Connecting East Lincolnshire
The title of this post, is the same as that of this study by Greengauge 21.
The study goes through all the transport options in East Lincolnshire, comes to some interesting general conclusions, in addition to those specific to East Lincolnshire and then makes this recommendation.
We recommend putting in hand the studies to compare and select the best of the two ways identified here to use electrified net zero carbon public transport to meet East Lincolnshire’s future connectivity needs.
The two ways are.
Reopening the East Lincolnshire Railway
Reopening the East Lincolnshire Railway between Louth and Firsby and running these services.
- Skegness–Wainfleet–Boston–Sleaford–Grantham–Nottingham
- Louth–Wlloughby–Alford–Firsby–Boston–Donington–Spalding–Peterborough (and
thence potentially, London KX).
Note.
- There would be a mini-hub at Boston.
- There would be good connections to Lincolnshire’s InterConnect bus links.
I wrote about reinstating the East Lincolnshire Railway inBeeching Reversal – Firsby And Louth.
An Express Interurban Bus Alternative
The study describes this option like this.
A Louth–Boston–Spalding express bus, interchanging with the east west Nottingham–Skegness trains with timed
connections at a multi-modal hub at Boston and an improved hourly interval rail service onwards
from Spalding southwards.
One of their suggestions is to extend Thameslink to Spalding.
Russian Convoys
This article on Railway Gazette is entitled Five-Train Platoons To Operate With Virtual Coupling.
This is the first paragraph.
Russian Railways is planning to use platooning technology to operate flights of up to five freight trains next year using radio data exchange between locomotives to create a virtual coupling. The aims to reduce headways from 12 to 6 to 8 min, increasing capacity on congested sections of the Trans-Siberian main line.
As a Control Engineer, I must believe that if the Russians get the programming right, then it should work.
Similar techniques will probably be used with digital signalling in the UK and Europe, where each train is controlled by the signalling. But each train will probably have a driver.
The problem in Russia could also be the large number of ungated level crossings, which according to some I’ve met are prone to a lot of accidents, as drivers regularly chance it after too much vodka.
Ryanair Backs Away From Boeing Jet Order
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Ryanair has ended talks to purchase tens of billions of dollars of Boeing jets amid a stand-off over the price.
The Irish budget airline had been in talks to buy as many as 250 planes of the 737 Max 10 model but said yesterday that the talks had collapsed.
But have Michael O’Leary and Boeing fallen out over hydrogen?
Consider.
- Many countries in Ryanair’s largest markets are aiming to go net carbon-free by 2050 or even earlier. Scotland is aiming for 2045.
- An airliner delivered today will still be flying twenty or even thirty years later.
- I believe that by 2030, small airliners up to thirty passengers will be zero-carbon.
In Could An A320 neo Be Rebuilt As A ZEROe Turbofan?, I came to this conclusion.
I very much feel that there will be a route to convert some or all of the A 320 neo aircraft to hydrogen power.
If Airbus can offer an airliner, that can be rebuilt as a hydrogen-powered plane that must change the economics of purchasing a fleet of airliners, which could be made worthless by worldwide carbon emission legislation.
Because the Boeing aircraft is a 1960s design with an aluminium airframe, I would doubt it is designed to be converted to hydrogen power.
All Change As First Class Ditched By New Intercity Rail Service
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Rail bosses signalled the end of the first-class carriage today with plans for a new all-standard intercity train service between London and Edinburgh.
The new budget service will operate on the east coast mainline from October 25, with one-way fares starting from £14.90. In all, 60 per cent of single tickets will be below £30.
I find it interesting that The Times is making the lack of First Class, the most important point in the story.
In Thoughts On Seating In East Coast Trains’ New Class 803 trains, I looked at what the seats could be like and decided they could be generous with lots of tables given the number of seats and the size of the train.
The Times article confirms my analysis.
Having travelled to Liverpool a couple of years ago in Standard Class with two senior guys from Legal and General, I suspect that many business travellers who want to read and chat could turn to East Coast Trains from the airlines.
The article does give some previously-unknown information.
The Service Will Be Called Lumo
The name is unusual, but it is short, memorable and lumo.co.uk was available and is now up and under development as the East Coast Trains web site.
Lumo has also been used for an energy provider, which has now been merged into OVO Energy and is also a video game.
The Service Starts On October 25th
The times are still as I said in Thoughts On Seating In East Coast Trains’ New Class 803 trains, with London and Edinburgh services as follows.
King’s Cross and Edinburgh
- 05:45 – Arrives 10:10 – 4 hours 25 minutes – Stops at Stevenage
- 10:45 – Arrives 15:17 – 4 hours 32 minutes
- 12:18 – Arrives 16:41 – 4 hours 23 minutes – Stops at Stevenage
- 14:36 – Arrives 19:15 – 4 hours 39 minutes
- 20:18 – Arrives 00:46 – 4 hours 28 minutes
Edinburgh and King’s Cross
- 06:14 – Arrives 10:51 – 4 hours 37 minutes
- 09:11 – Arrives 13:48 – 4 hours 37 minutes
- 11:14 – Arrives 15:46 – 4 hours 32 minutes
- 16:12 – Arrives 20:47 – 4 hours 35 minutes – Stops at Stevenage
- 19:58 – Arrives 01:05 – 5 hours 7 minutes – Stops at Stevenage
Note.
- Times appear to be in-line with those of LNER.
- East Coast Trains’ objective of arriving by 10:00 is not met.
- Paths exist for East Coast Trains from the 7th June.
I got these times from Real Time Trains.
The Lumo Web Site
I have also tried to book a ticket on their web site.
They accept Railcards and I was able to get a one-way ticket for £13.30. But as the site doesn’t appear to be complete, I didn’t buy the ticket.
But if you can go between London and Edinburgh for £13.30, that is certainly good value.
The First Group Press Release
This Press Release from First Group gives more details and was the source of The Times article.
Let The Diving Under Begin!
The page on the Network Rail web site is entitled Network Rail Completes Major Signalling Work Near Peterborough Ready For Freight Trains To Begin Diving Under East Coast Main Line This Winter.
The Network Rail web page gives details of the innovative techniques used to build and insert the dive-under.
This Network Rail picture shows the dive-under going under the East Coast Main Line from the North East.
It certainly looks to be strongly constructed.
Freight Trains Through The Werrington Dive-Under
I have just counted the number of freight trains that would have used the route had it been open last Friday between 0600 and 2400.
It was twenty-seven trains or almost one train per hour (tph) in each direction.
- How long will it be before the residents of Lincoln and the other towns and cities on the route start protesting about the noisy, smelly and polluting Class 66 locomotives, that haul most of these freight trains?
- The long trains will also annoy drivers and residents at the many level crossings on the route.
Operators may not be able to do much about the train length, but they can start looking for some more environmentally-friendly locomotives, which could be hydrogen-powered.
At least there is funding for a lower-emission dual-dual-fuel locomotive, that I wrote about in Freightliner Secures Government Funding For Dual-Fuel Project.
Railway To Hell To Be Electrified
This is the title of a serious article on Railway Gazette.
Hell is a village near to Trondheim in Norway and the railways around Trondheim are being electrified.
Walking Under Old Street Roundabout – 4th September 2021
On Saturday, I walked under Old Street Roundabout from North to East.
Note the green line leading to Moorfields Eye Hospital.
Electrification Between Clay Cross North Junction And Sheffield Station
Long term readers of this blog, will have noticed that I make regular references to this proposed electrification, that is part of High Speed Two’s proposals to connect Sheffield to the new high speed railway.
So I thought I would bring all my thoughts together in this post.
Connecting Sheffield To High Speed Two
Sheffield is to be accessed from a branch off the Main High Speed Two route to Leeds.
This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, shows the route of the Sheffield Branch, from where it branches North West from the main Eastern Leg of High Speed Two.
Note.
- Orange indicates new High Speed Two track.
- Blue indicates track that High Speed Two will share with other services.
- The orange route goes North to Leeds, along the M1
- The blue route goes North to Chesterfield and Sheffield, after skirting to the East of Clay Cross.
- The orange route goes South to East Midlands Hub station.
This second map, shows where the Erewash Valley Line joins the Sheffield Branch near the village of Stonebroom.
Note.
- Red is an embankment.
- Yellow is a cutting.
- The Sheffield Branch goes North-West to Clay Cross, Chesterfield and Sheffield
- The Sheffield Branch goes South-East to East Midlands Hub station.
- The Sheffield Branch goes through Doe Hill Country Park.
- The Sheffield Branch runs alongside the existing Erewash Valley Line, which goes South to Langley Mill, Ilkeston and the Derby-Nottingham area.
The Sheffield Branch and the Erewash Valley Line appear to share a route, which continues round Clay Cross and is shown in this third map.
Note
- Doe Hill Country Park is in the South-East corner of the map.
- The dark line running North-South is the A61.
- Running to the West of the A61 is the Midland Main Line, which currently joins the Erewash Valley Line at Clay Cross North junction.
High Speed Two and the Midland Main Line will share a route and/or tracks from Clay Cross North junction to Sheffield.
This fourth map, shows where the combined route joins the Hope Valley Line to Manchester to the South West of Sheffield.
Note.
- Sheffield is to the North East.
- Chesterfield is to the South East,
- Totley junction is a large triangular junction, that connects to the Hope Valley Line.
These are some timings for various sections of the route.
- Clay Cross North Junction and Chesterfield (current) – 4 minutes
- Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield (current) – 17 minutes
- Chesterfield and Sheffield (current) – 13 minutes
- Chesterfield and Sheffield (High Speed Two) – 13 minutes
- East Midlands Hub and Chesterfield (High Speed Two) – 16 minutes
- East Midlands Hub and Sheffield (High Speed Two) – 27 minutes
As Class Cross North Junction and Sheffield are 15.5 miles, this means the section is run at an average speed of 53 mph.
Can I draw any conclusions from the maps and timings?
- There would appear to be similar current and High Speed Two timings between Chesterfield and Sheffield.
- The various junctions appear to be built for speed.
The Midland Main Line will be electrified between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield, so that High Speed Two trains can use the route.
What will be the characteristics of the tracks between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield?
- Will it be just two tracks as it mainly is now or will it be a multi-track railway to separate the freight trains from the high speed trains?
- Will it have a high enough maximum speed, so that East Midland Railway’s new Class 810 trains can go at their maximum speed of 140 mph?
- Will it be capable of handling a frequency of 18 tph, which is the maximum frequency of High Speed Two?
Surely, it will be built to a full High Speed Two standard to future-proof the line.
Current Passenger Services Between Clay Cross North Junction And Sheffield Station
These trains use all or part of the route between Cross North Junction And Sheffield stations.
- CrossCountry – Plymouth and Edinburgh via Derby, Chesterfield, Sheffield and Leeds – 1 tph
- East Midlands Railway – London St. Pancras and Sheffield via Derby and Chesterfield – 2 tph
- East Midlands Railway – Liverpool Lime Street and Norwich via Stockport, The Hope Valley Line, Sheffield and Chesterfield – 1 tph
- Northern Trains – Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield via the Hope Valley Line – 1 tph
- Northern Trains – Leeds and Nottingham via Meadowhall, Sheffield and Chesterfield – 1 tph
- TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Cleethorpes via Stockport, the Hope Valley Line and Sheffield – 1 tph
Note.
- tph is trains per hour.
- High Speed Two is currently planning to run two tph to Sheffield, which will run between Cross North junction and Sheffield stations.
- The services on the Hope Valley Line run on electrified tracks at the Manchester end.
These services can be aggregated to show the number of trains on each section of track.
- Hope Valley Line between Manchester and Totley junction – 3 tph
- Totley junction and Sheffield station – 7 tph
- Totley junction and Clay Cross North junction via Chesterfield – 4 tph
Adding in the High Speed Two services gives these numbers.
- Hope Valley Line between Manchester and Totley junction – 3 tph
- Totley junction and Sheffield station – 9 tph
- Totley junction and Clay Cross North junction via Chesterfield – 6 tph
This report on the Transport for the North web site, is entitled At A Glance – Northern Powerhouse Rail. It states that Transport for the North’s aspirations for Manchester and Sheffield are four tph with a journey time of forty minutes.
Adding in the extra train gives these numbers.
- Hope Valley Line between Manchester and Totley junction – 4 tph
- Totley junction and Sheffield station – 10 tph
- Totley junction and Clay Cross North junction via Chesterfield – 6 tph
This level of services can be accommodated on a twin-track railway designed to the right high speed standards.
Freight Services Between Clay Cross North Junction And Sheffield Station
The route is used by freight trains, with up to two tph on each of the three routes from Totley junction.
And these are likely to increase.
Tracks Between Clay Cross North Junction And Sheffield Station
I am absolutely certain, that two tracks between Clay Cross North junction And Sheffield station will not be enough, even if they are built to High Speed Two standards to allow at least 140 mph running under digital signalling.
Battery Electric Trains
The only battery-electric train with a partly-revealed specification is Hitachi’s Regional Battery Train, which is described in this Hitachi infographic.
Note.
- The train is a 100 mph unit.
- Ninety kilometres is fifty-six miles.
I would expect that battery-electric trains from other manufacturers like Alstom, CAF and Siemens would have similar performance on battery power.
In Thoughts On CAF’s Battery-Electric Class 331 Trains, I concluded CAF’s approach could give the following ranges.
- Three-car battery-electric train with one battery pack – 46.7 miles
- Four-car battery-electric train with one battery pack – 35 miles
- Four-car battery-electric train with two battery packs – 70 miles
I was impressed.
These are my thoughts on battery-electric trains on the routes from an electrified Sheffield.
Adwick
Sheffield and Adwick is 22.7 miles without electrification
I am sure that battery-electric trains can handle this route.
If the battery range is sufficient, there may not need to be charging at Adwick.
Bridlington
Sheffield and Bridlington is 90.5 miles without electrification, except for a short section through Doncaster, where trains could top up batteries.
I am sure that battery-electric trains can handle this route.
But there would need to be a charging system at Hull, where the trains reverse.
An alternative would be to electrify Hull and Brough, which is just 10.4 miles and takes about twelve minutes.
Derby Via The Midland Main Line
Clay Cross North junction and Derby is 20.9 miles without electrification.
I am sure that battery-electric trains can handle this route.
Gainsborough Central
Sheffield and Gainsborough Central is 33.6 miles without electrification
I am sure that battery-electric trains can handle this route.
But there will need to be a charging system at Gainsborough Central.
Huddersfield Via The Penistone Line
This is a distance of 36.4 miles with electrification at both ends, after the electrification between Huddersfield and Westtown is completed.
I am sure that battery-electric trains can handle this route.
Hull
Sheffield and Hull is 59.4 miles without electrification, except for a short section through Doncaster, where trains could top up batteries.
I am sure that battery-electric trains can handle this route.
But there will probably need to be a charging system at Hull.
An alternative would be to electrify Hull and Brough, which is just 10.4 miles and takes about twelve minutes.
Leeds Via The Hallam Or Wakefield Lines
This is a distance of 40-45 miles with electrification at both ends.
I am sure that battery-electric trains can handle this route.
Lincoln
Sheffield and Lincoln Central is 48.5 miles without electrification
I am sure that battery-electric trains can handle this route.
But there will probably need to be a charging system at Lincoln Central.
Manchester Via The Hope Valley Line
This is a distance of forty-two miles with electrification at both ends.
I am sure that battery-electric trains can handle this route.
Nottingham
Clay Cross North junction and Nottingham is 25.1 miles without electrification
I am sure that battery-electric trains can handle this route.
But there may need to be a charging system at Nottingham.
York
This is a distance of 46.4 miles with electrification at both ends.
I am sure that battery-electric trains can handle this route.
Is London St. Pancras And Sheffield Within Range Of Battery-Electric Trains?
In the previous section, I showed that it would be possible to easily reach Derby, as Clay Cross North junction and Derby is 20.9 miles without electrification.
- Current plans include electrifying the Midland Main Line as far North as Market Harborough.
- Market Harborough is 82.8 miles from London St. Pancras
- Derby is 128.3 miles from London St. Pancras
So what would be the best way to cover the 45.5 miles in the middle?
One of the best ways would surely be to electrify between Derby and East Midlands Parkway stations.
- Derby and East Midlands Parkway stations are just 10.2 miles apart.
- Current services take around twelve-fourteen minutes to travel between the two stations, so it would be more than enough time to charge a battery-electric train.
- Power for the electrification should not be a problem, as Radcliffe-on-Soar power station is by East Midlands Parkway station. Although the coal-fired power station will soon be closed, it must have a high class connection to the electricity grid.
- The East Midlands Hub station of High Speed Two will be built at Toton between Derby and Nottingham and will have connections to the Midland Main Line.
- An electrified spur could connect to Nottingham station.
I have flown my virtual helicopter along the route and found the following.
- Three overbridges that are not modern and built for large containers and electrification.
- Two level crossings.
- One short tunnel.
- Two intermediate stations.
- Perhaps half-a-dozen modern footbridges designed to clear electrification.
I’ve certainly seen routes that would be much more challenging to electrify.
I wonder if gauge clearance has already been performed on this key section of the Midland Main Line.
If this section were to be electrified, the sections of the Midland Main Line between London St. Pancras and Sheffield would be as follows.
- London St. Pancras and Market Harborough – Electrified – 82.8 miles
- Market Harborough and East Midlands Parkway – Not Electrified – 35.3 miles
- East Midlands Parkway and Derby – Electrified – 10.2 miles
- Derby and Clay Cross North junction – Not Electrified – 20.9 miles
- Clay Cross North junction and Sheffield – Electrified – 15.5 miles
Note.
- The World Heritage Site of the Derwent Valley Mills is not electrified, which could ease the planning.
- Leicester station with its low bridge, which could be difficult to electrify, has not been electrified.
- Under thirty miles of electrification will allow battery-electric trains to run between London St. Pancras and Sheffield, provided they had a range on batteries of around forty miles.
Probably, the best way to electrify between East Midlands Parkway and Derby might be to develop a joint project with High Speed Two, that combines all the power and other early works for East Midlands Hub station, with the electrification between the two stations.
Will The Class 810 Trains Be Converted To Battery-Electric Operation?
Hitachi’s Class 8xx trains tend to be different, when it comes to power. These figures relate to five-car trains.
- Class 800 train – 3 x 560 kW diesel engines
- Class 801 train – 1 x 560 kW diesel engine
- Class 802 train – 3 x 700 kW diesel engines
- Class 803 train – All electric – No diesel and an emergency battery
- Class 805 train – 3 x 700 kW diesel engines (?)
- Class 807 train – All electric – No diesel or emergency battery
- Class 810 train – 4 x 700 kW diesel engines (?)
Note.
- These figures relate to five-car trains.
- Class 807 train are seven-car trains.
- Where there is a question mark (?), the power has not been disclosed.
- Hitachi use two sizes of diesel engine; 560 kW and 700 kW.
It was generally thought with the Class 810 train to be used on the Midland Main Line, will be fitted with four engines to be able to run at 125 mph on diesel.
But are they 560 kW or 700 kW engines?
- A Class 802 train has an operating speed of 110 mph on diesel, with 2100 kW of installed power.
- To increase speed, the power will probably be related to something like the square of the speed.
So crudely the power required for 125 mph would be 2100*125*125/110/110, which works out at 2712 kW.
Could this explain why four engines are fitted? And why they are 700 kW versions?
Interestingly, I suspect, Hitachi’s five-car trains have two more or less identical driver cars, except for the passenger interiors, for the efficiency of manufacturing and servicing.
So does that mean, that a fifth engine could be fitted if required?
There probably wouldn’t be a need for five diesel engines, but as I also believe that the Hyperdrive Innovation battery packs for these trains are plug-compatible with the diesel engines, does that mean that Hitachi’s trains can be fitted with five batteries?
Suppose you wanted to run a Class 810 train at 125 mph to clear an electrification gap of forty miles would mean the following.
- It would take 0.32 hours or 19.2 minutes to cross the gap.
- In that time 2800 kW of diesel engines would generate 896 kWh.
- So to do the same on batteries would need a total battery capacity of 896 kWh.
- If all diesel engines were replaced, each battery would need to be 224 kWh
A battery of this size is not impractical and probably weighs less than the at least four tonnes of the diesel engine it replaces.
Conclusions
Electrification between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield station is an important project that enables the following.
- A high proportion of diesel services to and from Sheffield to be converted to battery-electric power.
- With electrification between Derby and East Midlands Parkway, it enables 125 mph battery-electric trains to run between London St. Pancras and Sheffield.
- It prepares Sheffield for High Speed Two.
It should be carried out as soon as possible.
Tideway – Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore – 4th September 2021
I passed Tideway’s Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore site on the way home and took these pictures.
This page on the Tideway web site, gives a visualisation of the project.
Denmark Hill Station – 4th September 2021
The article on Rail Technology Magazine is entitled Denmark Hill Station First To Use Innovative Solar Technology In Europe.
The first two paragraphs describe the technology.
Denmark Hill station has become the first train station in Europe to have BIPVco’s Flextron thin film technology installed, on top of other upgrades, following a £7.5m extension.
The sophisticated and flexible solar panels are different from traditional ‘glass like’ panels, requiring no additional weight support, and will be used across other stations going forward.
Note.
- In the application of the technology at Denmark Hill station, a surplus of electricity is returned to the grid.
- BIPVco is a company based in South Wales, that evolved from research by Tata Steel and Swansea University, with the backing of the Welsh Government.
- The panels are lightweight, flexible, durable and self-cleaning.
Many years ago, I put up a barn based on timber beams, which had a sheet steel roof. These panels would be ideal for many agricultural buildings, like the one I commissioned.
These are pictures I took at Denmark Hill station, this morning.
Note.
- The original station was designed by Charles Henry Driver.
- The new entrance displays a high degree of craftsmanship, especially in the brickwork.
- The coffee and gluten-free cake I had in FCB Coffee were excellent.
- The station has its own pub; The Phoenix.
According to Network Rail, it has already been nominated for two architectural awards.
The Anonymous Widower 