Could Train Services At Liverpool Lime Street Station Be Made Carbon-Free?
This map from OpenRailwayMap shows Liverpool Lime Street station.
Note.
- There are ten platforms, which are arranged in two sets of five.
- Electrified tracks are shown in red.
- The lilac track is the loop of the underground Wirral Line.
It would appear that the station is fully electrified.
Services To And From Liverpool Lime Street
These services currently run to and from Liverpool Lime Street station.
- Avanti West Coast – London Euston – 1 tph – Electric
- East Midlands Railway – Norwich – 1 tph – Diesel – Electrified to Liverpool South Parkway – 25.2 miles to electrification at Trafford Park.
- London Northwestern Railway – Birmingham New Street – 1 tph – Electric
- Northern – Blackpool North – 1 tph – Electric
- Northern – Manchester Airport – 1 tph – Electric
- Northern – Manchester Oxford Road – 1 tph – Diesel – Electrified to Liverpool South Parkway – 25.2 miles to electrification at Trafford Park.
- Northern – Warrington Central – 1 tph – Diesel – Electrified to Liverpool South Parkway – 12.7 miles to Warrington Central.
- Northern – Wigan North Western – 2 tph – Electric
- TransPennine Express – Cleethorpes – 1 tph – Electric – Electrified to Liverpool South Parkway – 25.2 miles to electrification at Trafford Park.
- TransPennine Express – Glasgow – 2 tpd – Electric
- TransPennine Express – Hull – 1 tph – Electric
- TransPennine Express – Newcastle – 1 tph – Electric
- Transport for Wales – Chester – 1 tph – Diesel – Electrified to Runcorn – 13.9 miles to Chester.
Note.
- tpd is trains per day
- tph is trains per hour
- There are nine electric services and four diesel services.
It looks to me, that by using battery-electric trains on the four diesel services, Liverpool Lime Street station can be made carbon-free.
Distances on battery power for each service would be as follows.
- East Midlands Railway – Norwich – Both ways – 25.2 miles between Liverpool South Parkway and Trafford Park with charging at both ends.
- Northern – Manchester Oxford Road – Both ways – 25.2 miles between Liverpool South Parkway and Trafford Park with charging at both ends.
- Northern – Warrington Central – Both ways – 12,7 miles between Liverpool South Parkway and Warrington Central with charging between Liverpool Lime Street and Liverpool South Parkway.
- Transport for Wales – Chester – Both ways – 13.9 miles between Runcorn and Chester with charging between Liverpool Lime Street and Runcorn.
Note the flexibility of battery-electric trains allows a variety of charging regimes.
Conclusion
Liverpool Lime Street Station can be made carbon-free
TransPennine Express Releases Blueprint For Improving Service And Fleet Upgrade
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
This is the sub-heading.
TransPennine Express (TPE), which transferred to the government’s owning group (DOHL) earlier this year, has set out its plans to address many of the issues which have caused problems and disruption for rail customers.
These three paragraphs summarize their plans.
Making Journeys Better: A Prospectus gives clear detail of the issues TPE has faced during the past two years as well as outlining how TPE, under DOHL, will work to make things better, having completed an in-depth review of the business.
Part of the plans involve the operators plans for its new fleet. Its New Trains Programme outlines its long term view for decarbonisation. The report states that TPE will look towards new technology on its fleet to overcome the lack of clarity on the full electrification of the line.
This, it states will help with the cascading and removal of diesel trains faster across its network.
It always looked to me, that TPE under First Group, brought rather a dog’s breakfast of trains, when a unified fleet of Class 802 trains, as per Hull Trains, might have been easier to operate.
- They are already retiring the Class 68 locomotives and their Mark 5 coaches, so surely to decarbonise their services, a number of battery electric high speed trains would be an idea.
- They are already testing Class 802 battery-electric trains for Hitachi and Eversholt Rail.
- I also feel that CAF could offer a suitable battery-electric train, based on the Class 397 train.
TPE say in the example, that they expect a decision later in the month.
TransPennine Express Services And Battery Electric Trains
These are their services and how they would be effected by battery-electric trains.
- Liverpool Lime Street And Newcastle – Fully-electrified after TransPennine Upgrade.
- Liverpool Lime Street And Hull – Fully-electrified after TransPennine Upgrade.. – 42 miles unelectrified – Service could be run by a battery-electric train that charged between Leeds and Micklefield.
- Manchester Airport and Saltburn – Fully-electrified between Manchester Airport and Northallerton after TransPennine Upgrade. – 33.6 miles unelectrified – Service could be run by a battery-electric train that charged between Leeds and Northallerton. Would eliminate overnight noise problems at Redcar.
- Manchester Piccadilly and Newcastle – Fully-electrified after TransPennine Upgrade.
- Manchester Piccadilly and Scarborough – Fully-electrified between Manchester Piccadilly and York after TransPennine Upgrade. – 42.1 miles unelectrified – Service could be run by a battery-electric train that charged between Leeds and York.
- York and Scarborough – Electrified at York – 42.1 miles unelectrified – Service could be run by a battery-electric shuttle train that charged at York.
- Manchester Piccadilly and Huddersfield – Electrified at Manchester Piccadilly – 25.5 miles unelectrified – Service could be run by a battery-electric shuttle train that charged at Manchester Piccadilly.
- Leeds and Huddersfield – Electrified at Leeds – 17.2 miles unelectrified – Service could be run by a battery-electric shuttle train that charged at Leeds.
- Liverpool Lime Street and Cleethorpes – 125,6 miles unelectrified – In Electrification Of The Hope Valley Line, I show how this route can be run by battery-electric trains that charged on existing electrification a short new section of electrification at Cleethorpes.
Note.
- If Manchester Victoria and Huddersfield, is not electrified, battery-electric trains would be able to cross the 25.8 miles of unelectrified track on battery power.
- If Leeds and Huddersfield, is not electrified, battery-electric trains would be able to cross the 17.2 miles of unelectrified track on battery power.
- I am assuming that the TransPennine Upgrade between Manchester and Leeds will be completed, so that between Liverpool Lime Street and Leeds is fully-electrified.
- The only new infrastructure needed would be electrification at Cleethorpes to charge the trains.
All services except for Liverpool Lime Street and Cleethorpes could be run using battery-electric trains with a range on a full battery of at least 100 miles and with no additional electrification.
Electrifying Cleethorpes Station
This Google Map shows Cleethorpes station.
These pictures show the station in June 2023, when it appears to be going through a platform refurbishment.
I don’t think it would be the most difficult station to electrify.
- There are four platforms.
- As the station is likely to get more battery-electric services, including one from King’s Cross, I would suspect that at least three out of the four platforms would be electrified.
- Although, the station is Grade II Listed, there doesn’t appear to be any canopies or important architectural details, that would get in the way of electrification.
Once Cleethorpes station had been successfully electrified, similar installations could be applied at other stations like Saltburn, Scarborough and Skegness.
Conclusion
If TransPennine Express were to buy the right number of battery-electric trains with a hundred mile range, they can decarbonise all their routes in a train factory.
The Anonymous Widower 