Liverpool Street Station Gets Polka Dot Sculpture
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
A huge artwork made up of silver polka dots has been unveiled outside Britain’s busiest railway station.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Infinite Accumulation is Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s first permanent public artwork in the UK and her largest permanent public sculpture.
Funded by British Land and the City of London Corporation, it is the final artwork commissioned and installed by the Crossrail Art Programme for the Elizabeth line.
I took these pictures today.
Note.
- The area is getting to be a bit of a sculpture park, with other sculptures and plaques.
- All are protected by the City of London’s distinctive bollards. See The City Of London’s Soldiers for more pictures.
- The new sculpture, is probably worth nicking, with all that stainless steel.
- Liverpool Street station is a Grade Two Listed Building.
- I shall be adding extra pictures here. I shall be taking some at sunset.
I do like the new sculpture and the way it fits with the surrounding buildings.
How I Was Imprisoned In A Pizza Restaurant And Driven Home By The Metropolitan Police
At lunchtime today, I received a phone call, saying that my GP’s surgery could see me at 16:30 this afternoon, to discuss my lack of sleep, arthritis and various strains and pains.
My middle son; Henry had expressed a desire to be at such an appointment, so I said, that if he could chauffeur me to the GP, he could come along.
His diary co-operated and he duly arrived outside my house at 16:00.By the time of the GP’s appointment, we had parked conveniently outside the surgery and we had been ushered into the GP’s consulting room.
We had a good meeting and by just after five, we had broken up and agreed a comprehensive plan for the diagnosis of my problems.
Henry had three problems of his own.
- He had legal work to do for the morning.
- He needed to do some bits of shopping.
- He also said, that he was feeling rather hungry.
- I too was hungry and needed to do some shopping.
So I suggested we drive to Southgate Road and see if we could get a pizza in Sweet Thursday.
- They do gluten-free pizzas, so I would have no dietary worries.
- In previous meals, I have found the quality excellent.
- There are shops nearby, where we could shop, if we needed.
As I approached the restaurant, I decided we had made the right decision, as there was a parking space about twenty metres from the restaurant.
We both had similar meals.
- Ham and mushroom pizzas, although mine was gluten-free.
- I drunk a zero-alcohol Lucky Saint, whilst Henry had a Diet-Coke.
- We both finished off, with two scoops of appropriate ice cream.
It was only, when we had paid and tried to leave that we got a very big surprise.
Parked in front of the restaurant with its disabled ramp extended, like some beached airliner was a 141 bus, that was empty of passengers.
- There was broken glass at the front of the bus.
- Was this evidence, that the bus had hit something or somebody?
- The police had strung white tape everywhere.
- There were half-a-dozen police cars and ambulances blocking Southgate Road.
Henry’s car wouldn’t be going anywhere for some time, as it was blocked in by two ambulances and a police car with flashing blue lights.
- So, Henry and I each had a coffee, to pass the time.
- We also made friends with others trapped in the restaurant.
- Henry also obtained information from the police, that no-one would be moving, until it was known that no-one would be moving until the full state of the injuries of the person hit by the bus was known.
So Henry and I just sat there with several others on the hard chairs in front of the restaurant.
In the end, for me, it was over very quickly.
- I live about a kilometre North of the incident.
- Some were walking from the incident to the Balls Pond Road to get a bus.
- I am fairly sure, Henry had told the police, that it was far too far for me to walk with my arthritic hip.
I was put in the back of a police car and ferried home, at about 21:45.
Thanks to the Metropolitan Police.
I have some further thoughts.
Do I Drink Enough?
Since lunchtime, I have drunk the following.
- 4 x 330 ml – Adnams Ghost Ship 0.5 % Beer
- 1 x 330 ml – Lucky Saint 0.5 % Beer
- 300 ml – Assorted water and juices.
- 1 cup – coffee.
Is that enough?
I certainly slept better last night!
Wrightbus Launches NewPower In Bicester
The title of this post, is the same as that press release from Wrightbus.
This is the sub-heading.
World-leading bus manufacturer Wrightbus today took the wraps off a bold new enterprise designed to replace older diesel engines with new zero-emission electric powertrains.
These three paragraphs from the press release give more details.
NewPower, which has moved into a hi-tech factory in Bicester, Oxfordshire, aims to speed up the decarbonisation process by eradicating diesel powertrains in older fleets at a substantially lower price than a new bus.
Wrightbus becomes the first OEM to offer a re-powering service, utilising the unique skills of its 1,800-strong workforce to swap diesel for electricity. Its master technicians built the original buses and have unrivalled expertise in being able to swap powertrains.
Hailed as affordable decarbonisation, it is hoped that operators with mid-life bus fleets but without the funding for new zero-emission buses can take advantage of the instant sustainability switch.
Note.
- It appears that Wrightbus, have taken over the new factory of failed electric van manufacturer; Arrival.
- Converting a bus takes three weeks and six can be handled at one time.
- This gives the overall capacity to decarbonise five hundred buses per year.
I have some extra information from this article in Sustainable Bus magazine, which is entitled Wrightbus Launches Repowering Programme NewPower In Former Arrival Headquarter.
Which Buses Can Be Converted And How Much Does A Conversion Cost?
This paragraph is from the Sustainable Bus article.
UK trade media Bus & Coach Buyer reports that the new venture “is focused on fitting its tailored electric drivetrain into Streetdeck buses, then tailoring it for Gemini 2, then New Route Master, with plans to then engineer solutions for other common buses, at around £1m per model”.
Note.
- That is certainly a comprehensive conversion programme.
- I would assume the million pound per model is the development cost of an engineering package for a fleet of buses.
- London would get a thousand refurbished zero-carbon New Route Masters.
- A new double-decker bus can cost between £300,000 to £500,000.
It looks like a programme can be developed, that is profitable for all parties.
HS2 Manchester Route Not Sold Off Yet As Labour Weighs Up Rail Options
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on i.
This is the sub-heading.
The Government has a looming dilemma with climbing costs and pressure from supporters to bring back the Birmingham to Manchester line
These first three paragraphs explain the problems.
Labour faces a £500m decision on what to do with HS2 land which was not sold despite promises by Rishi Sunak, as Sir Keir Starmer braces for new calls to resurrect the cancelled Birmingham to Manchester line.
The £50bn rail line is likely to cause the new Labour government a headache as supporters push for the party to support the project which was initially launched by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2009.
Within Whitehall, civil servants are currently thought to be calculating the value for money of Mr Sunak’s HS2 plan in comparison to the previous HS2 plan to Manchester, with the result expected to favour the longer route.
These are my thoughts.
The Appointment Of Lord Peter Hendy As Rail Minister
Two of the more unusual ministerial appointments by Sir Keir Starmer were the appointment of James Timpson as Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Probatio, and Lord Peter Hendy as Minister of State in the Department of Transport.
But if you read their Wikipedia entries, they both have great knowledge of the area to where they have been appointed.
This picking of Ministers outside of elected MPs has happened before, with the most recent being Rishi Sunak’s appointment of David Cameron as Foreign Secretary.
This is a paragraph from the article in the i, gives some views about Lord Hendy and High Speed Two.
The appointment of Lord Peter Hendy as rail minister has been received positively by many supporters of the high speed rail line, given his previous work around the project and Euston’s redevelopment, where he pushed for a more ambitious project. One industry source told i that Lord Hendy was “one of the most respected figures in the UK rail industry”, and a “definite supporter of HS2 to Manchester”.
As the current Chairman of Network Rail, I suspect Lord Hendy has had endless thoughts on how he can get High Speed Two to Manchester, within an acceptable budget.
I also believe that since being appointed to be Chairman of Network Rail, the performance of that company has improved.
Has Lord Hendy improved the quality of the workforce or imposed better top down project management?
The Euston Station Problem
The article in the i has several paragraphs on the Euston station problem.
Lord Hendy has probably, the best directory of contacts of property developers, architects and engineers in the UK and with his background of economics, he probably know how to sort the wheat from the dross.
So could Lord Hendy somehow conjure a solution for Euston station out of the speculation?
I wonder if he could find someone to develop a multi-billion commercial complex over the station, that this could generate the cash to pay for Birmingham and Manchester section of High Speed Two.
Like Baldrick, I suspect Lord Hendy could have a cunning plan, but based on sound economic sense.
For instance, I believe, that the best way to serve Leeds by High Speed Two could be via Manchester.
- Leeds would have a choice of routes from London; King’s Cross and Euston.
- It could possibly have three, if St. Pancras and Leeds via Derby and Sheffield were to be improved.
- Birmingham and Leeds services would be greatly improved if High Speed Two to Leeds, went via Manchester.
I would suspect every idea will be on the table.
Destination Manchester
The title of this post is the same as the title of this page on the London North Western Railway web site.
The page introduces, the operator’s proposed new service to Manchester.
As a progressive rail operator we’re always looking to develop our services and timetables to provide a better travelling experience for our customers. We are ambitious and our team seek innovative solutions to create new journey opportunities.
That’s why we have developed proposals for our trains to begin serving Manchester for the first time. Under the plans, our existing hourly service between Crewe and London Euston would be extended to Manchester city centre from summer 2026.
Following the cancellation of the northern leg of HS2, these proposals will provide much-needed connectivity between Manchester, the West Midlands and London, with thousands of extra seats every day.
In more detail, the extended London Euston and Crewe service to Manchester Victoria station, will create the following.
- Additional capacity and comfortable, affordable journeys to and from Manchester city centre
- A great alternative to car and coach travel, with fares up to 50% cheaper than the main intercity train operator
- New regular direct services to Warrington for passengers at Milton Keynes, Rugby and Lichfield
- New regular direct services to Manchester for passengers at Rugeley, Lichfield, Tamworth and Atherstone
Note.
- The service will pass through Warrington Bank Quay, Stockport, Earlestown, Newton-le-Willows, Eccles and Salford Central to reach Manchester Victoria, so could be a comprehensive service to the Northern and Western parts of Manchester City Centre. It would just depend on the stopping pattern in the City Centre.
- There would be good connections to Manchester Metrolink at Eccles and Manchester Victoria.
- All stations on the Manchester Metrolink can be reached either direct or with a single change from Manchester Victoria.
- Manchester Metrolink is touch-in and out with a credit card.
- Manchester Victoria is very well connected by rail to cities and important destinations across the North including Blackburn, Blackpool, Bradford, Burnley, Halifax, Hebden Bridge, Huddersfield, Leeds, Liverpool, Preston, Wigan and York.
- The page talks of a London Euston and Manchester Victoria time of three hours and ten minutes.
- Manchester Stations is a group of the four stations; Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Victoria and Deansgate. Often a ticket to Manchester Stations is a few pounds cheaper and more convenient, if you are visiting several places in the City Centre.
The London Euston and Manchester Victoria service looks to me to be a well-thought out proposal.
A New Connection To Manchester Airport
Under a title of Anything Else on the page on the London North Western Railway web site, this is said.
As well as the proposal to extend our London Euston-Crewe services to Manchester Victoria, we are also proposing to begin running trains to Manchester Airport. This will involve extending our existing service between Stafford and Crewe, providing direct connectivity to the airport from Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. More details on this proposal will be announced in due course.
Note.
- The extended Stafford and Manchester Airport service could call at Stone, Stoke-on-Trent, Longport, Kidsgrove, Alsager, Crewe, and possibly Wilmslow and Styal.
- Stafford, Stone, Stoke-on-Trent, Longport, Kidsgrove and Alsager would gain direct services to and from Manchester Airport.
- It would appear that the current Stafford and Crewe service waits in Stafford station for at least fifteen minutes.
- The current Stafford and Crewe service appears to always use platform 6 at Stafford.
- The current Euston and Crewe service appears to always use platform 3 at Stafford.
- The current Crewe and Euston service appears to always use platform 1 at Stafford.
- The current Birmingham and Liverpool service appears to always use platform 5 at Stafford.
- The current Liverpool and Birmingham service appears to always use platform 4 at Stafford.
I suspect that trains can be timetabled, so that the following is possible.
- An hourly London Euston and Manchester Airport service with a quick step-free change at Stafford between the London Euston and Manchester Victoria service and the Stafford and Manchester Airport service.
- An hourly Manchester Airport and London Euston service with a quick step-free change at Stafford between the Manchester Airport and Stafford service and the Manchester Victoria and London Euston service.
- An hourly Birmingham New Street and Manchester Airport service with a quick cross-platform change at Stafford between the Birmingham New Street and Liverpool Lime Street service and the Stafford and Manchester Airport service.
- An hourly Manchester Airport and Birmingham New Street service with a quick step-free change at Stafford between the Manchester Airport and Stafford service and the Liverpool Lime Street and Birmingham New Street service.
Note.
- I suspect more changes at Stafford could be cross-platform.
- I also suspect that it is possible to arrange that all services to the same destination, leave from the same platform, at the same time or times each hour.
- It would appear too, that if you want a cheap ticket price to Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Victoria or Stoke-on-Trent, then you may have to change at Stafford.
It appears all more affordable London Northwestern Railway trains will go via Stafford.
I have some further thoughts.
Stafford And Manchester Airport Timings
With all the stops, it looks like Stafford and Manchester Airport will take about 78 minutes, but if they used the West Coast Main Line and didn’t stop the time could be reduced to just under an hour.
The Class 730 Trains
The services will be run by 110 mph Class 730 trains.
In 2018, there was talk of a bi-mode 125 mph Aventra, which I wrote about in Bombardier Bi-Mode Aventra To Feature Battery Power.
Currently, the Class 730 trains are 110 mph trains.
Would it help timetabling and capacity if these trains could be stretched to 125 mph?
Avanti West Coast
Several Avanti West Coast services stop at Stafford.
Their services could be half-an-hour quicker to Stafford, but they wouldn’t have the same stopping patterns.
In response to the competition, Avanti West Coast might run a few Manchester Airport Expresses using their new Class 805 trains.
A Second Service Between Stoke And Manchester Airport
I feel this might be needed and perhaps it could be faster, by using the direct route between Stafford and Crewe.
Avanti West Coast could use it to create a one-change fast service between London Euston and Manchester Airport, if they felt such a service were to be needed.
Conclusion
I like this proposal.
But there is a lot of fine tuning to do!
Liberty Lines Commissions First High-Speed Ferry With mtu Hybrid System From Rolls-Royce
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Rolls-Royce.
These two bullet points act as sub-headings.
- “Vittorio Morace” the world’s first hybrid high-speed ferry to IMO HSC standard with a length of almost 40 metres is fast at sea and emission-free in harbour
- A further 8 Liberty Lines ferries with mtu hybrid systems will enter into service in Italy, Slovenia and Croatia
This picture shows the first of the fleet.
This is the first paragraph.
On 27 June 2024, the Italian shipping company Liberty Lines ceremonially launched the world’s first hybrid fast ferry of this category and size in Trapani, Sicily, powered by an mtu hybrid propulsion system from Rolls-Royce. The 39.5 meter long ship has a capacity of 251 passengers, reaches a speed of over 30 knots and will significantly reduce the impact of ship operations on the environment. The “Vittorio Morace”, built by the Spanish shipyard Astilleros Armon and designed by Incat Crowther, is the world’s first IMO HSC (High-Speed Craft) hybrid fast ferry of this size and has been classified as a “Green Plus” ship by the Italian classification society RINA.
This ferry can truly be considered to be a Ship-of-the-World, with a design from an Australian-headquartered International company and German engines, that has been built in Spain.
This paragraph describes the power-train.
The battery-electric part of the drive is used for locally emission-free driving in the harbour area and as a booster. CO2 emissions are reduced by the particularly efficient mtu Series 4000 diesel engines which can also run on the renewable diesel (HVO, hydrotreated vegetable oil). Its use can lower the CO2 footprint by up to 90 per cent. Furthermore, the comparatively low overall weight of both the engines and the hybrid drive system contributes to high vessel propulsion efficiency, thereby reducing fuel consumption and emissions.
Over the last thirty years, I’ve been to several of the places served by Liberty Lines, so some excellent journeys, will be made faster, quieter and better.
Heat-Related Hospital Admissions And Deaths In London
I never saw my father ride on a deep Underground line, like the Northern or the Piccadilly, as he always said the air was terrible.
That was despite we lived within walking distance of Oakwood station and his print works was just a hundred metres from Wood Green Underground station.
But then he was a man, who always had a car, when I knew him, so I suppose he felt he better use it.
On one occasion, he took me to the Printing Industries Fair at Earl’s Court, which is just seventeen stops on the Piccadilly Line from Wood Green Underground station, as it still is today.
His route was as follows.
He left his MG Magnette outside the print works on Station Road.
As this picture I took in 2012 shows, parking wasn’t too difficult.
We then walked up the hill to Wood Green station, which is now called Alexandra Palace, from where we took a steam-hauled local train into King’s Cross.
From King’s Cross, we took a Metropolitan Line train to Hammersmith station.
At Hammersmith, we changed stations and then took a train to Baron’s Court station for Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre.
Today, the route between Alexandra Palace and Earl’s Court stations is very different.
- You can change trains at Moorgate, Farringdon or King’s Cross.
- The oldest trains, that you’ll travel on would have been built in 2008.
- All trains will be fully air-conditioned.
I feel, that I could probably get my father to use this route. Although, I doubt it would happen, as he would have turned 120, at the start of this year.
The Growth Of Air Conditioning
Many cars since the 1980s have been airconditioned and now trains are following that route.
In London these are some dates, when trains were air-conditioned.
- Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan from 2008.
- Elisabeth Line from 2017.
- Gospel Oak and Barking from 2019.
- Greater Anglia from 2019/20.
- Lee Valley Lines from 2019.
- London Midland from 2023.
- London Overground from 2009.
- Southern from 2003.
- Southeastern from 2003.
- Thameslink from 2014.
Each year, more and more trains will be air-conditioned.
Conclusion
Has this growth of air-conditioning reduced the number of cases of heatstroke and other heat related admissions to hospitals?
Hybrid And Over 1.100 kW Strong: Rolls-Royce Presents New mtu Propulsion Concepts For Military Vehicles Of The Future
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Rolls-Royce.
These two paragraphs detail some of the philosophy and features behind the hybrid power units.
Electrification and hybridisation will give tactical vehicles new capabilities in the field. To this end, Rolls-Royce’s new mtu hybrid drive combines the advantages of a high-performance diesel engine with those of a battery-electric drive. The highly integrated propulsion system requires comparatively little installation space in the vehicle in order to maximise the volume available for equipment and crew. The core of the solution is a highly mobile and extremely compact drive solution, taking into account increasing cost pressure, tight budgets and the need for significantly larger vehicle fleets.
For quiet operation, for example in a concealed position, the high-performance batteries previously charged in diesel mode, supply the vehicle’s electrical and electronic systems. This is done without the noise and thermal footprint of the diesel engine – and over a longer period of time. This makes the vehicle more difficult to locate for enemy reconnaissance. The so-called “anti-idling” mode not only ensures better camouflage of the vehicle, but also significantly reduces fuel consumption when the vehicle is on standby. The range of the vehicles and the downstream logistics chain for refuelling the vehicles are optimised.
Hopefully, power concepts like these will lead to highly capable fighting vehicles, that will defeat the threats we face from the East.
But surely, as hybrid power develops and embraces the use of clean fuels like green hydrogen and green methanol, power units like these will be found in other applications, both on land and on the sea.
And how about a hydrogen-hybrid rail locomotive to haul trains in noise-sensitive areas!
LNER Names Train ‘The Flying Swiftie’ Ahead Of Tonight’s Opening Gig
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from LNER.
This is the sub-heading,
Forget “The Flying Scotsman”, LNER is today naming the 1000 London-Edinburgh train “The Flying Swiftie” – as thousands of Taylor Swift fans take the train to her first UK gig in the Scottish capital.
These are the first three paragraphs, which give a few more details.
The rail firm famous for having Red seats knows All Too Well that its passengers love a named train – from The Flying Scotsman to the Highland Chieftan and the recently introduced Carolean Express.
As passengers travel in Style and say So Long, London they will be reminded with on-train and station announcements that Everything Has Changed and that they’re on The Flying Swiftie, while screens around the station and along the route will refer to the train’s name too.
Taylor Swift fans will be able to get refreshments onboard cheaper than their Wildest Dreams thanks to a special Flying Swiftie discount.
Recently, Lumo did a similar promotion for Gateshead fans going to Wembley for the FA Trophy final, which I wrote about in Excitement Brewing for Gateshead FC Away At Wembley.
Last Train Home
In the past, I’ve had difficulty with getting a return train after some matches and it is a complaint of the fans of many sides.
- Taylor Swift’s concert seems to finish shortly before midnight.
- I’ve never had trouble from Greater Anglia, as they always run a late train back to London.
- In one case at Ipswich, there were track problems in the Colchester area, so Greater Anglia returned fans to Sudbury by taxi.
- Lumo ran an extra return train to make sure everybody got home after the match.
It certainly looks to me, that if you are going to put on a package for an event, you must make sure, that it is possible for those attending the event to get home.
What Is Possible
Lumo and LNER have shown what is possible on the East Coast Main Line and I would hope that they will develop these two experiences to cover, events like these.
- London football teams playing matches in Newcastle.
- Newcastle United playing matches in London.
- England and Scotland rugby matches.
I hopr to see more services like these in the future.
The Anonymous Widower 