The Hackney Campaign To Bring The North London Line Back From The Brink In The 80s
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the Hackney Gazette.
It is an interesting insight into life before the London Overground and how the section between Highbury & Islington and Stratford stations was created from a freight line, that hadn’t had passenger services for several decades.
It also talks about Broad Street station.
I used to use this station to travel from Ipswich to Metier’s offices at Stonebridge Park.
It was just a short walk from Liverpool Street station next door and then a train to Willesden along a very much forgotten North London Line, before taking the Bakerloo Line. It avoided the very crowded route via Baker Street station.
How Much Energy Can Extracted From A Kilogram Of Hydrogen?
This article on EnergyH, is entitled About Hydrogen Energy.
This is said.
Hydrogen has an energy density of 39 kWh/kg, which means that 1 kg of hydrogen contains 130 times more energy than 1kg of batteries. So lots of energy can be stored with hydrogen in only a small volume.
But as in most things in life, you can’t have it all as fuel cells are not 100 % efficient.
Wikipedia has a sub-section which gives the in-practice efficiency of a fuel cell, where this is said.
In a fuel-cell vehicle the tank-to-wheel efficiency is greater than 45% at low loads and shows average values of about 36% when a driving cycle like the NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) is used as test procedure. The comparable NEDC value for a Diesel vehicle is 22%. In 2008 Honda released a demonstration fuel cell electric vehicle (the Honda FCX Clarity) with fuel stack claiming a 60% tank-to-wheel efficiency.
For the purpose of this exercise, I’ll assume a conservative forty percent.
This means that a kilogram of hydrogen would generate 16 kWh
Raise that efficiency to fifty percent and 19 kWh would be generated.
Conclusion
Fuel cell efficiency will be key.
Network Rail Awards Final West London Station Upgrade Contracts For Crossrail Project
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Rail Professional.
The stations are Acton Main Line, Ealing Broadway, West Ealing, Southall, Hayes & Harlington and West Drayton.
New buildings and step-free access is planned to be completed by December 2020.
Conclusion
About time!
Energy Efficient Bricks Made From Human Waste To Help Build London Homes
The title of this post is the same as that of this article in The Standard.
This is the first two paragraphs.
New homes and factories will be built from bricks made out of the human waste of four million Londoners.
Dried sewage from millions of homes will be transformed into two million heavy-duty breeze blocks a year.
It’s all happening at Beckton.
Vivarail And Arcola Announce Partnership To Bring Emission-Free Trains To The UK
The title of this post is the same as this press release from Vivarail.
These are the first two paragraphs
Vivarail, designers and manufacturers of the Class 230 trains, and hydrogen fuel cell specialists Arcola Energy today announced a long-term collaboration.
The companies share a determination to help de-carbonise the UK’s transport system. Vivarail has already designed and run an emission-free battery train whilst Arcola lead the market in supplying power systems for efficient fuel cell electric vehicles, primarily buses, to the UK. Working together the companies will develop a hydrogen/battery hybrid train.
It strikes me that this could be a good fit.
Powering A Bus
In New Facility To Power Liverpool’s Buses With Hydrogen, I described Arcola Energy’s involvement in a project to create and fuel hydrogen-powered buses in conjunction with Alexander Dennis.
- A typical hybrid double-decker bus like a New Routemaster has a battery capacity of 55 kWh.
- If these Liverpool hydrogen-powered double-decker buses have serial hybrid transmission like the New Routemaster, I could envisage them having a battery of up to 100 kWh, as let’s face it, the New Routemaster design is now eight years old and battery technology has moved on.
So the Arcola Energy-sourced fuel cell must be able to continuously top-up, the battery, in the same manner as the diesel engine on a hybrid bus.
Sit in the back of a New Routemaster and you can hear the engine cutting in and out. It doesn’t seem to work very hard, even on routes like the 73, which operate at high loadings.
Powering A Class 230 Train
Vivarail’s battery-powered Class 230 train, has a battery capacity of 106 kWh.
This size of battery could certainly be changed by a hydrogen fuel cell.
But could a hydrogen fuel cell provide enough power to keep the train running?
- Vivarail are clamming a range of fifty miles, which means that their two-car battery trains are consuming around 2 kWh for every mile.
- I will assume the train is travelling at its operating speed of sixty mph, which is a mile every minute.
- To keep the battery topped up would need 2 kWh to be produced every minute.
A hydrogen fuel cell with a rating of 120 kW would be needed to power the train continuously. But as the fuel cell would only be topping up the battery, I suspect that a smaller fuel cell would be sufficient.
The Ballard fuel cell is a HD variant of their FCveloCity family.
This page on the Ballard web site is the data sheet of an HD fuel cell of their FCveloCity family.
- The fuel cells come in three sizes 60, 85 and 100 kW
- The largest fuel cell would appear to be around 1.2 m x 1 m x 0.5 m and weigh around 400 Kg.
- The fuel cell has an associated cooling subsystem, that can provide heat for the train.
This Ballard fuel cell would appear to be capable of mounting under the floor of a train.
There are probably several other fuel cells that will fit the Class 230 train.
Arcola should know the best hydrogen fuel cell for the application, in terms of size, power and cost.
The Concept Train
Vivarail’s press release describes a concept train.
The concept train will be used to demonstrate the system capability and test performance. Vivarail’s production hydrogen trains will consist of 4-cars, with 2 battery driving motor cars and 2 intermediate cars housing the fuel cell and tanks.
Vivarail seem very certain of the formation of production trains.
I am not surprised at this certaincy.
- The mathematics of battery-powered and hydrogen-powered trains is well known.
- Vivarail have experience of running their battery-powered prototype.
- Arcola have experience of the capabilities of hydrogen-power.
I also wouldn’t be surprised to see some commonality between the Alexander Dennis and Vivarail installations.
Range Of A Hydrogen-Powered Class 230 Train
Nothing is said in Vivarail’s press release about the range on hydrogen.
In Hydrogen Trains Ready To Steam Ahead, I examined Alstom’s Class 321 Breeze hydrogen train, based on an article in The Times.
I said this about range.
The Times gives the range of the train as in excess of 625 miles
The Class 321 Breeze looks to be designed for longer routes than the Class 230 train.
I would suspect that a hydrogen-powered Class 230 train would have the range to do a typical day’s work without refuelling.
Refuelling A Hydrogen-Powered Class 230 Train
I don’t think this will be a problem as Arcola appear to have the expertise to provide a complete solution.
Conclusion
This is a co-operation, where both parties are bringing strengths to the venture.
Stoneleigh Station To Go Step-Free
This document on the Government web site is entitled Access for All: 73 Stations Set To Benefit From Additional Funding.
Stoneleigh station is on the list.
These pictures show the station and the current bridge,
By coincidence, I met the son of an old friend at the station, who lived nearby. He was able to give me a few extra details. Thanks Billy!
Abysmal Step-Free Access
I only exited the station on the Stoneleigh Broadway side and from the platform it was a two staircases up of about fifteen steps and then three similar staircases down.
- In this day and age that is totally unacceptable.
- As the station was only built in 1932, it shows the attitude of Southern Railway to passengers of reduced mobility! They are certainly not welcome!
- Billy told me, that the railway divides Stoneleigh in two and using the bridge to get across is difficult for a lot of people.
There must be very few worse step-free stations than Stoneleigh.
The Station Is Bad For Health, Environment And The Community
How many people, who live on one side of the railway and need to go to the other to see the doctor, visit the library, go to church, have a coffee with a friend or just go to a shop, are now forced to get into a car to make the trip.
Demolition Is The Only Answer
It may be a wonderful example of 1930s creative concrete construction, but for the modern age, it is complete crap!
Te station needs to be demolished and either confined to the landfill of history or turned into building blocks or other useful product.
Replacement With A Modern Bridge
The objective would be to provide a bridge, that gave step-free access to
- Station Approach on the Western side.
- The island platform.
- Stoneleigh Broadway on the Eastern side.
This Google Map shows an aerial view of the station.
Note the number of useful places on either side of the railway.
There is also a lot of space on either side of the railway.
In Winner Announced In The Network Rail Footbridge Design Ideas Competition, I wrote how the competition was won by this bridge.
So could a factory-built bridge like this be installed be installed at Stoneleigh station?
Consider.
- The bridge has been designed so it can built as a double span, so ir could serve both sides of the railway and the platform.
- The steps at the end can even be turned through ninety degrees, so that they lead into the Broadway and Approach.
- To create space, the life expired wooden buildings on the platform, that seem to be only held up, by courtesy of the woodworm holding hands, would need to be demolished.
This would allow, the new bridge to be built before closing the current monstrosity.
The station would be completed by providing a modern building on the platform, with staff and passenger facilities, that were appropriate to the million-plus passengers, who use the station every year.
Once the station is fully working, the 1930s station would be demolished.
Conclusion
Using Network Rail’s new footbridge design, a modern station could be created without closing the station to passengers and/or trains.
Stoneleigh could get a step-free modernstation i a matter of months, after planning permission was obtained.
In Syon Lane Station To Go Step-Free, I describe how Syon Lane station is getting a step-free bridge in five months.
Leatherhead Station To Go Step-Free
This document on the Government web site is entitled Access for All: 73 Stations Set To Benefit From Additional Funding.
Leatherhead station is on the list.
These pictures show the station and the current subway,
This is one of those stations, where lifts could probably be put into the subway.
But this would probably mean closing the subway, which is the main access between the platforms.
Look at this Google Map of the Northern end of the station.
The map illustrates another problem. There is car parking by the London-bound platform and commuters will need to cross the tracks.
But the map does show there is a lot of space and a step-free bridge might be possible at this end of the station.
In Winner Announced In The Network Rail Footbridge Design Ideas Competition, I wrote how the competition was won by this bridge.
So could a factory-built bridge like this be installed be installed at Leatherhead station?
Queens Park Station To Go Step-Free
This document on the Government web site is entitled Access for All: 73 Stations Set To Benefit From Additional Funding.
Queens Park station is on the list.
These pictures show the station and the current access.
This is one station, where the Bakerloo Line and Watford DC Lines have fairly good step-free access between train and platform.
The following needs to be done.
- Provide lifts from both platforms to the booking hall and the gateline.
- Extra services to Blackpool may terminate at the station and this would mean adding step-free access to the main line platforms.
I feel the most difficult part of the project will be adding the step-free access, whilst keeping the station fully open.
A Different Energy Storage Technology
Recently, two articles on the web have been caught in my Google alerts.
- This article on Energy Storage News, which is entitled ‘Flow Machine’ Maker RedT Gets £3.2m Funding Needed To Power Projects
- This article on Mining Review Africa, which is entitled Bushveld Minerals: A Large-Scale Battery Storage Contender
Both articles are about energy storage using a Vanadium Redox Flow Battery.
This is a paragraph from the Bushveld article.
The project will be implemented in two phases for a total of 1 400 MWh of energy storage capacity – 800 MWh in Phase 1 and an additional 600 MWh in Phase 2.
When you consider that with lithium-ion technology battery capacity is normally talked about in kWH, these are impressive amounts of stored energy.
Reading the Wikipedia post shows that the batteries rely on toxic chemicals like sulphuric acid and vanadium oxide, which would probably rule out mobile applications.
Conclusion
Having read all the two articles and the Wikipedia entry, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some form of technology like this emerge for large scale energy storage to back up intermittent power sources like solar, wind and wave.
Now It’s Thieves On The Line As Crooks Target Railway Cables
The title of this post is the same as that of an article in The Times on Tuesday.
I was involved in a similar project with British Rail, where they were looking at patterns in signalling cable faults on the East Coast Main Line. My software Daisy was used to display the patterns.
I know in this case British Rail got a solution.
I even have their internal report somewhere!
The Anonymous Widower 