Iarnród Éireann Looks At Diesel Loco Replacement Options
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
These three paragraphs introduce the article.
The Stadler Class 99 electro-diesel locomotive for UK operator GB Railfreight was receiving close scrutiny from Iarnród Éireann at InnoTrans in Berlin, with the Irish national operator confirming to Railway Gazette International that it had discussed with the manufacturer how the type might be adapted for operation in Ireland.
Iarnród Éireann Chief Executive Jim Meade told Railway Gazette International ‘we will eventually need to replace our aging diesel fleet with dual-mode locomotives because our freight strategy will take us down that direction after we complete our electrification programme.
‘The replacement for the class 071s and 201s eventually will have to be a bi-mode electric with some form of HVO [renewable diesel fuel] traction in the long term; even the Class 201s are beyond mid-life already.
The Class 99 locomotive is a version of the Stadler Eurodual locomotive, which is described in this Stadler data sheet.
The Wikipedia entry for the Stadler Euro Dual is also informative and lists a dozen different versions of the locomotive, that have been sold to various countries and operators.
This paragraph summarises how the design can handle different gauges and electrical voltages.
The Euro Dual was designed from the onset as a highly modular platform, allowing it to be offered to customers in various different configurations, covering various gauges and voltage systems.
I doubt Stadler would have great difficulty producing an Irish gauge locomotive capable of running on whatever electrification, the Irish erect.
Will The Irish Class 99 Have Enough Power?
The power of the various diesel locomotives are as follows.
- Current Irish Class 071 – 1.68 MW
- Current Irish Class 201 – 2.4 MW
- UK Class 66 – 2.4 MW
- UK Class 99 – 1.79 MW
It would appear that the Class 99 is less powerful than the Irish Class 201 and the UK Class 66, but the Wikipedia entry for the Class 99 says this.
The chief executive of GBRf, John Smith, reports that the Class 99, despite having a less powerful diesel engine than the Class 66, will outperform the Class 66 at low speeds. The greater tractive effort means that the Class 99 on diesel power can deliver more power at the rail than the 66.
But as the Class 99 has 6.17 MW in electric mode, the solution must be to electrify the difficult sections.
I have just looked at the Felixstowe Branch Line, which will be very much Class 99 territory. I am fairly sure, that with some short lengths of electrification on the single-track sections, any performance problems with the Class 99 on the branch could be solved.
Could The Irish Class 99 Use Hydrogen As Secondary Power?
This OpenRailwayMap shows all the railways on the island of Ireland.
Note.
- All railways on the island of Ireland have an Irish gauge of 1.6 m.
- Only the DART in Dublin is electrified with 1,500 VDC overhead.
- There are 2,733 km. of track.
- New lines are still being added and old ones have been reopened in recent years.
- There will surely be pressure for the Irish to decarbonise their railways, both North and South of the Northern Irish border.
- There are no rail connections to another country, except for the link between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which is between two similar systems.
- It is unlikely, that there will ever be a rail link between the Irish gauge railways on the island of Ireland and the standard gauge railways of Europe.
Effectively, the island of Ireland has an isolated network of tracks on which they could build a zero-carbon railway system.
- Signalling could be an off-the-shelf digital system.
- Zero-carbon traction power could be trains powered by either electricity and/or hydrogen.
- Both electricity and hydrogen would need substantial amounts of new rolling stock.
- Electricity would require electrification at €1,000,000 per single track kilometer, which could be around €5.5 billion for the electrification alone.
- Electrification would also need many bridges, stations and tunnels to be modified or rebuilt.
- Hydrogen would need a refuelling infrastructure and could go anywhere that diesel can.
- Hydrogen locomotives and trains, would be one-to-one replacements for diesel locomotives and trains.
It would appear that because of their geographic isolation, hydrogen could be an ideal zero-carbon fuel for the railways of Ireland.
In Do Cummins And Stadler Have a Cunning Plan?, I speculated that the electro-diesel Class 99 locomotive could be converted into an electro-hydrogen Class 99 locomotive, as Cummins are building diesel engines that can be converted into hydrogen ones.
Ireland with its unusual network could change to a zero-carbon railway in the following way.
- Purchase a fleet of diesel locomotives and trains that can run on Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) and be convertible to hydrogen.
- A version of the Class 99 with or without the electrical gubbins would satisfy the locomotive replacement.
- A version of the tri-mode Stadler FLIRT like a Class 745 train, would satisfy the train replacement.
- All new trains and locomotives would replace the current stock and run on HVO.
- The hydrogen infrastructure would be built.
- The new trains and locomotives would be gradually converted to run on green hydrogen.
Within a few years, the island of Ireland would have a zero-carbon railway.
Advantages Of A Fully-Hydrogen Railway
These are a few advantages.
- One fuel for all trains.
- All trains and locomotives would be one manufacturer.
- No expensive electrification.
- Hydrogen trains and locomotives have a long range.
- No infrastructure modification for gauge clearance.
- Ireland has plenty of onshore and offshore wind for hydrogen.
- Standard fuelling systems are being developed.
- There would be no disruption as the trains changed to HVO and little disruption as they changed to hydrogen.
I believe that there would be a large increase in train usage both from locals and visitors, which can only be good for the Irish economy.
Managing The Project
This could be one of those rare projects that flows well.
- The changeover to hydrogen could involve very little rail infrastructure work.
- The hydrogen filling stations could be more-or-less independent of the rail infrastructure.
- Trains and locomotives could go into service, when they are accepted and the staff have been trained.
- Trains and locomotives would only be converted to hydrogen, as routes are made hydrogen-capable.
- There should be no gauging problems with the new trains and locomotives.
- There is only one train manufacturer.
Hopefully, it will all be delivered on time and on budget.
FART Train On Show At InnoTrans
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
This is the first paragraph.
Stadler has unveiled a custom-designed electric multiple-unit for the narrow gauge Centovalli railway which runs for 52 km between Locarno in Switzerland and Domodossola in Italy.
This appears to be one of Stadler’s special trains for a very unique railway in the Southern Alps.
This Google Map shows the route between Domodossola and Locarno.
Note.
- The Centovalli Railway runs East-West and is shown in purple.
- Locarno is in the East and is marked by a blue arrow.
- Domodossola is in the West, where the Centovalli Railway meets the Domodossola–Milan railway, which is shown in black and runs North to Brig via the Simplon Tunnel.
In From Milan To Geneva, I must have taken a train through Domodossola, as this picture is in the post.
Domodossola station looks a lot grander in its Wikipedia entry.
Plans To Turn Former Station Waiting Room Into Pub
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Plans to turn a Grade II listed railway station’s former waiting room back into a pub have been submitted.
These are the first three paragraphs of the article.
Network Rail wants to refurbish the room at Carlisle’s station, which is now a storage room and kitchen.
The first class waiting room, which was until recently used as a pub, was built by architect William Tite in 1880 as an extension to his original 1847 neo-Tudor station designs.
The plans are part of the £27m Carlisle Gateway project to turn the city’s station into a “national interchange” transport hub, funded by central government, Cumberland Council and Network Rail.
I very much like this idea.
Carlisle could be turned into a national interchange, that was almost unique in the world.
- Rail services across the Borderlands could be improved, to the cities of Glasgow, Lancaster, Leeds, Newcastle and York.
- Rail services could be developed, so visitors could explore the Lake District by rail.
- The Eden Project at Morecambe would be a rail-accessible attraction, that was just an hour away from Carlisle.
- The Borders Railway from Edinburgh could be extended to Carlisle.
- All services would be zero-carbon, with power coming from either batteries or hydrogen.
- Services would be tourism-friendly, with space for bicycles, large panoramic windows and high-class catering.
Current times between London and Carlisle could be reduced to under three-and-a-half hours, with reductions of up to an hour, as High Speed Two is eventually delivered.
TfL May Increase e-Scooter Speed Limit And Lower Age Restriction
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Telegraph.
This is the sub-heading.
Riders would be able to travel at 15.5mph including 16-year-olds who hold a provisional driving licence
I’m now seventy-seven and I’ve never ridden one of these devices. I didn’t even have one of the push-only variety, as a child in the 1950s.
The article says this about serious injuries.
The authority’s own data shows that e-scooter operators have reported 35 serious injuries since 2021. A serious injury is classified as those requiring hospital “in-patient” treatment, fractures, concussion, internal injuries, crushing, burns, severe cuts or injuries causing death 30 or more days after the collision.
A death figure is not given, but deaths have happened.
My feeling is that thirty-five serious injuries in three years is too high.
But then allowing those as young as sixteen to use these devices without adequate training is surely asking for trouble. I was sixteen once and know how irresponsible, I was on an unpowered bike, at that age.
I have to ask the question, if safety would be improved, if some form of training were to be compulsory?
My parents had a relaxed attitude to my road safety training.
- I was allowed on a bike in the suburban streets of London without training.
- I never took any Cycling Proficiency training.
- At sixteen, I used to cycle down the A45, which is now the A14, between Ipswich and Felixstowe amongst all the heavy trucks.
- I never had any formal driving lessons and had my own car soon over my seventeenth birthday.
In all the miles, I cycled and drove, I never had a serious accident.
- But I am still unhappy at the two proposals in the title of this post.
- Is it that many e-Scooters are ridden irresponsibly or outside the law?
- I am also worried about the propensity of e-Scooters and e-Bikes to catch fire.
I would certainly be happier if a reasonable set of rules for these devices had been devised and was strictly enforced.
ECoR Launches Special Drive Against Carrying Diwali Crackers On Trains
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Pragativadi.
These two paragraphs tell the story.
With the Diwali festival approaching, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) has intensified its efforts to ensure the safety of passengers by launching a special drive against the illegal transportation of firecrackers and other inflammable items on trains.
ECoR has reiterated that carrying dangerous goods like crackers, gas cylinders, acid, petrol, kerosene and similar materials in passenger-carrying trains is a punishable offence under the Railways Act, 1989, which can result in imprisonment of up to three years.
The punishment is probably a bit heavier than you get for this offence in Liverpool Lime Street.
I suspect a Diwali cracker makes a bigger bang, than a typical balloon.
Eurovision Boost For Record Rail Profits
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
A train operator has posted record profits thanks in part to the Eurovision Song Contest and other major events.
These four paragraphs sum up the story.
Merseyrail, which operates services across Merseyside and into Cheshire and Lancashire, is one of the most intensively used rail networks in the UK.
According to its directors’ strategic report for the year ending in January 2024, some 78,000 journeys were taken on Merseyrail services on average every day.
There were 28 million passenger journeys, which the company said was a post-Covid peak. It added a profit of just under £44m was the largest in its history.
The report said Merseyrail had benefitted from the Eurovision Song Contest being held in Liverpool, as well as the Open golf tournament at Hoylake on the Wirral and a successful Grand National festival at Aintree.
Note.
- Merseyrail’s trains seem to have taken the spectators to the big events all over the city.
- The trains are also virtually brand new and very bicycle and buggy-friendly, so do they introduce new passengers to Merseyrail?
- Spectators from places around the city like Birkenhead, Chester, Crewe, Manchester, Preston, Southport, Warrington and Wigan all have good rail connections to Liverpool Lime Street, which has its own Merseyrail below-ground station.
For big events like Eurovision, the Grand National or The Open, if you have tickets for the event, a train, on the day from Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, London, Nottingham or Sheffield is very feasible.
- In addition, now that Lime Street station and the area around it has been refurbished, it is a cultural area to visit in its own right.
- I believe that Liverpool will grow as a destination to visit.
- A doubling of the Avanti train service to London will add more capacity.
- The TransPennine Express service across the country and to Scotland will be improved.
- Blackpool will be eighty minutes away.
- The Eden Project North at Morecambe will be only an hour away.
- In a few years time, the Mersey Tidal Barrage will be attracting visitors.
- Liverpool has public transport connections to both Liverpool and Manchester airports.
Liverpool will be a place to stay for the weekend and for those, who don’t have a car or prefer not to drive, they will be able to use the extensive rail network to get to other places like.
- Blackpool and Manchester with their trams.
- Liverpool’s local attractions on Merseyrail.
Liverpool will become a very successful short-stay resort city.
East Midlands Railway’s Dirty Trains
I took these pictures today on my return from East Midlands Parkway.
The trains seemed particularly dirty. Perhaps it’s the colour scheme.
Last Of The Many
I took a train to East Midlands Parkway station, this morning and took these pictures of the cooling towers of the last coal-fired power station to generate electricity in the UK.
Note.
- The power station was commissioned in 1968.
- It has a nameplate capacity of 2.116 GW.
- Dogger Bank wind farm is intended to have a capacity of 3 GW
- There are eight cooling towers.The diesel locomotive hauling a freight train past the site is a Class 66 locomotive.
- These locomotives are likely to be scrapped in the next few years, to improve air quality in areas, where they run. Some will be replaced by electric or even hydrogen locomotives.
This Google Map shows a map view of the power station in 2024.
As the famous estate agent Roy Brooks would have said in the 1960s, it is a site with enormous potential.
Ensuring A Sustainable Future For A Coal-Fired Power Station Site Approaching Closure
The title of this section is that of an ARUP report on the future of the Radcliffe-on-Soar site.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Operating for more than 50 years, the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station closed in September 2024. Its buildings, cooling towers and other structures will be decommissioned and demolished, making the site and surrounding land suitable to be redeveloped as a zero-carbon technology and energy hub for the East Midlands. Arup, working with Uniper, the site owner, supported Rushcliffe Borough Council to establish a Local Development Order (LDO) to make the most out of the potential development opportunities of the site.
ARUP’s report is a good start for one of the most important sites in the Midlands.
Improvements At Marylebone Station – 15th October 2024
I passed through Marylebone station today and took these pictures of the improvements.
Note.
- The Class 165 and Class 168 trains are being refurbished.
- The Chiltern gate line has been improved.
- A wider ticket gate line has been installed in the Underground station.
- The stairs to the Bakerloo Line has been replaced with a third escalator.
- The last picture shows the lack of grab handles in the doors of Bakerloo Line trains.
It certainly looks like Chiltern Railways and its assets are improving.
UK Investment Summit Latest: Starmer Announces £1.1bn Expansion Of Stansted Airport
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
The Times has this sub-heading about Stansted
Analysis: Stansted Deal Prioritises Growth Over Climate
There are four paragraphs of analysis.
Over the weekend, Sir Keir Starmer made clear that his commitments to boost workers’ rights would not get in the way of his desire to bring in cash from the owners of P&O. As ministers now trumpet a deal to upgrade Stansted airport, it seems that growth and jobs also trump concerns about emissions.
Louise Haigh, the transport secretary who prompted the row with DP World by calling P&O a “rogue operator”, praised the Stansted deal as a “clear signal that Britain is open for business”. She argued that Stansted could be upgraded “while also meeting our existing environment obligations”, with the airport promising a new solar farm to generate electricity. But environmentalists will be dismayed by the prospect of more plane journeys and associated emissions.
The deal also raises fresh questions about a third runway at Heathrow after years of dithering under the Conservatives. No 10 has previously said it is “not opposed” to expansion if it can meet tests on emissions, climate change, noise pollution — and growth.
Starmer has said he will not duck decisions because they are “too difficult”. A decision on Heathrow offers a very clear test of that promise.
Is Hydrogen The Reason For The Choice Of Stansted?
I wonder if the choice of Stansted for expansion is down to the likelihood, that East Anglia will be a big centre for the generation of zero-carbon green and pink hydrogen, with gigawatts of offshore wind farms for the green and nuclear at Sizewell for the pink.
Aircraft of the future will surely need hydrogen for flying to their destinations.
Already, the massive construction of Sizewell C is going to be performed using zero-construction methods involving electricity and hydrogen, as far as is possible.
Large construction at Stansted Airport could be done in a similar manner, using perhaps a hydrogen pipeline between Sizewell and Stansted running along the A 14. This would probably be built anyway, so that East Anglia’s large numbers of heavy trucks could be converted to hydrogen.
Already the hydrogen buses to bring workers to the Sizewell C site have been ordered from Wrightbus in Ballymena.
Airbus, are planning to have their hydrogen-powered Boeing 737/A 320-size airliner in service by the mid-2030s. From visualisations released by Airbus, the Zeroe hydrogen Turbofan looks very much like a redesigned version of the current A320 neo, with two hydrogen turbofans (hopefully with RR on the side!) Converting an existing proven airliner, only means that the new parts need to be certified, so this would bring the plane into service quicker.
Airbus’s infographic shows the Zeroe hydrogen Turbofan will seat up to 200 passengers and have a range of 2,000 nautical miles or 3,700 km.
Discover the three zero-emission concept aircraft known as ZEROe in this infographic. These turbofan, turboprop, and blended-wing-body configurations are all hydrogen hybrid aircraft.
A typical A 320 neo will fly 165 passengers up to 3,500 nautical miles or 6.500 km.
A few distances from Stansted include.
- Athens – 2,400 km.
- Berlin – 905 km.
- Cairo – 3514 km.
- Copenhagen 913 km.
- Dublin – 470 km.
- Edinburgh – 509 km.
- Gander 3,800 km
- Geneva – 760 km.
- Glasgow – 540 km.
- Istanbul – 2480 km.
- Madrid – 1300 km.
- Milan – 960 km.
- Munich – 909 km.
- Palma de Mallorca – 1,400 km.
- Reykjavík – 1870 km.
- Rome – 1,442 km.
- Stockholm – 1,400 km.
- Tel-Aviv – 3,564 km.
- Tenerife North – 2944 km.
- Tenerife South – 2999 km.
- Warsaw 1,412 km.
These distances would mean, a lot of current European destinations could be reached, if the plane were filled at both airports, but a surprising number of popular places could be reached by only refuelling at Stansted.
It also appears to me, that with refuelling in Iceland and perhaps a stopover, in that delightful and different country, zero-carbon flights across the Atlantic would be possible.
If a hydrogen-powered aircraft has the 3,700 km. range that Airbus are promising, it will be an aircraft with a lot of possibilities!
Short Flights
- Amsterdam – 541 km.
- Cardiff – 253 km.
- Exeter – 284 km.
- Jersey – 344 km.
- Liverpool – 264 km.
- Newcastle – 373 km.
- Newquay – 399 km.
- Ronaldsway – 408 km.
- Southampton – 151 km.
Some of these flights would be competing with trains.
Flights Around The British Isles
One of the longest flights around the British Isles would be between Stansted and Sumburgh Airport in the Shetland Isles.
But this is only 894 kilometres, so a return trip would be possible.
I also feel that arranging hydrogen refuelling on Shetland will not be a difficult task, as the islands are likely to have copious supplies of green hydrogen.
Flights From Stansted To Europe
Applying a ten percent reserve probably means a safe one-way range of around 1,700 km.
This would mean that.
- Amsterdam – 541 km.
- Berlin – 905 km.
- Copenhagen – 913 km.
- Madrid – 1300 km.
- Milan – 960 km.
- Munich – 909 km.
- Palma de Mallorca – 1,400 km.
- Rome – 1,442 km.
- Stockholm – 1,400 km.
- Warsaw 1,412 km.
Should all be in range. of an out-and-back flight, after fully fuelling the plane at Stansted Airport.
Others like.
- Athens – 2,400 km.
- Bucharest – 2070 km.
- Cairo – 3514 km.
- Istanbul – 2480 km.
- Lisbon – 1630 km.
- Malta – 2107 km.
- Marrakech – 2350. km.
- Sofia – 2010 km.
- Tel-Aviv – 3,564 km.
- Tenerife North – 2944 km.
- Tenerife South – 2999 km.
Could be handled by refuelling at the destination.
Hopping Across The Atlantic
Consider.
- My great aunt Beatrice used to fly the Atlantic in the 1950s, although it was usually a succession of small hops between Heathrow Shannon and Gander Airports. I think she regularly used ships like the Queen Mary and Elizabeth, as she found them less stressful.
- Icelandair offer short stopovers in Reykjavik and I suspect they will offer this with hydrogen-fuelled aircraft.
- British Airways used to offer a London City Airport to New York flight via Shannon using an Airbus A 318.
I would certainly be interested to hop across from Stansted to New York in a hydrogen-powered aircraft, and I suspect others would do it for the environmental brownie points.
Legs could be.
- Stansted and Reykjavík – 1870 km.
- Reykjavík and Gander – 2568 km
- Gander and New York – 1767 km.
A stop could possibly be squeezed in at Boston.
It could be an interesting way to cross the Atlantic.
Hydrogen Production In East Anglia
I said earlier that East Anglia could produce a lot of zero-carbon green and prink hydrogen from wind and nuclear and this would be used for the following.
- Aviation out of Stansted and Southend Airports.
- Shipping out of the Port of Felixstowe, London Gateway and other smaller ports.
- Providing energy for heavy transport in East Anglia.
- Providing energy for Freeport East at Felixstowe and Harwich.
- Refuelling passing shipping.
- Supplying off-grid energy to rural properties and businesses in the East of England, which I wrote about in Developing A Rural Hydrogen Network.
Any spare hydrogen could always be sold to the Germans.
Decarbonisation Of The Railways In East Anglia
Undoubtedly, some hydrogen will be used to decarbonise some parts of East Anglia’s railways.
Many passenger trains are electrified, but some rural and cross-country services still use diesel. However, the Class 745 trains, that were built by Stadler for these services could be converted to hydrogen or battery-electric.
Similarly, locomotives that haul the freight trains out of the ports of East Anglia will be replaced with hydrogen or battery-electric locomotives.
I am fairly certain, that by 2040, all railways in East Anglia will be zero-carbon.
The East-West Rail Link
It is not known yet, whether the current government will continue to build the East West Rail Link, but it could be invaluable in connecting Stansted Airport to the West of England.
Connecting Stansted Airport To The North Of England and Scotland By Rail
If Stansted is developed as a zero-carbon airport, based on the new hydrogen-powered aircraft, travellers between say the North of England and Scotland, will surely want to travel to Stansted in a carbon-free manner.
So would it be sensible to run rail electric services between the North and Stansted?
Conclusion
Stansted could develop into the UK’s zero-carbon airport.
The Anonymous Widower 