High Speed Two To Wigan
There has been a lot of speculation about the Northern end of High Speed Two, so I might as well add sort out a few facts and add a bit of speculation of my own.
The Current Wigan North Western Service
I shall look at the 08:30 train to Glasgow on the 20th September 2023.
- It was an eleven-car Class 390 train or Pendolino, which left on time.
- Euston and Wigan North Western are 193.8 miles apart.
- Trains call at only Warrington Bank Quay
- The train passed Crewe at 09:59
- The train called at Warrington Bank Quay at 10:14 and left at 10:15.
- The train arrived at Wigan North Western at 10:25 on time.
- The journey took one hour and 55 minutes
- The average speed was 101.1 mph.
- The Crewe and Wigan North Western section is 35.8 miles and the train is scheduled to take 26 minutes.
- The average speed between Crewe and Wigan North Western is 82.6 mph.
The train slows past Crewe because of the stop at Warrington Bank Quay.
London Euston And Wigan North Western After Phase 2a Of High Speed Two Opens
According to the Wikipedia entry for High Speed Two, these are the timings.
- London Euston and Crewe – 56 minutes
- London Euston and Warrington Bank Quay – One hour and 20 minutes
- London Euston and Wigan North Western – One hour and 34 minutes
From these figures and the times of the 08:30, I can deduce these journey times.
- Currently, Crewe and Warrington Bank Quay takes 16 minutes and High Speed Two will take 24 minutes
- Currently, Warrington Bank Quay and Wigan North Western takes 10 minutes and High Speed Two will take 14 minutes
- Currently, Crewe and Wigan North Western takes 26 minutes and High Speed Two will take 38 minutes
I am surprised that sectional timings on this short section of the West Coast Main Line are slower than current timings. Digital signalling and the faster acceleration and deceleration of the new trains, are more likely to decrease times, than increase them.
London Euston And Preston After Phase 2a Of High Speed Two Opens
According to the Wikipedia entry for High Speed Two, these are the timings.
- London Euston and Crewe – 56 minutes
- London Euston and Warrington Bank Quay – One hour and 20 minutes
- London Euston and Wigan North Western – One hour and 34 minutes
- London Euston and Preston – One hour and 18 minutes
This graphic shows High Speed Two services.
Note that Preston gets two non-stop services to and from London and another with stops at Warrington Bank Quay and Wigan North Western, and a train split/join at Crewe.
The one hour and 18 minutes surely applies to one or both of the non-stop services.
140 Mph Running Between Crewe And Preston
Consider.
- London Euston and Crewe is 56 minutes
- One hour and 18 minutes to Preston infers a time of 22 minutes between Crewe and Preston.
- Crewe and Preston is 51 miles.
This implies an average speed of 139 mph.
As the West Coast Main Line was built for 140 mph, when digital signalling was installed, this would appear to be feasible, once the signalling is upgraded.
It may also mean, that faster times are possible in services to Warrington Bank Quay and Wigan North Western.
Consider.
- Crewe and Wigan North Western is 35.8 miles
- High Speed Two will take 38 minutes
- The average speed between Crewe and Wigan North Western will be just 56.5 mph.
But if it could run at 140 mph mph between Crewe and Wigan North Western, the base time would be just over 15 minutes.
To this time must be added two full station stops and the time it takes to split or join.
With the superior acceleration and deceleration of the High Speed Two trains and their level of automation, these operations will not take 23 minutes.
I believe that this means that minutes can be saved on services to Lancaster, Liverpool Lime Street, Warrington Bank Quay and Wigan North Western.
London Euston And Wigan North Western After Phase 2b Of High Speed Two Opens
There will be no changes as the full-size High Speed Two trains are not planned to run to the North of Crewe.
See Also
Severn Valley Railway Announces Network Rail Partnership
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
A heritage railway is to work in partnership with Network Rail to share expertise and resources.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Severn Valley Railway, which runs trains between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth, said it would receive spare materials, trackside equipment and track components.
In exchange, Network Rail will be able to train its teams on the railway.
This sounds like the sort of sensible deal, that was negotiated in a real ale pub, by engineers from both parties.
The article also has this paragraph.
The railway said this contract was the first of its kind in Britain and could become a model for other heritage railways to adopt.
I certainly agree with that statement.
I have also written two posts about co-operation with the Mid-Norfolk Railway.
- Aerial Pictures Show New Trains Housed In Mid-Norfolk.
- Mid Norfolk Railway Completes Work On ‘First For UK’ Railway Level Crossing.
It also appears from its Wikipedia entry that the Mid-Norfolk Railway, is regularly used to load freight for transport out of Norfolk. Items moved include Army vehicles and damaged rolling stock.
Two New Stops On The West Midlands Metro
I went to Wolverhampton to see the two stop extension of the West Midlands Metro.
T took these pictures of the two stops and the frontage of Wolverhampton station.
Note.
- Piper’s Row stop is by the bus station.
- Wolverhampton Station stop is by Wolverhampton station.
- Wolverhampton station has orange detailing.
- Trams lower their pantographs at Piper’s Row, when going towards the station and raise them on their return.
- Pictures 11-14 show the pantograph being lowered.
- Batteries are used between the two new stops.
- Passengers enter and leave the tram at Wolverhampton station in its siding.
I have a few thoughts.
Battery Extensions
The West Midlands Metro now has battery-powered extensions at both ends of the line.
The Birmingham extension goes through the City Centre to Edgbaston Village.
- The Wolverhampton extension goes to the station.
- The extensions don’t have any catenary.
- Batteries are charged on the long central section.
How many other tramways in the world could follow the example of the West Midlands Metro to extend their networks?
Simple Ticketing
The West Midlands Metro charges five pounds for an all-day, all-zone ticket, which is bought from the conductor.
As I did, it enables you to get on and off as many times as you need.
Site-Seeing
The windows and the seating arrangement is not good for taking pictures.
Good Connections
The West Midlands Metro has good connections to buses and trains.
Conclusion
These two extra stops make the West Midlands Metro, one of most useful tram lines I’ve ridden.
High Speed Two Crosses The West Coast Main Line To The East of Berkswell Station
This map from OpenRailwayMap shows where High Speed Two crosses the West Coast Main Line to the East of Berkswell station.
Note.
- The double orange tracks are the West Coast Main Line.
- Berkswell station is in the North-West corner of the map.
- The dotted red line is the future track of High Speed Two.
I took these pictures today, as my train returned from Birmingham New Street station.
Trains at this point going towards Tile Hill, will be a good point to observe the construction of High Speed Two. Sit in a window seat on the left hand side of the train.
High Speed Two To Liverpool
There has been a lot of speculation about the Northern end of High Speed Two, so I might as well add sort out a few facts and add a bit of speculation of my own.
The Current Liverpool Service
I shall look at the 08:43 train on the 18th September 2023.
- It was a nine-car Class 390 train or Pendolino, which left on time.
- Euston and Liverpool Lime Street are 193.7 miles apart.
- The train called at Milton Keynes Central, Crewe and Runcorn
- The train arrived at Crewe at 10:24 and left at 10:26.
- The train arrived at Runcorn at 10:43 and left at 10:44.
- The train arrived at Liverpool Lime Street at 11:04 on time.
- The journey took two hours and 21 minutes
- The average speed was 82.4 mph.
- The Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street section is 39.7 miles and the train is scheduled to take forty minutes.
- The average speed between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street is almost exactly 60 mph.
- The slower average speed is because the train is slowing for a gradual stop in Liverpool and the only fast section is the 110 mph section between Crewe and Weaver Junction, where the Liverpool Branch leaves the West Coast Main Line.
- There is one train per hour (tph).
There are probably only limited ways that time can be saved between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street.
- The West Coast Main Line between Crewe and Weaver Junction takes twelve minutes and has an operating speed of 110 mph, so saving a few minutes might be possible, by upgrading the speed on this line with digital signalling to allow 140 mph running.
- It might be possible to save a couple of minutes at the Runcorn stop by using the superior performance of the new Class 807 or High Speed Two trains.
- The slowing down into and accelerating out of Liverpool might be improved by digital signalling and trains with better performance.
It should be noted that Liverpool Lime Street station was recently remodelled to improve operation of the station and the tracks connecting it to Runcorn.
I would be fairly sure that Network Rail and Avanti West Coast have got Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street times to a minimum. As this route will become part of High Speed Two, I suspect that Network Rail/Avanti have done extensive computer simulations of the route, to make sure they get it as quick and efficient as possible.
The New Class 807 Trains
The Class 807 trains, which enter service this year or early next, are the Lotuses in Hitachi’s AT 300 family of high speed trains.
- They are electric only and have no heavy diesel engines or traction batteries.
- They don’t even have emergency batteries for when the catenary fails.
- They have a redesigned nose. Is it more aerodynamic?
- As with all the other Hitachi high speed trains, they are capable of 125 mph, or 140 mph if the signalling permits.
These trains will undoubtedly have faster acceleration and deceleration and could probably knock minutes off the timings at all the stops.
A Second Hourly Train To Liverpool
Tucked away beside the Grand Union Sets Out Stirling Ambitions article in the December 2022 Edition of Modern Railways is a report on Avanti West Coast’s application for a second service between Euston and Liverpool.
This is said.
Avanti West Coast has applied for access rights for its second hourly Euston to Liverpool service, starting from December 2023, although a phased introduction of the new service is likely. This would make use of Avanti’s new fleet of 10×7-car Class 807 Hitachi EMUs, which are expected to enter service from Autumn 2023. The ‘807s’ would be deployed on the current hourly Liverpool service, on which a call at Liverpool South Parkway would be added. (provision is made for this in the December 2022 timetable.).
Pendolinos would then operate the second service each hour, calling at Lichfield Trent Valley and Tamworth.
A linespeed project is in progress to raise the permissible speed for non-tilting trains on the West Coast Main Line, and Avanti’s new Hitachi trains will take advantage of this.
Note.
- The current Liverpool service stops at Milton Keynes Central, Crewe and Runcorn.
- Liverpool South Parkway station is too short for the longest Pendolinos or Class 390/1 trains.
- When the second service is implemented will it stop at Milton Keynes Central, Crewe, Runcorn and Liverpool South Parkway?
- Will the Pendolinos only stop at Lichfield Trent Valley and Tamworth?
Will Avanti West Coast use the trains to take advantage of their strengths?
- The new lighter Class 807 trains will use their superior acceleration and deceleration to execute fast stops at more stations.
- The shorter Class 807 trains will call at Liverpool South Parkway.
- The current Pendolinos will use their tilt to run as fast as possible between London Euston and Liverpool.
I also suspect that Avanti West Coast will adjust the stopping pattern to attract passengers. I read somewhere, that a stop at Nuneaton to connect to Leicester, Peterborough, Cambridge and Stansted Airport, was a possibility.
More Details Of A Second Hourly Train To Liverpool – 30th September 2023.
Real Time Trains is now showing the details of the second service between London Euston and Liverpool.
These are the future timings of the 09:13 train from Liverpool.
- Liverpool – Leave at 09:13
- Runcorn – Arrive at 09:28 and leave at 09:29½
- Crewe – Arrive at 09:49 and leave at 09:56
- Stafford – Arrive at 10:14½ and leave at 10:16½
- Lichfield Trent Valley – Arrive at 10:29½ and leave at 10:31½
- Tamworth – Arrive at 10:36½ and leave at 10:38½
- Nuneaton – Arrive at 10:49 and leave at 10:51
- Milton Keynes Central – Arrive at 11:21 and leave at 11:23
- Euston – Arrive at 11.59
Note.
- This service has not been activated yet.
- It is pathed for a Class 80x train.
- There are seven stops.
- It will take two hours and 46 minutes.
- Liverpool and Crewe will take 36 minutes.
- There are two other inactivated services like this running through Birmingham and Northampton.
Could these services have been timetabled to test connectivity?
High Speed Two Classic Compatible Trains
These High Speed Two Classic Compatible trains are to be built for High Speed Two.
- They will be able to run on both High Speed Two and current high speed lines like the East Coast Main Line and the West Coast Main Line.
- They will have an operating speed of 205 mph on High Speed Two.
- They will be able to operate at appropriate speeds on existing high speed lines. Typically, that is 125 mph, but with full digital signalling that is 140 mph.
- They are two hundred metres long and are sixty metres shorter than an eleven-car Pendolino.
- They are being built by a Hitachi-Alstom joint venture.
This document on the Government web site is the Train Technical Specification for High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains.
Introducing The High Speed Two Classic Compatible Trains Into Service
Consider.
- London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street services can be run by eleven-car Pendolinos.
- It looks like after the introduction of the second service between London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street is introduced, it will be run by Pendolinos and it could be a two-stop service.
- The High Speed Two Classic Compatible trains should be able to run any service currently run by an eleven-car Pendolino.
So will Avanti West Coast use this second hourly London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street service to introduce the new High Speed Two Classic Compatible trains into public service?
- It would make sure the trains and existing track and signals were fully debugged.
- It would inform the public that High Speed Two is on its way.
- It would be good marketing for High Speed Two.
- They might shave a few minutes off journey times.
- It could use all the existing infrastructure.
- It will provide work for Alstom in Derby.
I feel Avanti West Coast just might!
London Euston And Liverpool Lime Street Before Phase 2a Of High Speed Two Opens
According to the Wikipedia entry for High Speed Two, these are the fastest timings.
- London Euston and Crewe – One hour and 30 minutes
- London Euston and Runcorn – One hour and 53 minutes
- London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street – Two hours and 3 minutes
Currently, the fastest London and Liverpool Lime Street trains take two hours and 21 minutes, so are the Class 807 trains going to be eighteen minutes faster?
From these figures and the times of the 0843, I can deduce these journey times.
- Currently, Crewe and Runcorn takes 17 minutes and the Class 807 train will take 23 minutes
- Currently, Runcorn and Liverpool Lime Street takes 20 minutes and the Class 807 train will take 10 minutes
- Currently, Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street takes 38 minutes and the Class 807 train will take 33 minutes
It looks like there may be slight problems with Wikipedia’s figures. But they were published before Avanti West Coast had run a Class 807 train between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street. I think we’ll have to wait and see what turns up on Saturday, the 9th of December 2023, when the timetables change.
But I do feel now that the Class 807 trains will achieve London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street in two hours and three minutes.
London Euston And Liverpool Lime Street After Phase 2a Of High Speed Two Opens
According to the Wikipedia entry for High Speed Two, these are the timings.
- London Euston and Crewe – 56 minutes
- London Euston and Runcorn – One hour and 14 minutes
- London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street – One hour and 32 minutes
From these figures and the times of the 0843, I can deduce these journey times.
- Currently, Crewe and Runcorn takes 17 minutes and High Speed Two will take 18 minutes
- Currently, Runcorn and Liverpool Lime Street takes 20 minutes and High Speed Two will take 18 minutes
- Currently, Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street takes 38 minutes and High Speed Two will take 36 minutes
There doesn’t seem to be much of a saving between today’s Pendolino and High Speed Two between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street.
Could it be that the work to improve Liverpool Lime Street station and its approaches a few years ago sorted out a lot of problems and Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street is now almost to the standard needed for High Speed Two?
If savings are made anywhere by High Speed Two, it could be between Runcorn and Liverpool Lime Street.
Looking at the operating speeds on OpenRailwayMap, there appears to be a 30 mph section of track for a couple of miles out of Liverpool Lime Street, which includes a sharp curve.
This Google Map shows the approaches to Lime Street station.
Note.
- The tracks across the top of the map are the main electrified Liverpool and Manchester tracks.
- The building in the middle is Alstom Traincare’s Liverpool Depot.
- The line to Runcorn enters the map in the South-East corner and curves around the depot to join the tracks into Lime Street station.
- The operating speed gradually reduces from 30 mph on this map to less than 15 mph in Lime Street station.
Perhaps, this 30 mph section is to be improved to gain the couple of minutes.
I also think, that savings could be possible at Runcorn station.
If when the second service starts, the Pendolinos don’t stop at Runcorn, that would save a few minutes.
The Class 807 and the High Speed Two Classic Compatible trains with their superior acceleration and deceleration could save a couple of minutes in the stop at Runcorn.
I very much feel that as the Pendolinos manage to achieve Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street in 38 minutes, that Pendolinos on the second service, Class 807 and the High Speed Two Classic Compatible trains, will all manage 36 minutes or less on the route.
London Euston And Liverpool Lime Street After Phase 2b Of High Speed Two Opens
There will be no changes as the full-size High Speed Two trains are not planned to run into Liverpool Lime Street.
Conclusion
It looks to me, that the Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street leg of High Speed Two is more or less complete.
Times between London and Liverpool will be as follows.
- Before High Speed Two Phase 2a – 2 hours and 3 minutes
- After High Speed Two Phase 2a – 1 hour and 32 minutes
- After High Speed Two Phase 2b – 1 hour and 32 minutes
I believe that for many this will be fast enough, especially as it’s nearly complete.
See Also
Could High Speed Two Finish At Lichfield?
The Crystal Palace Bus Charger – 19th September 2023
I went to see the new charger at Crystal Palace for the new Irizar ie trams that will be introduced on route 358.
I took these pictures.
Note.
- It is not finished yet or someone has nicked the pantograph.
- Irizar seem to make their own chargers.
- It looks a well-designed installation.
This Spanish video shows the bus inside and outside.
I have a few thoughts.
The Specification Of The Bus
This document on the Irizar web site is the specification of the ie trams, that London are buying.
Passenger Capacity
According to the specification, these twelve metre long buses have a capacity of 97-99 passengers, with 21-28 seated, depending on layout.
Is that a bit tight? Especially, if people are carrying large cases.
Climbing Anerley Hill
I wonder how these buses will manage to climb Anerley Hill.
- This page on a cycling blog, rates the hill as the fourth stiffest in London.
- A typical Wrightbus or AlexanderDennis single-decker diesel bus has a kerb weight of 13-14 tonnes.
- The ie tram gives maximum front and rear axle loadings which total 21.2 tonnes. But that includes the passengers, which at 60 Kg each account for a lot of the difference in weight with the diesel buses.
- Anerley Hill has a rise of upwards of 30 metres.
Using Omni’s Potential Energy Calculator gives a figure of less than 2 KWh of energy needed to get up the hill.
That should be possible!
News Of The Bus
But there has been very little news on the Internet of these buses and their chargers, with the last story dated a year ago. Given Sadiq Khan’s love of publicity, does that mean anything?
Conclusion
It seems that Irizar have pulled out all the stops in the design of this bus.
Iarnród Éireann And Latvia’s DIGAS To Trial Europe’s First Retrofitted Hydrogen Freight Locomotive
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Irish Rail.
This is the sub-heading.
Cleaner, cheaper and practical initiative towards decarbonisation goals
These are the first three sections.
Cleaner
Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail is providing a locomotive and will test a retrofitted hydrogen locomotive using a cleaner burning renewable fuel.
Cheaper
DIGAS will provide a cost-effective way how to introduce a hydrogen in the fleet of existing diesel locomotives by retrofitting diesel locomotives with a specialised internal combustion engine (ICE) hydrogen system.
Practical
The collaboration will demonstrate a practical path towards complete decarbonisation of the diesel locomotive fleet.
Note.
- The eighteen 071 Class locomotives were built in Canada by General Motors.
- Some date from as early as 1976.
- In the UK, there is a similar project to convert Class 66 locomotives to dual fuel, which I wrote about in Clean Air Power Adds Hydrogen To Class 66 Fuel Mix.
It does look that the technology is being developed to convert freight locomotives to hydrogen.
What Percentage Of Government Finance Is Fuel Duties?
I typed the title of this post into Google.
Google found this page from the Office of Budget Responsibility.
This was the first paragraph.
Fuel duties are levied on purchases of petrol, diesel and a variety of other fuels. They represent a significant source of revenue for government. In 2023-24, we expect fuel duties to raise £24.3 billion. That would represent 2.3 per cent of all receipts and is equivalent to £867 per household and 0.9 per cent of national income.
I don’t drive after a stroke ruined my eyesight, so I pay nothing directly.
But when everybody is in electric vehicles, how is the £24.3 billion hole in the government’s finances caused by no-one paying duty on petrol and diesel to be filled?
I would assume that everyone will have a black box in their vehicle and they’ll pay according to the miles they drive, their speed, the congestion and the vehicle type.
And of course if a driver exceeds the speed limit, they’ll be automatically sent a ticket.
I can understand why Labour politicians like Mark Drakeford and Sadiq Khan are so keen on 20 mph limits.
Has that nice Rachel Reeves told them what she has planned for motorists?
Their eyes must be rolling like cash registers.
Heritage Buses On The 38 Bus Route
Today, was one of those days, when the 38 bus was augmented by a few heritage buses.
Everybody was swapping stories of buses and their childhoods.
The Anonymous Widower 