EC To Consider Hydrogen Produced From Nuclear Power As Low-Carbon
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Nuclear Engineering International.
This is the opening paragraph.
The European Commission (EC) will consider hydrogen produced from nuclear power as “low-carbon”, Paula Abreu Marques, head of unit for renewables and CCS policy told the European Commission’s energy directorate. “Electrolysis can be powered by renewable electricity, which would then be classified as renewable hydrogen,” she said.
I think that those advocating this have a point, as no carbon-dioxide will be released once the nuclear plant has been built.
This type of hydrogen is referred to as purple hydrogen in the article.
I wonder how costs will compare with Shell’s new process, that I wrote about in Shell Process To Make Blue Hydrogen Production Affordable.
Conclusion
Nuclear power used to generate hydrogen with electrolysers could be a valuable way to generate hydrogen for transport needs, in a country that because of geography can’t generate a lot of electricity from renewables. A farm of small modular nuclear reactors linked to a large electrolyser could be the most affordable way to satisfy their needs.
It could also be a way for an industrial company to generate large amounts of hydrogen for steelmaking or an integrated chemical plant.
LNER Seeks 10 More Bi-Modes
The title of this post, is the same as that of an article in the December 2020 Edition of Modern Railways.
This is the opening paragraph.
LNER has launched the procurement of at least 10 new trains to supplement its Azuma fleet on East Coast Main Line services.
Some other points from the article.
- It appears that LNER would like to eliminate diesel traction if possible.
- On-board energy storage is mentioned.
- No form of power appears to be ruled out, including hydrogen.
- LNER have all 65 of their Azumas in service.
The last paragraph is very informative.
Infrastructure upgrades are due to prompt a timetable recast in May 2022 (delayed from December 2021) from which point LNER will operate 6.5 trains per hour, out of Kings Cross, compared to five today. As an interim measure, LNER is retaining seven rakes of Mk 4 coaches hauled by 12 Class 91 locomotives to supplement the Azuma fleet and support its timetable ambitions until the new trains are delivered.
These are my thoughts.
More Azumas?
Surely, It would require a very innovative train at perhaps a rock-bottom price from another manufacturer, for LNER to not acquire extra Azumas.
Classic-Compatible Trains For High Speed Two
Consider.
- Alstom, Bombardier, CAF, Hitachi, Siemens and Talgo are involved in the competition to design Classic-Compatible trains for High Speed Two.
- As the York and Edinburgh section of the East Coast Main Line will eventually be upgraded and used by High Speed Two services,
- Also in the December 2020 Edition of Modern Railways, is an article entitled 140 mph Plan For ECML North of York, which details improvements proposed by Northern Powerhouse Rail to improve services between Leeds and Edinburgh.
Would there be advantages to High Speed Two, LNER and Network Rail and Northern Powerhouse Rail, to have some commonality between the High Speed Two, LNER and Northern Powerhouse Rail fleets?
Hopefully, the various government-controlled companies are talking.
A Flagship Train For Aberdeen And Inverness
The InterCity 225s, which consist of a Class 91 locomotive and a rake of nine Mark 4 coaches, have given thirty years of top-quality service on the East Coast Main Line and appear to be being asked to handle services until the new trains are delivered.
- Full-length InterCity 225s are 245 metres long and have 406 Standard and 129 First seats or a total of 535 seats.
- Nine-car Azumas are 234 metres long and have 510 Standard and 101 First seats or a total of 611 seats.
- Two five-car Azumas working as a pair are 260 metres long and have 604 seats. They can also be handled on most platforms, that are used by LNER.
- The power of a Class 91 locomotive is 4.83 MW.
- A Class 91 locomotive is 19.4 metres long and weighs 81.5 tonnes.
- Both Azumas and InterCity 225s can maintain 125 mph with ease on the East Coast Main Line and both will be able to reach 140 mph with in-cab signalling.
There would appear to be nothing wrong with locomotive-hauled high speed services, in terms of capacity and performance.
In The Mathematics Of A Hydrogen-Powered Freight Locomotive, I laid out my thoughts on a high-powered railway locomotive fuelled by hydrogen, that used one or possibly two Rolls-Royce gas-turbine engines to generate electricity for traction.
With all the work done, by the companies bidding for Classic-Compatible trains for High Speed Two, into very high speed trains, I believe that at least one company could build a locomotive with this specification.
- 140 mph operation on 25 KVAC overhead electrification. As I said, that was done by British Rail almost forty years ago.
- Ability to use full digital in-cab signalling. This is on its way and already working in some applications.
- 110 mph operation on hydrogen. Hitachi are planning 100 mph battery trains, so it should be possible.
- 400 mile range on one filling of hydrogen. This is working in Germany.
- Ability to be upgraded to higher speeds on electric power, should the East Coast Main Line be upgraded for higher speeds in the future. The train manufacturers are probably ahead of track designers with this one.
Such a locomotive would be key to building a train with this specification.
- Sub-four hour time between London and Edinburgh.
- Sub-seven hour time between London and Aberdeen, which has 130 miles without wires.
- Sub-eight hour time between London and Inverness, which has 146 miles without wires.
- Hydrogen would be used, where there is no electrification.
- Zero-carbon at all times.
- A maximum length of 260 metres, which I estimate could give a passenger capacity of around 640 seats.
- The last coach would include a driving van trailer.
- They would not need the ability to split and join, except for the purpose of rescue, as there is no platform on the route, that could accommodate the resulting 520 metre long pair of trains.
I estimate that a fleet of around seven trains would be needed to run the current Aberdeen and Inverness services.
A few extra thoughts.
- Could they have an up-market more spacious interior, as their main competition to the North of Scotland, would be the budget airlines?
- Could they be slightly longer, with some platform work at Kings Cross and other stations?
- Add a few extra trains to the order, so that extra services between London and Edinburgh could be added to the timetable.
- Could the driving van trailer incorporate an observation car?
- Hydrogen refuelling shouldn’t be a problem in Scotland, as the country is developing a hydrogen economy.
- Hydrogen refuelling wouldn’t be needed in England, as they’d be using the electrification.
- As an alternative to hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuel could be used.
I suspect that Talgo, would be very happy to tender.
- They are developing hydrogen-powered trains as I wrote in Talgo: Our Hydrogen Train Will Be Ready In 2023.
- They are building a factory in Scotland, close to the Forth Bridge.
- Because of the factory, Talgo probably have the ear of the Scottish Government, who would probably welcome a Scottish-built train.
- A shorter version of these trains without the hydrogen, could be the design for a High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train, for which Talgo, are on the short list of suppliers.
What better way, would there be to sell your hydrogen-powered high speed trains, than to give prospective clients a ride up from London to the factory in the luxury version?
A New Elizabethan
I can remember The Elizabethan, which was a steam-hauled non-stop express between London and Edinburgh between 1953 and 1961.
I have laid out my ideas for a modern express train of the same name in A New Elizabethan.
It could be an interesting concept, to increase capacity between London and Edinburgh.
Splitting And Joining
Some of LNER’s philosophy to serve places like Harrogate, Huddersfield and Middlesbrough, depends on the ability to split and join trains.
A pair of Azumas could leave London and go to Leeds, where they would split, with one train going to Harrogate and the other going to Huddersfield.
When returning to London, the two trains would join at Leeds.
The big advantage of splitting and joining, is that it increases the capacity on the main line, as services can be arranged, so that every path always carries a full-length train. I would expect that LNER would prefer never to run a single five-car Azuma into Kings Cross.
Currently LNER have these paths to and from Kings Cross.
- 2 tph between London Kings Cross and Leeds
- 1 tph between London Kings Cross and Lincoln and East Yorkshire
- 2 tph between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh
Note.
- LNER have already started to extend services from Leeds, so will we see splitting and joining being used on one tph at Leeds to provide services to several destinations, throughout the day.
- Splitting and joining at Edinburgh is surely another possibility, to serve Stirling and Glasgow, with the same train.
- Splitting and joining at York could serve destinations like Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Redcar, Scarborough and Sunderland.
- In A Trip To Grantham Station – 4th November 2020, I advocated splitting at Grantham station to serve both Nottingham and Lincoln.
There are a lot of possibilities for splitting and joining.
As LNER has a fleet of twenty-two five-car Azumas, if the new trains are needed to split and join on certain services, this might mean more five-car Azumas are a better buy.
What Will Happen To Nine Car Azumas?
Hitachi have launched the Regional Battery Train concept, the specification of which is given in this Hitachi infographic.
The diesel engines in LNER’s Class 800 trains will be able to be replaced with batteries, making them all-electric trains.
- Destinations like Cleethorpes, Dundee, Grimsby, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Hull, Lincoln, Middlesbrough Nottingham, Perth, Redcar, Scarborough, Sheffield and Sunderland will be within range of battery electric Azumas.
- Some destinations would need the ability to charge the train before it returned, but I can see lots of places getting an appropriate service, even if it was just one or two trains per day.
- Unfortunately, Aberdeen and Inverness would be too far for battery electric Azumas, so services will still need to be run by nine-car bi-mode Azumas.
Five-car battery electric Azumas working in pairs from London could be the key to increasing LNER services.
I can see that LNER may end up with too many nine-car Azumas, if nine-car trains are replaced by pairs of five-car trains to serve two destinations by splitting and joining.
Would it be possible to shorten nine-car Azumas to five-car trains?
These are the formations of the two trains.
- nine-car: DPTS-MS-MS-TS-MS-TS-MC-MF-DPTF
- five-car: DPTS-MS-MS-MC-DPTF
It is known, that the trains have a computer, that does a quick check on start-up to determine, what cars are present and correct in the train.
- This means that if LNER needed twelve-car trains for say London and Edinburgh, they could create a sub-fleet by just buying the requisite number of extra TS (Trailer Standard) and MS (Motor Standard) cars and coupling them up.
- This feature also means that operators running fleets of five-car Hitachi trains, like TransPennine Express and Hull Trains can increase capacity by just purchasing the extra cars.
- It would also allow, cars to be shuffled to create viable trains, after say several cars were damaged by vandalism.
All trains these days seem to have this very operator-friendly feature.
With LNER’s trains, I suspect that all cars of the same type are identical.
This would mean, that a nine-car train can be converted to a five-car by removing two TS (Trailer Standard), one MS (Motor Standard) and one MF (Motor First) cars.
The four cars, that have been removed could be reconfigured to form the middle three cars of a new five-car train, which would be completed by adding new DPTS (Driver Pantograph Trailer Standard) and DPTF (Driver Pantograph Trailer First) cars.
An Increase In Paths From 5 To 6.5
This will certainly allow LNER to run more services.
The odd half path could be easy to explain.
- Hull is a city, that is on the up.
- I suspect that it could support a five-car direct service from London with a frequency of one tph.
- But Hull Trains are also running a successful service on the route.
Perhaps a fair solution, would be to allow both LNER and Hull Trains to run a one train per two hour (tp2h) service.
If LNER didn’t want to use the path to just run a five-car train to Hull, there are several possibilities for a split and join.
- With a Cleethorpes, Lincoln or Nottingham service at Grantham.
- With a Cleethorpes or Lincoln service at Newark.
- With a Cleethorpes, Middlesbrough, Sheffield or Sunderland service at Doncaster.
I can only see splitting and joining increasing, which surely means an Azuma order is more likely.
As someone, who spent a working life, writing software to schedule projects, I can’t resist speculating on what to do with the extra whole path, that LNER will be allocated, when the infrastructure allows.
- Many travellers wouldn’t mind LNER providing more seats between the English and Scottish capitals.
- Many would like an alternative to flying.
- Others would like a faster service.
- Leeds and York will soon be a route, that LNER’s Azumas will be able to use without diesel, because of extra electrification and Azumas with traction batteries.
This leads me to believe that LNER could use the extra path for a third London and Edinburgh service in every hour, that ran via Leeds.
- Additionally, it might stop at stations like Peterborough, York, Darlington or Newcastle.
- It could also provide a non-stop London and Leeds service.
- Some services could go non-stop between London and Edinburgh.
- The direct London and Edinburgh service would be under four hours.
- Going via Leeds would add under an hour.
It would be run by a nine-car all-electric Azumas, of which there will be unlikely to be a shortage.
How Many Azumas Could Be Fitted With Batteries Instead Of Diesel Engines?
The Wikipedia entry for the Class 800 train, has a section called Powertrain, where this is said.
Despite being underfloor, the generator units (GU) have diesel engines of V12 formation. The Class 801 has one GU for a five to nine-car set. These provide emergency power for limited traction and auxiliaries if the power supply from the overhead line fails. The Class 800 and Class 802 bi-mode has three GU per five-car set and five GU per nine-car set. A five-car set has a GU situated under vehicles 2/3/4 and a nine-car set has a GU situated under vehicles 2/3/5/7/8.
Consider.
- Class 807 trains for Aventi West Coast will have no batteries or diesel engines. Does this save weight?
- Class 803 trains for East Coast Trains will only have a small battery for emergency hotel power, in case of catenary failure. Does this save weight?
- Saving weight should improve acceleration and deceleration, which could reduce journey times.
- Removal of diesel engines would reduce the trains carbon footprint.
- Removal of diesel engines could reduce maintenance costs.
- Diesel engines are only needed for services that run North of Edinburgh. Other sections without electrification are probably within battery range or could be easily made so.
- It appears every Motor car (MC, MF and MS) can be fitted with a diesel engine, although in Class 801 trains, only one is fitted. Does that mean that every Motor car in the future, could have a battery?
I think this could lead to the following.
- The Class 801 trains are fitted with sufficient batteries to enable handling of expected emergencies. These could be similar to those in the Class 803 trains.
- Enough nine-car Class 800 trains would be kept with diesel engines to work the Aberdeen and Inverness services. These routes at 130 and 146 miles without wires are too long for battery trains, without a succession of chargers along the routes.
- If a third Edinburgh service were to be introduced, could some of the remainder of the nine-car Class 800 trains be converted to Class 801 trains, by removing the diesel engines?
- I would expect most of the five-car thirty-six Class 800 trains would be fitted with batteries to run services to destinations, that can be reached on battery power. In a few years time, these will probably mean splitting and joining at Edinburgh, Leeds and other places.
- Could we even see the twelve five-car Class 801 trains converted to battery electric Class 800 trains, which would surely give maximum flexibility about their use?
If the software on the trains, is as intelligent as it could be and can accept cars with diesel engines, batteries or no extra power, then LNER will have an enormous amount of flexibility, to configure the trains as they need.
I could even see a nine-car Class 800 train with a mix of batteries and diesel engines, that can be used as range extenders, reaching further towards Aberdeen and Inverness.
Consider a five-car Class 800 train with two batteries and a single diesel engine!
- If I assume that Hitachi’s specification for the Regional Battery Train, is for a five-car train with three diesel engines replaced with battery packs, then a two battery pack train could have a range of 60 km or 37 miles.
- If the route wasn’t very challenging, and the computer made judicious use of the diesel engine, could the train’s range be extended to beyond the ninety kilometres of the three-battery pack train.
- The diesel engine could also be used to charge the batteries, before returning to the electrification of the main line.
In Vivarail’s Plans For Zero-Emission Trains, I talked about Adrian Shooter and his concept of a Pop-Up Metro, run for perhaps a year, to test if a Metro service would be viable, instead of spending the money on consultants.
The two-battery pack/one diesel Class 800 train, could run a Pop-Up London Service to test the need for a London service. All it would need is a convenient platform long enough to take a 130 metre long Class 800 train.
Possible destinations to test could include Cleethorpes, Dundee, Glenrothes-with-Thornton, Grimsby, Nottingham, Norwich, Perth, Redcar, Sheffield and Sunderland
Conclusion
There is a lot of scope to develop LNER’s services.
I think it is likely that the order will go to Hitachi.
But as I indicated, I do believe that there is scope for a manufacturer to design a zero-carbon train, that was able to serve the Aberdeen and Inverness.
- I suspect a fleet of ten trains would be sufficient.
- Trains would use the 25 KVAC overhead electrification, where it exists and hydrogen or battery power North of the wires.
The trains would also be capable of being upgraded to higher speeds, should the East Coast Main Line be turned into a High Speed Line.
I also think, that whatever trains are bought, there will be a large upgrading of the existing Hitachi fleet, which will add batteries to a lot of trains.
Hyundai And Ineos To Co-operate On Driving Hydrogen Economy Forward
The title of this post, us the same as that of this article on Yahoo News.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Chemicals giant Ineos has announced a new agreement with Korean car firm Hyundai aimed at developing the production of hydrogen.
I find this an interesting tie-up between two large companies.
I first came across Hyundai, when they were working on large projects in Saudi Arabia in the early 1980s, where Artemis was being used for the project management.
From what it says in the article, the two companies are a good fit for the hydrogen market.
- Hyundai has the hydrogen fuel cell technology, that INEOS needs for its Land-Rover Defender-type vehicle.
- INEOS has the hydrogen production technology.
- INEOS produces 300,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year.
This deal could be a a small deal over technology or a large deal that could transform the manufacture and fuelling of hydrogen-powered transportation from small cars to large ships with trains, buses and trucks in between.
Riding Sunbeams To Finance Railway Connected 3.75MW Community Solar Farm With £2.5m Grant
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Solar Power Portal.
This is the introductory paragraph.
The 3.75MW Cuckmere Community Solar Farm is to directly power the Eastbourne-London mainline railway in a world-first project.
This is certainly good news for Riding Sunbeams, who have been promoting the concept of powering railway electrification using solar power.
This Google Map shows the location.
Note.
- The 3.5 MW Berwick Solar Farm is to the North of Arlington reservoir.
- Berwick station and the mainline between London and Eastbourne is in the South East corner of the map.
- There is also Wilbees Solar Park to the South East of the reservoir.
If you look on Real Time Trains, there is usually around five or six trains per hour in both directions. As each train needs about a MW of power, the Berwick Solar Farm probably has a useful market for its power.
The Cuckmere Community Solar Company has developed the farm and has some interesting information on their web site.
Conclusion
I can’t really make up my mind about Riding Sunbeams.
Their heart is definitely in the right place, but there hasn’t been much take-up of the idea, as of now!
In this project, they would appear to have been more of an enabling company, who connected a solar farm to Network Rail’s infrastructure to the benefit of both parties.
As an electrical and control engineer, I can’t help feeling that there should be substantial energy storage in there somewhere.
Northern Powerhouse Rail – Connecting Sheffield To HS2 And On To Leeds
In this article on Transport for the North, which is entitled Northern Powerhouse Rail Progress As Recommendations Made To Government, one of the recommendations proposed for Northern Powerhouse Rail is connecting Sheffield to High Speed Two and on to Leeds.
Northern Powerhouse Rail’s Objective For The Sheffield and Leeds Route
Wikipedia, other sources and my calculations say this about the trains between Leeds and Sheffield.
- The distance between the two stations is 39 miles
- The current service takes around 40 minutes and has a frequency of one train per hour (tph)
- This gives an average speed of 58.5 mph for the fastest journey.
- The proposed service with Northern Powerhouse Rail will take 28 minutes and have a frequency of four tph.
- This gives an average speed of 84 mph for the journey.
This last figure of 84 mph, indicates to me that a fast route will be needed.
But given experience of 100 mph lines in other parts of the UK, 100 mph trains and infrastructure could make this demanding objective of twenty-eight minutes between Sheffield and Leeds a reality
Connecting Sheffield To High Speed Two
Sheffield is to be accessed from a branch off the Main High Speed Two route to Leeds.
This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, shows the route of the Sheffield Branch, from where it branches North West from the main Eastern Leg of High Speed Two.
Note.
- Orange indicates new High Speed Two track.
- Blue indicates track that High Speed Two will share with other services.
- The orange route goes North to Leeds, along the M1
- The blue route goes North to Chesterfield and Sheffield, after skirting to the East of Clay Cross.
- The orange route goes South to East Midlands Hub station.
This second map, shows where the Erewash Valley Line joins the Sheffield Branch near the village of Stonebroom.
Note.
- Red is an embankment.
- Yellow is a cutting.
- The Sheffield Branch goes North-West to Clay Cross, Chesterfield and Sheffield
- The Sheffield Branch goes South-East to East Midlands Hub station.
- The Sheffield Branch goes through Doe Hill Country Park.
- The Sheffield Branch runs alongside the existing Erewash Valley Line, which goes South to Langley Mill, Ilkeston and the Derby-Nottingham area.
The Sheffield Branch and the Erewash Valley Line appear to share a route, which continues round Clay Cross and is shown in this third map.
Note
- Doe Hill Country Park is in the South-East corner of the map.
- The dark line running North-South is the A61.
- Running to the West of the A61 is the Midland Main Line, which currently joins the Erewash Valley Line at Clay Cross North junction.
High Speed Two and the Midland Main Line will share a route and/or tracks from Clay Cross North junction to Sheffield.
This fourth map, shows where the combined route joins the Hope Valley Line to Manchester to the South West of Sheffield.
Note.
- Sheffield is to the North East.
- Chesterfield is to the South East,
- Totley junction is a large triangular junction, that connects to the Hope Valley Line.
These are some timings for various sections of the route.
- Clay Cross North Junction and Chesterfield (current) – 4 minutes
- Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield (current) – 17 minutes
- Chesterfield and Sheffield (current) – 13 minutes
- Chesterfield and Sheffield (High Speed Two) – 13 minutes
- East Midlands Hub and Chesterfield (High Speed Two) – 16 minutes
- East Midlands Hub and Sheffield (High Speed Two) – 27 minutes
As Class Cross North Junction and Sheffield are 15.5 miles, this means the section is run at an average speed of 53 mph.
Can I draw any conclusions from the maps and timings?
- There would appear to be similar current and High Speed Two timings between Chesterfield and Sheffield.
- The various junctions appear to be built for speed.
The Midland Main Line will be electrified from Clay Cross North Junction to Sheffield, so that High Speed Two trains can use the route.
What will be the characteristics of the tracks between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield?
- Will it be just two tracks as it mainly is now or will it be a multi-track railway to separate the freight trains from the high speed trains?
- Will it have a high enough maximum speed, so that East Midland Railway’s new Class 810 trains can go at their maximum speed of 140 mph?
- Will it be capable of handling a frequency of 18 tph, which is the maximum frequency of High Speed Two?
Surely, it will be built to a full High Speed Two standard to future-proof the line.
Before finishing this section, I will answer a few questions.
Would It Be Possible For Class 810 Trains Fitted With Batteries To Run Between London St. Pancras And Sheffield?
East Midlands Railway’s new Class 810 trains could be fitted with batteries to become Regional Battery Trains with the specification, given in this Hitachi infographic.
Note.
- This would give the trains a range of 90 kilometres or 56 miles on batteries, if a number of diesel engines were exchanged for batteries.
- The trains would only be a few mph slower on batteries, than the current Hitachi trains on diesel.
- The Class 810 trains have four diesel engines. Is this to enable 125 mph running on diesel?
By perhaps replacing two diesel engines with batteries and using the remaining two diesel engines as range extenders or some other combination, I feel that Hitachi might be able to obtain a longer self-powered range for the train.
Consider.
- Between Sheffield and Clay Cross North Junction will be fully-electrified and at 15.5 miles, it will be long enough to fully-charge the batteries on the train.
- Between London St. Pancras and Market Harborough will be fully-electrified and at 83 miles, it will be long enough to fully-charge the batteries on the train.
- The section between Market Harborough and Clay Cross North Junction is not electrified and is 66 miles.
I feel that Hitachi and their partner; Hyperdrive Innovation can design a battery electric Class 810 train, that can travel between London St. Pancras and Sheffield, without using a drop of diesel.
A great advantage of this approach, is that, as more electrification is added to the Midland Main Line, as it surely will be, the trains will be able to use the wires to reduce journey times.
I believe there are two sections on the Midland Main Line. where traditional electrification is less likely.
- The bridge at the Southern end of Leicester station is low and would need to be rebuilt causing immense disruption to both road and rail in the city.
- Between Derby and Alfreton is the World Heritage Site of the Derwent Valley Mills. Will electrification be fought by the heritage lobby?
Both sections may eventually be electrified at some far off date in the future.
Why Is There A Spur Of Electrification At Totley Junction?
This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, shows the Southern Leg of Totley Junction, where the Hope Valley Line joins the Midland Main Line.
Note that a short length of electrification is shown, between the Midland Main Line and a tunnel on the Southern leg.
This Google Map shows the same area.
Note, that the line disappears into a tunnel.
- In Northern Powerhouse Rail -Significant Upgrades And Journey Time Improvements To The Hope Valley Route Between Manchester And Sheffield, I indicated, that running battery electric trains between Manchester and Sheffield would be a possibility and could be a way of meeting Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objectives for the route.
- A short length of electrification might help battery electric trains turn out to go South.
- I don’t think any passenger trains ever go that way now, but I have seen articles and heard complaints from passengers, that want a better service between Derby and/or Nottingham and Manchester.
- It might also help with the decarbonisation of freight trains to and from the quarries.
I also suspect, that if building High Speed Two in Manchester temporarily reduced the capacity of Manchester Piccadilly station, trains could use the Hope Valley Line to get to the city, as they have done previously, with Project Rio.
Accessing The Infrastructure Depot At Staveley
This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, shows the location of the infrastructure depot at Staveley.
Note.
- Chesterfield is shown by the large blue dot.
- High Speed Two’s Sheffield Branch runs North from Chesterfield station.
- High Speed Two’s Eastern Leg runs down the Eastern side of the map.
- Two spurs from East and West go towards each other and would meet to the North of the town of Staveley.
The infrastructure depot will be located where they meet.
The route from the Sheffield Branch uses the Barrow Hill Line, which might be reopened as another passenger route between Chesterfield and Sheffield.
I wrote about this idea in Reinstatement Of The Barrow Hill Line Between Sheffield And Chesterfield.
If the line is being upgraded and electrified as far as Barrow Hill for the Infrastructure Depot, would it be worthwhile to create a new electrified route into Sheffield?
I also wrote in Could East Midlands Railway’s Liverpool And Norwich Service Avoid A Reverse At Sheffield By Using the Barrow Hill Line?, that the Barrow Hill Line might be an alternative route for the Liverpool and Norwich service.
When the railway routes in the area of the Infrastructure Depot are developed, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some routes changed.
Between Sheffield And Meadowhall Stations
One of the original designs for High Speed Two had it calling at Meadowhall station.
This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, clearly shows High Speed Two running across Sheffield.
Note.
- Sheffield station is the big Blue dot in the South-West corner of the map.
- The M1 runs across the North-East corner of the map.
- The railway between Sheffield and Meadowhall stations already exists.
- Sheffield and Meadowhall stations are 3.5 miles apart and trains take seven minutes.
Is there any reason, why High Speed Two trains shouldn’t serve both Sheffield and Meadowhall stations, by just taking the existing line across the city?
Taking The Wakefield Line Towards Leeds
In extending to Meadowhall, High Speed Two’s route seems to be taking the current Wakefield Line.
This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, clearly shows High Speed Two passing through Sheffield and Rotherham and then going towards Leeds.
Note.
- Orange indicates new High Speed Two track.
- Blue indicates track that High Speed Two shares with other lines.
- The Wakefield Line is shown in blue and has stations at Meadowhall, Swinton, Bolton-upon-Dearne, Goldthorpe and Thurscoe.
- The main High Speed Two leg to Leeds is shown in orange.
It looks to me, that High Speed Two are aiming to provide a route, so that trains going to Sheffield can extend the journey to Leeds.
As Leeds will have three tph to and from London, why is this service being extended to Leeds?
I will explore a few reasons why in the next few sub-sections.
It’s Convenient For Running Trains
Consider.
- High Speed Two are saying London and Sheffield will be one hour and twenty-seven minutes.
- Northern Powerhouse Rail have an objective of Leeds and Sheffield in twenty-eight minutes.
- One hour and fifty-five minutes could be a convenient time for a London and Leeds service, as it could be a four hour round trip.
But High Speed Two are saying London and Leeds will be one hour and twenty-one minutes.
It looks to me, that it is a convenient way to serve Meadowhall, Rotherham, Bolton-upon-Dearne, Goldthorpe and Thurscoe stations
High Speed Two Through Rotherham
This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, clearly shows High Speed Two passing through Rotherham to the North of the Parkgate Shopping Park.
Note.
- High Speed Two is the bright blue line running North-East from the Western edge of the map.
- The grey blocks are the stores in the Shopping Park.
- The Rotherham Parkgate tram-train stop is marked.
This Google Map shows a similar area.
To the East of the Parkgate Shopping Park, is a large brownfield site, as this Google Map shows.
Could Rotherham have a station on the line North of this site?
- The rail line running SW-NE across this map is drawn in blue on High Speed Two’s interactive map.
- Rotherham Masborough station used to be in this area.
If High Speed Two is supposed to be a railway for all the people, or at least as many as possible, surely there should be a station in the town.
High Speed Two Through Bolton-upon-Dearne
In July 2019, I wrote a post called Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 – A New Station At Barnsley Dearne Valley.
So have High Speed Two taken on this feature of the Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019, to add another station to their list of destinations?
Approach To Leeds
This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, clearly shows route High Speed Two will take to approach Leeds from the South East.
Note.
- Leeds station is the blue dot in the North West corner of the map.
- High Speed Two is shown in orange and continues North to York, where it joins the East Coast Main Line.
- Wakefield is in the middle at the bottom of the map and is on the Wakefield Line and the current route for LNER’s expresses from London.
It looks to me, that Leeds and Sheffield will eventually end up with two faster routes between the two cities.
- An upgraded Wakefield Line
- A route based on the Southern section of the Wakefield Line and the Eastern leg of High Speed Two route to Leeds.
If High Speed Two’s trains are to be able to get across Sheffield and call at Sheffield, Meadowhall, Rotherham and Barnsley Dearne Valley stations, then these conditions must be met.
- The trains must be High Speed Two’s Classic-Compatible trains or a train to a similar specification.
- Some platform lengthening might be needed to allow the two hundred metre long trains to call.
- The Wakefield Line must be electrified between Sheffield and just North of Goldthorpe station, where it will be able to join the link to the Eastern leg of High Speed Two.
It would probably be sensible to electrify the Wakefield Line all the way to Fitzwilliam station, from where the line is electrified all the way to Leeds.
This would enable the following.
- Electric trains to run between Sheffield and Leeds via Wakefield Westgate station.
- Would Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objective of a twenty-eight minute journey be achieved?
- East Midlands Railway could run their Class 810 trains between London St. Pancras and Leeds under electric power.
- High Speed Two could serve Leeds before the Northern infrastructure of the Eastern leg of High Speed Two is complete.
- High Speed Two could offer services to Wakefield, Barnsley and Rotherham via Sheffield.
I can see reasons for early upgrading of the Wakefield Line.
Conclusion
It appears that High Speed Two are planning an electrified route through Sheffield between Clay Cross North Junction on the Midland Main Line and Goldthorpe station on the Wakefield Line.
Once complete it would enable the following.
- Rotherham and Barnsley to have direct electric services to and from the capital.
- When East Midlands Railway introduce their new Class 810 trains, the electrification North of Clay Cross North Junction would mean faster services and less running on diesel power.
- I believe these Class 810 trains could run between London and Sheffield, if their four diesel engines are replaced with batteries, which would power the trains between Clay Cross North Junction and Market Harborough.
- The electrification at Sheffield would allow battery electric trains to work between Manchester and Sheffield as I outlined in Northern Powerhouse Rail -Significant Upgrades And Journey Time Improvements To The Hope Valley Route Between Manchester And Sheffield.
I think it is a good plan.
Project Management Recommendations
It is my view that the following projects should be started as soon as possible.
- Electrification between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield station.
- Electrification of the Wakefield Line between Sheffield and Fitzwilliam stations.
- Provision of new stations at Rotherham and Barnsley Dearne Valley on the Wakefield Line.
These projects could deliver worthwhile improvements in services in a couple of years, rather than the tens of years for High Speed Two.
Northern Powerhouse Rail – Significant Upgrades And Journey Time Improvements To The Hope Valley Route Between Manchester And Sheffield
In this article on Transport for the North, which is entitled Northern Powerhouse Rail Progress As Recommendations Made To Government, one of the recommendations proposed for Northern Powerhouse Rail is significant upgrades and journey time improvements to the Hope Valley Line between Manchester and Sheffield.
I shall look at a few of the possibilities for the route.
Northern Powerhouse Rail’s Objective For The Route
Wikipedia, other sources and my calculations say this about the trains between Manchester and Sheffield.
- The distance between the two stations is 42.6 miles
- The current service takes 49 to 57 minutes and has a frequency of two trains per hour (tph)
- This gives an average speed of 52.2 mph for the fastest journey.
- The proposed service with Northern Powerhouse Rail will take 40 minutes and have a frequency of four tph.
- This gives an average speed of 63.9 mph for the journey.
This last figure of 63.9 mph, indicates to me that a 100 mph train will be able to meet Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objective.
Current Trains On The Hope Valley Line
In July this year, I went along the Hope Valley Line between Manchester Piccadilly and Dore and Totley stations, which I wrote about in Along The Hope Valley Line – 13th July 2020.
My train was a pair of refurbished Class 150 trains.
These trains can handled the current timetable but they have an operating speed of only 75 mph.
Looking at Real Time Trains for last week, it now appears that Northern are using new three-car Class 195 trains.
These are much better.
- They are 100 mph trains with much better acceleration.
- The train was still running the timetable for the slower trains.
With thirteen stops, I suspect that these new trains could be under fifty minutes between Manchester and Sheffield.
Will The Hope Valley Line Be Electrified?
Consider.
- Currently, the Hope Valley Line is electrified between Manchester Piccadilly and Hazel Grove stations.
- In the future, the line is likely to be electrified between Sheffield and Dore & Totley stations, in conjunction with rebuilding the Midland Main Line, to the North of Clay Cross North junction for High Speed Two.
- After the electrification at the Eastern end, just over thirty miles will be without electrification.
- The Hope Valley Line has an operating speed of 90 mph.
This Hitachi infographic shows the specification of the Hitachi Regional Battery train.
As these are a 100 mph train with a range of 90 km or 56 miles on battery power, these trains could work Manchester and Sheffield in the required time of forty minutes. provided they could be charged at the Sheffield end of the route.
TransPennine’s Class 802 trains can be fitted with batteries to become Regional Battery Trains, so it would appear that TransPennine’s services on this route could go zero-carbon.
In addition Northern, who are the other passenger operator on the route are working with CAF on battery electric trains, as I wrote about in Northern’s Battery Plans,
I don’t believe there are pressing reasons to electrify the Hope Valley Line to allow passenger trains to meet Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objective.
Will Operating Speed On The Hope Valley Line Be Increased?
Under Plans in the Wikipedia entry for the Hope Valley Line, this is said.
Network Rail, in partnership with South Yorkshire ITA, will redouble the track between Dore Station Junction and Dore West Junction, at an estimated cost of £15 million. This costing is based on four additional vehicles in traffic to deliver the option, however, this will depend on vehicle allocation through the DfT rolling stock plan. This work will be programmed, subject to funding, in conjunction with signalling renewals in the Dore/Totley Tunnel area.
Other proposals include a 3,600 feet (1,100 m) loop in the Bamford area, in order to fit in an all-day (07:00–19:00) hourly Manchester–Sheffield via New Mills Central stopping service, by extending an existing Manchester–New Mills Central service. Planning permission for this was granted in February 2018, but delays mean that this will now not be completed until 2023.
These changes to allow three fast trains, a stopping train and freight trains each hour were also supported in a Transport for the North investment report in 2019, together with “further interventions” for the Northern Powerhouse Rail programme.
It would also probably be a good idea, to increase the operating speed of the line to 100 mph where possible.
Effect On Passenger Services
100 mph trains on a track with an operating speed of 100 mph, could show some impressive timings.
On the Great Eastern Main Line, which is a very busy 100 mph double-track railway, 100 mph trains, achieve a 77 mph average for 90 minutes over the 115 miles, between London Liverpool Street and Norwich with a single stop.
A one-stop Manchester and Sheffield service at this speed would take just 33.2 minutes.
The stopping trains would be more of a challenge to get under forty minutes, but at least if they were battery electric trains, they’d have the better acceleration and deceleration of the electric trains.
- Fifty minutes would be a realistic time.
- Ten minutes turnround time at each end, would be ideal for charging the batteries and give an efficient two hour round trip.
Efficient timetabling could create a very comprehensive service for the Hope Valley Line.
Freight Trains On The Hope Valley Line
Under Freight in the Wikipedia entry for the Hope Valley Line, this is said.
Over a million tons of cement a year is taken away by rail from Earle’s Sidings at Hope.
That is a very large number of freight trains, all of which are currently hauled by diesel locomotives.
- Looking at Real Time Trains, there are nearly always two freight trains in every hour of the day.
- If you look at the routes, they go to a myriad number of destinations.
- Following the routes between Dore Junction and the quarries to the South of the Hope Valley Line, there are several tunnels.
- There are numerous quarries in a cluster, all served by their own rail lines.
Electrifying the delivery of the cement and limestone from the quarries would be a large and very expensive operation.
This Google Map shows Earle’s Sidings at Hope.
Perhaps a half-way house solution would be to use diesel to haul trains between the quarries and Earle’s sidings, where the locomotive is changed for an electric one?
- But that would then mean that all routes from between the Peak District quarries and their destinations would need to be fully-electrified.
- It should be noted that that the problem of zero-carbon trains, also exists at port and rail freight interchanges, where safe operation with 25 KVAC overhead wires everywhere can be a nightmare.
- Rail freight companies are unlikely to change their old diesel locomotives for new expensive electric locomotives, until all possible routes are fully electrified.
- It is also a big problem, all over the world.
Perhaps, what is needed is a self-powered zero-carbon locomotive with sufficient power to haul the heaviest trains?
I believe such a locomotive is possible and in The Mathematics Of A Hydrogen-Powered Freight Locomotive, I explored the feasibility of such a locomotive, which was based on a Stadler Class 68 locomotive.
The zero-carbon locomotive, that is eventually developed, may be very different to my proposal, but the commercial opportunities for such a locomotive are so large, that I’m sure the world’s best locomotive designers are working on developing powerful locomotives for all applications.
Conclusion
Northern Powerhouse Rail’s ambition for Manchester and Sheffield via the Hope Valley Line is simply stated as four tph in forty minutes. But this may be something like.
- Three fast tph in forty minutes.
- One stopping tph in perhaps fifty minutes.
- One freight tph in each direction to and from the quarries that lie to the South of the line.
I didn’t realise how close that the line is to that objective, once the following is done.
- Introduce 100 mph passenger trains on the route.
- Improve the track as has been planned for some years.
Note that all the passenger trains, that now run the route; Class 185, 195 and 802 trains, are all 100 mph trains, although they are diesel-powered.
With a length of just under 43 miles, the route is also ideal for battery electric trains to work the passenger services, be the trains be from Hitachi, CAF or another manufacturer, after High Speed Two electrifies the Midland Main Line to the North of Clay Cross North Junction, in preparation for high speed services between London and Sheffield.
I would recommend, that one of High Speed Two’s first Northern projects, should be to upgrade the Midland Main Line between Clay Cross North junction and Sheffield station to the standard that will be required for High Speed Two.
I would also recommend, that the Government sponsor the development of a hydrogen electric locomotive with this specification.
- Ability to use 25 KVAC overhead or 750 VDC electrification
- 110 mph operating speed on electrification.
- Ability to use hydrogen.
- 100 mph operating speed on hydrogen.
- 200 mile range on hydrogen.
A locomotive with this specification would go a long way to decarbonise rail freight in the UK and would have a big worldwide market.
Project Management Recommendations
This project divides neatly into three.
- Perform the upgrades at Dore Junction and add the loop in the Bamford area, as detailed in Wikipedia, which will increase the capacity of the Hope Valley Line.
- Electrify the Midland Main Line between Clay Cross North junction and Sheffield, as will be needed for High Speed Two. This electrification will allow battery electric trains to run between Manchester and Sheffield and between Sheffield and London.
- Procurement of the trains. CAF and Hitachi are currently finalising suitable designs for this type of operation.
It would also be helpful, if the freight trains could be hauled by zero-carbon hydrogen electric locomotives, to create a much-improved zero-carbon route between Manchester and Sheffield.
Battery Life: The Race To Find A Storage Solution For A Green Energy Future
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Financial Times.
It is a long article, that gives a good review of the technologies available to store energy from wind and solar power.
It gives a lot more details and an image of the Siemens Gamesa hot rock energy storage system in Hamburg.
- It uses a thousand tonnes of volcanic rock.
- It can store 130 MWh of electricity.
The system has apparently been designed to re-use the turbines from closing coal-fired power stations, which is an innovative idea.
Shell Process To Make Blue Hydrogen Production Affordable
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Trade Arabia.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Shell Catalysts and Technologies is launching the Shell Blue Hydrogen Process, which integrates proven technologies to increase significantly the affordability of greenfield projects for “blue” hydrogen production from natural gas along with carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS).
Note.
- Grey hydrogen is generally defined as hydrogen produced from natural gas, by a process like steam-reforming.
- Blue hydrogen is generally defined as hydrogen produced from natural gas, where the carbon is captured and stored, instead of being released into the atmosphere.
- Green hydrogen is hydrogen produced by electrolysis using renewable energy.
- Shell are claiming, that with carbon dioxide costing $25-35/tonne, that their process is more economic than grey or green hydrogen.
- Steam reforming also needs steam, but this new process actually generates steam as a by-product, which further improves the economics, as integrated chemical plants use a lot of steam.
- Shell are reporting capturing 99% of the carbon.
- It looks like savings of between 10 and 25 % are possible.
Shell have made a big technological breakthrough, as it will allow natural gas to be converted direct to hydrogen without contributing to global warming.
Northern Powerhouse Rail – A New Line Between Manchester And Leeds Via The Centre Of Bradford
In this article on Transport for the North, which is entitled Northern Powerhouse Rail Progress As Recommendations Made To Government, one of the recommendations proposed for Northern Powerhouse Rail is a new rail line between Manchester and Leeds via the centre of Bradford.
I shall look at a few of the possibilities for various sections of the route.
Current And Proposed Timings Between Manchester And Leeds
These are the current typical timings between Manchester Victoria and Leeds stations.
- 55 minutes for 43 miles, which is an average speed of 47 mph.
With Northern Powerhouse Rail, a time of 25 minutes is the objective, which is an average speed of 103.2 mph.
- As my helicopter flies it is just 35.7 miles, so a 25 minutes journey time would require an average speed of 85.7 mph.
It is obvious that a new much straighter line is needed with an operating speed of at least 100 mph.
One of the best 100 mph lines in the UK is the Great Eastern Main Line between Liverpool Street and Norwich.
- It is generally only double-track.
- The fastest services take 90 minutes for the 115 miles, which is an average speed of 77 mph.
- It is a busy line with lots of suburban services closer to London and freight trains to and from Felixstowe.
But even a line built to the standard of the Great Eastern Main Line wouldn’t be good enough for Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objective of 25 minutes.
The mathematics tell me, that a new line is needed, built as straight as possible between Manchester and Leeds.
High Speed Two’s Approach To Manchester
This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, shows the route of High Speed Two as it approaches Manchester Piccadilly station.
The colours of High Speed Two indicate the type of construction.
- Black is a bored tunnel. Only in the South East corner, where it continues to Manchester Airport.
- Purple is a tunnel portal.
- Brown is a track between retaining walls. Used through Manchester Interchange or Airport station.
- Red is a viaduct.
- Orange is a box structure
This Google Map shows a similar area.
Are High Speed Two serious about demolishing a large area of Manchester to the North and East of Manchester Piccadilly station?
- It will cause massive disruption all over the centre of Manchester.
- How many businesses will be ruined by this plan?
- How many residents are there in the area?
- How will trains from the new platforms at Piccadilly station continue to Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds and Sheffield?
- Mrs. Merton could have said “Let’s all have a reverse!” And she’d have been joking!
- You can’t go through the new platforms, as that would mean demolishing most of Manchester City Centre.
What High Speed Two are proposing is complete and utter rubbish!
In Whither HS2 And HS3?, which I wrote in May 2015, I said this.
I do think though that our designs for HS2 are rather dated and don’t take things that are happening or have happened into account.
Crossrail in London has shown that putting a large twin rail tunnel under a major city, is not the problem it once was. Crossrail have also been very innovative in creating stations with the minimum disturbance to existing infrastructure. As an example, the new Whitechapel station for Crossrail has also used a technique called uphill excavation, where you create escalator and lift shafts upwards from the tunnels, rather than traditionally from the surface, which is much more disruptive.
These techniques can revolutionise the construction of HS2.
Take cities like Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield, which have developed and are continually developing extensive local rail, tram and bus networks. So why are we in Birmingham still talking about creating an HS2 station at Curzon Street? Surely, we just dig a very deep pair of HS2 tunnels under the city and then uphill excavate into not only New Street, but Moor Street and Snow Hill as well. The tunnels would be only made as long as necessary, although the underground station could be very large. But it probably wouldn’t be much bigger than the enormous double-ended Liverpool Street/Moorgate station being created for Crossrail.
The great advantage of this method of construction is that you can continue to develop your network of local trains, trams and other transport links, untroubled by the construction of the new station deep below. Anybody, who thinks this is not possible, should spend half-an-hour walking around Whitechapel station, where the Hammersmith and City, District and East London Lines are passing untroubled over the giant hole and through the building site for the new station.
To some the example of Crossrail in London, would not be a good one, as Crossrail is years late. But the tunnelling under London and the excavations for the stations have gone well and were delivered on time.
In the related post, I went on to propose a double-ended underground station in Manchester with connections to both Piccadilly and Victoria stations. It could even have other connections to locations in the City Centre like Piccadilly Gardens.
There’s certainly space for a stylish entrance at the busy tram and bus interchange.
By applying the lessons learned in the building of Crossrail and other projects like Stuttgart 21, which I wrote about in Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof, I’m sure that a massive underground station in Manchester could be built successfully, on time and on budget.
I am not alone in thinking this way. In The Rival Plans For Piccadilly Station, That Architects Say Will ‘Save Millions’, I write about a plan from world-class architects Weston Williamson, who designed the superb new London Bridge station.
This visualisation from Weston Williamson, shows their proposed station.
Note.
- In the visualisation, you are observing the station from the East.
- The existing railway lines into Piccadilly station are shown in red.
- Stockport and Manchester Airport are to the left, which is to the South.
- Note the dreaded Castlefield Corridor in red going off into the distance to Oxford Road and Deansgate stations.
- The new high speed lines are shown in blue.
- To the left they go to Manchester Airport and then on to London, Birmingham and the South, Warrington and Liverpool and Wigan, Preston, Blackpool, Barrow-in-Furness, the North and Scotland.
- To the right, they go to Huddersfield, Bradford, Leeds, Hull and the North East, and Sheffield, Doncaster and the East.
- Between it looks like a low-level High Speed station with at least four tracks and six platforms.
- The Manchester Mretrolink is shown in yellow.
- The potential for over-site development is immense. If the Station Square Tower was residential, the penthouses would be some of the most desirable places to live in the North.
This station would enable improvements to rail services in the North and Scotland.
- It would be a through station, to allow East to West services, like Liverpool and Hull.
- Fewer services would have to reverse.
- All services using the underground station, that went to the West would serve Manchester Airport.
- TransPennine services like Liverpool and Edinburgh and Liverpool and Scarborough, would use the station and also call at Manchester Airport.
- TransPennine services like Glasgow and Manchester Airport could be extended to Leeds and Hull.
- TransPennine services would not need to use the overcrowded Castlefield Corridor.
- All existing services to the main section of the existing Piccadilly station, could continue operation as now, during the construction and operation of the underground station. Some would eventually be replaced by high speed services using the underground station.
Manchester Airport would have one of the best train services of any airport in the world. It would certainly be on a par with Schiphol.
Careful alignment of the tunnels under Manchester, could also ease the building of the new line between Manchester and Leeds.
Huddersfield And Westtown (Dewsbury)
The only part of an upgraded TransPennine route between Manchester and Leeds, that is in the planning and design phase and visible to the public, is the upgrade between Huddersfield to Westtown (Dewsbury), which is described on this page of the Network Rail web site. This is the introductory paragraph.
We’re proposing an upgrade to a section of railway between Huddersfield and Westtown (Dewsbury) to deliver passenger benefits along the TransPennine railway.
Network Rail provide this very useful map.
This article on Rail Technology Magazine is entitled Network Rail Reveals Detailed £2.9bn Upgrade Plans For TransPennine Route, which gives the major details of the upgrade.
- Improvement between Huddersfield and Westtown
- Grade separation or a tunnel at Ravensthorpe
- Rebuilding and electrification of eight miles of track.
- Possible doubling the number of tracks from two to four.
- Improved stations at Huddersfield, Deighton, Mirfield and Ravensthorpe.
This project would be a major improvement to the Huddersfield Line, but I have one problem with this project. – It doesn’t go anywhere near Bradford.
This Google Map shows Bradford, Leeds, Brighouse and Dewsbury.
Note.
- Bradford is in the North-West corner of the map, with the red arrow marking Bradford Royal Infirmary.
- Leeds is in the North-East corner of the map.
- Brighouse is in the South-West corner of the map.
- The red arrow at the bottom of the map marks Dewsbury and District Hospital, with the towns of Morley and Dewsbury to the East.
The route Network rail are improving goes South-Westerly from Leeds and through both Morley and Leeds, before turning to the West and then going South to Huddersfield.
I am left with the conclusion, that Network Rail’s plans may do wonders for travel between Leeds and Huddersfield, but they don’t do anything for Bradford.
But the plans will have positive effects on travellers between Leeds and Manchester.
Eight Miles Of Electrification
Eight miles of electrification may not seem much, but to a Hitachi Regional Battery train, travelling at speed it is a few minutes to add some charge to the batteries, especially if the train stops at Dewsbury and/or Huddersfield stations.
This Hitachi infographic gives the specification for the Hitachi Regional Battery train.
Note.
- It has a range of 90 km or 56 miles on battery power.
- It can travel at up to 100 mph on battery power.
- TransPennine’s Class 802 trains can be converted to Regional Battery trains, by simply swapping the diesel engines for battery packs.
If these trains fully-charged their batteries on the eight miles of electrification, they could do the following.
- Going East they could easily reach Leeds, which is under ten miles from Dewsbury station. At a pinch they could even reach York, which is thirty-five miles from Dewsbury.
- Going West they could reach Manchester, which is twenty-six miles from Huddersfield station. At a pinch, they could just about reach Liverpool, which is fifty-seven miles from Huddersfield.
Note that North of York and West of Manchester are both fully electrified.
This eight miles of electrification would enable the following.
- Several of TransPennine Express services run by Class 802 trains to become all-electric services.
- Other operators like Northern could use battery electric trains for stopping services along the route.
- It might even enable some freight trains to run through the area, with hybrid power.
It looks to me, that Network Rail have chosen this section to electrify, so that it gives a lot of benefit to battery electric trains.
Will Services Be Faster Between Huddersfield And Leeds?
I estimate the the straightened track, the better acceleration of electric trains and other improvements would save up to perhaps ten minutes.
Timings between Manchester and Leeds, would probably be around 45 minutes, which is nowhere near Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objective of 25 minutes
The Problem Of Bradford
Bradford has two central stations; Bradford Interchange and Bradford Forster Square. which have no connection between them.
This Google Map shows the two stations.
It is an area crowded with buildings between the two stations.
There is a Wikipedia entry called Bradford Crossrail, where this is said about the reasons for the two stations.
These stations were built in the nineteenth century by different railway companies with an individual, rather than a comprehensive plan for rail development in the city.
The Wikipedia entry also says this about Northern Powerhouse Rail and the city.
The Northern Powerhouse Rail project has also mooted a project to link Leeds and Manchester with a through route at Bradford. Whilst this would either involve a bypass line south of the city and a parkway station at Low Moor or a new route tunnelling through the city centre, neither option mentions connecting the lines from both north and south of the city together.
I will look at the two solutions to connect Northern Powerhouse Rail to the City.
Low Moor Station
The diagram shows the connections between Bradford Interchange, Bradford Low Moor, Huddersfield and Leeds stations.
It would appear that if a connection were to be made between Low Moor and New Pudsey stations. that could be a solution.
This Google Map shows where the lines to Huddersfield and Leeds join outside Bradford Interchange station.
Note,
- Bradford Interchange station is to the North.
- Bradford Low Moor station is to the South.
- New Pudsey station is to the East.
I suspect it would be possible to create a curve that allowed trains to go between Bradford Low Moor and New Pudsey stations, but I doubt it would be a fast route.
A Bradford Tunnel
This would be the bold option, where all sorts of routes could be possible.
- It could go under the City Centre in such a way, that it had pedestrian connections to both current stations and important places with a large number of visitors.
- It could connect to Huddersfield in the West and Leeds in the East.
- It might even loop under the City Centre, as the Wirral Line does under Liverpool.
A tunnel under the City, would be my preferred solution.
A Tunnel Between Manchester And Leeds
So far, various people or organisations have advocated the following tunnels on the route.
- High Speed Two are proposing a tunnel between Manchester Airport and Manchester City Centre.
- Weston Williamson are proposing a Manchester High Speed station underneath Manchester Piccadilly station.
- A tunnel has been proposed to connect to Bradford City Centre.
I feel strongly, that a tunnel can be built under the Pennines to link Manchester and Leeds.
Rail Tunnels through the Pennines have been dug before, notably at Standedge, Totley and Woodhead.
I answered the question in detail in Will HS2 And Northern Powerhouse Rail Go For The Big Bore? and this was the conclusion of that post.
I believe that my naïve analysis in this post shows that a TransPennine tunnel is possible.
But I believe that the right tunnel could have one big advantage.
Suppose it was built to handle the following.
-
- A capacity of eighteen tph, which is the same as High Speed Two.
- An operating speed of 140 mph or more. The Gotthard Base Tunnel has a maximum operating speed of 160 mph.
- High Speed Two’s Full-Size trains.
- The largest freight trains
It would be future proofed for longer than anybody could envisage.
There are also other smaller advantages.
-
- It would by-pass a lot of difficult areas.
- It would cause very little aural and visual disruption.
- IIf it were designed with care, it would not affect the flora and fauna.
- As with the Swiss tunnel, it could be dug level, which would save energy and allow trains to run faster.
- It could be running twelve tph between Leeds and Manchester Airport via Bradford, Huddersfield and Manchester Piccadilly.
- Existing surface railways at the Eastern end could serve Cleethorpes, Darlington, Doncaster, Edinburgh, Hull, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Scarborough, Sheffield and York
- Existing surface railways at the Western end could serve Barrow, Blackpool, Carlisle, Chester, Glasgow, Liverpool. North Wales, Preston and Wigan.
It would be more like Thameslink for the North turned on its side, rather than Crossrail for the North.
Would such a TransPennine tunnel be realisable?
Consider.
- 3D design software has improved tremendously over the last decade.
- The Swiss have shown that these long tunnels can be built through solid rock.
- There is plenty of space to put the tunnel.
- It doesn’t have to be one continuous tunnel.
- It might be possible to built it as a base tunnel, which would be low down and level between two valleys on either side of the Pennines.
I think there could be a lot of flexibility on how the tunnel would be designed and built.
Conclusion
A Manchester and Leeds tunnel via Bradford, could be one of the boldest projects ever undertaken in the UK.
I believe that we have the capabilities to build it.
Project Management Recommendations
This is a large project that will take several years.
- But the Swiss have dug the Gotthard Base Tunnel of a similar size through solid rock in recent years.
- It would be a political symbol to the North, that Government is serious about levelling up.
- In thirty years or so, it won’t be found to have been built with inadequate capacity.
Other projects, such as the Huddersfield and Westtown Improvement will hold the fort, whilst the tunnel is built.
First Class 484 Arrives On The Isle Of Wight
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
The title says it all, but the article contains links to interesting pictures and video of the solution to getting a two-car Class 484 train onto an island.
The Anonymous Widower 