The Anonymous Widower

‘Packed Trains And Delays On The New Misery Line’

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

These four paragraphs introduce the article.

It is another weekday and thousands of people are using the London Underground’s Central line to get to work.

The problem is there aren’t many trains and the boards show a gap of 17 minutes between each one.

When the trains arrive, they are packed and many passengers cannot get on; there has been disruption nearly every day since Christmas on the Central line.

Welcome to the new misery line.

These four paragraphs outline the problems.

It needs 77 trains to operate a full service with a train every couple of minutes. Unfortunately, at the moment it is operating using 50 or so.

The problem is an unpredicted spate of faulty DC motors. These motors are obsolete and no longer made, and so have to be repaired and that takes time.

The trains are from the 1990s and transport bosses say they are not particularly reliable. The older trains on the Bakerloo line have a better performance; the Central line trains are the workhorses of the capital and they have been hammered.

They are heavily used in different environments and that adds to the wear and tear.

This is so unlike London Underground.

According to the Wikipedia entry for the 1992 Stock trains, the trains entered service in 1993 and had their first refurbishment in 2012. Wikipedia says this about the 2012 refurbishment.

From 2011 to 2012, the Central line 1992 Stock units underwent a refresh of both the interior and exterior. Some of the noticeable changes included the addition of the new “Barman” seat moquette, new brighter interior lighting and the installation of new window frames. The front of the driving cabs were also refreshed. This included repairing water ingress and replacing a large number of parts with a much simpler design, saving costs on future work and cleaning up the appearance of the front end. The new-style front end can be easily identified by the new red panelling installed on most units instead of the original grey. The refresh came after nearly twenty years of continuous service on the Central line.

Note.

  1. This looks like a fairly typical refurbishment.
  2. Boris Johnson was mayor, but it was probably more important that Peter Hendy was the London Transport Commissioner.

I don’t remember any problems being reported in the press, railway media or on BBC London.

These two paragraphs from the Wikipedia entry describe the current refurbishment.

Since 2019, TfL is doing a major refurbishment on the Central line units as part of the Central Line Improvement Programme (CLIP). This includes a complete overhaul of the interior and adding new features such as new wheelchair spaces, PIS (Passenger Information Screens), and CCTV installed throughout the train. The London Underground corporate livery will also be repainted on these units as well as the replacement of the original DC motors with new AC motors. It takes approximately 10 weeks to refurbish a train. Refurbishment is planned to be completed in 2029. Work started in 2019 and has been heavily delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and financial reasons.

The first upgraded train was previewed in passenger service on 24 November 2023.

Note.

  1. In total there are ninety trains to refurbish; which includes 85 for the Central Line and five for the Waterloo & City Line.
  2. Ninety trains is 900 weeks of work or seventeen years if trains are refurbished one at a time.

In the November 2017 Edition of Modern Railways, there is an article which is entitled Central Line Improvement programme.

These two paragraphs outline the programme.

In summer this year it was confirmed Bombardier had been awarded a £112.1 million contract to supply new traction motors and traction control equipment for the 1992 stock trains operating on the Central Line. But this is just one part of a £314 million programme to improve the 85-strong fleet.

The 1992 stock trains are one of the least reliable fleets on the London Underground network, and LU says almost £8 million per year is spent repairing and overhauling the trains’ motors and containing the frequency of motor damage to below 200 per year. With replacement under the Deep Tube Upgrade Programme (DTUP) not planned until the early 2030s, LU has therefore initiated the Central Line Improvement Programme (CLIP) to improve the fleet’s overall reliability and provide an improved passenger experience, as well as to meet current accessibility requirements.

Note.

  1. It was known that the motors were a problem, when the contract was awarded in 2017.
  2. A cost of £8 million was also put to keeping the motors going.

The two paragraphs explain the need for AC traction.

The 1992 stock fleet was the last procured by LU to use direct current (DC) motors and the first to use electronic rather than electro-mechanical control systems. The aim of the upgrade is to reduce customer-affecting failures attributed to the Central Line fleet by 14% and to eliminate a quarter of cancellations due to trains being unavailable.

Other benefits include lower fleet maintenance costs, reduced energy consumption, which should in turn reduce peak tunnel temperatures, and improved acceleration of heavily-loaded trains.

Bombardier seem to have come up with a sensible solution.

  • Use a solution based on the AC traction systems of the Bombardier-built trains for the Victoria and sub-surface lines.
  • The traction systems will be manufactured in Sweden.

The article also states that the trains’ data transmission system is a very unreliable component.

In the last three decades of the last century, Artemis planned similar upgrades for companies like BAe Systems, Hunting Engineering, Lockheed-Martin, McDonnell-Douglas, except that they were upgrading aircraft in the main.

I do wonder, if this upgrade is going to take such a long time, that their project management is not top-notch.

Conclusion

It looks to me, that the Central Line Improvement programme might still be underway, when Siemens are ready to start building new Central Line trains after completing the orders for the Piccadilly and Bakerloo Lines.

My project management knowledge says, that a really good project manager could improve the future for customers of the Misery Line.

February 14, 2024 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Battery-Electric Power Rides The Rails

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Power Progress.

These two introductory paragraphs, outline the project.

In late October 2023, transportation solution provider Wabtec and its launch customer Roy Hill, an Australia-based iron ore mining company, celebrated the debut of the FLXdrive locomotive – a production model unit that Wabtec described as the “world’s first 100% battery-powered, heavy-haul locomotive for mainline service.”

The debut was the culmination of more than a decade of R&D that started at a time when battery technology and density were far more limited. Rogerio Mendonca, president, Freight Equipment, Wabtec, labeled the company’s earliest project as “more of a science pilot than anything else.”

I feel that this conversion of a diesel locomotive to a 7MWh battery-electric locomotive will be a significant milestone in freight haulage.

In the UK, we have 480 Class 66 locomotives.

Not all are used for heavy freight and you regularly see a single locomotive hauling a load that a lowered-powered battery electric locomotive could handle.

I suspect that if Roy Hill find this a capable locomotive, that we’ll see some Class 66 locomotives converted to battery-electric operation.

The article is well worth a full read.

February 14, 2024 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , | 1 Comment

More Open Access Services Could Be On The Way

In the February 2024 Edition of Modern Railways, there is an article which is entitled First Bid For Sheffield To King’s Cross Paths.

The article is mainly about FirstGroup’s proposal for a new Sheffield and London service, running under the Hull Trains brand.

But, this is the last paragraph.

Modern Railways understands First is working on a number of proposals for additional open access services, and this is an early statement of intent. Other existing open access proposals include Grand Union Trains’ plans for London to Stirling and Cardiff to Edinburgh services, along with an already approved London to Carmarthen service, and the recently submitted Wrexham, Shropshire and Midland Railway application for a London to Wrexham service. It is understood other organisations, including MTR and Virgin, are also working up plans for new open access services.

These are my thoughts.

Grand Union Trains

These posts talk about Grand Union Trains services, where a proposal has been filed with the Office of Rail and Road.

Note.

  1. All three services are substantially electrified.
  2. Cardiff and Edinburgh is not electrified between Severn Tunnel Junction and Doncaster, which is 180.7 miles, but 258.4 miles are electrified.
  3. Once the Midland Main Line is electrified, the longest section of unelectrified track is the 72.5 miles between Severn Tunnel Junction and Bromsgrove.
  4. Carmarthen and London has 145.1 miles of electrification between London and Cardiff and about 75 miles of unelectrified track West of Cardiff.
  5. Stirling and Euston is fully electrified.

A bi-mode or tri-mode train with an independent range at least 190 miles would be able to handle all three services. It would also allow extension of the Stirling service to Perth, if later that was felt to be a better terminus.

Trains able to be used would include.

  • CAF Tri-Mode Train – As being built for LNER
  • Class 221 train – Will be released soon by Avanti West Coast.
  • Class 222 train – Will be released soon by East Midlands Railways
  • Class 802 train
  • Class 755 train – A Greater Anglia driver told me, the train is designed for 125 mph.
  • Class 93 locomotive and a rake of coaches.

Note.

  1. All trains except the Class 221 and Class 222 trains would be able to make use of the electrification.
  2. The Class 93 locomotive option is not a 125 mph train.
  3. CAF Tri-Mode Train and the Class 802 train have digital signalling as standard, which could allow some 140 mph running.

But I do believe after the completion of the Midland Main Line electrification, a battery-electric high speed train with an independent range of around 100 miles could also handle all routes with perhaps charging in a couple of stations, like Carmarthen.

The services could of course be commenced using refurbished Class 221 and Class 222 trains from Avanti West Coast and East Midlands Railways respectively.

I can see a bidding and design war going on between CAF, Hitachi and Stadler to supply Grand Union Trains.

Liverpool Lime Street Station

Liverpool Lime Street station has been updated and has the capacity for extra services.

I also feel, that with the improvements to the West Coast Main Line and especially between Crewe and Liverpool in preparation for High Speed Two, that journey times between London and Liverpool will improve to around two hours.

Given the attractions of Liverpool, this will increase passenger numbers on the route and I believe extra services will be viable.

The Wikipedia entry for the station says this about a proposal from Virgin.

In June 2019, Virgin Trains lodged an application for an open access service from London Euston to Liverpool Lime Street calling at Nuneaton, Tamworth, Lichfield Trent Valley, Liverpool South Parkway and Liverpool Lime Street to rival the future West Coast Partnership franchise Avanti West Coast from December 2022.

It does seem to have gone quiet.

A Fast Zero-Carbon Route Between England And Ireland

This OpenRailwayMap shows Liverpool South Parkway station and Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Note.

Liverpool South Parkway station is in the North-West corner of the map.

The orange track at the top of the map is the Liverpool branch of the West Coast Main Line.

At the bottom of the map, the long runway of Liverpool John Lennon Airport can be seen.

I believe that a fast link could be developed between the station and the airport.

  • Initially this would be a coach.
  • But later it could be developed as a tram-train from the City Centre, that also would call at Liverpool South Parkway station.

Operation of the airport could be ideal for up to 30-seater electric airliners.

Destinations served could include.

  • Belfast City – 151 miles
  • Bristol – 135 miles
  • Cardiff – 135 miles
  • Derry/Londonderry – 210 miles
  • Dublin – 140 miles
  • Glasgow – 186 miles
  • Haverfordwest – 127 miles
  • Humberside – 104 miles
  • London City – 176 miles
  • Norwich – 180 miles
  • Ronaldsway – 89 miles
  • Southend – 172 miles

Note.

  1. Liverpool appears to sit in circle of airports
  2. An Eviation Alice has a range of 290 miles with 9 passengers.
  3. The Wikipedia entry for Heart Aerospace, says their 30-seater electric airliner says it has a range of 124 miles or more if less passengers are carried.
  4. The East-West runway is also in line with the prevailing wind, which should help take-off.
  5. Liverpool Airport is located such that there is access to plentiful supplies of green electricity and hydrogen.

I will be very surprised if Liverpool Airport doesn’t develop into an airport for zero-carbon flights.

This could attract open access rail services from London and across the country.

Huddersfield

In First Bid For Sheffield To King’s Cross Paths, I postulated that Huddersfield station could be an ideal extension of FirstGroup’s proposed open access service between London King’s Cross and Sheffield.

 

 

February 14, 2024 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments