Should The Valley Lines Be Electrified?
I travelled about thirty percent, if that, of the Valley Lines that fan out from Cardiff. But it gave me a feeling of the strengths and weaknesses of the lines.
Stations
A Strength
If I compare the stations I saw on the Valley Lines most would score better than the average of those on the Lea Valley Lines, being taken over by the London Overground. The platforms seemed in good condition and most stations had some form of shelter, which was often new. They certainly didn’t have the same sense of abandonment of some stations on the Lea Valley Lines.
Platforms in some stations might also be big enough for a small kiosk. Obviously, coffee outlets work in London and probably Cardiff, but would they work in the valleys?
On the subject of stations, I hadn’t expected to find a ten million pound project at Pontypridd.
Footbridges
A Possible Weakness
I didn’t see any truly dangerous footbridges, that are very much the norm on the Lea Valley Lines, so hopefully they are not as common.
But some footbridges like Taff’s Well may well have to raised for electrification.
Step Free Access
A Possible Weakness
According to a Network Rail document on the Internet, several stations will have improved access.
On point on step-free access and lifts, is that Network Rail are installing this across the network and I have a feeling that they’re getting better at doing it, as some of the schemes in London, seem to have gone in extremely fast. Perhaps, their project management is getting better.
Road Bridges
A Strength
Network Rail’s documents don’t seem to mention any bridges being reconstructed.
An aside here, is that they are putting in extra tracks in places and this is mentioned.
So perhaps there isn’t work to do with the bridges to accommodate the overhead wires.
Signalling
A Strength
This looks like a separate project to the electrification, as unlike in many places you can do the signalling first and then electrify.
It’s all described in this Network Rail web page.
In one way, the signalling will give more train paths and capacity, before the electrification is complete. But where do you get the required diesel trains?
Interchanges
A Strength
I only did a couple of simple journeys on the Valley Lines, but like the East London Line, you can do same or cross platform changes in a lot of places.
Current Trains
A Weakness
The Class 142 trains that work the lines are clapped and in a few years time, they’ll have to be withdrawn because of the disability regulations.
The Class 150 trains may be possible to be updated, as some Class 153 have been. But would that be throwing good money after bad?
New Trains
A Weakness Or A Strength
New trains are expensive and these Valley Lines could require quiet a few sets.
But there are Class 315 and Class 317 trains available for cascade, as new trains arrive on Thameslink. Crossrail and the Overground in London in the next few years.
The Class 315s are nearly forty years old, but were refurbished between 2204 and 2008. In a section on their future Wikipedia says this.
As most duties of the 315s will be taken over by new Class 345 Aventra trains once Crossrail is built, it has been suggested that the 315s could be cascaded to Wales to be used on Valley Lines services in the Cardiff area following electrification.
I travel regularly on Class 315s and they certainly are a better ride than a Class 142. Their problems are the awful pink décor, dirty windows and lack of a passenger information system. Some might find the lack of toilets a problem too!
Information systems are apparently being fitted, but obviously not on the ones I’ve used and the dirty windows doesn’t seem to be a problem that affects Welsh trains, like it does Greater Anglia. They are all four car sets, which can be paired to make 8 car trains with seats for over 600.
The Class 317s are the electric cousins of the Class 150s operating on the Valley Lines now, are not quite as old as the Class 315s and some of them were refurbished to a high-standard in the 1990s. I used to travel on the latter regularly into London from Suffolk, and they’re certainly better than the 315s. They could also be fitted with better electrical equipment. A demonstrator is currently running round East London and Essex. South West Trains have recently refurbished their Class 455s, which are their version of the 317.
You have to remember that underneath the awful paint jobs and bad interior design of Class 317 and Class 455 trains is a legendary 100 mph Mark 3 carriage, which is struggling to get out. South West Trains have shown what is possible.
I suspect as there are large numbers of both classes, some will end up on the Valley Lines. I’d put my money on Class 317s as their 100 mph capability gives them the ability to run longer-distance stopping services on main lines.
Power Supply
A Strength
One of the high cost parts of railway electrification is getting the electrical feed to the the overhead lines. And our piecemeal policy of the last few decades has made things worse, as you can’t do clever and sensible things to make things simpler and cheaper. For example, the Great Western Main Line electrification, will not have its own power supply at the London end, but will share one with Crossrail.
So as the South Wales Main Line will be electrified all the way to Swansea, it should be possible to feed the Valley Lines off the infrastructure installed on the main line.
Conclusion
As I travelled around the Valley Lines yesterday, several railway staff were sceptical that electrification will go ahead.
I may be wrong, but it seems to me that if after the Great Western Main Line is electrified in 2017, it would actually be more expensive to not do the Valley Lines electrification, as you’d still have the problem of the trains and you’d have a series of lines with good stations, ready to electrify.
It does seem to me, that Network Rail have done their project management superbly well on the updating of the Valley Lines.
I have this feeling, that the scheme when completed will be a big success, as the Valley Lines have so much going for them in terms of location.
The more I look at the Great Western and its branches in Wales and the West Country, I just can’t understand, why these schemes we are doing now, weren’t carried out decades ago.
There are an awful lot of politicians of all parties, who should hang their heads in shame.
Why No Sensible Person Would Vote Lib Dem
The political headlines this morning are about Nick Clegg saying he will raise taxes to cut the deficit.
This may well be what will have to happen but because I’m on a pension, it probably wouldn’t effect me very much.
So has Nick Clegg consigned his party to oblivion, as surely no sensible person in the squeezed middle will vote for someone, who pledges to squeeze them even more? After all commentators say that Ed Miliband’s poor showing in the polls is because many voters don’t trust him with the economy.
But on a wider note, surely for Nick Clegg to say it so forcibly, because of its negative effect, is not the thing to do.
Nick Clegg has had his five minutes of fame, and perhaps now is the time to let someone else have a go at the most forgettable job in British politics!
Run Miliband Run
This little snippet is on the BBC web page that follows the Scottish Referendum.
Ed Miliband will be speaking on The Andrew Marr Show from the Labour party conference in Manchester. However, the BBC’s political editor in the South of England, Peter Henley, is reporting that the Labour leader has cancelled other BBC interviews.
Peter Henley: Ed Miliband has pulled out of planned BBC interviews tomorrow. They’ve cancelled BBC English Regions, Scotland, NI & Wales.
It looks like he’s running scared. Perhaps, a detailed analysis of who voted Yes and No in the Referendum, has revealed that after next year’s General Election, Labour’s core vote in Scotland, that so annoys the English (I can’t comment about the Welsh and Northern Irish!), will be very much reduced!
What Is The French For Knackered?
According to The Times, the French PM said “We have six months to save France, or we’re knackered”
Google translate gives the answer – crevé
Would You Use Crowdfunding To Invest In A Celebrity’s Business?
Yesterday, I picked up a copy of City AM and this headline of Exclusive: Jon Moulton hits out at Sir Stelios for crowd funding exploitation caught my eye.
The article is here on the City AM website and this is the first paragraph.
Celebrity business leaders may be using crowd funding websites to exploit retail investors, the outspoken private equity guru Jon Moulton claims today.
Moulton singles out easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou as one example of a name using his position to foist over-priced shares on to small investors in his new easyProperty estate agency.
I have used crowdfunding to invest in ideas, but usually it’s to some worthy cause or idea, that is struggling, not an unworthy celebrity. People like Branson, Sugar, Cowell, Haji-Ioannou and others are only looking for a way of creating ideas that mainly enrich themselves! And they don’t need the money!
So the presence of a celebrity inevitably turns me off!
Perhaps two I named, should get together and form a company called easyVirgin. I wonder what it could do?
The best ideas to invest in are ones that are invisible to the general public.
Don’t Panic
Corporal Jones was often right in Dad’s Army, when he used this phrase, whilst panicking like a good-un.
Obviously, the three main party leaders are too young to have watched the BBC’s iconic comedy show, as they have entered headless-chicken mode over the Scottish Referendum, as reported on the BBC.
I think we’re all doomed!
Could The News Of The Royal Baby Really Change The Referendum Result?
It’s only the Metro, but I did find their front page fascinating.
Could The News Of The Royal Baby Really Change The Referendum Result?
The baby could probably have more effect on next year’s General Election!
What would broadcasters do, if he or she turned up on Election Day?
If he or she turned up to be monarch, they would then probably be the only one for hundreds of years, who interfered personally with an election!
The Odds Are Going Towards Yes
When I first looked up the Scottish referendum odds on Odds Checker, the results were as follows.
August 25th
No! – 1/8
Yes! – 9/2
They are now.
September 2nd – No! – 1/4 Yes! – 3/1
September 5th – No! – 2/7 Yes! – 14/5
September 7th – No! – 4/9 Yes! – 9/4
September 9th – No! – 4/9 Yes! – 2/1
But they’ve now started to go the other way.
September 11th – No! – 3/10 Yes! – 10/3
September 12th – No! – 5/19 – Yes! – 7/2
September 15th – No! – 1/4 – Yes! – 7/2
September 17th – No! – 2/9 – Yes! – 15/4
So it would appear that the vote is moving towards a Yes! It’s been quite a swing in the first seven days.
It’s All About Votes!
The phone-in on Radio 5 this morning was about child abuse and the Rotherham scandal in particular.
It was generally informative, but it livened up at the end, when a Muslim of Pakistani orgin from Rotherham denied the facts of the court case, where several men of Pakistani origin were found guilty and jailed.
Then a member of the Labour Party in Rotherham described meetings of the local party, where members tried to ask questions about the scandal, only to be shouted down.He then finished by saying how certain Asian councillors deliver several thousand votes and make sure Labour win.
Politicians of all parties have courted minorities and interest groups, as long as elections have been contested. But in this case, a group’s baggage has been discounted in favour of votes and power.
This must not be allowed to happen.
Do We Really Need A New London Airport?
The Guardian is running a report this morning, about the resignation of the Mayor of Berlin. This is the first paragraph.
Klaus Wowereit, the openly gay mayor who turned Berlin into a capital of cool, announces intention amid delays to new airport
If you read the Wikipedia entry about the new Berlin-Brandenburg airport, you’ll see a large number of problems.
It looks like to me, that Berlin has bitten off more than it can chew with this airport.
So would it be the same if London decided to build an airport in the Thames Estuary? Or anywhere else for that matter?
I think that we’re in some ways trying to make a decision about new airport capacity in the South-East, before all the things we’re doing now have had time to settle down.
The aviation industry obviously wants more airport capacity, as it will make the aerospace, airline and airport companies larger. And Directors, Senior Managers and Shareholders would like that, as it would enrich them. Just as British Airways has merged with Iberia, will other mergers happen, that will effect our decision on airport capacity. The shape of the airline industry will be driven by the desire to get bigger and also American companies wanting to be more tax efficient.
The airlines too, will be bringing in lots of new aircraft. If we take the example of replacing say an A330/A340 with an A380, this will probably increase the passengers going through an airport for the same number of aircraft movements. Even small airliners like the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 are squeezing in a few more passengers every couple of years or so.
So in the future we may need several more terminals. But perhaps only one extra runway! If that!
We also don’t know what the air passenger market will be. If I read the travel pages of serious newspapers, you find that the self loading cargo is restless and complains about everything from drop-off and parking charges to security delays. Even Ryanair is introducing a Business Class. Things are changing and in some ways, I think I’m typical of the new breed of passenger. I go to and from the airport by train, I only carry hand baggage and if it is available, I can afford to travel Business Class. Incidentally, I’ve had five or six outward flights from the UK this year and only one inward.
In some ways the most interesting flight I had was to Iceland, for my holiday. Many of the travellers I met, were going between North America and Europe and were having a holiday and flight break on the island. I never liked long flights and would often go to Houston or California, by changing planes at Boston.
So I think we’re going to see passengers demanding flexibility in how they book flights and they’ll adjust their schedules to make the most of the awful experience of sitting in an aluminium tube for several hours.
With the growth of low cost airlines, have we in the UK changed our pattern of holidays and swapped long haul holidays for several short-haul ones.
I believe that every flight that can be avoided should be. After flights this year, I think my days of travelling steerage are over.
All the vested commercial interests also ignore the herds of wildebeest and zebra in the room. Trains in the UK will shape our airports policy more than anybody predicts.
Manchester is now the UK’s third busiest airport. With the Northern Hub rail developments and the expansion of the Metrolink tram, the airport is getting much better connectivity. Already, electrification in the area, has allowed new electric trains to connect the airport directly to Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Heathrow gets Crossrail and Gatwick gets an updated Thameslink in 2018/2019, which coincidentally is the date when the Northern Hub developments will be substantially complete.
If you look at the top ten airports by passengers, only Glasgow and Bristol don’t have a rail link, although Glasgow may be getting one. But then Glasgow’s trains need a good sorting out, as I discussed here.
I think by the end of this decade, that a much higher percentage of passengers will go to their departure airport by public transport, mainly because of more frequent and passenger friendly tram and rail links. Although the way airports see motorists as cash cows will help.
And then there’s the elephant in the room of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. By now, London should have been linked to at least Amsterdam and Cologne, in addition to the current destinations. I wonder sometimes if there is lack of political will in the various governments to get more services through the tunnel. Or is our policy determined more by the British government discouraging immigrants than providing a proper rail service?
All of these factors must be allowed to settle before we decide if we need any more airports or runways in the South East.
The Anonymous Widower 