Finsbury Circus Appears Fully Open
I bought my breakfast yesterday in Leon on Moorgate and ate it in the nearby Finsbury Circus Gardens.
It is now fully open.
This picture shows the gardens during the construction of Crossrail.
Note.
- The bandstand can be picked out amongst the trees.
- The shaft towards the bottom is forty metres deep and was used to get men and materials to the tunnels.
Comparing the pictures shows that the gardens are now able to used for their original purpose.
Orsted In Gigawatt-Scale Offshore Wind To Green Hydrogen Plan With Steel Giant ArcelorMittal
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Recharge.
The title says a lot and at the heart of the plan is a 1 GW electrolyser.
Now that is enormous.
Will it be made in Rotherham by ITM Power?
The article is a must read.
West Ealing Station Goes Step-Free As Part Of Crossrail Upgrades
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Ian Visits.
The title says it all.
These pictures, which were taken on the 31st March 2021, show West Ealing station.
Note
- It is fully step-free.
- As at Acton Main Line station, the lifts are very disabled-friendly.
- The terrible staircases of the old station have yet to be demolished.
- There is just a small amount of work to finish.
It is a fine addition to London’s portfolio of stations.
But one thing is not covered in the article – What is going to happen to the Greenford Branch?
- Currently, it is only hourly.
- Will it be going to four trains per hour (tph) ? It certainly needs this frequency to be a feeder line for Crossrail, which could have as many as six tph stopping in the station.
- Will it be run by battery electric trains.
- Will three-car Aventras work the route, as I wrote in Could Three-Car Aventras Run Services On The Greenford Branch??
- Will it be going to an automated shuttle, as I wrote in An Automated Shuttle Train On The Greenford Branch Line?
- Will it be run by Class 230 trains, as I wrote in Will The Class 230 Trains Be Coming Home??
- Will the management of the route go to Transport for London?
I think I would favour the automated shuttle! But then I’m a trained Control Engineer.
- Two-car battery electric train.
- Option of being lengthened to three cars.
- I suspect Alstom, CAF, Stadler and Vivarail could all provide trains.
- There would be level access between train and platform to reduce station dwell times.
- Automated like the Victoria Line, where when ready to depart, the driver presses a button to close the doors and then the train moves automatically to the next station.
- The driver could sit in the middle of the train with screens to see front and rear, so they wouldn’t even have to change ends, which wastes time.
- Or they might choose to sit in the front cab or even use a sophisticated remote control, developed with gaming or military drone experience.
- Charging would be automatic at both terminals.
- One train would run a continuous service with a timetable, which just said services would be a service approximately every fifteen minutes
- Trains would have wi-fi and passengers could view front and rear camera images on their devices.
- Trains would be stabled at night in one of the two terminal platforms and could have a spruce up each night from a mobile or the station cleaning crew.
- Trains might need to have sufficient performance to run a service into and out of Paddington, at the beginning and end of the day. But if Crossrail services were reliable and six tph, this feature could be superfluous. But other services might need a main line capability at say 60 or 70 mph to relocate to and from the main depot.
- On the Greenford Branch, signallers and/or the driver would need the ability to park the train in the next terminal station, when a freight train is passing through.
Get this automated branch line right and the technology could be used in several places around the UK.
The Anonymous Widower 