Is This A Plan For The Marshlink Line?
Uckfield Third Rail Is NR Priority is based on an article in the April 2022 Edition of Modern Railways, with the same name.
The Modern Railways article also has this to say about the Marshlink Line.
By contrast, the shorter trains in use on the Marshlink Line between Ashford and Hastings made bi-modes with batteries a realistic option there.
The Marshlink Line is electrified at both ends at Ashford International and Ore stations.
- In between there are four small stations and one large one Rye in the middle.
- Ashford and Rye are 15.3 miles apart.
- Rye and Ore are 10.1 miles apart.
- As it runs across the Romney Marsh, there probably aren’t too many gradients.
It would appear that with a fast charge system at Rye, battery-electric operation should be possible.
In an article in the October 2017 Edition of Modern Railways, which is entitled Celling England By The Pound, Ian Walmsley says this in relation to trains running on the Uckfield Branch, which is not very challenging.
A modern EMU needs between 3 and 5 kWh per vehicle mile for this sort of service.
For different lengths of trains, battery sizes can be calculated based on a distance of sixteen miles.
- A five-car train would need a battery capacity of between 240 and 400 kWh.
- A four-car train would need a battery capacity of between 192 and 320 kWh.
- A three-car train would need a battery capacity of between 144 and 240 kWh.
In Uckfield Third Rail Is NR Priority, I estimated that the Uckfield branch could be served using five-car trains with batteries between 180 and 300 kWh.
It does look that a five-car battery-electric train could be developed that would handle both the Uckfield Branch and the Marshlink Line.
The Anonymous Widower 
I don’t see the logic in not providing third rail electrification between Ore and Ashford.
Batteries are such a short-term solution to this sort of gap-filling. They are not environment-friendly to produce, require trains to carry around a lot of dead weight, and the need to stop and charge – even fast-charge – at Rye doesn’t make any kind of operational sense. The failure to link up large existing third rail territories loses you all the advantages of increased operational flexibility (including use of Marshlink for ECS movements). And it requires a small, bespoke set of trains that add to maintenance, training and other costs. Ditto Uckfield-Lewes.
Leave batteries for little, lightly used dead-end out-and-back branch lines, eg down in Cornwall. On the Southern, we should follow the lead of the great Sir Herbert Walker and engage in joined-up third rail thinking!
Comment by Stephen Spark | May 5, 2022 |