The Anonymous Widower

London North Eastern Railway Runs Trial Train To Liverpool Street

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Advent.

These two paragraphs, describe why this was done.

In an effort to mitigate the effect on passengers during disruption to services, London North Eastern Railway (LNER) ran one of its Azuma trains from Finsbury Park to London Liverpool Street during the early hours of this morning, Friday, 14th July.

The trial run took place to determine the long-term feasibility of diverting services during periods of planned disruption or when significant engineering works were taking place.

There doesn’t seem to have been any problems.

• The route in from Finsbury Park station went through Canonbury, Dalston Kingsland, Hackney Central, Homerton, Hackney Wick, Stratford and Bethnal Green stations, which was a distance of 9.6 miles.
• The route out to Finsbury Park station went through Bethnal Green, Cambridge Heath, London Fields, Dalston Kingsland and Canonbury, what was a distance of 5.8 miles.

Note.

1. Two different routes were checked.
2. The Class 800 train had five cars.
3. Platform 4 at Liverpool Street station was used, which is normally used by London Overground and Cambridge services.

As this comes so soon after the test run to Cleethorpes, that I wrote about in Azuma Test Train Takes To The Tracks As LNER Trials Possible New Route, I wonder if Network Rail and the train operating companies are planning for some worst case scenario, where the two or more of the West Coast Main Line, Midland Main Lone and East Coast Main Line are blocked.

LNER and Network Rail have shown the following.

• Azumas can use Cleethorpes station.
• Azumas can use Liverpool Street station.

We also know that Cleethorpes has a direct TransPennine train service across the North of England to Doncaster, Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool.

So if say Euston has to be shut for perhaps fourteen days during the construction of High Speed Two, a service between Liverpool Street and Cleethorpes via Colchester, Ipswich, Cambridge, Peterborough and Lincoln could be used to get some passengers to and from the North.

The other big problem is the removal of the problems of the Newark Crossing, which if it results in a long blockade of the East Coast Main Line, might need services to go into an alternative London terminal.

The Powerhouse In The East

Consider.

• The importance of Cambridge to the economy of the UK is growing fast.
• The city suffers from a shortage of commercial premises, housing and staff at all levels.
• I have just looked at the non-passenger traffic on the West Anglia Main Line for all of yesterday and there were just six freight trains through Bishop’s Stortford.

I wonder, if it would be possible to run a Liverpool Street and Cleethorpes service via Cambridge, Ely, Peterborough, Spalding, Sleaford, Lincoln, Market Rasen, Barnetby and Grimsby Town?

• The service avoids the East Coast Main Line, except through Peterborough, where it would use the separate Werrington lines.
• Liverpool Street is in the heart of one of the world’s major financial centres.
• Liverpool Street is on the Elizabeth Line.
• The service could call at Stansted Airport, but a reverse would be needed.
• Peterborough is sometimes promoted in Cambridge as a city, that could be developed, to provide  support for Cambridge.
• A reverse would be needed at Lincoln.
• Lincoln is developing as a university city with character.
• Grimsby and Cleethorpes are close to the fast expanding Humberside renewable energy and hydrogen cluster.

The service could be paired with a Liverpool Street and Norwich service, via Ely, Thetford, Attleborough and Wymondham.

The services could alternate every half hour or perhaps leave London as a pair and split and join at Cambridge.

Platform Availability At Kings Cross And Liverpool Street

Consider.

• Digital signalling on the East Coast Main Line will increase the number of possible trains between London and the North.
• LNER have said they want to increase services to the North and have identified a possible service to Cleethorpes.
• Grand Central would like to increase services to Bradford.
• Lumo have started services to Newcastle and Edinburgh from Kings Cross.
• The Elizabeth Line now runs less services into Liverpool Street station.
• The Elizabeth Line connects to  Liverpool Street, but doesn’t connect to King’s Cross.
• Liverpool Street is to undergo a major refurbishment, which should increase the overall passenger capacity of the station.

Would it be sensible to move a small number of services from King’s Cross to Liverpool Street?

Surely, the logical service to move to Liverpool Street would be the new Cleethorpes service.

• It would route via Cambridge, Cambridge North, Ely, Peterborough, Spalding, Sleaford, Lincoln, Market Rasen, Barnetby and Grimsby Town.
• It would use the Werrington Lines through Peterborough.
• It would not need a path on the East Coast Main Line.
• The service would provide a much needed direct link between Cambridge and Lincoln via Peterborough.
• The service could also be hourly or two-hourly.

I also believe that a Liverpool Street and Cleethorpes service could be run by a battery-electric Azuma.

• The route is electrified between Liverpool Street and Ely and through Peterborough.
• Ely and Peterborough is 30 miles.
• Peterborough and Lincoln is 56.9 miles.
• Lincoln and Cleethorpes is 47.2 miles.
• There would need to be a charging station or a few miles of electrification at Cleethorpes.
• There may be 134.1 miles of unelectrified track, but there can be a Splash and Dash at Peterborough.

A Stadler Akku would be able to handle this route, so I suspect that a similar-sized battery-electric Azuma should also be able to handle the route.

July 19, 2023 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Azuma Train, Bishop's Stortford Station, Cambridge, Class 800 Train, Cleethorpes Station, East Coast Main Line, Elizabeth Line, Grand Central Trains, King's Cross Station, Lincoln Station, Liverpool Street Station, LNER, Lumo, Midland Main Line, Network Rail, Newark Crossing, Norwich Station, Peterborough, Stadler FLIRT Akku, West Anglia Main Line, West Coast Main Line