Heathrow Third Runway Shelved As Airport Seeks To Be ‘Better Not Bigger’
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Chief executive Thomas Woldbye exploring how to squeeze millions more passengers through the airport without expanding its footprint
These are the first two paragraphs.
Heathrow’s third runway has been shelved as leaked details of the airport’s “better not bigger” strategy can be revealed.
New chief executive Thomas Woldbye is understood to have begun disbanding Heathrow’s third runway team in favour of exploring how to squeeze millions more passengers through the airport without expanding its footprint.
Various strategies to increase the capacity are suggested.
- More buses to transport passengers from the terminal to the aircraft. This allows planes to be parked further from the terminal.
- More efficient use of the runway so that planes could take off and land closer together.
- Increasing the flight cap by five percent, if the Government agrees.
This paragraph indicates the number of passengers, Heathrow will be planning for.
Leaked details of the plans reveal that annual passenger numbers could hit 96 million by 2036, up from the record 80.9 million it welcomed in 2019, if all of its initiatives can be realised. A “core” case is understood to forecast a rise to 86 million passengers.
If the figure of 96 million passengers is correct, that would be a nearly twenty percent increase in passengers in just seventeen years.
Newquay Station – 9/10th February 2024
These pictures show Newquay station.
Note.
- It is a small one-platform station.
- It has a few facilities.
- It is located on the main street in the centre of the town.
This Google Map shows Newquay station.
Newquay station appears to have a very long platform.
- This page on Railway Data gives a length of 242 metres.
- It should accommodate a nine-car Class 802 train.
- The station is also close to the beach.
It looks to me that Newquay station is ready for a big surfing festival.
I have a few thoughts.
Adding A Second Platform
These pictures show the space alongside the current single track. At least for a five-car train.
Note.
- I would expect that adding a second platform could be easily done by a competent and experienced construction company.
- There would need to be new track and a set of points, so that a train could use either platform.
- Signalling would be added, so both platforms could be used, either separately or at the same time.
I also expect that the Tregoss Loop would need to be commissioned before the second platform.
Adding Charging For Battery-Electric Trains
Consider.
In GWR Trialling Transformative Ultra-Rapid Charging Train Battery, I talked about the installation of the Vivarail/GWR Fast Charge system at West Ealing station.
In Decarbonising The Mid-Cornwall Metro, I talked about using the Vivarail/GWR Fast Charge system or hydrogen to decarbonise the Mid-Cornwall Metro.
This picture shows the Vivarail/GWR Fast Charge system at West Ealing station.
I feel there would be no problem fitting one of these in one or both of the platforms at Newquay.
But I do feel that the best way to decarbonise services to Newquay, would be to fully-electrify Par station with 25 KVAC overhead wires.
- Mid-Cornwall Metro services would charge their batteries using a pantograph, every time that they reversed in the station.
- Long distance battery-electric services through the station would top up their batteries during a stop at the station.
- Locomotives with batteries will be increasingly used on freight services and charging may be needed for the locomotives used from china clay trains.
Note.
- Par and Falmouth Docks is 30.8 miles.
- Par and Newquay is 20.8 miles.
- Par and Penzance is 44.8 miles
- Par and Plymouth is 34.7 miles.
- Par and Truro is 19 miles.
Par would appear to be a station, that could be easy to electrify and is conveniently placed in the heart of services through Cornwall.
Tideway – Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore – 12th February 2024
It is two years since I took the last set of pictures here.
The tunnelling is now complete.
Old Street Station – 12th February 2024
I took these pictures this morning, as my bus passed Old Street roundabout.
Nite that my first post showing the progress of the station was Old Street Station – 16th November 2020, which was three years and three months ago.
I See My First Modern 100 % Electric Truck
Where I live in Hackney, you see a lot of electric vans. Even the local deli has one.
But until yesterday, I don’t think I’ve seen a 100 % full-size electric truck, other than the famous Harrods delivery vans, which I can remember from the 1960s.
This was a sideview of the truck I saw.
Sadly, because I was trying to catch a bus, in the roadworks I described in How Not To Organise A Piss-Up In A Brewery, I was unable to take any more pictures.
This press release from Wincanton is entitled Wincanton Announces Multimillion-Pound Investment In Electric Vehicles For IKEA.
These three paragraphs give the full story.
Wincanton, a leading supply chain partner for UK business, today announces that it has made a multimillion-pound investment in electric vehicle technology to provide home delivery services for IKEA.
The investment has seen Wincanton purchase 30 electric home delivery vehicles, comprising of 10 16-tonne trucks and 20 vans, to support IKEA’s goal of reaching 100% zero emission last mile deliveries by 2025.
The new fleet is expected to save Wincanton 1,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, across just over 10,000 journeys per annum. The vehicles, supplied by Renault Trucks and Ford, will carry deliveries to the homes of IKEA customers across Greater London and the Southeast of England from Spring 2023.
I do feel though, that we’d see more zero-carbon trucks, if London could get its act together with hydrogen.
The Anonymous Widower 