The Anonymous Widower

125 mph Upgrade For MML OLE South Of Bedford

The title of this post, is the same as that of an article in the June 2023 Edition of Modern Railways.

This is the sub-heading.

Targeted Investment Benefits From Project SPEED Approach

The main objective was to upgrade the 1980s electrification between Bedford and St. Pancras, so that it could support 125 mph running by East Midlands Railway’s new Class 810 trains.

Originally, a total replacement was envisaged, but in the end a more selective approach will be carried out.

This paragraph indicates the benefits of the approach.

The proposal for wholesale replacement of the OLE South of Bedford would have cost several hundreds of millions of pounds, whereas the approved scheme comes in at just £84 million, around one-third of the previous cost – testament to the application of SPEED principles.

I have a couple of thoughts.

Network Rail’s Project Management

If I go back to the 1970s and 1980s, when we were developing and selling the project management system; Artemis to the world, we sold very few systems to the UK Government and none to British Rail or the NHS. Later Artemis was used on the Channel Tunnel and the Rail Link to London, the Jubilee Line Extension, sections of the Docklands Light Railway and railways in Australia and Hong Kong.

So it is good to see, Network Rail getting to grips with managing the electrification upgrade of the Midland Main Line with some good project management.

An Encounter With A Group Of Drivers

It might have been five years ago, when I travelled with a group of drivers from East Midlands Trains positioning to St. Pancras.

• One of the observations they had was that the Class 700 trains coming into service were not fast enough as they were only 100 mph trains, whereas their Class 222 trains were capable of 125 mph.
• Since then the Class 360 trains have been introduced on Corby services. These trains have been uprated from 100 to 110 mph.
• We now have the situation, where Class 810 trains capable of running at 125 mph will replace the Class 222 train.

If you look at the traffic  at West Hampstead Thameslink station, you can see that Both Thameslink and East Midlands Railway are using the fast lines, through platforms 3 and 4.

The fast lines have a maximum speed of 125 mph North of Luton and generally 100-110 mph between Luton and West Hampstead Thameslink station.

Would it help the timetabling of services on the Midland Main Line, if the Thameslink services  were capable of running faster, when they were using the fast lines?

I feel the drivers may have a point.

May 29, 2023 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Artemis, Class 360 Train, Class 700 Train, Class 810 Train, East Midlands Railway, Electrification, Midland Main Line, Network Rail, Project Management, Thameslink, West Hampstead Station