Could Trains From The North Connect To High Speed One At St. Pancras?
I was casually flying my virtual helicopter over the throat of St. Pancras International station, when I took a few pictures.
This Google Map shows the Northern ends of the platforms and the tracks leading in.
Note.
- Platforms 1-4 to the West with darker tracks handle the East Midlands Railway services.
- Platforms 5-10 in the centre with lighter tracks formed of three shorter islands handle the Eurostar services.
- Platforms 11-13 to the East with longer platforms handle the Southeastern HighSpeed services.
This Google Map shows the East Midlands Railway platforms.
Note.
- There are two island platforms; 1-2 and 3-4.
- The four platforms are served by two tracks, that connect to the fast lines of the Midland Main Line.
- The platforms will be able to handle a pair of Class 810 trains, which will be 240 metres long.
- Will the two trains per hour (tph) using Class 360 trains between London and Corby always use the same platform at St. Prancras station?
This Google Map shows the Eurostar platforms.
Note.
There are three island platforms; 5-6, 7-8 and 9-10.
The two island platforms in the West are for East Midlands Railway services.
The two longer island platforms in the East are for Southeastern HighSpeed services.
The six platforms connect to two fast lines, that are shared with the Southeastern services.
This Google Map shows the lines proceeding to the North.
Note.
- There are four sets of tracks.
- The two light-coloured tracks on the left are for Thameslink or sidings.
- The next two dark-coloured tracks are the two tracks of the Midland Main Line.
- The next set of tracks are those connecting to the six Eurostar platforms.
- The two tracks on the right are those connecting to the Southeastern Highspeed platforms.
- There are crossovers between the Eurostar and Southeastern Highspeed tracks to allow efficient operation of the trains going to and from the twin tracks of High Speed One.
This Google Map shows where the Midland Main Line and High Speed One divide.
Note.
The two dark-coloured tracks of the Midland Main Line running North.
There appear to be four tracks running North East towards High Speed One.
Between the two sets of tracks two further tracks lead to the North.
The track closest to the Midland Main Line joins to the slow lines of the Midland Main Line.
The other one connects to the North London Line.
This Google Map shows the connecting lines to the High Speed One tunnel.
Note the tunnel portal is in the North-East corner of the map.
- It looks to me that the following connections are possible.
- St. Pancras station Eurostar platforms and Midland Main Line.
- St. Pancras station Eurostar platforms and North London Line to the West.
- High Speed One and North London Line to the West.
These connections are in addition to those connections needed to run scheduled services.
They would enable trains to take the following routes.
- St. Pancras station Eurostar platforms and Midland Main Line.
- St. Pancras station Eurostar platforms and the West Coast Main Line via North London Line
- High Speed One and the West Coast Main Line via North London Line
- St. Pancras station Eurostar platforms and the Great Western Main Line via North London Line
- High Speed One and the Great Western Main Line via North London Line
I suspect most of the times, that these routes are used it is for engineering purposes or behaps dragging a failed train out of St. Pancras.
But the track layout would seem to allow the following.
Direct electric freight and passenger services between High Speed One and Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester.
Direct electric passenger services between High Speed One and Sheffield and Leeds, with a reverse at St. Pancras, after the Midland Main Line were to be fully electrified.
Was this by design for Eurostar or was it just what Network Rail ended up with?
A Modern Regional Eurostar Service
These are my thoughts on a modern Regional Eurostar service.
Rolling Stock
High Speed Two is coming and this year, the company will order some of the rolling stock.
There will be fifty-four trains
The trains will be Classic-Compatible for running on the West Coast Main Line.
They will be 200 metres long and be able to run in pairs.
They will be able to operate at 225 mph.
The operating speed of High Speed One is 186 mph.
I can see no reason why trains of this type, couldn’t run between St. Pancras and many destinations in Europe.
North Of England And The Continent
Could this be the service pattern?
- One train could start in the North West and another in the North East.
- Both trains would proceed to St. Pancras picking up passengers en route.
- At St. Pancras the two trains would join together.
- The driver could then position themselves in the front cab and take High Speed One, through the Channel Tunnel.
The train could even split at Calais to serve two different Continental destinations.
Going North, the spitting and joining would be reversed.
What Infrastructure Would Be Needed?
I suspect the following will be needed.
- The West Coast Main Line and the Midland Main Line would need in-cab digital ERTMS signalling.
- Full electrification of the Midland Main Line would probably be necessary, as I don’t think the tunnel allows diesel trains to pass through.
- Some platform lengthening might be needed.
It would not be an expensive scheme.
What Timings Would Be Possible?
Using current timings you get the following times.
- Leeds and Paris – Five hours
- Leeds and Brussels – Four hours forty minutes
- Manchester and Paris – Five hours
- Manchester and Brussels – For hours forty minutes
- Newcastle and Paris – Six hours
- Newcastle and Brussels – Five hours thirty minutes
Note, that the times are best estimates and include a long stop of several minutes at St. Pancras.
Could Sleeper Service Be Run?
I don’t see why not!
Conclusion
It looks like it may be possible to run regional services to Europe, where pairs of train split and join at St. Pancras.
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Green Hydrogen Searches For Industrial Outlets
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on E & T Magazine.
It is a detailed look at the uses for green hydrogen.
A few points from the article.
- Like fossil fuel hydrogen can store energy for months.
- Less that 10 % of green hydrogen will be used for energy storage.
- Hydrogen has a poor round trip efficiency, if you create it with an electrolyser and then convert it back to electricity using appropriate technology.
- Heavy transport may account for 25 % of the use of hydrogen.
- Industrial and home heating applications could account for the use of another third.
- One of the biggest uses today of hydrogen is in oil-refining to make low sulphur fuels.
- Steelmaking could be a big user, but there are many different methods and some have problems.
- Cement making could be a good use of green hydrogen.
The article is a must-read and it makes you think.
Australian Coal Mine To Transform Into Pumped Hydro Facility
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on PV Magazine.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Australian utility AGL is transforming its operations in a number of ways, from restructuring the company itself, to building energy storage facilities for flexible distribution of renewable energy into the future. The company is also planning to build a pumped-hydro facility at a disused open-cut coal mining site in eastern Australia.
It is an interesting proposition to say the least to reuse an opencast coal mine for something useful.
It would appear to be able to supple 250 MW for eight hours, which would make it a 2 GWh facility.
But then Australia is a country, that needs a lot of energy storage as they transform their economy to zero carbon.
The Anonymous Widower 