East London Is A Duckers And Divers Paradise
This is the East End Tube Map, which I clipped off the full tube map.
I live just South of the East London Line between Canonbury and Dalston Junction stations.
Today started just after nine, as many others do by braving the nightmare on the buses to take a 141 bus to Moorgate.
- At Moorgate, I had breakfast as I do regularly in the Leon, by Moorgate station.
- After breakfast, it was one stop South on the Northern Line to Bank, to see if the new entrance had opened.
- It was then a trip on the new moving walkway to the Central Line.
- I took the Central Line to Stratford to do my main shopping at the start of the week, in the large Marks and Spencer in Eastfield, by the station entrance.
- It was then on to the North London Line to go back home.
- I didn’t go all the way home on the Overground, but got off the train at Hackney Central and using the new Graham Road entrance, I crossed to get a 38 bus, which would take me home.
- But two 38s passed as I tried to cross the road and in the end I took a 277 bus to Dalston Junction station.
- From the Junction, I got a 56 bus home.
I got home about eleven.
At least now, I’ve got food until Thursday!
Very Busy Lizzie
Yesterday, I took the Elizabeth Line, back from Reading to Moorgate.
- When, I got on at Reading, there were perhaps fifty empty seats and I was able to have three seats to myself.
- But by Slough, It was standing room only!
- It cleared a bit at Paddington, but by Moorgate there were only a few seats left.
Currently, there are two trains per hour (tph) between Abbey Wood and Reading stations.
As other passengers said it’s always busy, I suspect that Transport for London need to tweak the signalling, so that four tph run to Reading.
This section called Planned Service in the Wikipedia entry for the Elizabeth Line says this.
In May 2023, it is planned to allow trains to run from both eastern branches to west of Paddington. This will allow both more flexible, and higher frequency, services: 24 tph peak, 20 tph off-peak, and direct services between Shenfield and Heathrow. In the longer term, when Old Oak Common opens, all trains will serve Old Oak Common, with those not serving the Reading or Heathrow branches reversing there.
The service changes for May 2023 were confirmed in February 2023. The peak timetable will increase to 24 trains per hour. Off-peak service level will remain at 16 trains per hour, with two Shenfield–Paddington trains extended to Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 and two Abbey Wood–Terminal 5 trains switching to Terminal 4.
This will give an Off Peak schedule as follows.
- Reading and Abbey Wood – 2 tph
- Maidenhead and Abbey Wood – 2 tph
- Heathrow Terminal 4 and Abbey Wood – 4 tph
- Heathrow Terminal 5 and Abbey Wood – 0 tph
- Heathrow Terminal 5 and Shenfield – 2 tph
- Paddington and Shenfield – 6 tph
I don’t believe it is good enough.
- There is no direct Heathrow Terminal 5 and Abbey Wood service.
- Reading needs four tph to Central London.
- See Elizabeth Line: Commuters Say Service ‘Not What Was Promised’
- See So Many Cases On A Train!
I suspect passenger congestion and reaction will force a rethink by the Mayor and Transport for London.
The Case For Pumped Hydro Storage
The Coire Glas Project
Note that Coire Glas is a pumped storage hydroelectric scheme being developed by SSE Renewables.
- It is rated at 1.5 GW.
- It can store 30 GWh of electricity.
- It is being built in the Highlands of Scotland above Loch Lochy.
- The estimated construction time will be five to six years.
- It should be operational for more than 50 years.
- There is more about the project on this page on the Coire Glas web site.
Exploratory works have started.
The Case For Pumped Hydro Storage
The title of this post, as the same as that of this page on the Coire Glas web site.
This is the sub-heading.
A study by independent researchers from Imperial College London found that investing in 4.5GW of pumped hydro storage, with 90GWh of storage could save up to £690m per year in energy system costs by 2050, as the UK transitions to a net-zero carbon emission system.
And this is the first paragraph.
The report focused on the benefits of new long-duration pumped hydro storage in Scotland, as the current most established long-duration energy storage technology. The benefit of long duration storage compared to short duration batteries is being able to continuously charge up the storage with excess renewables and also discharge power to the grid for several hours or days when wind and solar output is low.
So Coire Glas will provide 1.5GW/30GW, so where will we get the other 3 GW/60GW?
Loch Earba Pumped Hydro
In Gilkes Reveals 900MW Scottish Pumped Storage Plan, I introduced Loch Earba Pumped Hydro.
- It is rated at 900 MW
- It can store 33 GWh of electricity.
- It is being built in the Highlands of Scotland to the East of Fort William.
- The estimated construction time will be three to four years.
- It should be operational for more than 50 years.
- There is more about the project on the Earba Storage web site.
It would appear we could be edging towards the Imperial College target in lumps of about 1GW/30 GWh.
Other Schemes In Scotland
These are other proposed or planned schemes in Scotland.
Balliemeanoch Pumped Hydro
Balliemeanoch Pumped Hydro now has a web site.
The proposed Balliemeanoch pumped hydro scheme will have these characteristics.
- Output of the power station will be 1.5 GW
- Available storage could be 45 GWh.
This medium-sized station has a lot of storage.
Corrievarkie Pumped Hydro
Corrievarkie Pumped Hydro now has a web site.
The proposed Corrievarkie pumped hydro scheme will have these characteristics.
- Output of the power station will be 600 MW
- Available storage could be 14.5 GWh.
This medium-sized station has a moderate amount of storage.
Loch Kemp Pumped Hydro
I wrote about Loch Kemp Pumped Hydro in Loch Kemp Pumped Hydro, where I said this.
The proposed Loch Kemp pumped hydro scheme will have these characteristics.
- Loch Kemp will be the upper reservoir.
- Loch Ness will be the lower reservoir.
- The power station will be on the banks of Loch Ness.
- The power station will be designed to fit into the environment.
- Eight dams will be built to enlarge Loch Kemp.
- Trees will be planted.
- Output of the power station will be 300 MW
- Available storage could be 9 GWh.
The medium-sized station will have almost as much storage capacity as Electric Mountain, but that power station has an output of 1.8 GW.
Red John Pumped Hydro
I wrote about Red John Pumped Hydro in Red John Pumped Storage Hydro Project, where I said this.
I have also found a web site for the project, which is part of the ILI Group web site.
- The scheme has an output of 450 MW.
- The storage capacity is 2,800 MWh or 2.8 GWh.
- The scheme has planning consent.
- The project is budgeted to cost £550 million.
- The construction program indicates that the scheme will be completed by the end of 2025.
Not a large scheme, but every little helps.
Proposed Pumped Hydro In Scotland
I have listed these schemes.
- Balliemeanoch – 1.5GW/45 GWh
- Coire Glas – 1.5 GW/30 GWh
- Corrievarkie – 600 MW/14.5 GWh
- Loch Earba – 900 MW/33 GWh
- Loch Kemp – 300 MW/9 GWh
- Loch Na Cathrach/Red John – 450 MW/2.8 GWh
Note.
- The scheme’s name is linked to their web site.
- The two figures are output and storage capacity.
There is a total output of 5.25 GW and a total storage capacity of 134.3 GWh.
Conclusion
If all these schemes are built, Imperial’s targets of an output of 4.5 GW and a storage capacity of 90 GWh will be comfortably exceeded.
The Hook Landslip
This page on the South Western Railway web site is called Landslip Near Hook.
This is the operator’s explanation about what happened and their solution.
Over the weekend of Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 January, heavy rain caused part of a railway embankment to collapse between Hook and Winchfield stations on the South West Main Line, which connects London Waterloo with Basingstoke.
The landslip took place on a very busy part of our route. On a normal weekday morning, around 13 trains per hour run through this section, with services between London Waterloo and Basingstoke, Exeter St Davids, Portsmouth Harbour (via Eastleigh), Salisbury, Southampton Central, Winchester and Weymouth.
The landslip left a 44-metre stretch of track suspended in mid-air and only one of the four tracks available for trains to run on. This severely restricted the number of services we could run between Basingstoke and Woking.
Initial repairs by Network Rail on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 increased the number of trains that we could run to six per hour, however they were still unable to call at Hook from the direction of London.
Network Rail intend to fully complete their repairs by Friday 24 February, and restore services to Hook in the direction of Basingstoke from Monday 13 February.
To do this, engineers will require more access to the railway between Farnborough and Basingstoke overnight. Normally the last service to run between these stations is at around 0100, but to give engineers the time they need, services will now have to end by 2220.
I passes the site today and took these pictures.
Note.
- Network Rail had to build quite a long roadway to access the site.
- Judging by the site full of portacabins, there were a lot of people working on the site.
- There was even someone working on a Sunday.
- The information board was in the subway at Basingstoke station.
- The pictures would have better, if the sun had been in a different direction.
Network Rail have to manage a lot of embankments like this.
Proposed High-Speed Two Services Are Not Complete
This diagram shows High Speed Two services.
Note.
- Trains to the left of the vertical black line are Phase 1 and those to the right are Phase 2.
- Full-Size trains are shown in blue.
- Classic-Compatible trains are shown in yellow.
- The dotted circles are where trains split and join.
- In the red boxes routes alternate every hour.
Click on the diagram to enlarge it.
Are The Services Incomplete Or Has Someone Left Something Out?
Look at trains 4, 5 and 6.
- Train 4 is a pair of Classic-Compatible trains, which split at Crewe, with one going to Liverpool Lime Street and the other to Lancaster.
- Train 5 is a single Classic-Compatible train, that goes to Liverpool Lime Street.
- Train 6 is a single Classic-Compatible train, that goes to Macclesfield.
As an example, Train 5 could be a pair of Classic-Compatible trains, which split at Crewe, with one going to Liverpool Lime Street and the other to Chester, Llandudno, Bangor and Holyhead. I actually believe that this would be a way of creating a low-carbon route to Dublin, with a zero-carbon high-speed ferry from Holyhead.
What to do with Train 6 is more difficult.
- Stafford and Stoke need to be served by High Speed Two.
- Stafford, Stoke and Macclesfield are not stations with long platforms, so may not be suitable places to split a pair of Classic-Compatible trains.
- Places North of Macclesfield to terminate trains are not numerous and probably only Manchester and Huddersfield may be suitable.
The alternative might be to split a pair of Classic-Compatible trains forming Train 6 at Birmingham Interchange, one going to Stafford, Stoke and Macclesfield and the other going to Blackburn, Blackpool, Crewe, Lancaster, Liverpool or Preston
Stadler To Supply Norwegian Long Distance Trains Making The Journey An ‘Experience In Itself’
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Railway Gazette.
This is the introductory paragraph.
State-owned rolling stock company Norske Tog has selected Stadler as the winner of a contract to supply 17 long distance trainsets to be branded as Flirtnex, with options for 100 more.
The article is very much a must-read or should I say must-look-at?
Gilkes Reveals 900MW Scottish Pumped Storage Plan
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on renews.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Earba project would be ‘largest in the UK’ in terms of energy stored
And this is the introductory paragraph.
Gilkes Energy has unveiled scoping plans for its 900MW Earba Pumped Storage Hydro Project in Scotland.
These are a few more details.
- It will have a capacity of 33 GWh.
- Loch a’ Bhealaich Leamhain is proposed to be the upper reservoir.
- Lochan na h-Earba is proposed to be the lower reservoir.
- There will be a three kilometre tunnel between the reservoirs.
- The 900 MW power station will be on the shore of Loch Earba.
- Construction is expected to take between 3 and 4 years.
This Google Map shows the location of the site.
And this Google Map shows the site.
Note.
- Lochan na h-Earba, which will be the lower reservoir is clearly marked, in the North-West corner of the map.
- Loch a’ Bhealaich Leamhain, which will be the upper reservoir is in the South-East corner of the map.
- Much of Loch a’ Bhealaich Leamhain appears to be frozen, with only a small triangular area of water visible.
- There doesn’t seem to be too many roads.
- There is a detailed map on the Earba Storage web site.
This looks like it could be extreme construction, at it’s most extreme.
Conclusion
With a power output of 900 MW and a storage capacity of 33 GWh, this pumped storage hydroelectric power station will have the largest storage capacity of any energy storage in the UK.
Is Liverpool Going To Get High Speed One-Point-Five?
Some of the best train journeys, I’ve ever had were not on high speed trains on specially-built tracks.
- The Thunder of Three-Thousand Three-Hundred Horses is from the early 1970s and describes a trip back from Darlington behind a Class 55 locomotive or Deltic.
- Norwich-In-Ninety Is A Lot More Than Passengers Think! describes a trip from London to Norwich and back, in the early days of the Norwich-in-Ninety timetable behind a Class 90 locomotive.
- I could add a journey on an InterCity 125 from London to Plymouth, which was running nearly thirty minutes late at Newbury, but was on time at Exeter.
The connection between these stories, was that all had a superb biological control system in the cab, who with help from the signallers was able to keep to a difficult schedule or make up time.
Last year, I made several journeys between Euston and Liverpool Lime Street. A couple of the journeys were unusual in that we arrived at our destination around six or more minutes early.
I suspect, that Avanti West Coast were experimenting to make sure that they get the new two trains per hour (tph) for the route perfect.
In Avanti West Coast Looks To Recover, I said this about Euston and Liverpool Lime Street services.
A paragraph talks about the second hourly service between London and Liverpool.
Avanti still has ambitions to introduce a second hourly service between Euston and Liverpool, but when this will come in will depend on demand recovery.
Consider.
- If would be desirable if some or all trains running on the route could achieve a timing of two hours between London and Liverpool.
- It is felt that the second service should stop at Liverpool South Parkway station, where the platforms are too short for eleven-car Class 390 trains.
- Avanti have stated they would like more stops in the Trent Valley, especially at Nuneaton, where they would connect to services to the East Midlands.
- Nuneaton is almost exactly halfway between London and Liverpool.
- Running two tph with Class 807 trains would need nine trains and Avanti have only ordered ten in total.
I believe that a practical timetable like this could work.
- Class 390 train – one tph – Non-stop or perhaps a single stop in the Midlands – Under two hours
- Class 807 train – one tph – Stopping at Nuneaton, Stafford, Crewe, Runcorn and Liverpool South Parkway – Current time or better
An hourly service between London and Liverpool in under two hours would surely be a passenger magnet.
So what is possible?
I found this service on Real Time Trains, which ran on the 16th February 2023.
- Scheduled to leave Liverpool Lime Street at 0943, but left at 1012 or 29 minutes late.
- Train did a ninety second unadvertised stop at Liverpool South Parkway. Now running 26 minutes late.
- There was a two minute stop at Runcorn and a four-minute stop at Crewe. Now running 25 minutes late
- There was a one-minute stop at Milton Keynes. Now running 20 minutes late.
- The train arrived in London Euston at 1220 or 16 minutes late.
Note.
- Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston took 2 hours and 8 minutes.
- As Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston is a distance of 193.6, a 128 minute journey is an average speed of 90.7 mph
- Liverpool Lime Street and Crewe took 32 minutes with two stops.
- Crewe and London Euston took 1 hour and 32 minutes with one stop.
- In West Coast Main Line Electro-Diesels On Test, I found that a Glasgow and London train took 1 hour and 28 minutes between Crewe and London Euston.
- All services last week had the unadvertised stop at Liverpool South Parkway
What can be deduced from these figures?
- If the Crewe stop were to be cut out, two hours and four minutes could certainly be possible between Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston with a Class 390 train.
- I also suspect that if the train were to be run non-stop, that the other four minutes could be saved.
So will Avanti West Coast run the current service using new Class 807 trains, with the extra stop at Liverpool South Parkway and perhaps other stations and the additional hourly train with a non-stop nine-car Class 390 train?
This way of delivering a two tph service would mean.
- Runcorn, Crewe and Milton Keynes would not lose any of their current fast services to and from Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston.
- Liverpool South Parkway station is probably a more convenient location for some passengers going to and from the South. It would gain an hourly service to London Euston.
- There will be an additional 77% of seats between Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston.
- Passengers who don’t like tilting trains could use the Class 807 trains.
- One tph would be timed for two hours or under and would be a marketing man’s dream.
No train would be slower than the current services.
Improvements To The Non-Stop Class 390 Train Service
I earlier said.
As Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston is a distance of 193.6, a 128 minute journey is an average speed of 90.7 mph.
An average speed of 90.7 mph, doesn’t seem fast for a Class 390 train with an operating speed of 125 mph or 140 mph under full ERTMS digital signalling.
These are some times for a selection of average speeds between Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston.
- 90 mph – 2 hours 9 minutes
- 100 mph – 1 hour 56 minutes
- 110 mph – 1 hour 46 minutes
- 120 mph – 1 hour 37 minutes
- 125 mph – 1 hour 33 minutes
- 130 mph – 1 hour 29 minutes
- 135 mph – 1 hour 26 minutes
- 140 mph – 1 hour 23 minutes
Note.
- Average speeds of upwards of 130 mph are unlikely, but I’ve added them to show that the train speed is less important than the speed of the track.
- High Speed Two’s planned time between Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston is 1 hour and 32 minutes.
But I do think times of around 1 hour and 35 minutes should be possible for non-stop Class 390 trains between Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston with an improved track and full ERTMS digital signalling.
Improvements To The Stopping Class 807 Train Service
As the track of the West Coast Main Line is improved with better track and full ERTMS digital signalling, this will also benefit the times of the stopping service run by the new Class 807 trains.
The Class 807 train with its lighter weight will have better acceleration than the current Class 390 trains. This will mean, that they will not be slowed as much, when they stop.
It may be possible to add extra stops at places like Watford Junction, Nuneaton and Stafford and still time the train for a few minutes over two hours.
Avanti West Coast Looks To Recover, is a post, that I wrote based on an interview in Modern Railways with Phil Whittingham, who is MD of Avanti West Coast.
There is a lot of talk in the article about.
- Using Nuneaton to connect the North West and the East Midlands.
- The acceleration of the Class 807 trains.
- Improving the Customer Service.
I think that Liverpool will find it is connected to more of the country on services with just a single change.
Conclusion
Liverpool is getting greater connectivity to the Midlands and the South-East of England, with times, that could be improved to be comparable with High Speed Two.
GWR And Vivarail
This is an attempt to make some sense about what is happening between GWR and the assets of Vivarail.
These are some random thoughts.
Ongoing Maintenance Of Existing Trains
Currently, there are four operators in the UK, with various types of Vivarail‘s Class 230 trains.
- Great Western Railway – 1 – Infrastructure under construction for trial on the Greenford Branch.
- Island Line – 5 – In operation.
- Transport for Wales – 5 – Undergoing testing prior to entering service.
- West Midlands Trains – 3 – Withdrawn from service indefinitely in December 2022.
Note.
- West Midlands Trains withdrew the trains because of uncertainty about the servicing of the trains.
- West Midlands Trains are getting complaints about the bus replacement service.
- All operators will probably need assistance to service the trains.
- Great Western Railway and Island Line are First Group companies.
Could First Group have got in first, so they can protect their interests with a professional Vivarail train maintenance organisation?
Mark Hopwood
In Special Train Offers A Strong Case For Reopening Fawley Line, I said this.
This is another quote from the Rail Magazine article.
However, SWR’s Mark Hopwood favours a much bolder plan. “We’d have to take a decision, once we knew the line was going ahead. But my personal belief is that we should be looking for a modern environmentally-friendly train that can use third-rail electricity between Southampton and Totton and maybe operate on batteries down the branch line.”
Pressed on whether that would mean Vivarail-converted former-London Underground stock, Hopwood adds. “It could be. Or it could be a conversion of our own Class 456, which will be replaced by new rolling stock very shortly. But I don’t think this is the time to use old diesels.
Mark Hopwood is now the Managing Director of Great Western Railway and he seems to be in favour of battery-electric trains. I agree totally with his statement about old diesels.
Mark Hopwood And The Cholsey And Wallingford Branch
According to LinkedIn, Mark Hopwood is also the President at the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway
- This is a two-and-a-half mile long standard gauge heritage railway.
- It used to be a branch line, that served the town of Wallingford.
- It connects to the Great Western Main Line in a bay platform at Cholsey station.
- Wallingford station has now been demolished.
- The heritage railway uses a new site on the south side of St. Johns Road.
This map from OpenRailwayMap shows the branch line.
Note.
- Cholsey station and the Great Western Main Line is in the South-Western corner of the map.
- The current Wallingford station is in the North-Eastern corner.
- The Cholsey and Wallingford Railway is shown in yellow.
This Google Map shows Cholsey station.
Note.
- There are four through platforms for Great Western Railway services.
- Platforms 1 and 2 for the fast services are on the Western side.
- Platforms 3 and 4 for the slow services are on the Eastern side.
- Bay Platform 5 is tucked in the North-East corner of the station and is the terminus for services on the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway.
- There are only 55 parking spaces.
Is the number of parking spaces sufficient for the station, if a lot of passengers drive from Wallingford?
Could a commercial service run between Cholsey and Wallingford?
Consider.
- Wallingford is a town of nearly twelve thousand people.
- Cholsey station has two trains per hour (tph) between Paddington and Didcot Parkway stations, with extra services between Oxford and Reading stations in the Peaks.
- There is only limited parking at Cholsey station.
- Most GWR branch lines are run by an hourly service.
- I feel that two-car battery-electric train could provide one or two tph on the branch.
- Charging would probably be needed at only one end of the branch line.
- As all the through lines at Cholsey station are electrified with 25 KVAC overhead wires, I suspect that charging would be provided at that station.
A two-car battery-electric train could probably provide a commercial service on this branch, if the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway wanted a revenue stream.
First Group Services That Could Be Run By Battery-Electric Trains
These Great Western Railway and South Western Railway services might be suitable for battery-electric services.
- Newbury and Bedwyn – Newbury is electrified.
- West Ealing and Greenford – West Ealing is electrified.
- Slough and Windsor and Eton Central – Slough is electrified.
- Maidenhead and Marlow – Maidenhead is electrified.
- Twyford and Henley-on-Thames – Twyford is electrified.
- Reading and Gatwick Airport – Partially electrified.
- Reading and Redhill – Partially electrified.
- Reading and Basingstoke – Partially electrified.
- Didcot Parkway and Oxford – Didcot Parkway is electrified.
- Weston-super-Mare and Severn Beach – No electrification.
- Bristol Temple Meads and Avonmouth – No electrification.
- Bristol Temple Meads and Filton Abbey Wood – No electrification.
- Bristol Temple Meads and Portishead – Proposed – No electrification.
- Swindon and Westbury – Swindon is electrified.
- Exmouth and Paignton – No electrification.
- Exeter Central and Okehampton – No electrification.
- Exeter Central and Barnstaple – No electrification.
- Plymouth and Gunnislake – No electrification.
- Liskeard and Looe – No electrification.
- Par and Newquay – No electrification.
- Truro and Falmouth Docks – No electrification.
- St. Erth and St. Ives- No electrification.
- Romsey and Salisbury – Partially electrified.
- Southampton Central and Fawley – Proposed – Partially electrified.
Note.
- Most services are one or two tph or less.
- Reading and Basingstoke, Didcot Parkway and Oxford, Exmouth and Paignton, and Romsey and Salisbury are 2 tph.
- I have included the proposed Bristol Temple Meads and Portishead and Southampton Central and Fawley services.
- All electrification is 25 KVAC overhead except for the North Downs Line between Reading and Gatwick Airport via Redhill, and Romsey and Salisbury, which are 750 VDC third rail.
There are a total of 24 services. As each 2 tph service will need two trains and the North Downs services probably six, a rough calculation, indicates there would need to be a minimum of over thirty trains, to convert all these services to battery-electric operation.
This simple analysis makes Mark Hopwood’s enthusiasm, that I quoted earlier understandable.
The Requirement For First Group Battery-Electric Trains
Consider.
- Most of the services can accommodate three or four-car trains.
- A few services can only be run with two-car trains.
- Some services will need running with 25 KVAC overhead electrification for operation or deploying to and from the depot.
- Some services will need running with 750 VDC third-rail electrification for operation or deploying to and from the depot.
- A modern interior with or without a fully-accessible toilet is needed.
- Ability to recharge in a platform fitted with electrification or a charging system in under ten minutes.
- A reasonable cruising speed where electrification is needed for deployment.
This suggests to me, that two train types will be needed.
- A Vivarail-style two-car train for branches like West Ealing and Greenford and Southampton Central and Fawley.
- A three- or four-car dual-voltage electric multiple unit, based on something like an Alstom Aventra, a Bombardier Electrostar or a British Rail-era Class 321 train.
The Class 321 train could be ideal.
- It is a 100 mph train.
- It is a four-car train, that can be shortened to three-cars.
- Versions are available for both 25 KVAC overhead and 750 VDC third-rail electrification.
- Some have been converted to a modern Renatus interior, with a fully-accessible toilet.
- Greater Anglia have run Class 321 Renatus trains between London and Norwich.
- The Class 321 Renatus trains are fitted with a modern AC-based traction system.
- Eversholt Rail and Vivarail were working on a Class 321 BEMU, which I wrote about in Eversholt Rail And Vivarail To Develop Class 321 BEMU.
- Other operators like Northern, Scotrail and Transport for Wales might like a Class 321 BEMU.
Could First Group convert the Class 321 trains?
In What Train Is This?, I talk about a refurbishment of a GWR Class 150 train, that was one of the best I’ve seen.
I suspect that First Group could do the conversion, with a little help from their friends, like Wabtec and the ex-Vivarail employees, that they’ve hired.
Could The Class 387 Trains Be Converted To Battery-Electric Operation?
It was in February 2015, that I wrote Is The Battery Electric Multiple Unit (BEMU) A Big Innovation In Train Design?, after a ride in public service on Bombardier’s test battery-electric train based on a Class 379 train.
The Class 387 and Class 379 trains are very similar and with Vivarail’s battery and charging expertise, I believe that both Class 379 and Class 387 trains could be converted into modern four-car battery-electric trains.
- They would have a 100 mph or possibly a 110 mph operating speed, so could work routes like the Great Western Main Line amongst the thundering herds of Hitachis.
- The interiors would be suitable for longer routes like Cardiff Central and Exeter or Waterloo and Exeter via Salisbury.
- Great Western Railway have 33 Class 387 trains.
- Thirty Class 379 trains are wasting space in sidings.
I believe that with modern battery technology, these trains could have a battery range in excess of ninety miles.
This would enable services like Cardiff Central and Exeter St. Davids and Exeter St. Davids and Salisbury.
With judicious use of charging stations in stations like Bristol Temple Meads, Exeter St. Davids and Salisbury, all First Group main line services, that are not run by the Hitachi trains could be converted to battery-electric operation.
Conclusion
I believe a well-thought out plan is emerging.
Amazon Finances First-Ever Commercial-Scale Seaweed Farm Located Between Offshore Wind Turbines
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Multinational technology company Amazon is funding the world’s first commercial-scale seaweed farm located between offshore wind turbines
This paragraph details the project.
The North Sea Farm 1 will be located in a wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands, designed to test and improve methods of seaweed farming, while researching the potential of seaweed to sequester carbon.
Seaweed is all the rage at the moment, since Notpla won Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, with their packaging made from seaweed.
It sounds to me, that as Amazon probably create more need for packaging, than any company in the world, there could be an almighty coming together, which will create a lot of environmentally-friendly ideas.
The Anonymous Widower 