Dwell Times And End Doors
Chris Stokes finishes his column in the January 2019 Edition of Modern Railways, with this paragraph.
Dwell times remain critical too. The new TransPennine units provide more seats, but have single end doors. For an operation with high numbers joining and alighting at many stops, dwell times are going to increase significantly at stations such as Manchester Victoria, Huddersfield, Leeds, Boltonand Preston, chewing up any savings in running times, and exacerbating the problems at platforms 13 and 14 at Manchester Piccadilly.
I haven’t seen a TransPennine Mark 5A coach in the flesh yet, but I’ve seen several pictures, which show each coach has single end doors.
This picture of the 100 mph Class 755 train shows the door layout is totally different.
It looks like it has a single double door on each coach.
It appears that the electric Class 745 trains have more doors.
If you look at a typical Bombardier Aventra or Electrostar, Stadler Flirt or Siemens Desiro City, there are generally no end doors.
Have CAF commited a design crime of the highest order?
Or is it TransPennine’s fault?
Parking Fees Rise At Many Hospitals In 2017-18, Analysis Finds
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the first paragraph.
Four in 10 NHS hospitals in England have increased car parking prices in the last year, new data suggests.
I don’t drive, so it doesn’t effect me and the only hospitals I’ve visited in the last few years; Addenbrooke’s, Homerton, Royal London and University College have been easily accessible by public transport.
The real scandal is that so many hospitals are not easily accessible using fully-accessible public transport.
- Addenbrooke’s has a large bus interchange, which has connections to Cambridge City Centre and at least one of the City’s large Park-and-Ride sites.
- Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre has a tram connection to the large Park-and-Ride sites.
But I can think of several hospitals, where the only public transport is an expensive taxi.
I also remember a hospital administrator in London telling me, that the largest number of complaints they received was about car parking.
Iceland Crash: Three British People Including Child Killed
The title of this post is the same as this article on the BBC.
I’ve been to Iceland and thoroughly enjoyed it.
But I did all the exploring in organised tour parties, as I was advised by the tour company, that this was safer. Although, they didn’t know I couldn’t drive!
We went everywhere in large 4×4 vehicles.
So was the party involved in the tragedy in a suitable vehicle?
Axed Rail Routes May Be Reopened Under New Department for Transport Plans
The title of this post is the same as that on this article on Sky News.
This is the first two paragraphs.
The Department for Transport has confirmed it is actively working with a number of groups to explore the possibility of reopening old rail routes, axed under the so-called Beeching cuts of the 1960s.
It follows a call by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling a year ago, encouraging those in the public and private sector to submit proposals for potential projects to regenerate old lines.
It also quotes a Department of Transport spokesman.
This is on top of exploring reopening the Northumberland Line for passenger use, supporting the reinstatement of stations on the Camp Hill Line, developing new rail links to Heathrow and a new station at Cambridge South
He apparently, didn’t say more because of confidentiality.
The article then talks about the success of the Borders Railway in Scotland.
So is this just a good news story for Christmas or is there a plan to reopen old railway lines?
I feel that a several factors are coming together, that make the reopening of railway lines and the creation of new ones more likely.
Digital Signalling
Signalling is expensive, but where you have rolling stock to a high modern standard, with digital in-cab signalling, does this mean that new or reopened rail lines can be built without conventional signalling?
In addition, installing digital signalling on some routes, would probably make it easier to add a new station. Surely, it must just be a reprogramming of the route!
It could be a problem that, I would expect that on a digitally-signalled line, all trains must be capable of using it. But in many areas of the country, like East Anglia, these routes will be run by new trains.
Digital signalling must also make it easier to design more efficient single-track railways, with perhaps a passing loop to allow higher frequencies.
More Efficient Track Construction
Network Rail and their contractors and suppliers are getting better and more efficient at building track and bridges through difficult terrain and places, judging by some of their construction in recent years, such as the Acton Dive-Under and the Ordsall Chord. They have also overseen some notable successes in the refurbishment of viaducts and tunnels.
It should also be noted that the reopening of the Borders Railway was a successful project in terms of the engineering and was completed on budget and on time.
According to Wikipedia, though there was criticism of the infrastructure.
This is said.
The line’s construction has been described as resembling a “basic railway” built to a tight budget and incorporating a number of cost-saving features, such as using elderly two-carriage diesel trains and running the line as single track.
But looking back on the line from over three years since it opened, it has certainly been judged by many to be an undoubted success.
Would it have had the same level of success, if it had been built as a double-track electrified railway?
Single-Track Lines
The Borders Railway is a good example of an efficient single-track railway, that runs a half-hourly service.
Other routes like the East Suffolk Line and the Felixstowe Branch Line, show how good design can handle more than the most basic levels of traffic, with perhaps selective double track or a well-placed passing loop.
They may be dismissed by rail purists as basic railways, but when well-designed, they are able to provide the service that is needed along the route, for a construction cost that is affordable.
I would though advocate, that if a new single-track railway is built, that provision is made where possible to be able to add the second track. But not at too great an expense or to provide a service level that will never be needed.
I believe that good design of a new railway can cut the construction cost by a fair amount.
Single-Platform Stations
Several of the new stations built in recent years have been stations with only a single-platform.
- Cranbrook – A station in Devon on the West of England Main Line to serve a new housing development.
- Ebbw Vale Parkway – A parkway station in Ebbw Vale.
- Galashiels – A station, that handled 356,000 passengers last year. It is a unique station on a narrow site, that shares facilities with a large bus station on the other side of the road. It is a very functional transport interchange.
- James Cook – A basic but practical station, that serves the hospital in Middlesbrough. – It cost just over £2million in 2014.
- Newcourt – A £4million station handling over 100,000 passengers per year.
- Pye Corner – A basic station in Newport handling nearly 100,000 passengers per year.
The stations have several common characteristics.
- They can all handle at least a four-car train.
- The single-platform is used for services in both directions.
- Disabled access is either level or by a gently-sloping ramp.
Only James Cook station has a footbridge over the track.
These single-platform stations must cost less, as for instance a footbridge with lifts costs upwards of a million pounds.
Note that of the nine stations on the Borders Railway only three have two platforms.
Single-Platform Terminal Stations
There are also several terminal stations in the UK with only one platform.
- Aberdare – Handling over 500,000 passengers per year.
- Aberystwyth – Handling around 300,000 passengers per year.
- Alloa – Handling around 400,000 passengers per year.
- Aylesbury Vale Parkway – Handling over 100,000 passengers per year.
- Blackpool South – Handling over 100,000 passengers per year.
- Exmouth – Handling nearly a million passengers per year.
- Felixstowe – Handling around 200,000 passengers per year.
- Henley-on-Thames – Handling around 800,000 passengers per year.
- Marlow – Handling nearly 300,000 passengers per year.
- Merthyr Tydfil – Handling around 500,000 passengers per year.
- North Berwick – Handling around 600,000 passengers per year.
- Redditch– Handling over a million passengers per year.
- Seaford – Handling over 500,000 passengers per year.
- Shepperton – Handling around 400,000 passengers per year.
- Sheringham – Handling around 200,000 passengers per year.
- Walton-on-the-Naze – Handing around 130,000 passengers per year
- Windsor & Eton Central – Handling nearly two million passengers per year.
Many of these stations have only a single hourly train. whereas Redditch and Windsor & Eton Central stations have three trains per hour (tph).
As a single terminal platform can probably handle four tph, I suspect that most terminals for branch lines could be built with just a single platform.
No Electrification
Chris Grayling has said that the East West Rail Link will be built without electrification.
I wasn’t surprised.
- Network Rail has a very poor performance in installing electrification.
- There have been complaints about the visual intrusion of the overhead gantries.
- Electrification can cause major disruption to road traffic during installation, as bridges over the railway have to be raised.
In addition, I’ve been following alternative forms of low- or zero-carbon forms of train and feel they could offer a viable alternative
Bi-Mode, Hydrogen And Battery-Electric Trains
When the Borders Railway was reopened, unless the line had been electrified, it had to be run using diesel trains.
But in the intervening three years, rolling stock has developed and now a new or reopened railway doesn’t have to be electrified to be substantially served by electric trains.
- Bi-Mode trains are able to run on both diesel and electric power and Hitachi’s Class 800 trains are successfully in service. They will be shortly joined by Porterbrook’s innovative Class 769 trains.
- Hydrogen-powered trains have already entered service in Germany and they are being developed for the UK.
- Battery-electric trains have already been successfully demonstrated in the UK and will enter service in the next few years.
All of these types of train, will be able to run on a new railway line without electrification.
Bi-mode trains are only low-carbon on non-electrified lines, whereas the other trains are zero-carbon.
The trains on the Borders Railway must be prime candidates for replacement with hydrogen-powered or battery-electric trains.
Adding It All Up
Adding up the factors I have covered in this section leads me to conclude that rail developments over the last few years have made it possible to create a new railway line with the following characteristics.
- An efficient mainly single-track layout.
- Single-platform stations.
- A single-platform terminal station capable of handling well upwards of a million passengers per year.
- Service levels of up to four trains per hour.
- Zero-carbon operation without electrification.
- Low levels of visual and noise intrusion.
The new railway will also be delivered at a lower cost and without major disruption to surrounding road and rail routes.
The Need For More Housing And Other Developments
There is a very large demand for new housing and other developments all over the UK.
Several proposed rail projects are about connecting new developments with the rail network.
In London Overground Extension To Barking Riverside Gets Go Ahead, I listed a few developments in London, where developers and their financial backers, were prepared to put up around £20,000 for each house to fund decent rail-based transport links.
Obviously, developments in London are expensive, but with all the new developments, that have been built close to stations in the last few years, I suspect that infrastructure financiers. like Legal and General and Aviva, know how much being by a rail station is worth.
Conclusion
Both public and private infrastructure financiers will take advantage of the good railway and rolling stock engineering, which will mean the necessary rail links to new developments will be more affordable and zero-carbon.
Crossrail’s Latest Issues Begs The Question, How Do We Judge Success In Transport Megaprojects?
The title of this post is the same as this article on Forbes.
The article makes some interesting points about transport megaprojects. It is definitely a must-read.
As an example of a megaproject that went wrong, it cites the Channel Tunnel, which exceeded its budget by 80%, required refinancing and then Eurostar only carried a third of forecast traffic.
This article on the BBC, which is entitled How Eurotunnel Went So Wrong, gives the full story of the Channel Tunnel finances.
So should it now be closed? Obviously not, as the alternatives of driving and flying would create a lot more unwanted carbon dioxide and would need more motorways and airports.
The benefits of building Crossrail, such as increasing the capacity of London’s transport system, reducing congestion in Central London and giving better access to Canary Wharf, East London, Heathrow, The City and West London will just come in a year or so later.
The article also says that according to Oxford professor; Bent Flyvbjerg, Crossrail is suffering a 7% cost overrun, where the average for rail projects is 45%.
In my view Crossrail has suffered from a number of problems that together have caused the cost and time overruns.
- Not enough time was built into the schedule to test the sophisticated trains with their three signalling systems.
- No dedicated Crossrail test track was created, so the trains could be fully tested.
- An unfortunate transformer explosion, was a big cause of delay in testing systems.
- There were not enough workers to finish the project.
- Central London is awash with large projects, some of which became viable because of Crossrail, that are sucking up masses of workers.
- Brexit uncertainty has meant that a lot of EU workers have gone back to Europe to build projects nearer their homes.
Where was the European project supremo, who added up all the needs of these European megaprojects, to make sure, we had enough resources to build all of them on time?
Monetarising The Freedom Pass
I find my Freedom Pass extremely valuable and I’m extremely grateful for it, as I can’t drive after a serious stroke, that left me with eyesight problems.
But I feel Freedom Pass use could be expanded, to improve the efficiency of London’s transport network and generate some much needed cash flow for Transport for London.
Some Principles
What I am proposing here will obey these principles.
- Charges will only occur, when the card is used in conjunction with a bank card to buy tickets or services.
- Any tickets or services bought through the Freedom Pass system, will be at the best possible price.
But the major principle will be that if a Freedom Pass holder continues to use their card as they do now, they will not pay any charges.
An Updated Web Site
The current web site at www.freedompass.org is mainly for information only.
This function could be increased, but I also think the website could be extended in several ways.
A Personal Profile
Some pass holders might like to add a personal profile with perhaps a photograph and selected personal details, next of kin and some medical details.
Obviously, creating a profile would be at the pass holder’s discretion.
Journey Logging
I believe that with Oyster, you can check where you’ve been on a ticket machine.
Some Freedom Pass holders might like to have a similar facility on a web site.
Railcard Management
If you have a Freedom Pass, the site will know if you are over a certain age or have a qualifying disability. I would actually get a Freedom Pass, even if I wasn’t quite as old, as my eyesight was deemed not good enough to drive.
So the Freedom Pass web site could prompt you when you needed to renew your Railcard.
Adding A Bank Card To A Freedom Pass
To get between Dalston Junction and Gatwick Airport stations, I need to buy a ticket from the Zone 6 Boundary to the Airport. It would be very handy, if a Freedom Pass could be linked to a bank card, so that there was no need to buy an extra ticket. The few pounds to get to the Airport, would be automatically charged to the linked bank card.
I would not need to buy a ticket and would just touch in at Dalston Junction station and touch out at Gatwick Airport. My bank card would be charged a few pounds.
The link would also work, where a journey was done before the 09:30 start time of Freedom Pass on many routes.
So if Esmerelda, who lived in Camden wanted to get to Orpington to walk her grandchildren to school., she would be able to use the Freedom Pass for a normal fare, which would be charged to her bank card.
I would assume that Transport for London would pick up a small commission for the National Rail tickets.
A Ticket Buying Web Site
Depending on the company, the rules for using Freedom Passes with National Rail tickets aren’t always simple.
Yesterday, I went to football at Ipswich and bought a return ticket between Harold Wood and Ipswich stations.
- Harold Wood is the Zone 6 boundary.
- I was also able to get on a Liverpool Street to Norwich train, despite it not stopping at Harold Wood.
- As a Greater Anglia ticket inspector told me off for not doing this about six months ago, when he saw my Freedom Pass alongside my Senior Railcard, when he checked my tickets, I feel it must be right.
But I don’t think all train companies are so accommodating.
Suppose you were able to buy any rail ticket on the Freedom Pass web site and I wanted to buy a return ticket on a Saturday from Dalston Junction to Ipswich.
- Logging in, the site would know I had a Freedom Pass and a Senior Railcard.
- I would ask for my ticket and then the web site would find my cheapest ticket.
- I would pay for it as one does on any of the numerous rail ticket web-sites.
But it would probably add a third orange ticket, giving my route and conditions.
Should Ticket Buying Be Limited To Freedom Pass Holders?
If you are a London resident, would you use a trusted ticket buying web site from Transport for London, where you knew any profits would be reinvested in London’s transport network?
If it was a best price, I would!
Conclusion
The right design of web site could be a nice little earner for Transport for London.
Or any other regionalised transport organisation, like Transport for Wales or Merseytravel.
Hybrid Power On The Railways
In my opinion, one of the best hybrid transmissions is that of London’s New Routemaster bus. This description of the drive-train is from Wikipedia.
The bus is a hybrid diesel-electric driven by a battery-powered electric motor, charged by a diesel fuelled generator and recovering energy during braking by regenerative braking.
It is a classic serial hybrid vehicle.
- There is no mechanical connection between the engine and the driving wheels.
- The diesel engine only runs, when the battery charge is low.
- The electric motor is always powered directly from the battery.
- The control systems for the drive-train are very simple.
- It is very efficient, as the engine only runs when needed and regenerative braking is employed.
- The bus can run on battery power only, for short distances.
- The various components of the drive-train can be placed in convenient places and connected by power and control cables.
In the New Routemaster, the components are placed as follows.
- The diesel engine is half-way up the back stairs.
- The battery is under the front stairs.
- The electric motor is under the floor in front of the rear axle.
This flexibility is very useful in a large vehicle.
Hybrid transmissions are starting to be employed on the railways.
These are the applications in use or planned.
Alstom Coradia iLint
The Alstom Coradia iLint is a hydrogen-powered two-car multiple unit.
This video shows the operation of the train.
<span class=”embed-youtube”></span>
It would appear to be a serial hybrid, where the hydrogen fuel-cell charges the battery and this drives the train through an electric motor,
I suspect most hydrogen trains will work in a similar way.
Class 321 Hydrogen Train
Some Class 321 trains are being converted to run on hydrogen. Unlike the Coradia iLint, the trains will also be able to use electricity from electrification.
MTU Hybrid PowerPacks
MTU have produced a Hybrid PowerPack, which is being retrofitted into several trains, including Class 170 trains in the UK.
Class 93 Locomotive
The recently-announced Class 93 locomotive appears to be a hybrid locomotive with a large diesel engine and about 125 kWh of batteries, that can also use electrification.
High Speed Bi-Mode Aventra
I am sure that Bombardier’s proposed High Speed Bi-Mode Aventra, which features batteries and 125 mph running under both diesel and electric power is a hybrid train.
Conclusion
Just as hybrid cars are becoming more numerous, I suspect we’ll be seeing more hybrid trains in the future.
It’s Not Just Drones We Should Worry About!
In The Private Thoughts of Engineers and Scientists, I talked about a discussion, I had with a chemist about the production of sarin gas.
His view was that if amateurs tried to make the deadly gas, there was a high chance, they’d kill themselves, but he had a better idea to cause havoc in a city, which I will not disclose.
I too, have a couple of non-lethal methods, that would bring an airport or a city to a standstill.
One idea is so simple, that I suspect many terrorists could think it up.
Again, I will not disclose my ideas, but they are probably just two of many.
In some ways, the success of the drones in closing Gatwick Airport will only encourage others to think of new ways to disrupt our lives.
We still don’t now, who were behind the Gatwick Airport drones, but there must be a long list of suspects.
- Extinction Rebellion
- Anti-Airport Protesters
- Russia – It worked better than Novichok!
- North Korea – Unlikely, as they don’t seem to have any spats with the UK.
One thing that may rule out a lot of groups, is that sophisticated high-performance drones are not cheap.
Other groups will be ruled out, because they want to kill hundreds of innocent people and a couple of drones are unlikely to do this.
The Anonymous Widower 