Where Are All The Containers Going?
On the North London line of the Overground, every so often a freight train comes through taking full boxes from the East Coast ports to the West Coast Main Line or empty boxes back again. Some may also be flows between Southampton and the East.
A few years ago rail freight was almost dead, but it has bounced back with a vengeance, despite the recession. It was always felt that rail freight traffic was strongly linked to GDP, but it appears the link is now broken and the figures show it. In the last five years, total freight has dropped by 10% and truck hauled traffic has dropped by 13%. So how many truck drivers have been made redundant? But in the same period rail-freight has risen by 2%. The number of containers handled at the ports in 2010 was the same as in 2005, but those that were handled by rail has risen by 29%. In the future, rail freight-traffic is expected to double between 2010 and 2030.
The reason for the growth is obviously cost and even a long train of 30 containers or so is more cost effective than 30 trucks.
But also various improvements to the rail network have been added to speed the traffic on its way. I reported on one here. There are more improvements in the pipeline too.
Some trains too, are now running through the Channel Tunnel, as far as Wroclaw in Poland.
So we’ll be seeing lots more freight trains on the rail network in the UK.
And this will mean less CO2 emissions, especially where the trains are hauled by electric locomotives.
It will also remove a lot of trucks from the major roads in the UK. Every time I travel on the A14, I seem to think that there are less trucks.
I also come to the conclusion, that we may be seeing a few green shoots of recovery.
London Is Alive With the Sound of French
I don’t know why, but London this morning seemed to be full of the French. I thought it might have something to do with the rugby, but France play England in Paris on the 11th.
I was travelling to Westbourne Park station and back and both ways I had to sort out groups of French travellers, who had got lost. One thing that seems to have confused them, is that the Circle line, is no longer what it says on the tin. So experienced travellers to London, who want to get between say St. Pancras International and Victoria stations with heavy cases, get rather confused with having to change trains at Edgware Road station. The first group had been so confused they’d actually got on the westbound, rather than the eastbound they needed. I came back from Paddington and there it is more confusing, as all eastbound trains terminate at Edgware Road. The information leaves a lot to be desired.
I still haven’t found out why all the French were here, but something was up, as why would there have been a TV crew at St. Pancras.
TV Crews at St. Pancras
I think they could have been French!
Make Bradford British
I am not going to get into the race arguments on this one, as many are expending a lot of effort in that way.
I would argue that from a totally different point of view that it isn’t part of the UK. Last year I visited all 92 football clubs in alphabetical order. Bradford as many know, occupies a sad place in football history in the UK.
But arriving at the station, there was no maps and no information on how to get to the football ground, despite the fact you could see the ground from the platform. So it obviously wants to deter visitors and keep them out.
Even a policewomen, said that there was no direct walking route and that every year they get people who lost a relative in the tragic fire walking around looking for the route to the ground.
So it was one of the few grounds, I didn’t properly visit.
I should also say, that it wasn’t the most unwelcoming place I visited.
The Hanging Gardens of Dalston
The development by Dalston Kingsland station replacing the old Peacocks store is official called Dalston Green. I don’t like the choice of name, as it really isn’t green space and Dalston is short of the latter. This was said on the old London Development Authority web site about Dalston.
On average in London 38% of land is given over to green space – in Dalston it is less than 12%.
There is more here about the LDA’s plans for Dalston. As the LDA has been abolished it would be interesting to know the view of the GLA.
So you can see why I prefer the Hanging Gardens of Dalston, as the development will not add to any green space in the area.
The Proposed Development
I should start by saying, that the proposed development will not affect me on a permanent basis, unless the access to Dalston Kingsland station is improved from the south-west. But during constructi0n, I fear it might make it difficult to walk to the station from the same direction.
The development is tall, is all flats for sale, and has no on-site parking except for two disabled spaces. The green part comes because they are intending that residents cultivate gardens on their balconies. Some will, but many won’t I fear. Incidentally, when we lived on the eleventh floor of Cromwell Tower in the Barbican, we didn’t bother to grow anything.
So my first question is will the developers actually sell all of the flats? I have been told that the penthouses are about a million. And that of course goes with a maximum green view of 12%, no water view and no car parking. For that sort of money in Hackney, you can buy a whole house. OK, a lot of the flats will be much cheaper, but I think they’ll struggle to sell them to owner-occupiers.
Which leaves those, who are buying-to-let. I have two buy-to-let properties outside London and both have water views. They are not a problem to let. I would think that these in Dalston might be difficult. Especially, if you want to make a return on your money.
About the only thing going for the development, is that it has its own railway station and as the developers are rebuilding this with lifts and full step-free access, this is a plus to offset the car parking problems.
But the biggest problem of the development is that it is not a friendly neighbour and it will cast a deep shadow over all the buildings around. A lot of people are objecting to that.
A Deal Over Windows
Apparently, the developer has done a deal to rebuild the station with step-free access and has now got the ability to put windows on the northern side of the tower. You could argue that only the north and east sides of the tower have any interesting views, with the railway and the Kingsland Road respectively. It does seem a bit dodgy, but then all the parties involved are reputable.
The picture shows Dalston Kingsland station from the westbound platform with the Peacocks store on the right.
Dalston Kingsland Station Looking East
Note how it would be impossible to squeeze another track into the cutting. But does the deal between the parties allow them to build over the tracks? This might be actually easier than not, as somewhere underneath all this is HS1.
Rail Considerations
The cross-London routes and the London Overground are probably in for a lot of changes over the next few years. If TfL get their way a lot of freight will leave the North London Line through Dalston Kingsland and move to a newly-electrified Gospel Oak to Barking line. Some freight will never get near London at all, due to developments elsewhere, like the Bacon Factory Curve at Ipswich. This will increase the number of passenger trains on the North London Line, but not enough to cope for the expected increase in passengers on the line.
Further increase in capacity will come from lengthening the trains from four coaches to five. The trains are designed to be coupled in various combinations and four to five, is just a matter of coupling in the coach and telling the train it is now longer. Some stations are ready for the extra coach, but Dalston Kingsland is not, so temporarily the longer trains would use selective door opening. The way the trains are designed means this won’t be a problem, especially as it would be easy for passengers to move to a coach from which exit was not allowed.
Selective door opening is only a short term fix though and inevitably the platforms will have to be lengthened.
The platforms at Dalston Kingsland are actually staggered, so only one platform would need to be lengthened. I took this picture from the western end of the westbound platform.
Looking West From Dalston Kingsland Station
It shows the stagger well, and it would appear space has been left to extend the eastbound platform at its western end, with perhaps a bit of modification to the overhead wiring. The westbound platform would probably take a five car train with just a couple of metres of extra platform.
One advantage of extending the platforms at the western end, would be that the station frontage could be moved backwards from the Kingsland Road, if this would make a better balanced building.
The Rail South To and From the East Problem
At present if you come up from the South and want to get to anywhere in the East, like Stratford, you have to change at Canonbury via either steps or two lifts.
From the East to go South, you presently change at Canonbury by walking across the platform.
This is probably better than fighting your way down Kingsland High Road. Especially, with some heavy purchases from the Eastfield shopping centre at Stratford.
When I do the trip from Stratford to Dalston Junction, I always go via Canonbury.
Looking at the area today, I wonder whether it would be possible to slip a southbound platform between the southbound line and the end of the westbound platform, so that passengers could just walk across between a westbound train and a southbound one. There may be enough space, but would the expense be worth it given that Canonbury works well as an East-to-South interchange.
It Gets Complicated
If we look at all the site from Boleyn Road to the station, it is either directly owned by TfL/Network Rail or the developers, who may be under the rail companies control because of the northern windows issue.
Given too, that Peacocks have gone bust since all this development was planned and the Overground is going from strength to strength, might we not see a bigger plan covering the whole site, much more sympathetic to the better buildings on the Kingsland Road. A decent architect might even be able to build a small green space into the development, as after all Dalston needs it.
A Walking Route Between the Two Dalston Stations
This I think is very much needed, as I’ve said earlier, it’s not good to walk along the crowded Kingsland Road. But if all the development on the west side of the road is done together, there is a chance, that something everybody would be proud off can be created. There is probably space for a decent bus lay-by and the walking route could also branch down the Balls Pond Road, where hopefully a light-controlled crossing could cross that road to the Bentley Road car-park. We might even see some better shops and cafes alongside the walking route to compliment the pub and the Shanghai restaurant.
In Conclusion
A lot of what I have said here is kite-flying and can probably be shown up as rubbish. But I hope it shows how to treat the various sites to the west of the Kingsland Road holistically as one site could lead to something that is more in keeping with the surroundings, is probably shorter in height and offers benefits to everybody who uses the trains or the Kingsland Road.
A Good Face of London
As I walked out of Dalston Kingsland station today, a young black guy was walking the other way. He pointed at my lower body and my immediate reaction, was that I’d made the usual male forgetfulness. But he was persistent and eventually, I realised one of bootlaces would was undone. So any trip-up was avoided.
I did thank him profusely at the time and he acknowledged it, but I’m thanking him and all the others who’ve done similar deeds today, here again.
The Whitbread Share Price
Many realise that Costa Coffee is a subsidiary of Whitbread plc.
But do they realise that this Costa has nothing to do with the cruise line of the same name?
As the Whitbread share price doesn’t seem too strong, this may not be the case.
The Bus Design Wars
There has been criticism from the usual suspects of the New Bus for London, saying it is just a vanity project and too expensive. It is the latter, if you don’t take into account the design and certification costs. But then when could politicians do arithmetic? Especially hard-left or hard-right ones!
In some ways though the New Bus for London, is just another skirmish in the battle for control of who designs and builds the UK’s buses. And the only winners of that will be the passengers, the bus operators and probably employment in either Northern Ireland or Yorkshire!
So what do the passengers want of a bus want other than it be reliable, easy to get on and off and comfortable?
Some would like wi-fi and I’ve seen this on buses in Reading and Cambridge.
Others might like groups of seats of four with a table and I’ve seen that in Reading.
Leather seats also feature on some buses in Cambridge. And comfortable they were too.
If you are disabled, in a wheel-chair or with a baby in a buggy, you want easy access. London’s dual-door buses make this much easier than some places, where single-door is the norm. Manchester for example, still has 40% of buses without wheel-chair access, whereas London has a figure of virtually 100% wheel-chair access. In my view single-door buses are not acceptable for wheel-chair access.
Londoners also want the hop-on/hop-off ability of the old beloved Routemaster.
So the specification of buses is going upmarket just like that of your average luxury car is.
Let’s look at the specification of the standard red London bus. It may seem very similar to other buses you see around the country, but with extra features.
All London buses have at least two doors, to ease boarding. How bad a single door is was illustrated to me on a new Wright bus in Manchester, where everybody clustered by the driver, distracting him and making the process of loading and unloading difficult. Anybody with a buggy or in a wheelchair probably couldn’t have got on or off. I was sitting next to an off duty bus-driver and he said it was only to save money that the bus company didn’t buy double-entry/exit buses. But he had to put up with all the aggro around the single door!
Note that wheel-chairs always enter or exit through the door at the middle of the bus.
London buses also talk you through the route and display where you are.
Displays on a London Bus
The picture also shows one of the security video screens on the bus. Would you commit a crime with upwards of sixty people watching?
London buses have been to this specification for some years now and even the older ones still running have two doors and route displays.
Currently, there are three main types of double deck bus, that have been delivered in the last three years or so, each delivered by a different manufacturer.
Scania OmniCity
The Scania OmniCity is built in Poland and route 56, which runs near me uses them.
Scania OmniCity
This is one loading and unloading at the Angel today.
Wright Gemini 2
The Wright Gemini 2 is built in Northern Ireland generally using Volvo chassis components.
Wright Gemini 2
There are two types; a conventional diesel bus and a hybrid version.
Alexander Dennis Enviro 400
The Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 is another British-built bus from Yorkshire.
Alexander Dennis Enviro 400
As with the Gemini, it is available in both conventional and hybrid versions.
Hybrid Bus Logo
Increasingly, this logo will be seen on the side of buses, as Transport for London have said that from 2013 all new buses must be low-or zero-emission.
I tried to get on the single New Bus for London, but couldn’t find it today, as it seemed to be very popular with bus enthusiasts.
The New Bus for London will stand or fall on how it meets the objectives I outlined earlier in this post.
The current design has three doors and two staircases, which may seem excessive, but they should speed up loading and unloading. I hope tests have been done on a mock-up with real people to prove the theory. Boeing and Airbus do this with their airliners, so why shouldn’t bus designers?
But one of the advantages of two staircases is that it gives more places to hide the some parts of the hybrid drive system, like the diesel engine, the generator and the batteries. The actual electric motors are hidden in the rear wheels and do regenerative brakimg too.
In fact, the propulsion system of the New Bus for London and all future hybrid buses, will probably change drammatically over the next couple of years.
As batteries are expensive and have to be replaced every couple of years or so, so they are one of the major running costs of a hybrid bus. But Torotrak have come up with a flywheel-based solution to store energy. Someone will make it work, even if they don’t. Their prototype looks to be smaller and cheaper than a current set of batteries.
There is also a big beast that has entered hybrid drive systems for buses and larger vehicles; BAe Systems with HibriDrive. There are a lot of new buses needed both in the UK and worldwide in the next few years and BAe Systems will eat their fill from it. They will only pour petrol on the Bus Design Wars. And we know who’s going to win that; the passengers, the bus operators and hopefully UK-based builders.
A Malaysian View on London Buses
I found this article on a Malaysian newspaper website.
It is of an interview of the Chief Executive of the Malaysian Land Public Transport Commission, where they talk about improving bus services over all of Malaysia.
What is interesting, is that they are talking about using a London model, where different private companies tender for specific routes. I won’t comment yet, but make sure you read the article.
Liverpool in Trouble Again
But this time, it’s not their players or fans, it’s just that an engineering train has got derailed at Winsford, preventing their fans from getting to the Carling Cup Final at Wembley today.
The information has not been released as to the team that the driver supports.
Docklands Light Railway Efficiency
I just saw one of the most efficient pieces of cleaning, I’ve seen in a long time.
I had boarded a DLR train from Canary Wharf station towards Stratford, when I noticed the floor in one section was absolutely filthy. It looked like someone had spilt a full carton of coffee.
At the first station out of Canary Wharf, West India Quay, I was surprised to see a lady, in a high visibility vest enter the carriage, with what was best described as a good old-fashioned mop and pail in plastic. By Poplar, she had it finished and left the train and a beautifully clean floor.
Everybody was rightly impressed. The cleaner was even pleased that she finally discovered the errant coffee carton, that had hidden itself deep under a seat.
The Anonymous Widower 