Exploring London Bus Route 132
London Bus Route 132, is run by battery-electric buses and it the first in London to use opportunity charging.
These pictures show the route from North Greenwich to Bexleyheath Shopping Centre.
Note.
- These pictures were shot in two sections on the 3rd and the 6th of July 2023.
- The break was at Eltham station.
- Some sections of the route had a lot of cars.
- Some side roads were full of parked cars.
- There were large numbers of cars parked in front of houses.
There are my thoughts.
More will appear here over the next couple of days.
The Buses
The buses used on the route are Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV, which are built on a BYD Auto chassis.
They have a range of 160 miles.
The Route
The route has several inclines both ways and I estimate it is just under ten miles.
At North Woolwich, the bus didn’t appear to have a charge, but I can’t be sure.
But it disappear at Bexleyheath Shopping Centre and I was certain it went for a charge.
So is the operational philosophy to fill, the bus up overnight and then top the battery up every time, that it needs it at Bexleyheath.
A Comparison With A Similar Route In Birmingham That Has Hydrogen-Powered Buses
As the bus ran between North Woolwich and Bexleyheath Shopping Centre, I was comparing it, with the trip, I made across Birmingham, in hydrogen-powered buses, that I wrote about in Riding Birmingham’s New Hydrogen-Powered Buses.
Both were quality buses, but I felt the hydrogen bus had more power.
Opportunity Charging At Bexleyheath
If, buses need to be charged at the Bexleyheath Shopping Centre end of the route, where will they go?
This Google Map shows Bexleyheath Bus Garage in relation to the Shopping Centre.
Note.
- Bexleyheath Bus Garage is in the North-East corner of the map.
- It looks like it shares a site with Bexley Fire Station and Barnehurst Ambulance station.
- So the garage is well located for any future lithium-ion battery fires.
- In the middle of the map at the bottom, is Bexleyheath Clock Tower, in the middle of the town centre.
- I estimate it’s less than two kilometres between Bexleyheath Bus Garage and the Shopping Centre.
This Google Map shows a close-up of the Western side of the Bexleyheath Bus Garage.
Note.
- The two buses parked by the side of the garage.
- Behind them a white arm reaches over towards the road.
- This is the charger and buses connect using a pantograph on the roof.
It could be an All-In-One Fast Charging Station AIO from Furrer+Frey.
The Electrical Connection At Bexleyheath Bus Garage
Consider.
- The bus garage shares a site with a fire station and an ambulance station, which surely must need a reliable power source.
- This is London’s first application of opportunity charging.
- There are improvements constantly happening to London’s struggling power network.
- It is a large site and I suspect there is space for a battery to boost power.
I would assume that Transport for London wouldn’t have chosen a bus garage with a dodgy power supply.
Could The Charger Be Solar-Powered?
This Google Map shows the roof of Bexleyheath Bus Garage.
Note.
- It appears to be a square with a length of about six buses.
- It looks rather dirty.
I suspect that the roof could be replaced with a modern solar roof.
Hydrogen Or Electric
This article on RouteOne is entitled Enviro400FCEV Hydrogen Bus Fleet For Liverpool Debuts.
This paragraph describes the performance.
Alexander Dennis has chosen the heavy-duty variant of VEDS. It is designed to deliver up to 410kW of power, but the vehicle OEM says that in the Enviro400FCEV, output is limited to 350kW. Such an approach will maximise fuel economy while still enabling a high road speed and good hill climbing ability. Expected range is up to 300 miles.
So the range on hydrogen is nearly doubled.
Wrightbus’s outwardly similar electric and hydrogen buses have ranges of 200 and 280 miles, but filling times of 2.5 hours and 8 minutes.
The problem with hydrogen in London, is that the Mayor and Transport for London, don’t appear to have a hydrogen policy.
But I think, that hydrogen will win out in cities and areas, where hydrogen can be supplied.
I also believe that hydrogen has other advantages.
- There is likely to be significant progress in improving hydrogen-powered heavy vehicles.
- Hydrogen internal combustion engines are coming and could promise more affordable hydrogen buses.
- Better and more affordable methods to create green hydrogen are being developed.
- Some existing diesel buses will be able to be converted to buses powered by hydrogen internal combustion engines.
- Lithium-ion batteries have a high environmental footprint.
Hydrogen is also likely to be the fuel of choice for heavy trucks.
53 Train Stations To Benefit From Tap-In Tap-Out Rollout
The title of this post, is the same as that of this news story from the UK Government.
This is the sub-heading.
Passengers across the South East of England will benefit from ‘Pay As You Go’ technology by the end of December 2023.
The news story has these three bullet points.
- £20 million of government funding marks the first phase of the government’s commitment to extend Pay As You Go to a further 200 stations in the South East
- The department is also working with Great British Railways transition team (GBRTT) to agree Pay As You Go pilots in the Greater Manchester and the West Midlands by the end of the year
- Both form part of the government’s plan to make fares and ticketing simpler and more convenient for passengers
If I look at the list of 53 stations to be added in this first phase, several are ones I have regularly used.
- Beaconsfield
- Bletchley
- Bricket Wood
- East Tilbury
- Gerrards Cross
- High Wycombe
- Kempton Park
- Southend Central
- Southend East
- St Albans Abbey
- Staines
- Windsor & Eton Riverside
With the Government saying that this list of stations in the South East, will rise to 200, I suspect that the number of listed stations, where I go regularly will increase.
At present, if I go to a contactless station like Gatwick Airport, which is outside of the Freedom Pass area, I have to buy an extension ticket, either before I board the train or I have to get off somewhere like East Croydon and tap-out with my Freedom Pass and tap-in with my bank card.
Surely, a better system, would be to be able to link a bank card to my Freedom Pass. This would enable my bank card to be charged excess on my Freedom Pass.
Khan’s Stupid Plan To Rename The Overground Lines
renamThis page on the TfL web site is entitled Naming London Overground Lines.
This is the first paragraph.
London Overground lines are to be named to make the network easier to navigate and ensure the Capital’s transport system reflects its rich and diverse history. We aim to make the changes by the end of 2024.
So why do I feel it is a stupid plan?
London Wouldn’t Stomach A Load Of Woke Names
When Khan and his fellow politicians choose the names, they will probably be a load of woke rubbish and this could cause problems with some political groups.
When The Lines Are Renamed, Will They Then Start On Station Names?
This could open a real can of worms, as some station names are totally unacceptable to some groups of people.
When Arsenal moved from Highbury, Spurs fans mounted a campaign to get Arsenal tube station renamed to its original name of Gillespie Road.
Londoners Use Their Geographic Names
I use the Overground regularly and use their geographic names like.
- Cheshunt Line
- Chingford Line
- East London Line
- Enfield Town Line
- Gospel Oak and Barking Line
- North London Line
- Romford and Upminster Line
- South London Line
- Watford DC Line
- West London Line
I also use The Drain for the Waterloo and City Line.
Thameslink And Moorgate Services
It is likely, that some or all of the Thameslink and Moorgate routes will go to Transport for London.
These would need more names.
Cost
Transport for London (TfL) have a financial crisis and I believe, that the money spent on signage and branding could be better spent on other projects like hydrogen buses or creating the West London Orbital Railway.
If Another Political Party Took Power Would They Rename Everything?
Probably! And this would be more cost!
Conclusion
Sadiq Khan is a vain and stubborn man. Renaming lines will open a nest of vipers.
With the mess Khan has got in over ULEZ, this could be another problem caused by his bad judgment.
Marsh Barton Station – 4th July 2023
The main purpose of my trip to Devon was to visit the new Marsh Barton station, on the Riviera Line.
These are my thoughts about the station.
The Overall Design
This Google map shows Marsh Barton station under construction.
The station is built on a narrow lane by an industrial estate, which features a large waste-to-energy facility, which is in the South-West corner of the map.
The station is a basic two platform design with everything you need on the platforms and a gently sloping bridge over the top to give full step-free access.
I’ve never been to a station, which uses this form of step-free access, either in the UK or Europe.
I think it works because of the unusual site.
Car Parking
The station’s page on the GWR web site, says this about parking.
The station only has disabled parking bays for blue badge holders in order to encourage more sustainable transport use to and from the station.
Staff
The station is unstaffed.
Refreshments
When I arrived, I was hungry and needed a drink, so I asked a guy with a dog, if there was a cafe or pub nearby.
He said, the cafe shut the day before, but there was a pub called Double Locks about three or four minutes away on the canal.
These pictures show the walk.
And this map shows the location of the pub and the station.
Are country minutes like country miles and a lot longer than those everybody else uses?
In the end, as I was getting soaked, I made a retreat back to the station.
Service Frequency
Currently, the trains are only hourly. Is that enough?
Dawlish Station And The New Sea Wall – 4th July 2023
These pictures show Dawlish station and the new sea wall.
Note.
- It is a high quality sea wall.
- I particularly liked the hand-rails which seemed to be made from an expensive sea-proof metal.
- There was a busy fish and chip shop, by the station, but I don’t think they did gluten-free fish and chips.
You can still walk all the way to Dawlish Warren, as I did in Walking Between Dawlish And Dawlish Warren Stations. A guy in the station said it would take me about thirty minutes.
Exeter St. Davids To Dawlish – 4th July 2023
I took these pictures as I travelled between Exeter St.Davids and Dawlish stations.
This OpenRailway map shows the route of the line between Exeter St. Davids and Plymouth stations.
Note.
- The line is shown in orange.
- Exeter St. Davids station is at the top of the map.
- The blue arrow marks the position of the new Marsh Barton station, which opened to the public today.
- Stations in order from the North on the line are Starcross, Dawlish Warren, Dawlish, Teignmouth and Newton Abbot.
- The line follows the Western bank of the River Exe to the sea.
- On my view, it is one of the most spectacular rail lines in the UK.
But the sea can get very angry, as I saw in An Angry Sea At Dawlish.
Taunton To Exeter St. Davids – 4th July 2023
I took these pictures as I travelled from Taunton station to Exeter St.Davids station.
This Google Map shows a section of the M5 North of Collumpton.
Note.
- The proximity of the M5 motorway to the railway, in some pictures and the map.
- There is space to plant large numbers of trees between the motorway and the railway.
- There are high voltage overhead electrical cables running along the same corridor.
- Collumpton services are also placed between the motorway and the railway.
I believe that with good landscaping, it would be possible to improve the motorway and railway corridor, between Taunton and South of Collumpton.
This OpenRailwayMap shows the track between Wellington and Collumpton, between Taunton and Exeter.
Note.
- The black line is the railway between Taunton and Exeter.
- The blue arrow in the North-East corner of the map indicates the position of the proposed Wellington station.
- Collumpton is in the South-West corner of the map and has also been put forward for a new Collumpton station.
- I talked about the reopening of these two stations in Reopening Of Wellington and Cullompton Stations.
- The M5 to the North of Collumpton runs closely alongside the railway.
- According to Real Time Trains, it takes just under ten minutes to go the thirteen miles between Wellington and Cullompton.
I believe that by using partial electrification, good engineering and innovative landscaping, that sufficient electrification can be erected between Taunton and South of Collumpton, that would ensure the following.
- Trains would leave Taunton going East with enough charge to travel the 89.6 miles to Newbury.
- Trains would leave Taunton going North with enough charge to travel the 51.7 miles to Patchway via Western-super-Mare and Bristol Temple Meads.
- Trains would leave Cullompton going South with enough charge to travel the 32.9 miles to Okehampton.
- Trains would leave Cullompton going South with enough charge to travel the 36.6 miles to Paignton.
- Trains would leave Cullompton going South with enough charge to travel the 60.4 miles to Plymouth.
Note.
- I’ve added Okehampton, as I feel that if Dawlish had another encounter with Poseidon, Okehampton with its proposed Parkway station on the A30 could be the terminus for coaches to and from Cornwall.
- Charging could be needed at Okehampton and Paignton.
- Charging at Okehampton and Paignton, wouldn’t be needed, if the battery-electric trains had enough range to do the return trip.
Electrification of Plymouth and Penzance stations, as I outlined in Thoughts About Electrification Through Devon And Cornwall, would enable battery-electric trains to bridge the gap of 79.5 miles, between these two stations.
Conclusion
It looks like some miles of sympathetic electrification and landscaping between Taunton and South of Cullompton, is the key to running battery-electric train to Devon and Cornwall.
Go-Ahead Adds 20 FC Buses To Gatwick Fleet
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on electrive.com.
I described my ride on these buses in My Second Ride In A Wrightbus Single-Decker Hydrogen Bus.
I am publishing this post for this key paragraph on the electrive.com article.
When the order was placed in 2021, Martin Harris, Managing Director of Brighton & Hove and Metrobus, already specified why hydrogen buses were now being used for the first time: “We run services 24 hours a day, with hilly terrain, heavy passenger loads and duty cycles well in excess of the national average at up to 370 miles per day. Those provide really challenging conditions for any technology but we concluded that hydrogen provides the most efficient replacement for our diesel buses.”
It is interesting to note, that the hydrogen buses in Birmingham, Dublin and Liverpool are used on longer routes.
Could East Midland Railway’s Leicester And Lincoln Service Be Extended To Burton On Trent?
After my trip to Lincoln and Cleethorpes earlier this week, I got to thinking about how train services could be improved in the area.
Cleethorpes As A Battery-Electric Train Hub Station
In Cleethorpes Station – 28th June 2023, this was my last sentence.
Cleethorpes station could be at the centre of its own battery-electric train network, with all trains powered by just 3.3 miles of single-track electrification.
Services running to Cleethorpes station could be.
- East Midlands Railway – Barton-on-Humber and Cleethorpes via Barrow Haven, New Holland, Goxhill, Thornton Abbey, Ulceby, Habrough, Stallingborough, Healing, Great Coates, Grimsby Town, Grimsby Docks and New Clee, which currently runs two-hourly, but probably should run hourly. Barton-on-Humber and Grimsby Town is not electrified and is 19.6 miles or 39.2 miles for a round trip.
- East Midlands Railway – Leicester and Cleethorpes via Syston, Sileby, Barrow-upon-Soar, Loughborough, East Midlands Parkway, Attenborough, Beeston, Nottingham, Newark Castle, Collingham, Swinderby, Hykeham, Lincoln, Market Rasen, Barnetby, Habrough and Grimsby Town which currently runs two-hourly, but probably should run hourly. Nottingham and Grimsby Town is not planned to be electrified and is 77.8 miles.
- LNER – London King’s Cross and Cleethorpes via Stevenage, Peterborough, Grantham, Newark Northgate, Lincoln, Market Rasen, Barnetby, Habrough and Grimsby Town, which would run at least two trains per day (tpd). Newark Northgate and Grimsby Town is not electrified and is 60.6 miles.
- TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Cleethorpes via Liverpool South Parkway, Warrington Central, Birchwood, Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Piccadilly, Stockport, Sheffield, Meadowhall, Doncaster, Scunthorpe, Barnetby, Habrough and Grimsby Town, which runs hourly. Hazel Grove and Grimsby Town is not electrified and is 101.4 miles.
Note.
- All services to Cleethorpes could be run using a battery-electric train, with the range of a Stadler FLIRT Akku, which is 139 miles.
- Cleethorpes station will soon have four terminal platforms. Could it be one platform for each service?
- The 3.3 miles of single-track electrification would be between Cleethorpes and Grimsby stations.
- I am assuming that all services should be at least hourly, except London King’s Cross.
- If the frequency of services to London King’s Cross, were to be increased, the extra services would take-over paths of the East Midlands Railway services between Lincoln and Cleethorpes.
- I am also assuming that the Midland Main Line electrification has been completed through Leicester to Nottingham, as is currently planned.
Cleethorpes will become a very well-connected station.
Collateral Benefits Of Cleethorpes As A Fossil Fuel-Free Station
If all services to Cleethorpes are run by battery-electric trains, then there will be collateral benefits.
- All passenger train services in North-East Lincolnshire will be zero-carbon.
- TransPennine Express’s Southern route between Liverpool Lime Street and Cleethorpes via Manchester, Sheffield and Doncaster will be zero-carbon.
- LNER’s services to London King’s Cross from Lincolnshire will be zero carbon.
Manchester and Sheffield will be linked by an hourly electric service, just as it was between 1953 and 1981.
The Ivanhoe Line
I wrote about the Ivanhoe Line in Reinstatement Of The Ivanhoe Line.
- There is a proposed reinstatement of passenger services between Leicester and Burton-on-Trent stations.
- I estimate it’s a distance of around 37 miles.
- There would be some new stations on the route.
In the Wikipedia entry for the Ivanhoe Line, there is a section called Future, where this is said.
The intermediate stations are capable of taking only a two-coach train, which has led to overcrowding on some services, especially now that the service is extended to Nottingham and Lincoln. The latest Route Utilisation Strategy for the East Midlands makes recommendations for platform lengthening.
East Midlands Parkway railway station has now been built on the route. The Borough of Charnwood’s local plan of 2004 anticipates a station at Thurmaston.
In 2022 the closed section of the line was one of nine schemes chosen to undergo a feasibility scrutiny by Network Rail as part of the government’s Restoring Your Railway programme. If approved, work could start in 2024 and the line reopened in 2026
Note.
- The first paragraph refers to the existing section of the Ivanhoe Line, to the North of Leicester.
- I went to Burton once for the football and it’s a difficult place to get to from North London by train.
- Burton-on-Trent station was fully refurbished in 2011.
- Burton-on-Trent station has hourly services from CrossCountry trains.
It seems that a creditable plan is emerging.
Service Frequency Between Burton-on-Trent And Leicester
As Burton-on-Trent station has hourly services, I suspect that this will be the initial frequency between Burton-on-Trent and Leicester.
But I could see this frequency being increased, if there were long waits during interchange at Burton-on-Trent.
Average Speed Of The Service And Estimate For A Time Between Cleethorpes And Burton-on-Trent
The current Grimsby Town and Leicester service is over a route of 105.3 miles and a direct service takes two hours and thirty-seven minutes.
This is an average speed of 40.24 mph.
I can now give an estimate for a Cleethorpes and Burton-on-Trent service.
The distance will be 105.3+3.3+37, which is 145.6 miles.
An estimate of the time using a speed of 40.24 mph is three hours and thirty-seven minutes.
But seeing that a good proportion of the route has a 110 mph operating speed, I suspect that a 100 mph train could do the trip faster.
Could Cleethorpes And Burton-on-Trent Be Worked By A Battery-Electric Train?
The route could be effectively four sections.
- Cleethorpes and Grimsby Town – 3.3 miles – Electrified
- Grimsby Town and Nottingham – 77.8 miles – Not Electrified
- Nottingham and Leicester – 27.5 miles – Being Electrified
- Leicester and Burton-on-Trent – 37 miles – Not Electrified
Note.
- In a round trip, there are two sections of 77.8 miles and two consecutive sections of 37 miles.
- Battery-electric trains would be charged on the electrified section of the route.
I am sure that a battery-electric train with a range of greater than 77.8 miles would handle the service.
Swan On The Tracks Halts Trains On London’s Elizabeth Line
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Guardian.
This is the sub-heading.
Passengers held on trains for up to hour as services suspended between Heathrow and Abbey Wood
These paragraphs outline the story.
Services on a major section of London’s new £19bn Elizabeth line have been suspended because of a swan blocking the tracks.
Transport for London (TfL) said there were no services between Heathrow airport in west London and Abbey Wood in south-east London – via the centre of the capital – due to “an obstruction on the track”. It said there were severe delays on the rest of the line.
I actually got delayed by this, as I was trying to get my shopping home from Moorgate.
The 141 bus, that I took as an alternative was also severely delayed. But not by swans, but by the policies of a Mayor who can’t do sums!
The Anonymous Widower 