To New Areas
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Newcastle Chronicle.
This is the first paragraph.
Every train in Metro’s new fleet will be capable of running via an on-board battery, reducing the chance of major shutdowns and making it much cheaper to extend the network.
The fact that it is technically possible, is not a surprise as Stadler’s Class 777 trains for Merseyrail will be using battery power to extend routes. I would be very surprised if the new Tyne and Wear Metro trains and those for Merseyrail, didn’t have a lot of design in common.
But what is surprising, is that the Tyne and Wear Metro’s whole fleet will be fitted with batteries. This must be the first time in the UK, that a whole fleet of trains has been said to have batteries.
The Merseyrail trains will also have a dual voltage capability and will be able to be modified for running on 25 KVAC overhead electrification, as well as 750 VDC third-rail electrification.
Will the Tyne and Wear trains be able to use 25 KVAC electrification? It could be useful in some places on the network and I’m sure, if there was a financial case for a service using existing 25 KVAC electrification, then some trains would be modified accordingly.
A Quick Comparison
This is a quick comparison between Merseyrail’s Class 777 trains and the Tyne and Wear Metro’s new trains.
- Cars – 777 – 4 – T&W – 5
- Operating Speed – 777 – 75 mph – T&W – 50 mph
- Capacity – 484 – T&W – 600
- Capacity Per Car – 121 – T&W – 125
- In Service – 2022 (?) – T&W – 2024
They are not that different and it looks like the Tyne and Wear trains will be built after the Merseyrail trains.
Battery Running
The article says this about running on battery power.
He said the 16km off-wire running would allow for a new loop extending out from South Hylton, through Washington, connecting back to Pelaw.
He added that it would be “easy” to create new connections between existing Metro lines – potentially allowing for a new route through Silverlink and the Cobalt business park in North Tyneside, or a link-up from South Shields towards Sunderland.
Battery power would also solve the problem of running Metro trains on Network Rail lines, which is currently impossible because they operate at different voltages.
Mr Blagburn said: “You could remove the electrification from the complex parts of the route, say over historic structures or through tunnels.
Note.
- The range of sixteen kilometres or ten miles could be very useful.
- The trains appear to be designed to run on Network Rail tracks, as the current trains already do.
- The current trains use the Karlsruhe model to effectively work as tram-trains on shared tracks.
I actually believe that the new Tyne and Wear trains could be modified to run on both 25 KVAC and 750 VDC overhead electrification, as Stadler’s Class 399 tram-trains do in Sheffield.
Conclusion
These trains are using all Stadler’s experience of trains and tram-trains from all over the world.
- They will normally operate using 750 VDC overhead electrification.
- But Stadler have the technology to enable the trains for 25 KVAC overhead electrification, if required.
- They have a range of ten miles on batteries.
- Are the batteries charged by using the energy created by the regenerative braking?
These are not bog-standard trains!
But then neither are the trains built for Greater Anglia by Stadler!
The Definitive High Speed Two Route Map
This map is shown on the High Speed Two web site.
The map shows how it links to other routes.
- High Speed Two joins the West Coast Main Line at Crewe and South of Wigan.
- High Speed Two uses a route via Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent to serve Macclesfield.
- High Speed Two uses the current Crewe and Liverpool route to serve Runcorn and Liverpool.
- High Speed Two to Manchester Piccadilly share tracks with Northern Powerhouse Rail between Liverpool and Manchester Piccadilly via Warrington and Manchester Airport.
- High Speed Two uses the loop around Crewe to Wigan to serve North West England and Scotland.
- High Speed Two joins the East Coast Main Line South of York, to serve York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle.
- High Speed Two joins the Midland Main Line at Clay Cross North Junction to serve Chesterfield and Sheffield.
- High Speed Two has connections to Midlands Rail Engine at Birmingham, Crewe and East Midlands Hub.
- High Speed Two has connections to Northern Powerhouse Rail at Liverpool, Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly, Sheffield and Leeds.
Crossrail Parts Company With Costain Skanska At Bond Street
The title of this post, is the same as that on this article on Construction Enquirer.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Costain/Skanska joint venture’s troubled Crossrail contract at Bond Street Station has been ended early.
It appears to be a mutual decision and in my opinion such a decision is very rare, especially as Costain/Skanska’s other project at Paddington station seems to be progressing as expected.
Could it be that the architects designed a project that was unbuildable? Or one where the architects didn’t think about the project management needed to build it?
High Speed Two To The North West Of England
This map clipped from the High Speed Two web site, shows High Speed Two routes in the North West of England.
Note.
- When shown in orange, High Speed Two will use new tracks.
- When shown in blue, High Speed Two will use existing tracks.
- New stations are shown as large blue dots.
- High Speed Two and the West Coast Main Line appear to share a corridor through Crewe, before dividing near Walley’s Green.
- High Speed Two loops to the East of the West Coast Main Line and rejoins it South of Wigan between Bryn Gates and Abram Brow.
The route will or might serve the following stations in North West England.
Blackpool North
Blackpool North station is not planned to be served by High Speed Two.
But the station has been recently rebuilt.
- It has a number of platforms, that are capable of handling 200 metre long classic-compatible High Speed Two trains.
- The route to High Speed Two at Preston is fully electrified.
- In a couple of years, it will be connected to Blackpool’s expanding tramway.
- Blackpool would welcome High Speed Two with open arms.
Blackpool North would be an ideal extra destination, if more trains were to be split and joined at Crewe.
But whatever happens, I believe that high speed commuter trains will run from Blackpool North.
- Blackpool and Manchester Piccadilly via Preston, Wigan North Western, Warrington Bank Quay and Manchester Airport.
- Blackpool and Derby via Preston, Wigan North Western, Warrington Bank Quay, Crewe and Stoke-on-Trent.
Blackpool North has the platforms and electrification and it will be used.
Carlisle
Carlisle station is a through station on the current Glasgow service and can handle a nine-car Class 390 train which is over 210 metres long, which means they can handle a 200 metre long, classic-compatible High Speed Two train.
But two tph will be 400 metre London Euston and Edinburgh/Glasgow trains, so platform lengthening will probably be required.
There will be the following trains.
- Birmingham Curzon Street and Carlisle – I tph – 118 minutes
- London Euston and Carlisle – 2 tph – 154 minutes.
After any necessary platform lengthening, Carlisle will be ready and waiting for High Speed Two and will be reached in Phase 1 of the project.
The High Speed Two web site, says Carlisle will be reached in Phase 2b, but as Edinburgh and Glasgow are part of Phase 1, this must be a mistake.
Crewe
Crewe station is at the bottom of the map, just to the right of centre.
The station gets this introduction on this page of the High Speed Two web site.
HS2 services will call at Crewe, where passengers will be able to access the high speed network heading south. Journey times to London will be cut to under an hour. Macclesfield, Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent will also receive HS2 services, spreading the benefits of better connectivity.
The page also says that between five and seven trains per hour (tph) will call at Crewe.
Lancaster
Lancaster station is a through station on the current Glasgow service and can handle a nine-car Class 390 train which is over 210 metres long, which means they can handle a 200 metre long, classic-compatible High Speed Two train.
Lancaster will also be a terminus of 200 metre long classic-compatible High peed Two train from London Euston, so there may need to be refurbishment to handle the larger, if not longer train.
The use of Lancaster as a terminus, would appear to have the following advantages.
- The platform is already there.
- Using Lancaster as a terminal, may reduce the scope of works at Carlisle and Preston.
- The one tph service from London Euston is effectively a High Speed Northern stopper between Lancaster and Crewe, with calls at Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western and Preston stations.
- Lancaster has connections to Barrow-in-Furness, Heysham Port and Morecambe and the scenic Cumbrian Coast and Settle-Carlisle Lines.
- Paces like Barrow-in-Furness. Morecambe and a host of other stations, should save forty-three minutes on journeys to and from London.
I think that Lancaster, is a good place to terminate a service in the North-West of England.
There will be the following trains.
- Birmingham Curzon Street and Lancaster – I tph – 65 minutes
- London Euston and Lancaster – 1 tph – 101 minutes.
After the necessary refurbishment, Lancaster will be ready and waiting for High Speed Two and will be reached in Phase 2b of the project.
But I do feel that Lancaster could be reached in Phase 1 of the project, if necessary works North of Preston and at Lancaster station were planned as an independent project.
Liverpool Lime Street
Liverpool Lime Street station is at the Western edge of the map, at the end of the Liverpool Branch of the West Coast Main Line.
Liverpool gets this headline and brief description on this page of the High Speed Two web site.
The City Region Wants To Deliver a World Class Transport Network
Its ambitious plans would integrate the existing HS2 route and builds on the Northern Powerhouse Rail proposals for high speed, east-west links directly into Liverpool City Centre.
Liverpool has made a good start to prepare for High Speed Two.
- The Grade II Listed; Lime Street station now has lengthened platforms and an improved layout so that it can handle two 200 metre long High Speed Two trains per hour.
- Merseyrail is taking delivery of a fleet of new Class 777 trains to update their suburban network.
- By the time High Speed Two arrives in the city, the suburban network will be larger.
Liverpool is ready and waiting for High Speed Two and will be reached in Phase 1 of the project.
Macclesfield
Macclesfield station is at the Eastern edge of the map, at the end of its own leg of High Speed Two.
The station was the surprise destination added, during the last iteration of High Speed Two.
- The late, great Brian Redhead, who lived in the town would be very pleased.
- The station was rebuilt in 1960 and has three platforms.
- It is planned to have one tph to London Euston via Stoke-on-Trent, Stafford and Old Oak Common.
- The visualisation on this page of the High Speed Two web site, also shows three platforms, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a fourth added, as the extra platform would add flexibility.
The second surprise for Macclesfield, is that like Liverpool, it will be reached in Phase 1 of the project.
Manchester Airport
Manchester Airport station is the Southern large blue dot at the top of the map.
This page on the High Speed Two web site is rather sparse on information about Manchester Airport station.
I have combined train times given on the web page, with frequencies from an article in the June 2020 Edition of Modern Railways to create this table, which should be valid after the completion of High Speed Two.
- Birmingham Curzon Street and Manchester Airport – 2 tph – 32 minutes
- Birmingham Interchange and Manchester Airport – 1 tph – 29 minutes
- London Euston and Manchester Airport – 3 tph – 63 minutes
- London Old Oak Common and Manchester Airport – 3 tph – 56 minutes
- Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport – 5 tph – 6 minutes
In Changes Signalled For HS2 Route In North, I stated that Northern Powerhouse Rail were proposing the following Liverpool and Manchester service.
Manchester Airport station will be reached in Phase 2b of the project.
- Six tph
- Stops at Manchester Airport and Warrington.
- An end-to-end journey time of 26 minutes.
This would do the following.
- Add a Liverpool and Manchester Airport service with a frequency of 6 tph, that will take 20 minutes.
- Add a Warrington Parkway and Manchester Airport service with a frequency of 6 tph that will take around 10 minutes.
- Increase the frequency between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport to 11 tph. Or more likely 12 tph.
How many cities have an airport connection running every five minutes using trains running at 125 mph?
As these Liverpool and Manchester services would probably start in places like Hull and Newcastle and come via varied routes that included a selection of Bradford, Doncaster Huddersfield, Leeds and Sheffield, all of the North, that lies to the East of the Pennines will be connected to Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport and Liverpool by high speed trains.
Manchester Piccadilly
Manchester Piccadilly station is the Northern large blue dot at the top of the map.
This page on the High Speed Two web site is rather sparse on information about Manchester Piccadilly station.
Using the same data as before I can create a table of services from Manchester Piccadilly station, where I have included Liverpool and Manchester services, that will be run by Northern Powerhouse Rail.
- Birmingham Curzon Street – 2 tph – 40 minutes
- Birmingham Interchange – 1 tph – 37 minutes
- London Euston – 3 tph – 67 minutes
- London Old Oak Common – 3 tph – 60 minutes
- Manchester Airport – 12 tph – 6 minutes
- Liverpool – 6 tph – 26 minutes
Manchester Piccadilly station will be reached in Phase 2b of the project.
Oxenholme Lake District
Oxenholme Lake District station is a through station on the current Glasgow service and can handle a nine-car Class 390 train which is over 210 metres long, which means they can handle a 200 metre long, classic-compatible High Speed Two train.
There will be the following trains.
- Birmingham Curzon Street and Oxenholm Lake District – I tph – 79 minutes
- London Euston and Oxenholme Lake District – 115 minutes – Change at Preston
Oxenholme Lake District is ready and waiting for High Speed Two and will be reached in Phase 2b of the project.
But I do feel that Oxenholme Lake Districtcould be reached in Phase 1 of the project, if necessary works North of Preston and at Lancaster station were planned as an independent project
Penrith North Lakes
Penrith North Lakes station is a through station on the current Glasgow service and can handle a nine-car Class 390 train which is over 210 metres long, which means they can handle a 200 metre long, classic-compatible High Speed Two train.
There will be the following trains.
- Birmingham Curzon Street and Penrith North Lakes – I tph – 102 minutes
- London Euston and Penrith North Lakes – 138 minutes – Change at Preston
Penrith North Lakes is ready and waiting for High Speed Two and will be reached in Phase 2b of the project.
But I do feel that Penrith North Lakes could be reached in Phase 1 of the project, if necessary works North of Preston and at Lancaster station were planned as an independent project
Preston
Preston station is a through station on the current Glasgow service and can handle a nine-car Class 390 train which is over 210 metres long, which means they can handle a 200 metre long, classic-compatible High Speed Two train.
But two tph will be 400 metre London Euston and Edinburgh/Glasgow trains, so platform lengthening will probably be required.
There will be the following trains.
- Birmingham Curzon Street and Preston – I tph – 50 minutes
- London Euston and Preston – 3 tph – 78 minutes.
After any necessary platform lengthening, Preston will be ready and waiting for High Speed Two and will be reached in Phase 1 of the project.
Runcorn
Runcorn station is a through station on the Liverpool service and can handle a nine-car Class 390 train which is over 210 metres long, which means they can handle a 200 metre long, classic-compatible High Speed Two train.
There will be two tph between London Euston and Runcorn and trains will take 74 minutes.
Runcorn is ready and waiting for High Speed Two and will be reached in Phase 1 of the project.
Stafford
Stafford station is a through station on the Macclesfield service and can handle a nine-car Class 390 train which is over 210 metres long, which means they can handle a 200 metre long, classic-compatible High Speed Two train.
There will be one tph between London Euston and Stafford and trains will take 54 minutes.
Sfafford is ready and waiting for High Speed Two and will be reached in Phase 1 of the project.
Stoke
Stoke station is a through station on the Macclesfield service and can handle a nine-car Class 390 train which is over 210 metres long, which means they can handle a 200 metre long, classic-compatible High Speed Two train.
There will be one tph between London Euston and Stoke and trains will take 71 minutes.
Stoke is ready and waiting for High Speed Two and will be reached in Phase 1 of the project.
Warrington
Warrington Bank Quay station is a through station on the current Glasgow service and can handle a nine-car Class 390 train which is over 210 metres long, which means they can handle a 200 metre long, classic-compatible High Speed Two train.
There will be the following trains.
- Birmingham Curzon Street and Warrington Bank Quay – I tph – 25 minutes
- London Euston and Warrington Bank Quay – 1 tph – 73 minutes.
Warrington Bank Quay is ready and waiting for High Speed Two and will be reached in Phase 1 of the project.
Wigan
Wigan North Western station is a through station on the current Glasgow service and can handle a nine-car Class 390 train which is over 210 metres long, which means they can handle a 200 metre long, classic-compatible High Speed Two train.
There will be the following trains.
- Birmingham Curzon Street and Wigan North Western – I tph – 36 minutes
- London Euston and Wigan North Western – 1 tph – 84 minutes.
Wigan North Western is ready and waiting for High Speed Two and will be reached in Phase 1 of the project.
The Anonymous Widower 