Thoughts On Double Deck Trains
On my Home Run from Krakow, I travelled on quite a few double-deck trains.
But you don’t travel on a train to look at the outside! When I travel on a double-deck train, I usually try and travel on the top deck, as it’s all about the view.
The quality of the view is very much the same as you get out of a Chiltern Railways Mark 3 coach, set up as the designer intended with four seats around a table by each window
Most uninformed comments about double-deck trains seem to come from politicians and journalists, whose only knowledge of engineering, is that it starts with an E. The comments are probably based on a trip on holiday on the top deck of a French, Dutch or German train and the view has told them, that this is the way to travel.
We also have masses of increasingly well-designed buses in this country, so people ask why if we can do it for buses we can’t do it for trains?
Double Deck Train Issues
But having travelled extensively on double-deck trains, I’m convinced they’re not a solution for everyone.
1. Getting On And Off
Speedy boarding is important with any train, but especially with commuter services and this is why increasingly our modern trains have wide doors and are walk-through like the Class 378 trains of the Overground.
But double-deck trains are slow to board for various reasons. Just sit near the stairs on say a German double-deck commuter train at a busy time and see the chaos, which ultimately delays the train.
2. Luggage
This is more of a problem on a long distance double-deck like a TGV Duplex. There may be plenty of space, but passengers want it near them, so it gets in the way of getting on and off in a reasonable time.
3. Cramped Seats Downstairs
One of the reasons, that I go upstairs is that often on a double-deck train, the lower deck seats are cramped and claustrophobic.
4. Disabled Issues
Perhaps on the Continent, they don’t have so many disabled as we do or perhaps they’re not as organised, but their trains are not as disabled-friendly as are our trains.
As a dimple example, many of our new trains are just step across and this helps everybody with a mobility difficulty. Few and none of the double-deck trains, I’ve seen feature this important design detail. Often it’s a couple of steps down or up to get on or off the train.
5. Tram-Trains
Tram-trains running under the Karlsruhe model and train-trams under the Chemnitz model are showing a lot of promise in Germany and France. I believe that more cities will embrace these methods of integrating urban transport, but I can’t see double deck trains running as trams through the main square at Kassel.
6. Design Issues
On one German train recently, I was on the upper deck and needed to go to the toilet. I had to go down the stairs and then fiight my way between the wheelchair passengers, babies in buggies and passengers with bicycles crammed into the lobby downstairs. Then after I’d done my business, I had to fight my way upstairs.
This illustrated to me, how difficult it is to design a usable double-deck train for all types of passenger.
UK Issues
In the UK, there are other issues, that affect double-deck trains.
1. Loading Gauge
The big problem is the UK loading gauge, which is smaller than that on the Continent. Double-deck trains in the UK, that will run on our classic lines, are really trying to fit a quart into a pint pot.
It is interesting to note, that the only attempt to introduce double deck trains in the UK was on the Southern Railway, where the loading guage doesn’t have to accommodate an overhead power supply.
2. Step Across Access
Increasingly, step across access will become the norm all over the UK, just as it is rapidly advancing in London. Any new trains coming into service, which do not have step across access will not be liked by passengers, who will have to lift their beloved wheeled cases in to and out of the train.
3. Go Anywhere Trains
We are innovative in this country and new services are always being examined with existing trains. I think it is true to say, that double-deck trains are often built for specific routes and the infrastructure is modified to suit them.
A Double Deck Train For A Double Deck Line
All of these facts and issues lead me to a conclusion – Any double-deck trains introduced on a network, must be designed for a specific route and the track and stations, must be designed to get the most out of the trains. They would have to have these features.
1. A Connected Train
Internet should go lot further than free wi-fi, which should be available to all passengers.
Some really wacky ideas will be successfully applied, providing the right connections are built into the tain.
2. Seating And Windows
This should be at least as good as Standard Class on the top deck of a German regional train or in a Chiltern Railways Mark 3 coach. Both feature four seats around a window. Some sets would have tables.
In Standard 2+2 seating would be a minimum with 2+1 in First.
3. Wide Aisle
The aisle between the seats must be wide and run the full length of the train.
4. Wide Entrance Doors And Step Across Access
Access into the trains must be through wide doors and there should be no steps up or down, whether passengers are going to the top or bottom deck.
5. Wheelchair Access To The Top Deck
Why not? It must be dreadful to be stuck in a wheelchair all the time, so why deny the disabled the pleasure of travelling on the top deck.
A Double Deck Train Design
It does all sound rather fanciful and expensive.
But if we can have double deck trains, why can’t we have double deck stations?
To build double deck stations for a commuter line would be difficult, but imagine how HS2 with its small number of stations could be designed so that passengers entered and left the train directly into the deck, where their seat was reserved.
Perhaps the only drawback is that all stations would need platform edge doors. But by the time HS2 is operational, train and platform design, coupled with sophisticated control systems could align the platform and train for a simple step across. I’ve never flown in an A380, but I think at some airports, you board directly into the deck, where you will be seated. Surely, what’s good enough for Heathrow and Dubai, is good enough for Euston, New Street and Piccadilly?
There Is No Product That Can’t Be Improved With LEDs
In this month’s Modern Railways, there is an article by Iam Walmsley, about the re-engineering of a Class 73 locomotive for Network Rail. This is a the extract which contains the title of this post.
The cab desk is best described as ‘functional’, a flat plate of stainless steel with everything on it, enlivened by cool teal-coloured LED backlighting, further evidence that there is no product that can’t be improved with LEDs.
This is so right.
Are The Banks Serious?
When I log in to my bank, I get an advert saying I can get a wonderful rate of two percent, if I lock money away with them for two years.
At present I have a sum of money invested in Zopa and my current return to date this year is just around five percent. Admittedly, I pay tax on that so it’s effectively a rate of three percent. With Zopa’s Safeguarding promises, that money is guaranteed.
So I’m getting an effective rate that is half as good again, as I would with the best banks.
But the big advantage of Zopa has shown itself this month.
I have the last Tax bill to pay concerning the sale of my house in Suffolk and also the bill for the handrails for my staircase, which as they were custom-made weren’t cheap. Couple that with other expenses and I have a lot of bills to pay at the end of this month.
But due to the churn in Zopa, every month, I get access to about six percent of the money I have deposited in the system, as borrowers repay capital, pay interest and end their loans early. So instead of reinvesting this money as I do normally, I have withdrawn most of the money to my Current Account, so I can pay my bills.
I have a feeling that I have actually withdrawn a couple of thousand too much. But no matter, when all the bills are paid it’ll go back into Zopa. All I’ve lost is three percent gross on £2,000 for a month or a fiver.
So why do people put so much faith in the Banks, as they rip us off?
My Current Account at Nationwide is mainly just a means to transfer money to and from other accounts.
What other benefits do I get?
1. At the Angel, there is an inside ATM, that I use when it’s pouring with rain. There are also seats, so if I’m drawing out a larger amount of cash, I can sit down and put everything away properly.
2. I have a Credit Card, which is recommended by many, that if I use abroad, charges me nothing extra for the currency conversion.
3. I have an on-line bank account, that to access from anywhere in the world, only needs to have information stored in the brain, I was born with.
4. I get a basic travel insurance, which covers me for everything but medical expenses. So if easyJet or whoever, were to lose my baggage on the way to wherever I’m covered.
On the other hand, I get the following annoyances.
1. The dreaded Verified by Visa, when I use the debit or credit card on-line.
2. No contactless service on the Credit Card, which means I have to carry another credit card that does, in case I lose my Freedom Pass.
Nationwide should be pleased that I’m not thinking of leaving yet!
Krakow – A City Of Maps, Clocks, Trams And Gluten Free Food
Krakow is well-known for its buildings, but I found some other things equally fascinating in a delightful city.
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- A Large Map With Seats
All of the maps, clocks, trams and excellent gluten-free food, made the city a real joy to explore and I would recommend the city to anybody.
To see all the posts for my Home Run From Krakow click here.
A Large Map With Seats
This double-sided map with seats was close to a busy intersection in Krakow.
A Large Map With Seats
I don’t think it was the only one.
I like this and it helps to solve the problem of maps in a busy city centre. It looks like the map is also not necessarily permanent, so could be easily moved to a more important location or taken away to a workshop to be refurbished and fitted with a new map.
The map and seats doesn’t look particularly new, so it probably says that sometimes the old proven ideas are the best.
Incidentally, the map, as nearly all in Krakow, was very easy to understand.
Bins With Roofs On
These seemed to be unique to Krakow.
But surely to stop birds emptying bins they are a good idea.
What Is The New Mayor Of London Going To Do For Car Drivers?
Most of the London Mayor candidates for 2016 seem to ignore car drivers.
As a non-driver, I wouldn’t mind if the new Mayor decreed that no-one in London could own a car, but if he or she did, they wouldn’t get elected.
I do occasionally need to be transported by car and as I don’t have the expense of actually owning one, I can afford to take a black cab, which I do perhaps a dozen times a year, at a total cost of perhaps three hundred pounds.
The most difficult journeys are ones where say, a friend is picking me up and taking me somewhere, so they have to drive into Hackney and out the other side again. Which just adds to the congestion unneccesarily.
The other tricky thing for car-drivers, is those coming into London often have no convenient Park-and-Ride. I was lucky, when I lived near Newmarket, as I could park at Whittlesford Parkway and get a train into Liverpool Street.
But when years ago, when I lived near Ipswich, parking was very limited and I had to get a taxi to the station. I once had a letter from British Rail suggesting that I ask my wife to drive me to the train.
I also see problems with the new Night Tube. This will generate an amazing night life all over the centre of London and I think we’ll see large numbers of people using the Tube late into the night and early morning. Those living in London will be able to use the Tube, but as there is little adequate parking at or around stations just inside the M25, visitors and those working late in the evening, may well lead to a lot of parking congestion around the stations.
To add to that, as London becomes an increasingly twenty four hour/seven day a week city, there will be an increasing need for some form of parking for night workers.
I have checked the map and the only Tube and rail stations close to a junction of the M25 will parking, can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
I believe that London needs a ring of well-designed car/bus/train interchanges around the M25. I did propose one at Waltham Cross, but that idea was not put together properly.
The interchanges would be designed for the following services.
1. Park-And-Ride, particularly aimed at those not wanting to stay all day. So perhaps the parking charges would be sensible for say the first four hours and then draconian afterwards. Obviously, at weekends and in the evenings, they would be reduced and aimed at those perhaps going to a sporting event or seeing a show or concert.
2. Pick-Up and Drop-Off of passengers, perhaps linked to something like thirty minutes free parking.
3. Car Hire for those living in London.
4. Long Distance Coach Services
5. Motorway Services
Obviously, there would be a frequent service into Central London. The service would have to be step-free and wi-fi enabled. I also think that like Cambridge’s superb Park-and-Ride, it would be linked into the cycle network.
Get it right and it would cut vehicular traffic into London.
You Know It’s Glastonbury Time!
Last night on the Overground, an attractive young lady was humping a large rucksack, with a pair of enormous brand-new rubber boots tied to the bottom.
I said “It’s obvious that you’re going to Glastonbury!”
She said “Yes!” And smiled!
I wonder how the sales of boots leap at this time of the year. And do any of them ever get worn again?
Lunch With A Swing In Spitalfields
Sometimes on a day when the weather is good, I go for lunch in Leon’s in Spitalfields.
Today there was a free bonus cabaret with every meal! And the brave could dance! Which I’ve never been able to do!
The girls are twins and go by the name of Twin Swing. They probably fall into the “Twice the fun, but double the trouble” category. All my experience with children growing up leads me to the opinion that boys are more difficult, but I’ve met a couple of sets of very naughty girl twins. Boy twins on the other hand seem to behave well, except perhaps for Ronnie and Reggie.
They are appearing at the Waldorf Hotel on the 19th of July as entertainment for the Traditional Afternoon Tea. It’s all reported here in this article in the East Grinstead Courier. The report contains this immortal line.
Lingfield twins Jessica and Emily Evans, both 24
It would be rather unusual for twins to have different ages.
The Fences Are Up At Lea Bridge Station
Construction of the new Lea Bridge Station was supposed to start in Spring 2014, but it is only today that I have seen anything substantial on the site.
As the pictures show, they are just the fences to keep the unwanted out of the site.
But at least it’s a start!
The Anonymous Widower 