Is King’s Cross Station Ready For Parcel Trains?
In Is This The Shape Of Freight To Come?, I wrote about the converting of redundant electrical multiple units into 100 mph freight and parcel trains.
A couple of days ago, I was walking through Kings Cross station and took these pictures.
Note.
- The wide platforms.
- The gates in the ticket barriers to allow vehicles through.
- The passenger entrances line up with the gates in the ticket barriers.
It does look like everything is setup to efficiently get cargo between the trains and the road network outside.
A collateral benefit, is that access to the trains for passengers is step-free.
A Day Trip On East Coast Trains
Over the years, I’ve done plenty of day trips to Scotland.
In the days of Artemis, I would regularly go North to sort out a problem and since I’ve retired, I’ve gone North for various reasons.
Usually, now I take the sleeper and then come back on the last train. After all, if I fall asleep travelling to King’s Cross, I would hope I get chucked out by staff and can take a ten-minute taxi home.
But in a few weeks, there will be another practical way.
- Take the 05:45 from King’s Cross and arrive in Edinburgh at 10:10.
- The last train home leaves Edinburgh at 19:58 and arrives in London at 01:05 on the next day.
And all for a total fare of £50 courtesy of East Coast Trains.
There will also be corresponding trains that run in the opposite direction.
- Take the 06:14 from Edinburgh and arrive in King’s Cross at 10:51.
- The last train North leaves King’s Cross at 20:18 and arrives in Edinburgh at 00:46 on the next day.
Combining one of East Coast Train’s services with a sleeper must surely give some interesting possibilities.
East Kilbride Electrification Underway
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Modern Railways.
These are the last two paragraphs.
As well as electrification, improvements on the line will include an upgrade of East Kilbride station, relocation of Hairmyres station 600 metres to the west, platform extensions and accessibility upgrades. The aim is to provide a four trains per hour eight-car electric service at peak periods. A parallel project will cover electrification between Busby Junction and Barrhead.
The Scottish Government’s plan is to decarbonise its passenger rail services by 2035, chiefly through electrification. It has recently been confirmed that partial electrification of the Borders and Fife Circle routes will follow after the East Kilbride and Barrhead lines, with battery EMUs deployed on these lines.
Because partial electrification is mentioned, it looks like Scotland is getting serious about using battery-electric trains.
This map clipped from Wikipedia, shows the section of the Glasgow South Western Line, that includes Kilmarnock station and the branch to East Kilbride station.
The route North of Strathbungo continues to Glasgow Central station.
Which Sections Will Be Electrified?
I will take each of the sections in turn starting at the North.
Between Muirhouse South And Busby Junctions
This sentence is from the Modern Railways article.
Contractor SPL will commence on-site activities between Muirhouse South Junction and Busby Junction, including piling and construction steelwork foundations to support overhead masts.
On the map, Muirhouse South Junction is to the North of Stratbumgo and Busby junction is clearly marked and is where the East Kilbride branch joins the main line.
This section of new electrification is only around two miles long.
This article on Rail Technology Magazine is entitled Network Rail: Strathbungo Locals Vote For New Footbridge.
There have been many bridge replacements for electrification, but this surely must be one of the first, where local people have voted for their preferred design.
The only other bridges on this section appear to be two substantial road bridges, where with any luck, it should be possible to squeeze the wires underneath.
Between Busby Junction And Barrhead Station
The other section listed for electrification is between Busby junction and Barrhead station.
This second section is only around 3.7 miles long and there are only two overbridges, both of which look modern.
Taking the two sections of electrification together they total under twelve track-miles and they are in a continuous straight line
I doubt, that together, they are the one of the world’s most challenging railway electrification projects.
Busby Junction and East Kilbride Station
There is no specific information about electrification between Busby junction and East Kilbride station.
- The branch is 7.8 miles long.
- There are fifteen overbridges on the branch.
In Plans To Introduce Battery Powered Trains In Scotland, Hitachi are quoted as saying that their trains will do sixty miles on batteries.
This should be more than enough range to run services to East Kilbride on battery power.
Barrhead and Kilmarnock Stations
There is no specific information about electrification between Barrhead and Kilmarnock stations.
- The distance is 16.8 miles.
- There are eleven overbridges between the two stations.
It would appear that Hitachi’s quoted sixty mile range, would be sufficient to enable battery-electric trains to run between the electrification at Barrhead and Kilmarnock station.
Operation
The various services between Glasgow Central and East Kilbride and Kilmarnock stations will probably operate as follows.
- Glasgow Central To East Kilbride – Electrification for traction and battery charging to Crossmyloof station and then battery power.
- East Kilbride To Glasgow Central – Battery power and gravity to Crossmyloof station and then electrification.
- Glasgow Central To Barrhead – Electrification for traction all the way.
- Barrhead to Glasgow Central – Electrification for traction all the way.
- Glasgow Central To Kilmarnock – Electrification for traction and battery charging to Barrhead station and then battery power.
- East Kilbride To Glasgow Central – Battery power to Barrhead station and then electrification.
Note.
- All power changeovers could be arranged to take place in stations.
- Gravity can be used to assist trains from East Kilbride to Glasgow Central.
- Glasgow Central and Barrhead services don’t need trains with batteries.
- The return trip between Crossmyloof and Glasgow central stations, should be more than enough to charge the batteries.
The project would appear to have been very well-designed for a fleet of battery-electric trains, with respect to reliability and electrical efficiency.
Onward To Carlisle And Stranraer
Hitachi’s system for discontinuous electrification, that I discussed in Solving The Electrification Conundrum, would appear to be ideal to extend electric trains to Carlisle and Stranraer.
Barrhead and Carlisle are 108 miles apart and Barrhead and Stranraer are 90 miles apart.
By adding two or three intermediate sections of 25 KVAC overhead electrification, it should be possible for electric trains to reliably travel between Glasgow Central and Carlisle or Stranraer.
Project Management
This electrification project could be a Project Manager’s dream.
Electrification projects in the UK can turn out to be nightmares, as if it can go wrong, it inevitably will.
But with this project, it appears that it is planned to get the often-troublesome job of erecting the gantries out of the way early.
The electrification between Muirhouse South junction and Barrhead station can even be completed first, so that passengers can see the benefit of electric trains and the electrification can be fully tested.
There are then a series of independent projects, that can be performed in the most convenient order.
- Track upgrades.
- Rebuild East Kilbride station.
- Move Hairmyres station to its new position.
- Platform extensions.
- Improve accessibility.
- Deliver the new battery-electric trains.
Note.
- It looks to me, that all of these smaller projects can be performed, whilst maintaining a full rail service on the railway. Doing that with conventional electrification usually results in some disruption.
- Late delivery of the battery-electric trains will not delay the overall project, if there are enough diesel multiple units to fill in.
- Passengers will see benefits and new facilities delivered in a stream, rather than all at once.
Similar processes can be used to extend the network to Carlisle and Stranraer.
Conclusion
This is a well-designed project.
Plans To Introduce Battery Powered Trains In Scotland
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in the Scotsman.
This is said about the routes.
Hitachi said the trains could run up to 60 miles on batteries.
It said recharging would take ten to 15 minutes.
That would mean the trains could run beyond Dunblane – the northern extent of ScotRail’s electrified network – as far as Perth and Dundee.
Hitachi has suggested other routes they could be used on including from Glasgow to East Kilbride and Kilmarnock, and on a Glasgow northern suburban line to Anniesland via Maryhill.
The train described in the article sounds very much like the Hitachi Regional Battery Train, which is described in this Hitachi infographic.
My only reservation is that the article is from 2019.
Since then, Scotland has decided to run battery-electric trains to Leven, as I wrote about in Trains On The Levenmouth Rail Link.
HS2 Utilising UK-First Pioneering 3D Concrete Printing On Project
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
3D-Printing of concrete has been around for some time and it has been used extensively on Crossrail.
But High Speed Two are printing the heavy components on site, to avoid the problems of transport.
Powered By HVO
I took these pictures yesterday at Peterborough.
Note the locomotive is named Benjamin Gimbert GC.
DB Cargo have issued a press release on these trials of HVO.
Wikipedia also give more details of HVO.
March Station – 4th August 2021
March station is to be rebuilt. So I went yesterday and took these pictures.
Note that the last two pictures show the triangular junction, that leads to Whitemoor Yard and Wisbech
From what I saw, when it is finished it will be a delightful station.
Does March Station Need More Services?
It appears to me, that at present the station gets around two trains per hour (tph)
These trains run through the station.
- Greater Anglia – Ipswich and Peterborough – two-hourly – Will go hourly in the future
- CrossCountry – Birmingham and Cambridge/Stansted Airport – hourly
- East Midlands Railway – Norwich and Liverpool Lime Street – hourly, stops occasionally
The service certainly needs improvement.
I would do the following as soon as possible.
- Introduce the promised hourly Greater Anglia service.
- Arrange that all East Midland Railway services stopped at March station.
- Introduce the Cambridge and Wisbech service, when the work at Ely is complete.
This would mean that March had the following local services.
- Cambridge – 2 tph
- Ely – 4 tph
- Ipswich – 1 tph
- Peterborough – 3 tph
- Wisbech – 1 tph
Other services would be available with a change at Ely.
Manea Station
Manea station, is one of least-used stations in the UK.
But it does have a rather nice new shelter.
Perhaps, Greater Anglia are expecting more passengers.
Comings And Goings At Ely Station
On my meander around the Fens yesterday, I spent twenty minutes or so at Ely station, as the variety of trains came through the station, whilst I waited for a train to March.
Ely and the surrounding lines are to be remodelled, so that more trains can pass through the complicated junctions.
I had hoped to see a freight train pass through, which would have used the avoiding lines to pass the station.
In some ways, Ely sums up the problems of some of our major railway junctions.
- Several important passenger services needing to pass through.
- Several long freight trains a day.
- Level crossings everywhere.
- More passenger services are needed.
And on top of it all, there is a need to decarbonise.
British Rail and Network Rail have been trying to sort Ely for decades and it should be noted that the Fen Line to King’s Lynn station was electrified in 1992, which was probably an early phase of their master-plan.
Ely And Battery-Electric Trains
These are the distances without electrification on the various routes from Ely.
- Ipswich – 39 miles
- Norwich – 52 miles
- Peterborough – 30.5 miles
- Wisbech – 25 miles
Routes to King’s Cross, King’s Lynn, Liverpool Street, Stansted Airport and Stevenage are all fully electrified.
It does appear to me, that the new generation of battery-electric should be able to handle services from Ely on battery power.
For many of these services, which are or will be run by Greater Anglia, the required battery range can be achieved by swapping some of the diesel engines in the Class 755 trains for batteries.
Freight And Hydrogen Power
In Was This The Most Significant Statement On Freight Locomotives Last Week?, I referred to this press release from Freightliner, which is entitled Freightliner Secures Government Funding For Dual-Fuel Project.
This sixth paragraph from the press release is very significant.
This sustainable solution will support a programme to decarbonise freight operating companies’ diesel fleets in a cost-efficient manner that does not require significant short-term investment and facilitates operational learning in support of a longer-term fleet replacement programme, potentially using 100% hydrogen fuel.
I believe the paragraph indicates, that Freightliner and possibly the other companies involved in the building and operation of heavy freight locomotives have concluded, that the technology is now such, that a zero-carbon rail locomotive powered by 100 % hydrogen is now possible.
Hydrogen offers several advantages.
- Large amounts of power.
- Range comparable with diesel locomotives.
- Depots and freight terminals can be without electrification.
- As hydrogen-powered locomotive will most likely have an electric transmission, this opens the possibilities of using electrification where it exists and regenerative braking to an onboard battery.
My unreliable crystal ball says that we’ll see hydrogen-powered locomotives by 2026.
Cambridge Station To Get Another Platform Lengthening
Of all the stations I use regularly, Cambridge seems to have more expansion programs than any other station I know.
When I first used it regularly it had the following platforms.
- One long through platform split into two numbered 1 and 4 to handle most traffic.
- Two bay platforms pointing North for services to Ipswich and Norwich.
- Two bay platforms pointing South to London.
These have since been joined by a pair of through platforms to the East of the main lines through the station.
Wikipedia says this about Platforms 1 and 4.
- Platform 1 is a 12-car bi-directional through platform generally used for southbound services to London King’s Cross and northbound services to King’s Lynn. It is also used for some early morning northbound services to Ely and for some late evening terminating services.
- Platform 4 is a bi-directional 10-car through platform generally used for northbound services to Ely, King’s Lynn and Birmingham New Street. It is also used for some early morning southbound services to London King’s Cross and London Liverpool Street and for some terminating late evening services.
I was told today, that Platform 4 is going to be lengthened by forty metres at its Northern end.
- This will make Platforms 1 and 4 the same length.
- It will probably allow twelve-car trains to be run from London to both Cambridge North and Kings Lynn stations.
As both Greater Anglia and Great Northern already have twelve-car trains, adding forty metres of new platform is probably an affordable way to increase capacity between Cambridge and London.
A West Anglia High Speed Service
I like the concept of a high speed service Between King’s Cross and Cambridge.
Cambridge is sucking in the best scientific, engineering and financial talent in the UK and a high speed service to and from London would be ideal for reverse commuters.
Trains would be as I described in Will Hitachi Announce A High Speed Metro Train?.
- The trains would run non-stop between King’s Cross and Cambridge.
- The trains would run every thirty minutes.
- Between London and Hitchen, the trains would run at up to 140 mph under digital signalling on the East Coast Main Line.
- Between Hitchin and Cambridge, the trains would run at up to 100 mph on the Cambridge Line.
- When Cambridge South station opens, the trains would stop at the station.
- I would run a pair of trains to Cambridge station, where they would split with one train going to King’s Lynn and the other to Norwich.
- Trains could split in the lengthened Platform 4 in Cambridge station.
- Returning to London, they would join in Platform 1 at Cambridge station.
- The King’s Lynn portion would stop at all stations to King’s Lynn.
- The Norwich portion would stop at Cambridge North and then all stations to Norwich.
- The 54 miles between Ely and Norwich would be on battery power.
- All stations to the North of Ely would get a service every thirty minutes.
I can see other services like this starting all over the country.
- London Euston and Milton Keynes, Rugby and Coventry.
- London Kings Cross and Leeds
- London Kings Cross and Lincoln, Grimsby and Cleethorpes
- London Paddington and Bristol
- London Paddington and Cardiff
- London Paddington and Oxford
- London St. Pancras and Leicester, Derby and Nottingham.
- London Waterloo and Portsmouth, Southampton and Bournemouth.
Note.
- The enabling factor would be trains running at 140 mph under full digital control.
- Existing 140 mph trains like Class 390 and Class 395 trains could also be used.
The services would generally handle shorter distances than High Speed Two and fill in the gaps left by that network.
The Anonymous Widower 