Paddington Square – 7th February 2020
Paddington Square is a new development springing up to the East of Paddington station.
This Google Map shows the location between the station and St. Mary’s Hospital.
The development will include the following.
- A Twenty-storey tower.
- Offices
- Four floors of upmarket shops
- A rooftop restaurant.
- A new public square
- A new entry into the Bakerloo Line, which will have a step-free connection to Crossrail.
It will certainly improve, what is rather a grotty area of Central London.
There is nothing much to see at the moment.
It’s just a big hole, which is surrounded by hoardings.
I’ve Gone Cashless
I have now setup my bank account, so that I can make small payments using from my phone, using the contactless facility.
These are a few short observations.
- The thirty pound limit may be a little too low.
- You can’t be cashless on the Blackpool tramway. I was allowed to go free!
- Some small shops still won’t accept them or apply a minimum spend. Obviously, they don’t want my business and didn’t get it.
- I never have any change for beggars. I follow TfL’s advice and give to the Whitechapel Mission, who look after the genuine homeless.
- Some estabishments have gone cashless only!
The only time I use cash, is for tips in restaurants and paying black cabs.
Could New Routemaster Buses Be Converted To Hydrogen Power?
London has a thousand New Routemaster buses.
They are generally liked by passengers and drivers, although some Labour politicians think they should be replaced, because of their association with Boris.
They were introduced in 2011, so with a refurbishment, I suspect that they could be in service for perhaps another ten years.
The big feature in the design is that they are genuine hybrid buses with a small Cummins engine halfway up the back stairs, a battery under the front stairs and electric drive with regenerative braking.
I do wonder though, that because of the electric transmission, that these buses could be converted to hydrogen-powered buses.
It could be a more affordable route to create a thousand new zero-carbon buses for the streets of London or any other city for that matter.
Given that Wrightbus, who built the New Routemasters, is now owned by a member of the Bamford family of JCB fame and the company is reported to be going down the hydrogen bus route, I would suspect that conversion to hydrogen is on somebody’s mind.
Channel Islands To France Tunnel Would ‘Cost £5.6bn’
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Construction News.
The tunnel would be built as follows.
- Phase One would be a 28 km. rail tunnel between Jersey and Guernsey.
- Phase Two would be a 32 km rail tunnel between Jersey and Normandy.
- Both journey times would be around fifteen minutes.
- The tunnels would take ten years to build.
- It is claimed they would double the GDP of the islands in a decade.
- The Governments of Guernsey and Jersey are supporting the idea.
One factor driving the idea, seems to be the ageing population of the Channel Islands, which means they will need a commuting population to provide services.
There is also an article on the Jersey Evening Post, which is entitled Jersey-Guernsey-France Tunnel Proposed, that gives a few more details of the proposals.
- The tunnel will start in St Sampson’s in Guernsey and travel under Herm and Sark.
- An artificial island would also be built between Sark and Jersey which could house a combined Channel Island’s airport, hospital, prison and university.
These are a few of my thoughts.
The Route
This Google Map shows the Channel Islands.
Note.
- Herm is shown by the red arrow.
- Sark is llabelled as La Rade.
- The coast of the Cherbourg Peninsular is shown in the East.
From this map it appears that the distance of the two phases of construction would be similar.
Operating Speed
Both tunnels are proposed to be around twenty miles in length, so if the journey time is fifteen minutes, that means an average speed of eighty mph.
For comparison, the Channel Tunnel is just over thirty miles long and has a safety speed limit of 99 mph.
So it would appear that with good design, the timings are possible.
I also think that we could see speeds like these.
- 200 kph (125 mph) on the surface in France.
- At least 100 mph between France and Jersey.
- 80 mph between Jersey and Guernsey, where there are three stops.
Timings of sub-forty-five minutes would be possible.
Single Or Double Track
I feel it would be possible to build each phase of the railway as a single-track tunnel, both of which would be paired with a service tunnel. There would be a double-track section in Jersey, so that trains could pass.
This would allow a four trains per hour (tph) service between Guernsey and France, with the services passing under Jersey.
This frequency would be a Turn-Up-And-Go service.
The article doesn’t say, whether a single or double track tunnel would be built.
As the tunnel would only be built once and probably never increased in capacity, the design must be right first time.
Tunnel Loading Gauge
Would the tunnel be built to take UK-sized trains or the bigger Continental-sized trains?
Consider.
- The trains will probably terminate on the French side in a station.
- The larger the tunnel, the more costly it would be to bore.
- The tunnel would have to incorporate electrification.
I feel that the size of the tunnel will end up as a compromise between cost, convenience and compatibility with French railway standards.
Freight
Consider.
- If the tunnel was the right diameter some freight could be transferred through the tunnel.
- Parcels and smaller freight could also be carried on a shuttle train based on a passenger train.
- A larger tunnel would increase the cost.
- If freight were to be carried on the railway, then a freight terminal would be needed on the surface on Jersey and Guernsey where space is at a premium.
- As less passengers would be using the ferries, this might mean money invested in new ferries between the islands and France and the UK for freight and road vehicles, would give a better return.
I think on balance, that building the rail link, so that it could handle freight trains, other than perhaps a parcel shuttle would not be a viable idea.
Rail Link Power Supply
I think there are two possible power sources for the trains on the rail link; electrification or battery.
Electrification would certainly be possible and would probably use the French (and UK!) system of 25 KVAC overhead electrification.
As it is a tunnel, an overhead rail would probably be used as on Crossrail and other similar railways.
|As a battery range of eighty files would be needed for a round trip and hundred percent reliability would be desirable, I think it would be unlikely, that batteries would be the primary source of power.
But batteries could be fitted to handle regenerative braking and provide a back-up power source.
Connection To French Railways
The nearest French railway is the main Cherbourg and Paris railway, which is electrified using 25 KVAC overhead.
It would seem sensible to allow trains from the Channel Islands to terminate at Cherbourg.
- It is a municipality of 80,000 people.
- It is a major port.
- It has a station with what looks to be a large capacity.
- It has a rail service to Paris, where passengers can change for London.
- There is probably space in Cherbourg station to incorporate a platform with passenger, freight and Immigration and Customs facilities.
- Trains could probably run between Cherbourg and the Channel Islands Rail Link in less than thirty minutes.
- France plans to start a TGV service between Paris and Cherbourg, which would have connections to Eurostar.
- Cherbourg would probably be an ideal place for a depot.
It looks like that about thirty kilometres of new railway would be needed to connect the Channel Island tunnel to the Paris and Cherbourg Line.
Rail Link Signalling
As the trains would be running in France, the whole route would be signalled to the French standards, that are used on any shared track.
The Artificial Island
Consider.
- The artificial island would contain an airport, a hospital, a prison a university and possibly other important facilities.
- It would release land on Jersey and Guernsey for development.
- It is not far from halfway between Guernsey and France.
I like this concept and I also think, that it could ease the construction of the railway.
A fair-sized site will be needed to insert the tunnel boring machines and deal with the spoil they bring to the surface.
I believe that using modern construction techniques, that creating the perimeter of the artificial island first and then boring the tunnels from the new land would be possible.
Tunnel spoil could be used to build up the island or taken away by ship for use elsewhere.
Electricity For The Channel Islands
Much of the electricity for the Channel Islands is produced by La Collette Power Station on Jersey, which is powered by fossil fuel and waste.
If as I believe the rail link would be built with a service tunnel, then would it not be better to import zero-carbon energy from France and distribute it to other islands, using an interconnector cable in the service tunnel?
My electrical engineering is basic from over fifty years ago, but I suspect that if the rail link used 25 KVAC overhead electrification, that the electrification could be used to supply the islands with power.
Hospital Access
There is no point in building a world-class hospital on the artificial island, if patients die because they take too long to get there.
Seriously-ill patients will take forever, if they have to go in an ambulance by ferry and although a helicopter is quick, these are too expensive, especially if you have to keep enough on standby to handle every eventuality.
But the artificial island is less than fifteen minutes from Jersey and Guernsey by train. As trains could be fifteen minutes apart, that means a patient could always be in hospital thirty minutes after being picked up.
But it would need the following.
- A mini-A & E unit in all four stations, where patients could be triaged and admitted or treated, after being brought in by ambulance.
- The ability to take a hospital trolley on all trains.
- The ability to take a patient in a wheelchair on all trains.
I am pretty sure, that an efficient system can be devised.
The Stations
All the stations would be underground, including the terminal at St Sampson’s station on Guernsey.
- Surface access would be by lifts, escalators and stairs.
- Platform-edge doors would be fitted.
- Al stations would be able to handle a hospital trolley.
- Guernsey, Artificial Island and Jersey would probably have two platforms.
- Other stations would probably only need a single bi-directional platform.
- I doubt there would be a second station other than Cherbourg in France, as this would require Customs and Immigration.
I would also make the platforms long.
- Crossrail’s platforms are over two hundred metres long and even London’s suburban platforms are often this length.
- They could have separate sections for passengers and freight.
- They would be difficult to extend in the future, so make them long enough for any possible future needs.
This would enable capacity increases to be made by just lengthening the trains.
The Trains
I have left the trains to last, as I wanted to lay out everything else first, so anything effecting the train design will have been covered.
- An operating speed of 125 mph or 200 kph would be desirable to make maximum use of the infrastructure, especial in France.
- The ability to run a round trip between Cherbourg and Guernsey in under two hours.
- Trains could be either separate passenger and light freight versions or a combi version that could handle both passengers and light freight.
- Trains could be built to a lower height than a typical French train, to allow for a smaller and more affordable tunnel to be bored.
- A long-reach pantograph would be used to reach the higher French electrification.
- All access between train and platform would be level for bags, bikes, buggies and wheelchairs.
- All passenger trains must have the ability to take a hospital trolley, so urgent patients can be rushed to hospital.
My design would be based on a train like a Stadler Flirt, Bombadier Aventra or Siemens Desiro, built to a UK-loading gauge.
- The train would have an ambulance car in the middle to get the best ride quality.
- On one side of the ambulance car would be a passenger section and on the other side would be a light freight or parcel section.
- Trains and stations would be designed together to minimise loading and unloading times.
I’m certain Stadler could build a version of the Class 745 train, that would fit the application.
TGVs To Cherbourg
The French have plans to run TGVs to Cherbourg, which will link up with Eurostar in Paris.
This will improve journey times to Cherbourg and then to the islands, if the Channel Islands rail link terminates in Cherbourg.
But I doubt TGVs would ever run to the Channel Islands.
- It would need large tunnels that would cost a lot more.
- TGVs would have to be designed to work with platform-edge doors.
- It would be difficult to schedule four or more Channel Islands Rail Link trains per hour and the occasionally TGV through the tunnels.
- Two tunnels would probably be needed.
- TGVs are large trains and could need longer platforms in Jersey and Guernsey and other places they call.
- TGVs would take several minutes to rurn round in Guernsey, whereas the Channel Islands Rail Link trains would turn in under five minutes.
There would probably only be a need for a couple of trains per day and a frequent shuttle to Cherbourg would give a much more customer-friendly service. Especially if the TGV service between Paris and Cherbourg was an hourly service.
Electric Airliners
A large proportion of the flights from Jersey and Guernsey airports would be suitable for electric airliners, which I’m certain will be flying before the earliest date the new combined Channel Islands Airport opened.
This would mean that to get to the Channel Islands from say Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Geneva, London or Rotterdam can be done faster in a zero-carbon electric airliner.
The Channel Islands could provide the necessary infrastructure for electric airliners and say all airlines must use them for services to the new airport.
What would it do for Channel Islands tourism to have the world’s first zero-carbon airport?
Surely, with the Channel Islands Rail Link, the airport could be the preferred one for passengers in the area, wanting to travel to the UK and Ireland.
What’s In It For The French?
France will be a beneficiary of the project.
- The French build tunnel boring machines.
- The Channel Tunnel Rail Link will create job opportunities in the Cherbourg area.
- If economic activity increases around Cherbourg, the case for the TGV to Cherbourg gets better.
- The French get a new modern airport for the Cherbourg area.
- The French could get an increased market for their nuclear electricity.
I can see the French liking this project.
Conclusion
I think the Channel Tunnel Rail Link is a good idea and could transform the economy of the Channel Islands.
It will also be good for the surrounding area of France.
Government Probe Into How Derailed Freight Train Travelled 2.5 miles Along Overground Line
The title of this post is the same as rgis article on the Ham and High.
This is the introductory paragraph.
The government has launched an investigation into how a derailed freight train travelled 2.5 miles before the problem was flagged up to the driver.
The article gives some more details.
- The accident happened on Thursday 23rd of January.
- The train derailed near Wanstead Park station.
- The train finally stopped between Leyton Midland Road and Walthamstow Queens Road.
- The train was carrying construction from Barkingspoil to the landfill site at Calvert in Buckinghamshire.
The derailment caused a lot of damage as pictures and this paragraph in the article show.
Across the two and a half mile stretch, there are 39 new pieces of rail – each 216m long – that require replacing, as well as 5,300 concrete sleepers and 900 wooden sleepers.
Work to replace 10,000 tonnes of ballast will need to take place, as well as putting replacement timber into 10 bridges.
At least, as they have just relaid this section of railway for the Gospel Oak to Barking electrification, there will hopefully be no nasty surprises in the rebuilding process.
This map from carto.metro.free,fr shows the track layout between South Tottenham station in the West and Blackhorse Road station in the East.
Note the two crossovers either side of South Tottenham station, which are used to reverse the train between the two platforms.
I suspect that London Overground, wish there are crossovers at Blackhorse Road station, so that passengers could use the interchange with the Victoria Line.
But crossovers are expensive can cause operational problems.
At least, there are no crossovers in the section of track destroyed by the freight train.
Eurostar Confirms Start Date For Amsterdam – London Through Services
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
Points made in the article include.
- A preview service ran on February 4th.
- Two services a day will run from Amsterdam Centraal to London from April 30th.
- Journey times will be around four hours.
- Through journeys from Rotterdam to London will be possible from May 18th.
- Tickets will be available from February 11th.
I’m fairly sure that after the success of the London to Amsterdam Centraal service, which will be four trains per day (tpd), by the end of this year and five tpd by the end of 2021, that this could be the start of something similar.
- Five tpd would mean a capacity of 4,500 passengers or about the same as eleven Ryanair 737 Max 8 aircraft.
- Four hours between city centres.
- Current prices for a trip this month are under fifty pounds or under ninety for Premium Economy.
As Paris has sixteen tpd and Brussels has seven tpd, I could see that five tpd will be increased.
- All London to Amsterdam Centraal services stop at Brussels to pick up passengers.
- I’m sure that a method will be found to allow Amsterdam Centraal to London trains to drop passengers at Brussels.
- If Rotterdam will get direct services, surely Antwerp and Schipol Airport should as well.
- Thalys between Paris and Amsterdam Centraal runs at 10 tpd.
- Thalys and Eurostar are merging and surely Eurostar between London and Amsterdam Centraal and Thalys between Paris and Amsterdam Centraal should be combined between the Belgian and Dutch capitals.
Get the Brussels and Amsterdam Centraal route right, after the merger of Thalys and Eurostar and I can see the following.
- Two trains per hour (tph) between Amsterdam Centraal and Brussels.
- One tph starting in London and the other in Paris.
- Ability to pick up and set down International and domestic passengers at the intermediate stations; Antwerp, Rotterdam and Schipol Airport.
Surely, if a two tph service works between London and Edinburgh is highly successful, two tph between Brussels and Amsterdam Centraal would be the same.
The same philosophy could then be applied to the London/Paris routes via Brussels to Cologne/Frankfurt.
- Eurostar has stated it wants to serve the two German cities.
- Thalys runs services between Paris and Dortmund via Brussels, Liege, Cologne and Essen.
- The Thalys frequency between Paris and Cologne is five tpd.
The London and Paris services could combine to run a joint service into Germany.
- Destinations could be Cologne, Dortmund and Frankfurt with stops at Liege and Aachen.
- London and Germany could probably sustain the currently proposed Amsterdam frequency of five tpd.
I’m looking forward to taking a direct train from London to Cologne.
Investors Hit The Gas On Hydrogen Producers
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the FT.
The sub headline is.
Hydrogen producers leap on hopes of fossil fuel death.
The article then shows three share price graphs for ITM Power, PowerCell and Ballard Power Systems.
All prices are rising steeply.
A a small investor in the first company, I am pleased and I certainly got that call right!
Note that, the companies are British, Swedish and Canadian respectively.
Batteries On Class 777 Trains
In this article on Railway Gazette, which is entitled Merseyrail Class 777 arrives in Liverpool, there is this sentence.
There is space under one vehicle to house a battery weighing up to 5 tonnes within the axleload limit.
This matter-of-fact sentence, draws me to the conclusion, that these trains have been designed from the start to allow future battery operation.
Batteries are not an add-on squeezed into a design with great difficulty.
Battery Capacity
Energy densities of 60 Wh/Kg or 135 Wh/litre are claimed by Swiss battery manufacturer; Leclanche.
This means that a five tonne battery would hold 300 kWh.
Note that Vivarail find space for 424 kWh in the two-car Class 230 train, I wrote about in Battery Class 230 Train Demonstration At Bo’ness And Kinneil Railway, so it would appear that Stadler aren’t being over ambitious.
Kinetic Energy Of A Full Class 777 Train
The weight of a full Class 777 train is calculated as follows.
- Basic empty weight – 99 tonnes
- Battery weight – 5 tonnes
- 484 passengers at 80 Kg – 38.72 tonnes
Which gives a total weight of 143.72 tonnes.
Intriguingly, the weight of a current Class 507 train is 104.5 tonnes, which is 500 Kg more than an empty Class 777 train with a battery!
If these weights are correct, I suspect Stadler have used some very clever lightweight design techniques.
For various speeds, using Omni’s Kinetic Energy Calculator, this weight gives.
- 30 mph – 3.6 kWh
- 40 mph – 6.4 kWh
- 50 mph – 10.0 kWh
- 60 mph – 14.4 kWh
- 70 mph – 19.5 kWh
- 75 mph – 22.4 kWh
Note.
- The average speed between Bidston and Wrexham General stations on the Borderlands Line is under 30 mph
- The operating speed on the Wirral Line is 70 mph
- The operating speed on the Northern Line is 60 mph
- The maximum speed of the trains is 75 mph.
Every time I do these calculations, I’m surprised at how low the kinetic energy of a train seems to be.
How Small Is A Small Battery?
One battery doesn’t seem enough, for a train designed with all the ingenuity of a product with quality and precision, that is designed to out-perform all other trains.
This is another paragraph from the Railway Gazette article.
According to Merseytravel, ‘we want to be able to prove the concept that we could run beyond the third rail’. By storing recovered braking energy, the batteries would help to reduce power demand and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions. All of the Class 777s will be fitted with small batteries to allow independent movement around workshop and maintenance facilities.
I am not quite sure what this means.
It would seem strange to have two independent battery systems in one train.
I think it is more likely, that the smaller battery can be considered the primary battery of the train.
- After all in the depot, it looks after the train’s power requirement.
- Does it also handle all the regenerative braking energy?
- Is it used as a secondary power supply, if say the power is low from the electrification?
- Could it be used to move the train to the next station for passenger evacuation in the event of a power failure?
I wonder if the power system is a bit like the average battery-powered device like a lap-top computer, smart phone or hybrid car.
- The electrification and the regenerative braking charges the battery.
- The battery provides the traction and hotel power for the train.
When the five tonne battery is fitted, does the train’s control system move power between the two batteries to drive the train in the most efficient manner?
I’ll return to factors that define the size of the small battery.
The small battery must be big enough for these purposes.
- Handling regenerative braking at the operating speed.
- Recovering a full train to the next station.
- Keeping a train’s systems running, during power supply problems.
- Moving a train around a depot
As the lines leading to depots are electrified, the train can probably enter a depot with a battery fairly well-charged.
As the new Class 777 trains have a maximum operating speed of 75 mph, I would suspect that the small battery must be able to handle the regenerative braking from 75 mph, which my calculations show is 22.4 kWh with a full train. Let’s call it 30 kWh to have a reserve.
Using Leclanche’s figures, a 30 kWh battery would weigh 500 Kg and have a volume of just under a quarter of a cubic metre (0.222 cubic metre to be exact!)
I suspect the operation of the small battery through a station would be something like this.
- As the train runs from the previous station, the power from the battery will be used by the train, to make sure that there is enough spare capacity in the battery to accommodate the predicted amount of energy generated by regenerative braking.
- Under braking, the regenerative braking energy will be stored in the battery.
- Not all of the kinetic energy of the train will be regenerated, as the process is typically around eighty percent efficient.
- Whilst in the station, the train’s hotel services like air-conditioning, lights and doors, will be run by either the electrification if available or the battery.
- When the train accelerates away, the train’s computer will use the optimal energy source.
The process will repeat, with the battery constantly being charged under braking and discharged under acceleration.
Lithium-ion batteries don’t like this cycling, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see dome other battery or even supercapacitors.
A Trip Between Liverpool and Wrexham Central in A Class 777 Train With A Battery
The train will arrive at Bidston station with 300 kWh in the battery, that has been charged on the loop line under the city.
I will assume that the train is cruising at 50 mph between the twelve stops along the twenty-seven and a half miles to Wrexham Central station.
At each of the twelve stops, the train will use regenerative braking, but it will lose perhaps twenty percent of the kinetic energy. This will be two kWh per stop or 24 kWh in total.
I usually assume that energy usage for hotel functions on the train are calculated using a figure of around three kWh per vehicle mile.
This gives an energy usage of 330 kWh.
But the Class 777 trains have been designed to be very electrically efficient and the train is equivalent in length to a three-car Class 507 train.
So perhaps a the calculation should assume three vehicles not four.
Various usage figures give.
- 3 kWh per vehicle-mile – 247.5 kWh
- 2.5 kWh per vehicle-mile – 206 kWh
- 2 kWh per vehicle-mile – 165 kWh
- 1.5 kWh per vehicle-mile – 123.8 kWh
- 1 kWh per vehicle-mile – 82.5 kWh
Given that station losses between Bidston and Wrexham Central could be around 24 kWh, it looks like the following could be possible.
- With a consumption of 3 kWh per vehicle-mile, a Class 777 train could handle the route, but would need a charging station at Wrexham Central.
- If energy consumption on the train could be cut to 1.5 kWh per vehicle-mile, then a round trip would be possible.
It should also be noted that trains seem to do a very quick stop at Wrexham Central station of just a couple of minutes.
So if charging were to be introduced, there would need to be a longer stop of perhaps eight to ten minutes.
But the mathematics are telling me the following.
- The Class 777 train has been designed to weigh the same empty as a current Class 507 train, despite carrying a five tonne battery.
- If power consumption can be kept low, a Class 777 train with a battery can perform a round trip from Liverpool to Wrexham Central, without charging except on the electrified section of line between Liverpool and Bidston.
- Extra stops would probably be possible, as each would consume about 2 kWh
I feel that these trains have been designed around Liverpool to Wrexham Central.
Conclusion
Wrexham Central here we come!
Other routes are possible.
- Hunts Cross and Manchester Oxford Road – 27 miles
- Ormskirk and Preston – 15 miles
- Headbolt Lane and Skelmersdale – 6 miles
- Ellesmere Port and Helsby – 5 miles
- Kirkby and Wigan Wallgate – 12 miles
Chargers will not be needed at the far terminals.
Thoughts On Very Light Rail
The article on Railway Gazette International, which is entitled Very Light Rail Research On Track, a list of thirty-five rail lines, that could use the technology are given.
These are some of my thoughts.
Multiple Working
These are some examples of branch lines, where very light rail my be used.
- Cromer to Sheringham – 226,000
- Liskeard to Looe – 118,000
- St Erth to St Ives – 750,000
- Twyford to Henley-on-Thames – 771,000
- Maidenhead to Marlow – 300,000
- Slough to Windsor & Eton Central – 2,024,000
- Watford to St Albans Abbey – 167,000
Note.
- The first station is on the main line and the second is the terminus of the branch line.
- The figure is the number of passengers, who used the terminal station in 2018-2019
The numbers have quite a range and I’m sure that a single eighteen metre vehicle carrying 56 seated and 60 standing passengers, will not be big enough, even if it runs at a frequency of four trains per hour (tph) on some routes.
So I am convinced that the vehicles must be able to work in multiple.
One picture on this page on the Transport Design International web site, shows the vehicle with a coupler.
Increasing Passenger Numbers, Festivals And Sporting Events
Forecasting passenger numbers on a new rail service, is a very inexact science. I talk about London Overground Syndrome, which seems to occur regularly.
There are also the problems of festivals and sporting events of various kinds, where perhaps for a week or so traffic is much higher.
Extra very light rail vehicles can be added to the trains as required or even drafted in at times of high demand.
Automatic Coupling And Uncoupling
They must also be able to couple and uncouple quickly and automatically, as needs vary throughout the day and to rescue a stranded unit.
Transit Mode
Suppose a large event, like say the Open Golf was taking place near a station with an inadequate train service and for the duration of the event, a dozen very light rail vehicles were to be running a shuttle to the nearest major rail hub.
A method must be developed to bring the vehicles to the event. I suspect Rail Operations Group, who are the experts in rolling stock movements would have a simple solution, perhaps by using a diesel locomotive to tow them to and from central warm storage.
It could probably be argued, that a capability to build temporary stations is needed.
Automation
These very light rail vehicles are prime candidates for automation.
I can envisage a lot of routes being run automatically, with the driver in a supervisory role, very much as the Victoria Line has been run since it opened in 1968.
- At each station, when they had ascertained that the passengers had all left and boarded the train safely, they would close the doors and activate a control to start the vehicle.
- It would then move to the next station and stop in the right place.
- The doors would then be opened automatically or by action of the crew.
Dear old Vicky has been doing this for over fifty years!
I also think, that with automation and CCTV, a system could be devised, where the driver stays in one cab all the time.
This would speed up operations.
Procedures For Running On Shared Tracks With Freight, Private And Heritage Railways
These suggested routes for very light rail are either freight, private or heritage railways.
- Bodmin Parkway to Bodmin General
- Kidderminster to Stourport
- Ashington to Blyth
- Sheffield to Stocksbridge
- Paignton to Brixham
- Totton to Hythe
I’m sure procedures can be devised, so that all traffic can run safely.
Old And New At Ipswich
I took these pictures at Ipswich, yesterday.
There seemed to be a lot of old Class 86 locomotives and new Class 755 trains around.
The Anonymous Widower 