Behind London’s Contactless Ticketing
I have just read this article on London Reconnections, which is entitled Don’t Fear the Beeper: Bus Hopper Tickets and the Future of Oyster.
It is fascinating stuff and a lot consists of an interview with Shashi Verma, TfL’s Director of Technology and Customer Experience.
One thing that surprised me is that Oyster and Contactless have separate back-ends, but the two will be combined in 2018.
So I think we’ll see lots of new features coming in after 2018.
As many of these will improve the customer experience, isn’t Sadiq a lucky Mayor, as he’ll get the credit rather than the geek who had the idea and did the coding.
This is said in the article about the Bus Hopper
This isn’t to say, of course, that the Hopper was an entirely new idea.
“[It] is something we have wanted to do for years and years.” Verma confirms. “But we haven’t wanted to do in the way that some politicians have wanted it to be done.”
So it was there all along.
How many other things will be possible, when the back offices are combined?
Use With Railcards
According to this page on the TfL web site, railcards don’t work with contactless cards.
I would suspect that one feature after 2018, would be that if you create an account for contactless or Oyster and add a railcard to the account, your fares will be adjusted accordingly.
The system could also handle the very popular Two Together Railcard. You’d just register two accounts for each traveller with the same railcard, then if they’re both used within say five minutes for the same journey, the back office applies the discount.
Use With Freedom Pass
Once the back offices are combined, the Freedom Pass could be made to work in two ways.
As now!
Or it is registered in your TfL account along with your contactless card and the back office would charge you an appropriate fare.
So if say I wanted to go to Gatwick Airport or anywhere in the Oystercard area, I just tap in and out with my contactless bank card and the back office charges be the £3, I would be charged if I went to East Croydon using my Freedom Pass and left the station before coming back in using contactless to get a train to the Airport.
If such a method was possible, I would certainly use it, as quite a few of the journeys I do are just outside the Freedom Pass area, but still within the Oystercard area.
It would then mean that I would only have to carry one card in my pocket.
The Outer London Freedom Pass
Say you live in one of the administrative districts that ring London. I’ll use Epping Forest as an example.
Because of your age or circumstances, you are entitled to a bus pass, but you get no free travel on trains or the Underground.
If your local authority decided to have a Freedom Pass scheme for all travel in the district, you would get any train or tube travel between stations in the local authority or to the boundary of the area, free.
In the case of Epping Forest, you’d get the outer reaches of the Central Line.
So if you were travelling from Theydon Bois to Liverpool Street, you’d only get charged for the tube between Woodford or Grange Hill and Liverpool Street.
You would create a contactless/Oyster account on TfL and add your bus pass and/or railcard to the account.
The back office would do the rest and you’d travel all over the Oystercard area using your contactless card.
I think that some local authorities could look at this concept seriously to encourage card holders to shop locally.
Stations Could Allow Freedom Passes Outside Zone 6
I’ll take Greenhithe for Bluewater station as an example.
The clue is in the station name.
Suppose that the Shopping Centre felt it would get a lot more business from Freedom Pass holders if it were to be in Zone 6, would it pay for the cost of tickets for Freedom Pass holders to attract them to their relaxed shopping experience.
It should be noted that there are already stations outside Zone 6, like Watford High Street and Shenfield stations, that allow Freedom Passes provided you use the London Overground or TfL Rail.
Other possibilities include.
- Gravesend by an extended Crossrail.
- Gatwick Airport
- Watford Vicarage Road
- Windsor
Who knows, which local authorities, events and attractions would find subsidising travel worthwhile.
Imagine for instance Winter-only Off Peak use of a Freedom Pass to say Brighton or Southend.
Conclusion
Travel in London is going to get even more interesting.
I look forward to the day, when I have a single card in my pocket!
A Walk Around White Hart Lane Station
I took these pictures as I walked around the area between White Hart Lane station and Tottenham Hotspur‘s White Hart Lane stadium.
Looking at the station, I come to a few conclusions.
- It certainly isn’t fit for serving a 61,000-seater football stadium.
- The access to the platforms with staircases and no lifts or escalators is terrible and not much better than it was when I used it regularly in the early 1960s.
- The platforms look like, they might be able to handle a twelve-car train.
- The platforms are on top of what looks to be a solid well-built viaduct.
- Walking away from White Hart Lane towards the South, there would appear to be few important buildings alongside the viaduct.
I think this all leads to a unique situation you don’t often find in the rebuilding of a station. It would appear that if you clear the land on both sides of the railway along Penshurst Road and Love Lane, you can create a station that encloses the railway and gives access underneath. A similar situation was exploited at Haggerston and Hoxton stations to create very passenger-friendly stations.
This visualisation from the Architects Journal shows the station from the East.
I’ll repeat my nearest picture.
I think that it looks good.
Note that the rightmost arch, which is partially hidden in the second picture, is the rightmost arch in the visualisation.
If you look at the other pictures in the Architects Journal, it would appear that the two staircases go up in two sections to the platforms, in a similar way to they do in several of the Overeground’s rebuilt stations.
At least in common with London’s two other big club grounds at Arsenal and West Ham, White Hart Lane is served by several Underground and rail stations.
This station certainly, looks like it will handle its share.
I think there could be controversy, as there have been reports that Tottenham Hotspur would like to sell naming rights to the stadium and possibly the station, as other clubs have.
Renaming the stadium would probably not be controversial, but renaming the station could well be. It will certainly be expensive, as Transport for London would have to change a large quantity of maps.
As someone, who supports Ipswich, I don’t care.
Oxford Now Wants Silent Track
Network Rail must rue the day they agreed to extend the Chiltern Line to Oxford, as the locals have done everything they can to tell Network Rail, that they don’t want the new railway. I wrote about it in July 2015, in Network Rail’s Problems In Oxford.
This article in the Oxford Mail was published yesterday. This title is.
City council bosses to force Network Rail to install Silent Track on another stretch of North Oxford railway.
Which is a good precis of the article.
So what is silent track?
This article on Railway Technology is entitled Tata Steel’s SilentTrack to reduce noise levels at London Blackfriars station.
It gives a sensible explanation.
I know something about noise and vibration and feel very strongly that we should do what we can to minimise noise, where it causes problems.
Noise from a railway comes from several sources.
- The track
- Diesel locomotives and multiple units.
- Pantographs on electric locomotives and multiple units.
- Freight wagons.
All contribute to a various degree.
In my view, the worst noise comes from diesel locomotives like the noisy and smelly Class 66 locomotives and there is not much point on spending millions on silent track and then allowing these to run through sensitive areas.
The sooner lines like this one through North Oxford are electrified the better.
West Ealing Station – 12th October 2016
I took these pictures at West Ealing station.
It looks like the new bay platform 5 is ready, but little progress seems to have made on the new station building.
There’s still no information, as to when the service on the Greenford Branch, becomes a four trains per hour (tph) shuttle.
What we do know is that this page on the Crossrail web site has some nice images of the station, that will rise behind the hoardings.
Wikpedia says that initial services on Crossrail will be.
- 4tph Abbey Wood to Heathrow Terminal 4
- 2tph Shenfield to Reading
- 2tph Shenfield to Maidenhead
There will also be another 2 tph running between Abbey Wood and West Drayton in the Peak.
All this in addition to other Great Western Railway services running to and from Paddington.
Services On The Greenford Branch
Passengers on the Greenford Branch will have to change to get to and from Paddington and I suspect some will moan.
But for many passengers from Greenford to the West End, the City or Canary Wharf, they will have an easier journey with just one change at West Ealing.
Consider.
- The Greenford Branch shuttle frequency of 4 tph fits well with the Crossrail and Paddington services.
- I suspect that every shuttle arriving from Greenford will arrive so that passengers for London can just walk across the platform and get a train to Central London.
- The maximum wait for a Crossrail train to Liverpool Street will be seven and a half minutes all day.
- If passengers need to cross between the shuttle platform and the Westbound Crossrail platform there will be a bridge with stairs and a lift.
These are the timings before and after Crossrail opens between Greenford and Liverpool Street.
- Currently, using the Metropolitan Line across Central London – 66 minutes
- Crossrail and the shuttle – 31 minutes plus how long it takes to change trains at West Ealing.
Greenford to Canary Wharf gives these timings.
- Currently, changing to the Underground at Paddington – 75 minutes
- Crossrail and the shuttle – 37 minutes plus how long it takes to change trains at West Ealing.
And these timings apply between Greenford and Heathrow Terminal 4.
- Currently, changing at Ealing Broadway – 54 minutes
- Crossrail and the shuttle – 28 minutes plus how long it takes to change trains at West Ealing.
I suspect that each 4 tph shuttle will be timed to arrive at West Ealing, so that someone with a child in a buggy and a heavy case has time to cross the line using the bridge and the lifts.
Trains On The Greenford Branch
The Greenford Branch is not electrified and there seem to be no plans to electify the whole line.
But if you look at the pictures, that I took yesterday, you’ll see the foundations for the gantries are there to electrify the bay platform 5 .
Initially, the shuttle will have to be run by something like the current Class 165 trains.
Simple mathematics says that to provide a four tph shuttle two trains will be needed.
There would be no major infrastructure changes, as the line is mainly double-track, so the trains could probably pass easily. But there might need to be an additional crossover to allow trains to run on the correct line.
But these trains have their problems, which were illustrated yesterday, when a fit young lady with a toddler in a buggy didn’t board the train as fast as she would have done at a typical Overground station with a modern Class 378 train.
As Crossrail will be run to a tight schedule, I doubt that TfL want serious loading delays with wheelchairs, buggies and heavy luggage.
So this means that modern trains must be provided on the Greenford Branch.
There has been a lot of speculation on the Internet, that the Greenford Branch, like the Romford to Upminster Line in the East of the capital, should become part of the London Overground.
This might be a sensible idea, especially as London Overground from 2018 will have some spare modern weheelchair-friendly Class 172 trains,, once the Gospel Oak to Barking Line is fully electrified and running new electric Class 710 trains.
On the other hand, the fleet of eight Class 172 trains, will probably be very much in demand by other train operating companies, as with a change of seats, they’d be ideal for many routes outside of London.
As Baldrick would say, there is a cunning plan, that could be enabled.
The platforms at West Ealing station are all being made step-free for the two types of trains that will use them; Crossrail’s 345s and GWR’s 387s.
This applies to all of the Western Crossrail stations and looking at the bay platform 5 at West Ealing, that has been built to the standard height.
So this would mean that GWR’s 387s would be able to use the platform, once it is electrified, which looks like is happening.
But these trains wouldn’t be able to use the branch, unless it was electrified.
However, London Overground’s new Class 710 trains, would also fit the bay platform.
The Class 710 train, like Crossrail’s 345 are members of Bombardier’s new Aventra family of trains.
As Bombardier demonstrated battery trains in public service nearly two years ago, there has been speculation that Aventras will have a battery capability to do journeys away from the overhead wires.
This is the best information so far!
This article in Global Rail News from 2011, which is entitled Bombardier’s AVENTRA – A new era in train performance, gives some details of the Aventra’s electrical systems. This is said.
AVENTRA can run on both 25kV AC and 750V DC power – the high-efficiency transformers being another area where a heavier component was chosen because, in the long term, it’s cheaper to run. Pairs of cars will run off a common power bus with a converter on one car powering both. The other car can be fitted with power storage devices such as super-capacitors or Lithium-Iron batteries if required.
Bombardier have confirmed the wiring for onboard power storage to me.
Consider use of Class 710 .
- The length of the Greenford Branch is just 4.3 km., so out and back from West Ealing should be within the typical 50 km. range quoted for battery trains.
- The batteries could be used to handle regenerative braking at the various stops to save electricity.
- There would be no need to put up any overhead wires on the branch.
- The Class 710 trains are four-car trains, so would be sufficient capacity for the medium future.
- The Class 710 trains are optimised to call at stations in the shortest time possible. So could we see a faster service on the branch?
- The Class 710 trains are friendly to wheelchairs, buggies and heavy luggage.
- The Class 710 train would just look like a mini-Crossrail train.
- Bombardier would love to have a live demonstration of their battery technology on a line close to Heathrow Airport.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see London Overground taking over the Greenford Branch and using Class 710 trains running on batteries on the route.
Austrian Railways To Run More Sleeper Trains
This article on Global Rail News is entitled ÖBB to expand night train services.
This is said.
Austria’s ÖBB is working with Deutsche Bahn (DB) to take over several night train routes following the German operator’s decision to drop the services.
From December 11, ÖBB will add six routes to its Nightjet network, including services with car and motorbike transport.
I do find it rather surprising that little Austria is prepared to provide a service that the mighty Germany won’t!
I’ve never travelled on a long distance Austrian train, but perhaps like the Swiss, they try to give the passengers what they want, rather than as Deutsche Bahn do and give the passengers the minimum they can get away with.
The Austrians will take over six routes and spend €45million on new coaches.
The route I like is Venice to Munich, as it might be a sensible way to come back from Venice and save a night in a hotel in Venice.
This will be a move to watch.
If it is successful, I think that there’ll be other night services.
A Big Step For Rail Baltica
This article on Railway Gazette is entitled Rail Baltica procurement agreement signed.
Rail Baltica is a large project to create a standard gauge railway from Tallinn in Estonia to Bialiystok in Poland via Riga in Latvia and Kaunus in Lithuania.
One extra part of the plan is to build a rail tunnel between Helsinki and Tallinn, to connect Finland to the European railway network.
This Google Map shows the Gulf of Finland.
The Gulf Of Finland
Helsinki and Taillinn are in the West on the North and South coasts respectively, with St. Petersburg in the East.
I would think, that a Taillinn to Helsinki Tunnel, would be feasible, but at probably sixty kilometres it would be the longest undersea tunnel in the world.
Now that the various parties have agreed to proceed, we might see some progress on building the main route from Tailinn to Bialystok, which hopefully will be finished in 2025.
Brexit – Signalling Implications For The UK
The title of this post is that of an article on Rail Engineer.
It looks at how rail signalling will be affected by Brexit.
It is an article worth reading.
Remember that signalling is the instructions that keeps a railway functioning, just like the operating system does on your computer.
The article starts like this.
With Britain on a course to leave the EU, how might the plans for signalling (control and communications) be affected? In short, nobody really knows, but a number of factors might now change the policy that had existed hitherto. Not having to comply with EU rules on interoperability, the non-inclusion of TEN routes and the advertising of large contracts in the European Journal might all lead to a different (or modified) approach.
So will it lead to different approach?
I don’t know either, but if you read the article we have gone a long way to creating a signalling system, that is some way along the path to meeting the ultimate EU aims.
ERTMS
The article says this about ERTMS or \European Rail Transport Management System.
ERTMS, and its constituent parts of ETCS and GSM-R, has been a corner stone of European signalling policy for over two decades. Both have taken far too long to come to maturity, with ETCS Level 2 just about at a stable level and GSM-R, whilst rolled out throughout the UK, facing an obsolescence crisis within the next ten years.
ETCS or European Train Control System is not fully deployed, but in the UK, we have made some progress.
- The Cambrian Line has been equipped as a learning exercise.
- Significant testing has been performed on the Hertford Loop Line
- ETCS is being installed and has been tested in the central core of Thameslink.
- Crossrail will be using ETCS.
- ETCS is being implemented on the Southern part of the East Coast Main Line.
GSM-R is the communication system from train to signallers.
Looking at this , shows that although the UK fully implemented a GSM-R network by January 2016, not many countries have got as far as the UK.
Surely, you need decent communications to run an efficient and safe railway.
I think it is true to say we’ve not been idle.
The article talks about alternatives and shows a few cases where an alternative approach has been taken.
- Norwich-Ely and Crewe-Shrewsbury have been resignalled using a modular system.
- Scotland has decided to go its own way in the Far North.
- The article talks about CBTC or Commuincations-Based Train Control, which is used on several systems around the world including London’s Jubilee and Northern Lines.
The article also says this about CBTC
The endless committees to discuss and agree how the standards will be implemented do not get in the way. Whilst not suitable for main line usage (at least in the foreseeable future), there could be suburban routes around cities (for example Merseyrail) that could benefit from CBTC deployment.
Could CBTC be a practical system without the bureaucracy?
But these alternatives all smell of pragmatism, where the best system is chosen for a particular line.
But we have one great advantage in that we have imnplemented a comprehensive digital network covering the whole network.
This is no Internet of Things, but an Internet of Trains.
Software
As a computer programmer, I couldn’t leave this out of the signalling recipe.
You can bet your house, that somewhere there are programmers devising solutions to get round our problems.
And they will!
Conclusion
I can’t believe that other industries are not giving the same opportunities to the disruptive innovators of the UK.
Brexit might be good for us, in a surprising way!
Nothing to do with politics or immigration and all to do with innovation!
Inverness Airport To Get A Railway Station
This article on Global Rail News is entitled Planning application submitted for Inverness Airport station.
This Google Map shows Inverness Airport.
Inverness Airport
Cutting across the map, to the South-East of the Airport and parallel to the main runway is the Aberdeen to Inverness Line.
The station would be a replacement for the closed Dalcross station and Wikipedia has a section on the Proposed New Station. This is said.
In June 2006 a proposal was announced to open a new station at Dalcross, which would serve Inverness Airport and also provide park-and-ride facilities for commuters to Inverness, relieving road congestion to the east of Inverness,[9] and so helping to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The proposal was still open in 2010, and it was specified that the station could have one platform on the north side of the line, 150 metres (490 ft) long, enough for a six-car Class 170 train.
The Aberdeen Press and Journal also has the story and says this.
The proposed location of the development is adjacent to the C1017 airport access road, between the first and second roundabouts after leaving the existing A96, at the southern corner of the airfield.
The platform will be capable of accommodating high-speed trains with five carriages and two engine cars, as proposed by operators Abellio.
So it would seem that the go-ahead has been given.
Will Crossrail And Its Class 345 Trains Set Mobile Connection Standards For The UK?
Search for “Class 345 trains 4G” or “Class 345 trains wi-fi” and you find reports like this on London Reconnections about the Class 345 train.
This or something like it, is said in several of these reports.
According to the accompanying press notes both free wifi and 4G services will be delivered on board, as will multiple wheelchair and luggage spaces.
It would be very embarrassing for London’s flagship multi-billion pound project, if it wasn’t correct.
So it would appear that I could board a Class 345 train at Shenfield and watch a video all the way to Heathrow or Reading.
But where does this leave Thameslink?
Their Class 700 trains have been designed without wi-fi, 4G and power-sockets as I said in By Class 700 Train To Brighton And Back.
But at least Siemens felt that the Department for Transport, who ordered the trains, were out of step with reality and appear to have made provision to at least fit wi-fi.
This article on Rail Engineer is entitled Class 707 Breaks Cover and it describes the Class 707 train, which is a sister train to the Class 700. This is said about the two trains and wi-fi and toilets.
Thameslink (or the Department for Transport which ordered the trains) decided not to include Wi-Fi in the Class 700s, a questionable decision that has now apparently been reversed. Fortunately, Siemens had included the technology framework in the design so, hopefully, the upgrade will not require too much effort. Suffice it to say that South West Trains has included Wi-Fi in its specification for Class 707s.
Reversing the story, Thameslink Class 700s are all fitted with toilets. However, South West Trains has decided not to include toilets in its Class 707 specification given that the longest journey time is less than one hour and their inclusion would reduce the overall capacity of the trains.
So it appears that Siemens may have future-proofed the trains.
This article on the Railway Gazette describes the third fleet of the Siemens trains; the Class 717 trains for Moorgate services. This is said.
Plans for the installation of wi-fi are being discussed with the Department for Transport as part of a wider programme for the GTR fleet.
So at least something is happening.
But how close will mobile data services get to the ideal that customers want.
- 4G everywhere from the moment you enter a station until you leave the railway at your destination station.
- Seamless wi-fi, so you log in once and your login is valid until you leave the railway.
It will be tough ask to achieve, as it must be valid on the following services.
- Crossrail
- Thameslink
- London Overground
- London Underground
- All train services terminating in London.
And why not all buses, trams and taxis?
On a related topic, I believe that for safety and information reasons, all bus and tram stops and railway stations must have a quality mobile signal and if it is possible wi-fi.
One life saved would make it all worthwhile.
By Class 700 Train To Brighton And Back
Today, I went to Brighton for lunch and a walk on the promenade to get some October sun.
I hadn’t intended to go to Brighton, but just to take the short route across London from St. Pancras to East Croydon, to see if any Class 700 trains were working the route.
However a Brighton-bound Class 700 turned up and just before East Croydon station, the conductor turned up and he offered to sell me an extension ticket to Brighton for £9.95.
So why not? As the day was sunny, I accepted his offer and as he didn’t have the right change of 5p for a tenner, he gave me 10p. in change.
Perhaps, Govia Thameslink Railway’s conductors are doing a PR job to enhance their reputation.
These pictures detail the journey.
Because the journeys were deep in the Off Peak, the trains weren’t that busy.
I would describe the trains as adequate for the core route from East Croydon to West Hampstead and Finsbury Park, but they do have limitations for long-distance commuters.
- There are no tables or even anywhere to put a drink.
- There is no wi-fi.
- There are no power sockets to charge a laptop or phone.
The new Class 345 trains for Crossrail, don’t have tables either, but they do have wi-fi. But these are short-distance trains and unlike the Class 700 trains, which are taking over from Class 387 trains with tables, most of previous stock that worked from Reading to Shenfield didn’t have tables, wi-fi or power sockets.
Govia Thameslink Railway must be really pleased to get a set of trains, without some of the features their passengers demand.
To be fair it’s not their fault, as these trains were designed to fit a Passenger Focus report which can be found on the Internet, that was written in the dying days of the last Labour Government.
Read the document and draw your own conclusions.
However, all is nor lost!
This article on Rail Engineer is entitled Class 707 Breaks Cover and it describes the Class 707 train, which is a sister train to the Class 700. This is said about the two trains and wi-fi and toilets.
Thameslink (or the Department for Transport which ordered the trains) decided not to include Wi-Fi in the Class 700s, a questionable decision that has now apparently been reversed. Fortunately, Siemens had included the technology framework in the design so, hopefully, the upgrade will not require too much effort. Suffice it to say that South West Trains has included Wi-Fi in its specification for Class 707s.
Reversing the story, Thameslink Class 700s are all fitted with toilets. However, South West Trains has decided not to include toilets in its Class 707 specification given that the longest journey time is less than one hour and their inclusion would reduce the overall capacity of the trains.
So it appears that Siemens may have future-proofed the trains. To this end, when they certify the Class 707 train, they’ll certify the train for overhead electrification as well.
Looking at the way the seats are cantilevered from the side of the train, I suspect that Siemens might also have a table design in their box of delights.
I think you might have a very different usage of the trains throughout the day.
Obviously, in the Peak, the trains will be very full, but during the Off Peak, where there are obviously less passengers, perhaps a couple of tables per car, might prove to be a nice marketing feature to encourage travel.
We shall see what happens, but I can certainly see some improvement carried out to these trains in the next few years.
The Anonymous Widower 