Heathrow and Gatwick Will Cost More
Surprise! Surprise! The BBC is reporting that the proposals for a new runway at either Heathrow or Gatwick will cost more!
The Airports Commission says a second runway at Gatwick would cost £2bn more than the bid suggests.
Two separate plans to expand Heathrow are predicted to cost £3-4bn more.
T’was, ever thus! The first real estimate of the cost of a large project is inevitably more than the back-of-a-fag-packet estimate.
Only when the designers and project engineers work out how the project is to be realised do we get a figure for the actual cost. Usually, in construction projects, this figure can generally be relied upon.
But as I’ve believed for some time, I don’t think we’ll ever build a new runway in the South East.
My Nineteenth Letter In The Times Since 2005
I had a letter published in The Times yesterday in a whole group of letters under the general heading of Don’t deny drivers a glimpse of Stonehenge. It said.
Sir, I have just taken a train to Cornwall and eaten lunch on the way. It was Britain at its best, on a British Rail-era, but well-refurbished high-speed train with superb locally sourced food and the best service.
Who in their right mind would want to drive all the way on the A303, even after the Stonehenge tunnel has been built?
If you want to have a memorable journey like me, see here.
Incidentally, I’m not counting my letters, but someone else is and in the on-line comments to the letter publishes the statistics of all the writers’ letters. As that is nineteen in just under two years, I wonder if I’ll be here long enough to reach my century.
Unlikely!
Payday Loans Get A Cap and a Kicking
This morning the Financial Conduct Authority has imposed a cap on payday lenders. The BBC report starts like this.
Payday loan rates will be capped at 0.8% of the amount borrowed a day,said the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
In total, no one will have to pay back more than twice what they borrowed, and there will be a £15 cap on default charges.
I do hope that this type of loan quickly becomes a blip on the history of finance.
If you might at some time need to borrow money, make sure that you can get the best credit rating you can, by behaving responsibly. This should help to give you access to finance at a reasonable rate when you need it.
But we can all help to get rid of these high cost loans.
I believe that if we put our savings in a peer-to-peer lender that lends to others, this will put more money in the hands of responsible lenders, who can lend to those that need to borrow, who fit their lending requirements.
So you’ll be helping yourself and also helping others.
But do choose a peer-to-peer lender that is or will be regulated under the FCA.
Zopa, who are regulated, say this about their relationship with the FCA
Do You Have A Community Energy Partnership?
We all pay too much for our energy, because whatever the politicians do, the Big Six just use their muscle and highly-paid lawyers to get around every attempt that is made to force prices down.
They also can rely on our natural inertia to stop us changing.
So I was particularly pleased to see OVO has setup a community energy partnership in Sussex with Community Energy South.
Everyone should check out their local community energy partnership.
We’re only small consumers but we must give the Big Six as tough a time as possible.
Do you think large consumers of electricity like Network Rail, Transport for London, just roll over and pay what the Big Six think they will charge?
Selective Door Opening On The East London Line
Selective door opening (SDO) is used in several stations on the London Underground like Baker Street, Camden Town and Moorgate. No-one seems to mind, especially as at stations where it is used, there is usually an automated announcement.
On Friday I saw this notice on the East London Line of the London Overground.
Selective Door Opening On The East London Line
Hopefully, SDO should work well on the Class 378 trains of the Overground. After all the continuous design of the trains will mean that unless the train is very busy, it should be much easier to get to an operational door.
According to Wikipedia, the SDO is controlled by GPS. So we have the door opening on a train running beneath London’s streets, being controlled by a satellite system.
As time goes on, more and more it seems that trains are becoming sentient beings with seats in them!
I wonder how long it will be before a version of the technology used on the 141 bus that counts the passengers, is giving TfL accurate loading information on some of their trains!
A Novel Way To Serve Strawberries
I found this presentation in a list of simple recipes in The Times yesterday. It’s called Yoghurt-Dipped Strawberries and is from the Total Greek Yoghurt Cookbook by Sophie Mitchell.
All it needs is an appropriate amount of strawberries and Greek yoghurt. I used my all-purpose yoghurt, which is Rachel’s yoghurt with honey which serves as my breakfast with cereal or as a pasta sauce.
I lined a square plate with baking parchment.
The instructions say beat the yoghurt in a small bowl until smooth, but I just used my Little Chopper.
I then dipped the berries into the yoghurt and laid them out on the plate, before putting them in the freezer.
I served them straight from the freezer after about three hours.
These pictures tell the story.
They were delicious, but I think next time, I’ll give them less time in the freezer.
Peer-To-Peer Lending For The Non-Digital World
I was an early adopter of peer-to-peer lending in 2008 and now have a six figure sum invested, which returns me over five percent before tax.
Reading the letters about poor broad band and mobile phone coverage in today’s Sunday Times, it strikes me that many people are cut off from this sensible investment.
I could if I wanted to, set up my Zopa account, so that I perhaps looked at it once every blue moon.
Would it be an idea if one of the peer-to-peer lenders offered a minimal input product for those disconnected from the digital world?
Money would be paid in by a direct transfer or even a cheque paid in at a bank branch, if you still use one.
If you needed to check your account or perhaps withdraw a small amount of the interest and repayments that you have received as cash, you would just use a debit card in any ATM.
Obviously, you will still have the option to login normally, if you wanted.
Now Barclays Tidy Up Savings Accounts
It’s reported in The Sunday Times, but also here in The Guardian.
In my view it says to me, you don’t trust of the wunch of bankers.
All I use my bank for is to hold my working money and provide debit and credit cards.
Rail Minister Hints At More Diesel Multiple Units
In this article in Rail Magazine, Claire Perry, a rail minister, hints that there may be some more new build diesel multiple units (DMUs). This was said.
Rail minister Claire Perry has dropped a strong hint that the Government is prepared to look again at the possibility of ordering diesel multiple units to beat overcrowding and plug a short-term gap.
It would seem to be logical, if you look at the UK rail network in say 2030 or even a couple of decades after that.
I think it is unlikely that all the small branch lines in the UK, like St. Ives or those in North Norfolk will either be electrified or closed. The only permanent solution will be some form of battery or flywheel two or three coach train with a small on-board diesel engine, which has a range of say forty or fifty kilometres.
So as the dreaded Pacers can’t be made compatible to the new disability regulations and should have been scrapped years ago, unless you employ the Bulgarian and Rumanian Armies to put up electric wires all over the country, something else needs to be done.
If an order for enough two and three car Class 172 trains, were to be announced soon, the closet trainspotter that is George Osborne, will be able to show many diverse parts of the country that he means business. Incidentally, in The Times yesterday, there is a long article by Janice Turner about spending two days following George Osbourne. This is the last paragraph.
Approaching St Pancras, Osborne frowns out of the window. “One of these,” he says, “is the Francis Crick building, a medical research institute, the first thing we approved when we took office.” Down on the concourse, he points to a half-built skyscraper. “There, that’s it,” he says, with satisfaction. And I realise this is how he wants to see himself in the story, striding off back to the Treasury with his brown government box, a man of glass and concrete, if not human hearts.
So does this partly explain, why under the Cameron Government we’ve seen such a spurt in infrastructure, with quite a bit of that for rail? All politicians like to leave a legacy, but it’s just that some leave much better legacies than others.
An order for Class 172 trains, would tick an awful lot of boxes.
- As on the Gospel Oak to,Barking Line (GOBlin), they make an excellent stop-gap train prior to electrification, in that they create good publicity and ridership for the line. It could be argued that the GOBlin wouln’t have been slated for electrification, if London Overground and the Class 172s hadn’t done such a good job on what was one of the worst communter lines in the UK.
- The trains are British-built in Derby by Bombardier.
- As they are already designed and built, the design and certification doesn’t feature on the critical path.
- There is a lot of expertise already in their operation and maintenance.
- They are an easy replacement operationally for a lot of the Pacers and Sprinters.
- If we make a mistake and order too many two-car sets, I suspect they can be easily lengthened to three-cars.
- At the present time, a lot of engineers are working hard to keep the old trains running and trying to get them updated. Ordering new Class 172 trains, would mean that they could do more worthwhile jobs for which there are skill shortages in the UK rail industry.
- In 2018, hopefully London Overground won’t need their eight sets, so those lines currently served by Pacers and Sprinters, will be getting some Class 172s anyway.
The only problem, is unlike Ford Escorts, you can’t just whistle them up immediately. But according to Wikipedia, there has been a lot of talk about potential orders, so hopefully Bombardier at least have a plan to start production in a timely manner. Given too, that the extra carriages for London Overground, are now being manufactured and delivered, Bombardier may have no capacity constraints.
One of the great advantages of at least creating a few standard Class 172s, is that they could be used initially on the worst lines for overcrowding and service, or to promote new services. But say if you put a a set on Burnley to Manchester via Todmorden, would the new route and trains cause overcrowding, just as it has on the Overground?
I wouldn’t be surprised if George Osborne announces some of these trains in his Autumn statement on December 3rd. Even a small number could have a significant effect!
The new Bacon Factory Curve may have had a significant effect on train services in the Felixstowe area, but a new two-car class 172 between the seaside town and Ipswich would probably have more perceived effect on the people of the area.
So will George’s legacy be in fifty years time, the railway commentators and bloggers of that time complaining about the ancient stop-gap Class 172 trains still trundling up and down the branch lines? And will these commentators be praising them, just like I and so many commentators today, praise the nearly fifty-year-old stop-gap Inter-City 125s, still speeding us to Wales, the West |Country, Nottingham and Scotland.
London’s Low-Key New Train Launch
To say that the launch of the new carriages for the London Overground on Thursday was low-key would be an understatement. I have only found one article on the web with a picture and that is in Rail Magazine. They say this.
The first five-car Class 378 for the London Overground network was unveiled at New Cross Gate depot yesterday (November 6).
All 57 EMUs in the fleet are receiving an extra carriage, as part of a £320 million investment boosting overall capacity by 25% – equivalent to an additional 170 passengers per train.
But where are the politicians in the photo?
First Five-Car Class 378
It’s not like Boris to miss a photo-opportunity.
In some ways there is a very solid engineering principle behind these Class 378 trains. You should always make sure that anything you design can be adjusted to meet changing circumstances.
London Overground thought that three car trains would be enough for the limited number of passengers on the North and East London Lines. It quickly became obvious that these were inadequate. Either by good design or just plain luck, the trains had been originally built as two end cars with cabs and an unpowered trailer car in the middle. So to go from three to four they just built an extra trailer car and plugged it in, with a few small adjustments to the trains systems.
But even four cars have proved inadequate and now the process is being repeated to create five car trains. This is perhaps a little more complicated, as they have been unable to lengthen some platforms like Shadwell, so selective door opening has been implemented.
In the London Transport Infrastructure Plan for 2050, it states that these lines will have six cars at some point. So how long will it be before another car gets added?
The Anonymous Widower 