The Advantage Of Contactless Payment On Public Transport In London
On Tuesday, I had a visitor, who came from outside London. He parked his car at the northern end of the Jubilee Line at around nine in the morning and then bought himself a Travelcard for twelve pounds. By changing at West Hampstead, he was able to easily get to me in Dalston. He went back the same route and was in his car going north before the evening peak.
If he’d used an Oyster Card, this would have been capped at £5.20,according to this page on the TfL web site.
You also get the same cap, if you use a contactless bank or credit card.
So are the days of Travelcards numbered?
As I can’t find any problems with contactless ticketing in London on the Internet, I think next time you visit London and have a contactless card that is accepted, then I think it would be an idea to try it.
I certainly wouldn’t bother with a ticket if I needed to buy one and look forward to the day, when I can use my contactless card to take a local train or tram in Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Liverpool, by just touching in or out as necessary.
Ultimate Low Flying
Some pilots consider flying low an ultimate thrill.
So look at this report on the BBC web site.
Why Public Transport Development Is Good For Everybody
This story from New Civil Engineer entitled Northern Line Extension Was Catalyst For Nine Elms Development should be read by everyone from the average guy on the Dalston Omnibus through politicians and those running businesses to property developers.
Like Kirkstall Forge, where the developers of the site are helping to fund the improvements, the development of the Northern Line Extension is substantially funded by the developers., so London gets the extension at a much lower cost.
I think we’ll see more deals like these in the next few years. London’s next big development of this type appears to be in fashionable Haringey to the around Tottenham Hale station. The link is to the Council web site and the says this.
Plans to create a new district centre at Tottenham Hale have moved forward after Haringey Council announced that it is working on a proposal to bring forward a joint venture (JV) to redevelop the area.
Discussions are ongoing to create a JV between the council and Hermes Real Estate and Argent which would see land joined together to create 2000 new homes and 400 new jobs.
The announcement follows news that Tottenham Hale has been designated a Housing Zone by the Mayor of London which will see £45m of public money invested in unlocking sites, paving the way with mixed-tenure homes, with up to 50% affordable, along with new transport links, new bridge access to Lee Valley Regional Park, new public spaces, shops and restaurants, and new employment opportunities.
Every Council in the country, should be pursuing schemes like these around rail stations, that enhance their towns and cities for both residents and visitors.
Train Departure Information On The Go!
I took this picture of my Samsung S5 just before I left to get the connecting train to Leeds, before my scenic trip to Manchester Victoria.
Train Departure Information On The Go!
I just used the phone’s browser to access nationalrail.co.uk, chose Live Departures and then entered Leeds and Manchester Victoria. In the end I caught the 09:26. A god thing about this example, is that it shows all companies and routes for direct trains,
I also use it on a train, when I’m making a connection, to find out from which platform my next train is leaving. Or not as the case may be!
So simple and it works for every station and route in the country. To prove that, I’ve just found out that the 08:55 from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh is on time.
Who needs all the hassle of downloading an app for every train company you might need?
Electrification In The North And East Anglia
There has been two major announcements about electrification of railways in recent weeks.
In this article on the BBC, they lay out the twelve lines in the north that have been prioritised for electrification in the report of the North of England Electrification Task Force. They are in all parts of the North.
- Calder Valley
- Liverpool to Manchester via Warrington Central
- Southport/Kirkby to Salford Crescent
- Chester to Stockport
- Northallerton to Middlesbrough
- Leeds to York via Harrogate
- Selby to Hull
- Sheffield Meadowhall to Leeds via Barnsley/Castleford
- Bolton to Clitheroe
- Sheffield to Doncaster/Wakefield Westgate
- Hazel Grove to Buxton
- Warrington to Chester
If the project goes ahead soon after completion of the current electrification project in the North West, it will take another large step towards creating a modern electrified railway in the north.
Joining the electrification together on a map, shows that after it is all completed there will effectively be two major east-west routes that are fully electrified.
The Huddersfield Line will allow electric trains to run from Liverpool to Hull, York and Newcastle, via Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and Doncaster, with a choice of two routes between Liverpool and Manchester. After all the work is completed there will be six fast trains an hour between Leeds and Manchester.
I was surprised that one of my favourite rail lines, the Calder Valley Line was also prioritised for electrification along with all its branches. But according to their correct methodology the line scored highest of all lines considered in the report. It is very much a scenic line and I recently took it from Leeds to Manchester, as it wound its way over the Pennines and through towns, like Bradford, Halifax, Hebden Bridge and Rochdale. Electrification will speed the journey and add capacity to the route. It will be a good home for more of those refurbished Class 319 trains and will link Preston, Blackpool and Manchester in the east with Leeds in the east. But perhaps more importantly, it will bring faster electric trains to all those towns dotted across the Pennines. Only knowing the area from occasional football matches in places like Burnley, Blackburn and Barnsley, I would not try to quantify the economic benefits. But I have a feeling that those who made the predictions would have erred on the low side!
The other lines prioritised for electrification fall into two distinct groups.
The Western or Lancashire/Cheshire group is a set of extensions to the current North West Electrification radiating out of the Northern Hub and includes Liverpool to Manchester via Warrington Central, Southport/Kirkby to Salford Crescent, Chester to Stockport, Bolton to Clitheroe, Hazel Grove to Buxton and Warrington to Chester. It virtually leaves only a few smaller lines to be electrified in the area.
The Eastern group is generally a set of extensions off the East Coast Main Line or the soon-to-be electrified Midland Main Line and includes Northallerton to Middlesbrough, Leeds to York via Harrogate, Selby to Hull, Sheffield Meadowhall to Leeds via Barnsley/Castleford and Sheffield to Doncaster/Wakefield Westgate. As with the Western group, it leaves very few important lines that are not electrified.
Looking at all this electrification, I think it has all been very well-thought through and the Task Force has chosen well. If you look at the Tier Two and Three lines that will follow these twelve Tier One schemes, it certainly seems to have been touched by the hand of a good project manager, who has arranged the schemes so that the teams can efficiently do one after another.
There was also a report in Modern Railways entitled Felixstowe Wires Study, which contained the following.
Network Rail is to conduct a study into the possibility of wiring the busy cross-country freight route from the port to Birmingham, with the results feeding into its Initial Industry Plan for Control Period 6 (2019 to 2024), due to be announced in September 2016.
The Modern Railways report also talks about looking into the eastern end of the East West Rail Link, a new station at Addenbrookes and the possible reopening of the March to Wisbech branch.
Both the North of England and the East Anglian reports seem to be the sort of comprehensive and intelligently-written reports, that have been severely lacking in the last few decades from UK rail companies. The work being proposed seems to be lacking in any political vanity, but geared very much to commuting, leisure, freight and bringing investment and infrastructure to places that need it.
I can’t help feeling though that if you look at all of the electrification schemes proposed for the North, there is a very strong focus on leisure.
For instance, increased frequency, capacity and comfort on the Calder Valley Line, will help those commuting into Leeds and Manchester, but the line will also carry a large amount of all sorts of leisure traffic like walkers, shoppers and families just taking a scenic train ride. As a lady said to me, when I travelled from Leeds to Manchester last week, the train is so much easier than the M62.
This leisure focus continued with adding the Barrow to Carnforth, Settle to Carlisle, the Carlisle to Newcastle, York to Scarborough, Hull to Scarborough, Cumbrian Coast Line and a few others into the program. I never thought I’d ever see some of these lines ever mentioned with the e-word.
Quite frankly all of this electrification should have been planned and implemented years ago, so it’s very much a case of better late than never. The big irony, is that some of the British Rail built, nearly thirty-years-old, Class 319 trains, will be returning to the county of their creation to move tourists and business passengers all over Yorkshire and the rest of the North.
It looks to me, that if you’re interested in a job with a future, then they’ll be plenty of work in railway electrification for quite a few years.
Or you could open a quality B & B near to a picturesque station in the North!
How Will Cycle Superhighway Route 1 Affect De Beauvoir Town?
And me in particular?
Transport for London have published their plans for Cycle Superhighway Route 1, The good news is that I’m only a hundred metres away from where it runs between Liverpool Street and White Hart Lane. So at least it won’t have a negative effect on the value of my house.
It will affect my walking routes significantly.
1. My doctor’s Surgery is on the Superhighway and as he is a keen cyclist I think he’ll be pleased too. I might actually get a replacement bike to avoid the walk. Or I could lobby for a Boris Bike station close to my house? I’d actually prefer the latter, as then if the bike got nicked, it’s not my problem.
2. One of the problems walking round here, is that drivers treat the turn out of Southgate Road into Ardleigh Road as a chicane that should be taken at speed. As many don’t bother to signal someone is going to get flattened on that junction in the future. Hopefully, as Ardleigh Road is being blocked at the southern end, fewer drivers will use it as a rat run. So it looks the Superhighway will have a collateral benefit for pedestrians here.
3. The arrangements where the Superhighway crosses the Balls Pond Road will make walking to Dalston High Street easier as a new pedestrian crossing will be in a better place than the current one. At least for me!
4. Some of the other changes to cycle and pedestrian routes just to the north of the Balls Pond Road will also make it easier to walk to and from Dalston Kingsland station, the Rio Cinema and the northern part of the High Street. The route is quieter and you avoid the narow pavements round Dalston Junction.
Other residents of the area, may have different views on how it will affect pedestrians. But hopefully, the large number of cyclists on Southgate Road will swap to the Superhighway, easing the traffic on that road and making it easier to coss.
So you can understand, why I’m pretty much in favour of the scheme.
A few Boris Bike stations along the Superhighway would probably get me cycling again!
What A Difference A Small Length Of Track Will Make!
For some years it has been an ambition of Lancashire County Council to reinstate a short four hundred metre length of railway called the Todmorden Curve, which was lifted in 1972.
Northern Rail will provide an hourly service from Burnley Manchester Road and Accrington to Manchester Victoria from May 17th.
If I look at the timetables, there is one train an hour between Burnley Manchester Road and Manchester Victoria tomorrow that takes sixty-five minutes with a change at Hebden Bridge.
By comparison, on Monday, May 18th, the one-change service still runs but there is an additional direct train every hour taking fifty-two minutes.
That’s quite an improvement in service made by just four hundred metres of new railway line.
Hopefully, there will be another big improvement when the line is electrified, which should happen in the next few years.
The Design Of Tram Or Tram-Train Stations
When I wrote the article about using tram-trains in Blackpool, I wanted to include a picture from an existing UK tramway to show what a stop might look like on the Colne Line after conversion to tram-train operation, if that should be decided. The only tramway near me is the Croydon Tramlink, for which my Freedom Pass is valid, so I went to take some pictures.
Some more are shown in this article about Birkbeck Tramlink stop.
I believe that the pictures show the sort of stations you would get on a line like the Colne Line, if you used Class 399 tram-trains instead of Class 142 trains. As Birkbeck shows you can have single-track bi-directional stations in addition to the more normal ones with two platforms, either on the outside of the tracks or as an island between them.
If I’d gone to any other UK tramway and a good few on the continent like Strasbourg, I’d have found similar good design. Although some don’t quite get the step-free access quite as good as Croydon and Strasbourg do.
But next time you get into a Class 142 or some of their dreadful cousins to go to work or for a bit of pleasure in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds or Sheffield, think what train travel could be like in a brand new tram-train that sped you to your destination in complete comfort, in a faster time, than your current scrapyard special.
The experience will be even better, if the stations you use have all of the superb step-free access that you get in Croydon, Strasbourg and Edinburgh.
To sum up my ideal tramway must have.
1. Low floor trams or tram-trains with level access from the platform, with no gap between.
2. Gentle slopes up from street level to the platforms if possible.
3. As few lifts and escalators as possible to break down.
4. Crossing the tracks should be a simple walk across.
5. A shelter on every platform.
6. Good information on use and ticketing, with maps of the network and the local area at every stop and on every vehicle.
7. Multiple next stop displays with a clock on the vehicle. Trains and trams, are well behind London’s buses in this area.
8. Contactless bank card and cashless ticketing. Anything else is so last millennium! If one of the biggest cities in the world; London can do it across all their modes of transport and well upwards of a dozen transport operators, surely all smaller ones can!
9. Free wi-fi!
10. An on-board Train Captain like the Docklands Light Railway!
I’ve never used a tram network that scores ten! Croydon Tramlink scores about eight.
Birkbeck Tramlink Stop
Birkbeck is a stop on the Croydon Tramlink and I took these pictures this morning.
It is a rather unusual stop in that a double-track Crystal Palace Line has been turned into a bi-directional single track railway and a bi-directional tram line. Both lines have stops on the outside.
Note the wire fences to stop people and animals straying onto the electrified railway line.
The tram stop is very much a typical tram stop for Tramlink, with a platform the right height for entry to and exit from the low-floor trams that run on the line, a rudimentary shelter, information and maps and a well-presented ticket machine.
Because of the bi-directional nature of the line, passengers use it to go to either Croydon or Beckenham Junction. Provided they know where they intend to go, I suspect passengers don’t have too much trouble getting on the right tram.
This Google Earth image shows the layout of the lines between the junction where the lines join and Beckenham Junction station.
Birkbeck To Beckenham Junction
Beckenham Junction is shown by the red arrow and the green line is the rough direction of Tramlink Line 2. Note the sharp cyrve at the far left of the image, where Tramlink joins the Crystal Palace Line.
This second Google Earth image shows an enlarged view of the rail station and tram stop.
Birkbeck Station
Note the two platforms and two single-track lines with a fence between them.
I think it is true to say, that if the Tramlink was being designed today, they would seriously look at using tram-trains on this branch, as these could just join the main lines at the junction and then proceed to the station at Beckenham Junction, where there is even a bay platform, that could be used to turn the trams back to Croydon,
But the system they use at Beckenham has been proved to be very safe.
Could Tram-Trains Be Used To Advantage In Blackpool?
Blackpool tramway is unique in the United Kingdom in that it runs a mixture of modern and heritage trams, which I’ve only seen done on a big scale in Lisbon, where like Blackpool, the heritage trams are a tourist attraction.
It may also be unique in that it is already tram-train ready in terms of dimensions, power supply and other details according to this report on the Sintropher web site.
Blackpool’s trams have two major problems.
The obvious one is that the trams do not serve the main railway station at Blackpool North.
The second is that the trams don’t connect well to any of the stations served by the Blackpool South to Colne service. The best connection is a two hundred metre walk between Squires Gate station and Starr Gate tram stop.
The branch to Blackpool North is being electrified and this should be completed in 2017. The final report of the North of England Electrification Task Force has also recommended that the lines from Burnley to Colne and Kirkham to Blackpool South be electrified in the Tier Two group of lines to be wired.
So it would be reasonable to assume that in a few years Blackpool will have two stations with electric trains to Preston, Liverpool and beyond.
This is a Google Earth image of the area between the two stations.
Blackpool North and South Stations
Blackpool North is indicated by the red arrow and Blackpool South at the bottom of the image, about five hundred metres or so from the sea front and a short walk south of the football ground and extensive car parking for visitors. Neither the football ground or the car parking are well served by the current tramway.
Blackpool South
This Google Earth image shows the area north of Blackpool South to the football ground to a larger scale.
North of Blackpool South Station
I feel that it should be possible for a tram to start northwards from Blackpool South station, go past the car parks and the football ground and then thread its way through to the main tramway route along the sea front.
To the south of the station the rail line is single track all the way to Kirkham and Wesham station, where it joins the main Blackpool branch to Blackpool North.
As this line is now slated for electrification, there are probably cases to electrify it to either main line standard or make the line an extension of the tramway.
If tram-trains successfully pass their trial between Sheffield and Rotherham, then surely using tram-trains to work the services between Blackpool South and Colne, will be looked at seriously.
One factor that could come into the discussion about upgrading of the Blackpool South branch is the important golf course at Royal Lytham and St. Annes, as Ansdell and Fairhaven station is adjacent to the course and is used to transport spectators for important tournaments.
So when will the next Open Championship be staged at Royal Lytham?
Blackpool North
At Blackpool North station, the tram extension is now funded and is being planned.
But will the announcement of electrification to Blackpool South and hopefully successful trialling of tram-trains in Rotherham, add extra possibilities to how the extension to Blackpool North station is implemented?
This is the Google Earth image of Blackpool North station, which is indicated by a red arrow, to the sea front.
Blackpool North Station
Wikipedia also indicates that the spur to the station will join the main tramway north of the North Pier, which is the pier shown in the image.
One possible way of building the spur, would be to make it compatible with tram-trains so that some trains arriving at Blackpool North could transfer to the tramway.
The Karlsruhe Model
If both Blockpool stations were to be served by tram-trains that then ran between the two two stations, then would be an example of the classic Karlsruhe model that has been successfully working in the city since 1992.
Between the two stations, they would work as trams and once clear of the tramway, they would work as normal trains.
Advantages Of Using Tram-Trains Between The Two Blackpool Stations
The tram-train services would probably be on a simple loop between the two stations, with tram-trains turning back at either Kirkham and Wesham or Preston stations. Alternatively, services could be something more substantial serving the wider area. Certainly some tram-trains would go all the way to Colne to replace the current service.
But whatever is done, if tram-trains are used to link the two stations, various advantages will be seen.
1. Long distance services into Blackpool North would have easier access to the tram network, which would probably be step free.
2.As Preston would probably have more trains to Blackpool, this would give Blackpool better access to other long distance services to say Glasgow, Edinburgh, London and Birmingham.
3. Local services running tram-trains from perhaps Preston and Colne would have immediate access to some of the central tram stops in Blackpool, as these stops would be on the link between the two stations.
4. Blackpool South station would become a simple tram stop.
5. Space might also be released at Blackpool North station, depending on how much space was needed for the tram-train stop.
6. Extra trams would be running on the busiest central section of the tramway.
7.If the football ground and the main car parks were on the central loop, this would improve transport links to the town.
Probably the most difficult thing to get right would be the ticketing method, which London has shown must be based on a contactless bank card.
Implications Of Tram-Trains On Services To Colne
With the announcement that the East Lancashire Line is to be electrified to Colne, there would be no problem running tram-trains through both Blackpool stations and then through Preston and on to Colne.
The line from Rose Grove to Colne appears to be mainly single track, with some stations looking like tram stops, with a pile of bricks at the track-side.
If tram-trains were to run on the Colne Line as trams, this would actually be a service upgrade, despite the apparent downgrading of the line from trains to trams. If the powers-that-be thought that more stops were needed, these would be simple affairs, with a low platform on one or both sides of the track, with perhaps a simple shelter and a ticket machine. As on other tram lines in the UK, passengers would walk across the line rather than use an expensive footbridge. To see what is possible on a good tramway, look at this post about good stop design for trams and tram-trains.
But the two biggest improvements would be a much more frequent service, that probably ran at least twice an hour on weekdays and hourly on Sundays, that used new comfortable electric low-floor tram-trains something like the Class 399, being used for trials in Sheffield.
As to speed, the increased acceleration of the tram-trains would mean that stopping wasn’t as time-consuming as on say a Class 142 train. also outside of urban areas and some way from stops, they would be able to run at a more appropriate speed using the railway rules currently in force on the line. Incidentally, some UK trams like Croydon and Edinburgh go faster than you think when the track allows.
Tram-trains would appear at a cursory glance, to be a simple and affordable way to improve services in this neglected part of Lancashire.
Improving Transport In Burnley
Burnley is one of those places most famous outside the local area for football, but it is a market town of over seventy thousand people. The town probably needs improved transport connections, despite having four railway stations, the most important of which; Burnley Manchester Road has recently been rebuilt.
A big improvement will come by electrifying all of the lines, which will mean that Rose Grove and Manchester Road, will be on an important electrified artery between Leeds and Preston. The other line is the Colne Branch of the East Lancashire Line and this has three stations in the town; Rose Grove, Burnley Barracks and Burnley Central.
This Google Earth image shows the four stations as they relate to Burnley.
Burnley And Its Stations
Rose Grove is at the West, just to the south of the M65 motorway and is served by both lines. The Colne Line curves to the north with the two stations at Barracks and Central to the western end of the town centre, which is indicated by the red arrow. Manchester Road station is at the southern edge of the image, a steep walk up the hill from the town centre.
If the Colne Line were to be run by tram-trains, would this create a better and more accessible railway for Burnley.
As an example of what could happen, north from Burnley Central , the Colne Line follows the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, so are there possibilities to use a tram-train to give better access to the countryside above the town?
Using tram-trains on the Colne Line could improve public transport in Burnley and the other towns like Nelson and Colne, without laying a metre of new expensive railway.
But why stop the trains at Colne?
The final report of the North of England Electrification Task Force has also recommended that the lines from Skipton to Carlisle via Settle be electrified in the Tier Three group of lines to be wired.
The Skipton – East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership is also campaigning for the line between Colne and Skipton to be reinstated. This map of the missing part of the line is taken from the Wikipedia entry.
Skipton To Colne
Would the missing link be easier and more affordable to build, if it continued as a modern, single-track tramway?
This type of line would also be less visually intrusive, if it used 750 V DC overhead wires, which are all that would be needed for the Class 399 tram-train.
Building this link between Skipton and Colne would further connect the electrified lines in the Leeds area, with the soon to be electrified ones of North Lancashire. As the map shows, Skipton is on the iconic route through Settle between Leeds and Carlisle, which is also in the queue for electrification.
Skipton is the key to the success of any scheme to improve the Colne Line and link it to the town. The town is known as the Gateway to the Dales and already has direct services to London. This section in Wikipedia shows that there are impressive plans for services in the future.
But that was written before the North of England Electrification Task Force reported that Skipton to Carlisle through Settle was an electrification scheme for Tier Three. This was probably included more for freight reasons, as it creates a new route for electrified freight trains from Yorkshire, the East Midlands and the Electric Spine from Southampton to Scotland.
And to think that the line was nearly closed, but a certain Michael Portillo didn’t sign it off!
So will we see electrified passenger services from the South coming up via Leeds and Skipton to Carlisle? I think we will and if the Borders Railway is a success, then I think in perhaps 2040, these trains will reach Edinburgh.
So I think this all means that the tram-trains to Colne, should be used to create a link to Skipton.
Services Between Blackpool And Liverpool
Currently there is just a measly single train each hour between Blackpool and Liverpool.
Ormskirk to Preston is another line that could be chosen for electrification and it is likely that under the Liverpool rules it will be served by four trains per hour.
So I think it is reasonable to assume that when electrification to Blackpool North is complete, that the frequency of Liverpool-Blackpool services will be increased. After all when electrification is complete various routes via Ormskirk, Wigan, Newton-Le-Willows and St. Helens will all be possible.
But the possibility also exists for the use of tram-trains on this route, which will then go round the loop in Blackpool.
Obviously, passenger numbers will determine what services are worth trialling.
There is also the possibility of linking Royal Lytham and St. Annes with the other high-quality golf courses south of Southport.
Conclusion
The Blackpool tramway could use tram-trains to connect the electrified stations at Blackpool North and South, and over a wider network, especially over the Colne Line and its possible extension to Skipton.
The Anonymous Widower 