The Flat Crossing At Newark
I took these pictures as we crossed over the Nottingham to Lincoln Line on the flat crossing North of Newark North Gate station.
A few months ago, I took pictures from the other line
All Wired Up And Ready To Go?
I took these pictures of the Canal Tunnels as we left Kings Cross for York.
As the title implies the Canal Tunnels look almost ready.
I wonder when the first trains will go through the tunnels. Wikipedia says that the Class 700 trains will enter service between 2016 and 2018.
More On The Camden Town Station Upgrade
This document on TfL’s web site gives more details of the proposed capacity upgrade at Camden Town station. This schematic of the tunnels, platforms and walkways shows how the station could look in a few years time.
Camden Town Station Schematic
Note the following.
- The Northbound platforms are above the South ones.
- The triple escalators (7) and double lifts (8) at the left, leading down the the circulation space (9), which is shared with two escalators of the existing station.
- There is a new cross passage between the two Northbound platforms, which means that the interchange between the Northbound High Barnet and Edgware branches is a simple walk across, as it is now in the current station.
- The cross passage between the two Southbound platforms, is a bit more complicated, as the platforms are beneath the level of the circulation space. Judging by the large ends of the passage in the schematic, I suspect that as at Angel short escalators will give access to the platform.
- These short escalators would also help those passengers, who’ve gone the wrong way, as we all done from time to time, change direction.
- Would the current cross-platform connections with their steps down to the Southbound platforms just be refurbished or would they be changed to give a direct step free connection between the two Southbound platforms?
- The current emergency stairs are shown and I suspect that a bit of remodelling in this area, could improve cross-platform connections.
At a first look I see two problems with the design.
Obviously, the route between the two Northbound platforms and to the circulation space and the lifts is step-free, but I can’t see how this is the case for the Southbound platforms. It could be that lifts will be provided to access the platforms from the circulation space, or the main lifts will go down another level to what appears to be a a second cross passage, which appears to connect the two Southbound platforms and by-pass the stair or escalators to the circulation space.
I also can’t see how the station could be connected to Camden Road station. Unless the route from say escalators and lifts down from the London Overground station feed into a tunnel, which is an extension Northwards from the lift lobby.
An uncovered walking route between the two Camden stations, is not a solution that is acceptable, in the present and passengers in the future will demand something a lot better.
I shall be going to the exhibition in the next couple of days and all will probably be clear.
The Bermondsey Dive-Under
For some time I’ve been looking for a good article about the Bermondsey dive-under. This article on Ramboll’s web site is a good one. But then I think it was written by one of the designers of the scheme that is currently being built.
Walking Between Surrey Quays And Queen’s Road Peckham Stations
My walk this morning was between Surrey Quay station and Queen’s Road Peckham station along the South London Line.
I wanted to look at progress on the Bermondsey dive-under and also the New Bermondsey station site.
Nothing was happening at the station site and this Network Rail video makes a bit of sense of the work at the dive-under.
I would appear that the long concrete ramp has now been completed and there has been some demolition of the brick viaducts in the site.
Project Management Says No, But Politicians Say Yes
There is a puzzle over rail electrification all over the country.
Take this article in Rail Technology Magazine entitled NR reopens one of final Manchester-Preston electrification bridges four months late.
The headline says it all and there are problems like this all over the United Kingdom. Some are down to incompetence, some are due to poor ground conditions, some are because new equipment is failing to work and some are just because of a shortage of trained staff.
So we are left with the great dilemma, that why is it that electrification in the North and West is in trouble and Crossrail, which is a much more expensive project is supposedly on time and budget?
In my view it’s like comparing apples with oranges.
Crossrail is a mostly new railway built in virgin ground. Most of the reused bits like the lines to Shenfield, Reading and Heathrow have been rebuilt and electrified in the past. Some things need to be beefed-up and brought up to modern standards, but these tend to be a series of small projects like updating most of the stations or a few big construction projects like building Canary Wharf and the other central stations.
On the other hand electrifying existing lines, of which much of the infrastructure hasn’t been touched for years, is a much more difficult business. Especially when you come across places like the bridges in Bolton, Chat Moss and the Farnworth Tunnel.
How many of us have despaired as the bills have come in as we are doing up an old houise and sworn on our father’s grave, that we’ll never buy another old property? I certainly have and now live in a twelve-year-old house, that although it was badly built is easily fixed.
I have heard engineers say that the Victorians Gerry-built a lot of our railways. That may or may not be true! But certainly, it’s not an easy job to electrify Britain’s railways.
So when I read this article on the BBC entitled Network Rail to restart electrification of train lines, which says this.
The electrification of two railway lines is to be restarted after the projects were halted so a review could be carried out, the government says.
Work on the TransPennine Express Railway – between Manchester and York – and Midland Mainline – from London to Sheffield – was paused in June.
Sir Peter Hendy, Network Rail chairman, said the “temporary pause” had “given us the space to develop a better plan”.
How do I square it with reality?
Obviously, Peter Hendy must be off his trolley, as if you put the wires up for electrification, you’ll have problems.
But at Blackpool and Rugeley, which are two part-completed electrification schemes, where everything appears ready for the wires to go up, I think I saw the germs of the new plan. The sites were all tidy, with no evidence of electrification or the detritus that Network Rail commonly leave behind. All the bridges were finished and where needed platforms seemed to have been extended for the new longer trains. Balfour Beatty have even walked away from the electrification contract at Blackpool.
Other clues have been published in the media.
- Northern Rail split their Liverpool to Blackpool service to at least use electric trains to Preston and diesels thereafter.
- First Great Western were rumoured to be buying battery-powered trains or IPEMUs for their services along the Thames Valley
- Hull Trains are also rumoured to be buying electro-diesel trains.
- But I missed the biggest clue. The only section between Liverpool and Newcastle, that is not electrified is the 34 miles between Leeds and Manchester. This had been announced deliberately as being unpaused. An IPEMU would bridge the gap with ease.
- All the Midland Main Line electrification announced as unpaused can be implemented by IPEMUs.
- A study has been anounced into the creation of a second main line to Brighton, which is an ideal route for running using IPEMUs in prime Tory territory. It would also release a number of modern diesel multiple units for use elsewhere.
- In today’s Sunday Times, there is talk of some of the new Class 801 electric trains being built as Class 800 electro-diesel trains for the Great Western. This doesn’t matter in the long-term, as it just means you remove the diesel engines to convert the 801s to 800s, when the wires are working.
Every day seems to bring more and more clues.
I’m getting more and more convinced that this technology that I rode in Essex in 2014, is going to be the solution. IPEMUs as they are now called have a range of about sixty miles on batteries and if the trains are properly engineered with regenerative braking and intelligent control systems, they might even manage further.
I may be totally wrong, but then I can see no other way that electrification can be delivered, in the desired time-scale, than by going for a mixture of Class 800 electro-diesel and IPEMU trains.
The Class 800 electro-diesel can be summarised as follows.
- Proven Hitachi technology with on-board diesel engines for non-electrified sections.
- Built in Japan and Newton Aycliffe in the North East.
- Ideal for main lines, which are not fully electrified.
- 200-plus kph capability
- Highly automated
- Can be converted to a Class 801 electric train by removing the diesel engines.
The Aventra and the IPEMU-variant can be summarised as follows.
- Proven Bombardier electric train technology coming together in a modern lightweight shape.
- Built in Derby.
- Just under 200 kph capability, if required. Normally probably 160 kph.
- Most Aventra trains can be fitted with batteries to work in IPEMU mode.
- Battery technology has been proven in public trial.
- Range is IPEMU mode is sixty plus miles.
- IPEMU trains have regenerative braking, so they are actually more efficient than many trains.
- Highly automated
The approach does have other advantages.
- Many lines can be served by new electric trains with only minimal upgrading.
- Those who object to unsightly overhead electrification, have nothing to complain about.
- Lines can be electrified as fast as new trains can be delivered, provided there is enough electrified route to charge the IPEMUs.
- Depots don’t need to be fully electrified.
- The approach gets round the shortage of overhead electrification engineers.
- If a line like Gospel Oak to Barking is going to be electrified for other purposes like freight, there could be much less disruption to passenger services.
As an Electrical Engineer, who specialised in control systems, at Liverpool University, I do feel a touch of admiration.
I believe that although it doesn’t look feasibly from a project management basis to electrify lines to the stated time-scale, engineers in Japan and Derby have given the politicians their dream.
I shall be watching every word of George Osborne’s Autumn Statement on Wrdnesday, November the twenty-fifth.
Further Investigations Around Camden Town
As there was nothing else to do, and I’d watched Match of the Day last night, I went to Camden Town to investigate the area and see if I could get any pictures of the disused lines that looped round Camden Road station.
I walked up Camden High Street and then turned into Hartland Road, where in 1970 we nearly bought a newly-refurbished house for six grand. I wrote It Always Rains On Sunday, about a film shot in the road. The house we tried to buy could have been the one in the film or one of its neighbours.
I then went in a circle following The North London Line before I ended up on Royal College Street, from where I entered the station to get a train home to Canonbury.
As I did in Camden Town Station Capacity Upgrade, I can add a few conclusions and questions.
- What is happening between Hawley Road and the Regent’s Canal? This Planning Framework from Camden Council gives some history and some rules.
- The loop around the station ends in a stub end above Camden Gardens.
- The arches underneath the loop seem to be in good condition.
- The arches under the railway in Camden Gardens have no obvious current use.
- There would appear to be enough space to create any platform extensions needed at Camden Road to accommodate the planned six car trains.
- The extended platforms could probably reach to Camden Gardens.
- Could escalators and/or lifts to connect Camden Road and Camden Town stations be built into the empty railway arches in Camden Gardens?
As I said previously, there is a lot of scope to do something really good in this area. Further digging has led me to this article in the Evening Strandard, which has this picture of what is now called Camden Lock Village.
Camden Lock Village
Note how the rail lines thread their way through the development.
This is said by the Standard about the development.
The plan for the project will feature 170 new homes, of which 156 are private and the rest affordable housing. There will also be new shops and market pitches and 100,000 square feet of offices.
Building firm McLaughlin & Harvey has also been hired to build a primary school and nursery.
If you add in the number of visitors already going to the area, I can’t believe that serious thought has not been given to how the development will effect the new Camden Town station and its relationship to Camden Road station.
We could be seeing some interesting plans, when TfL show them in full on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
If as I suspect TfL decide to go to for a full Camden Interchange, where the following lines meet.
- North London Line
- Edgware – Charing Cross – Battersea – Clapham Junction Section of the Northern Line
- High Barnet – Bank – Morden Section of the Northern Line
Then I feel that they will throw other services into the Interchange.
TfL have talked for years about reopening Primrose Hill station on the line between Camden Road and Queen’s Park on the Watford DC Line. Who knows if it will happen?
Something that will happen is an increase in frequency and capacity on both the North and East London Lines. This will mean a full Camden Interchange is more likely.
What is often the biggest constraint on frequency is turning the trains at the end of the line. I do wonder if the former loop at Camden Road station could be used as a turnback platform for trains from the East. It’s certainly a possibility.
I can remember when the current London Overground was designed, that there was talk of some East London Line trains terminating at Willesden Junction. So perhaps in the future we might see a service from Crystal Palace to Willesden or Camden Road via Highbury and Islington.
One of the rules of scheduling is to match your available resources to the needed demand. So as TfL have all the details about complete passenger journeys including any changes, they know the pattern of services that will result in the most efficient loading of the trains.
Passengers on the whole are intelligent, so when a new service is provided, they will check it out to see if it gives them a better journey. If it does they will continue to use it. This phenomena explains why both new roads and rail lines generally attract more traffic than was originally forecast.
Camden Town Station Capacity Upgrade
Camden Town station on the Northern Line of the London Underground is one of the most congested stations on the network.
It finally looks like something is happening to ease the problems as this consultation is now on the TfL website.
TfL’s first rebuilding plans are described in Wikipedia and they needed a lot of demolition. Wikipedia says this.
Apart from complaints about destruction of one of the ox-blood tiled station buildings, there is a significant controversy over the demolition of the buildings to the north. Complaints particularly centred on London Underground’s desire to replace the buildings with modern construction said to be out of place and out of scale with the remainder of Camden Town, together with complaints about the loss of the buildings and market themselves. This led to a public inquiry being held. In January 2004, consultants Arup published plans commissioned by Save Camden, a group of local market traders, for a remodelling that would preserve the majority of the threatened buildings, including the market. In 2005 Transport for London lost its appeal to the office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the scheme has been cancelled.
So this has led to the current plan, where TfL are proposing a second entrance on Buck Street. They say this in the consultation.
A possible site for a new station entrance would be on Buck Street, between Camden High Street and Kentish Town Road. It would lead to three new escalators and two lifts. Below ground there would be more space to change between trains. This would in turn enable future capacity benefits on the Northern line.
The most significant point is the capacity upgrade on the line, which involves splitting the Northern Line into two.
- The Edgware Branch would take the Charing Cross route to Kennington before continuing to Battersea and eventually Clapham Junction.
- The High Barnet Branch would take the Bank route to Kennington and then go to Morden.
The only thing stopping this is the current mess that is Camden Town.
I would assume that this upgrade would include an easy walk-across for passengers changing between the two new lines at Camden Town.
On the surface, it would appear that little will be done, except to build the new station entrance on the site of a closed school. This map shows the position of the new entrance.
New Entrance To Camden Town Station
It would be ideally placed for the hoards of visitors going to and from Camden Lock and the various markets.
It is also worth looking at the layout of lines in the area.
Camden Town And Camden Road Stations
Note how Camden Road station is actually quite close to the northern end of the platforms at Camden Town station.
So would it be possible to create a better link between the two stations?
I would certainly feel that when the Northern Line is split and extended to Battersea, many people would use the interchange. I certainly would, as getting to places like Charing Cross or Waterloo is one of those journeys you don’t start from Hackney.
future.
In Transport for London’s London Infrastructure Plan for 2050, this is said.
This will allow, for example, higher frequency services out of terminals such as Victoria to South London centres such as Croydon and the development of major interchange hubs that act in a similar way to Clapham Junction in the South West. e.g. Camden Interchange between Camden Road and Camden Town stations.
So obviously, TfL are thinking along these lines.
The two stations are an official out-of-station interchange.
A Google Map also shows Buck Street and the North London Line.
Buck Street To Camden Road
Buck Street is the curved road in the bottom left corner of the map, just above the white building which is Camden Market. On the North side of the street is Hawley Infant and Nursery School, which will become the site of the second entrance to Camden Town station.
The North London Line runs across the top of the map with Camden Road station at the right. It is worthwhile noting the fork in the line.
- The southern arm is a freight-only line, that leads to the disused Primrose Hill station and the Watford DC Line.
- The northern arm is the North London Line to Willesden Junction.
At one time it was proposed that changes be made here, as detailed in Wikipedia, but nothing seems to be planned at the moment.
The only thing the proposal shows is that TfL have been thinking hard about this area.
But I do think that London’s universe-class tunnellers could create an escalator connection between the two stations, if that was decided how the interchange was to be created.
There could also be other simpler ways to create better walking routes between Camden Road station and Buck Street. I will have to check, but I don’t think it is possible to walk along the tow-path of the Regent’s Canal.
Later I took a train to Camden Road station and then walked by a roundabout route to Camden Town station.
Do I have any conclusions and questions?
- The current walking route between the two stations is crowded and possibly dangerous. It also involves crossing two roads at lights.
- Because there is now steps down from Camden Road to the Regent’s Canal Tow Path, there is already a walking route between Camden Road station and Camden Lock, which does not mean any roads have to be crossed. Some improvements to the surface and perhaps guard and hand rails would need to be made to bring it up to a safe standard.
- It might be possible to install lifts, at Camden Road, Kentish Town Road and Camden Lock to make the tow path fully-accessible to all.
- Until Camden Town station is extended and improved, it could be sign-posted as an alternative route to Camden Lock.
- As you approach Camden Lock, where the railway runs along the Regent’s Canal, what plans are there for development in the area?
- The Regent’s Canal Tow Path, would also enable a walking route between Camden Road station and the new Buck Street Entrance to Camden Town station.
- It would appear that the Hawley Infant and Nursery School is not a bad place for a second entrance to Camden Town station, as it is well placed for the attractions between Camden Town and Camden Lock.
- The Buck Street site is probably big enough to create a second entrance, which has a capacity substantially greater than the current station. The consultation talks of three new escalators and two lifts, but capacity is often determined by the space at the bottom of the lifts/escalators, which I’m sure would be more than adequate.
- The area round Camden Town station is more than incredibly busy.
- There are bus stops everywhere and they could do with being reorganised. As an example, getting a bus to London Zoo is not very easy.
- There are quite a few low-grade buildings in the area, that few would miss.
- How was planning permission for the Sainsbury’s supermarket obtained?
- Incidentally, the store was built in 1988, so it must be coming up for refurbishment soon.
But looking at the North London Line as it passes over Camden Gardens and along the canal, it struck me that something dramatic and modern, but that still fitted in with the surroundings could be created that connected the high viaduct of the North London Line to the ground below and then by escalators and/or lifts to the Northern Line tunnels. I then looked at the Google Map of the area from Camden Road station to Camden Gardens.
To The West Of Camden Road Station
Note the disused twin-track rail loop around Camden Road station to the north side of the station. There is also a smaller space on the south side that leads almost to Camden Gardens.
Surely, an imaginative architect could use these resources to extend the station to the area of the gardens, from where some means of descending and ascending would be provided. Large lifts or escalators fully enclosed in glass would be something I’ve seen elsewhere and they would contrast well with the bricks of the viaduct.
With my project management hat on, I also believe that TfL have chosen a design, that will be easy to build.
- Phase 1 – Build the second entrance with its lifts and escalators as almost a second station connected to the existing platforms. There is another station on the Underground that is effectively two stations – Knightsbridge, because of Harrods.
- Phase 2 – Open the second entrance and prove that it can handle all the passengers who want to use the station.
- Phase 3 – Close and refurbish the existing station.
The link to Camden Road station would probably be incorporated into Phase 1.
I don’t know anything about the safety arrangements of stations, but surely a twin station’s duplication must make it simpler.
There is a chance to create an iconic Camden Interchange station, that truly reflects the unconventional nature of Camden Town.
Why Is There No Mention Of York Potash In The Discussion Of Redcar Steelworks?
This detailed article on the BBC entitled What is the outlook for Britain’s steel industry? starts like this.
It is being billed as a top level crisis summit. Government ministers, unions and steel company bosses are heading to South Yorkshire to discuss what can be done to help an industry hit by tough global market conditions.
UK steelmakers say it’s getting harder to compete because of high energy costs, green taxes, the strong pound and cheap Chinese imports flooding the market. Compared to foreign competitors, steel unions warn the cost of making steel in the UK is too high.
The recent closure of SSI’s steelworks at Redcar in Teeside, with the loss of more than 2,000 jobs, has brought into sharp focus the difficulties facing the industry. The Thai firm said a slump in demand for steel was behind its decision.
At other steelworks across the country, from South Wales to Scunthorpe to Rotherham, union leaders says thousands of jobs are hanging in the balance. So what’s next for the UK’s steelworkers?
But with regard to Sirius Metals and the creation of one of the world’s largest potash mines and processing facility; York Potash, there is not a word.
I’m afraid that in a few years there will be little steel-making in Europe, let alone the UK, as other countries with lower costs will undercut Europe on price.
On this page of the York Potash web site, there is an impressive video about the mine and its processing facility.
This must be one of the hopes for the future for Teeside.
I can remember the development of the earlier potash mine at Boulby, when I worked at ICI around 1970. This section is the history of the Boulby mine, and it would appear to have a future. The potash is removed to Teesport, using a reopened section of the Whitby, Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway, which used to connect Middlesbrough to Whitby, in addition to the still operating Esk Valley Line
In contrast the York Potash ,mine will use an underground conveyor to move potash from South of Whitby to its processing facility at Teesport.
There is still another railway in the area, which is the heritage North Yorkshire Railway, which connects Whitby and Pickering. According to this section in Wikipedia, it has ambitious plans to connect to the York to Scarborough Line, thus giving the possibility of steam services between Scarborough and Whitby.
I believe that the Tees Valley Metro can be developed.
Like many places in the UK, I believe that services on all the lines from Morpeth and Newcastle in the North to Middlesbrough, Darlington and Whitby in the South could be run using Aventra IPEMUs with a small amount of selected electrification.
Which brings me to the conclusion that Redcar steel works will be closed and Potash mining and a developed Tees Valley Metro will be better for the area, than pouring millions down the black hole of the steelworks.
The New Three Bridges Depot
The new Thameslink depot at Three Bridges for the Class 700 trains opened today according to this report on Rail News.
I passed the depot a few days ago and took these pictures.
I didn’t see any of the new trains as I passed.
The Anonymous Widower 