Thameslink Is Back On The London Tube Map
The title of this post, is the same as that, of this this article on Ian Visits.
Thameslink last appeared on the tub map in 1999.
I’m glad it’s back.
I regularly use Thameslink as a quick route across London, especially, if I want to go to Tate Modern, as the gallery is a short walk from Blackfriars station.
Hydrogen Super-Hub May Be Headed To UK’s Port Of Southampton
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
It is an interesting article and behind Southampton’s move is this proposition.
The hope is that making the location a hydrogen super-hub would greatly reduce its CO2 emissions.
This paragraph, explains what they will do.
This location would not focus on green H2, but would instead use carbon capture, usage, and storage (CCUS) technology to cut back on the CO2 emissions produced through this hydrogen fuel production. In this way, it would provide a zero-emission fuel while decarbonizing much of the process of its creation. It would provide that locally produced fuel to industries and activities that are currently highly polluting.
Note.
- They are not going to generate green hydrogen, which is usually produced by electrolysis using renewable energy.
- So how will they create hydrogen?
- Increasingly, carbon capture, usage, and storage (CCUS) is being talked about, rather than just carbon capture and storage (CCS). Surely, this is an improvement.
- Will we see hydrogen-powered tugs and boats used by the port?
This could be a good move by the Port of Southampton.
Railfuture North East – New Station At Team Valley
When I wrote Beeching Reversal – Ferryhill Station Reopening, I used this document from Railfuture, for information.
The document lists a series of campaigns and a New Station At Team Valley was one.
This is their summary of this campaign.
Construct a new Station at Team Valley where ECML passes through Team Valley near the site of
the former Low Fell station. The station could be served by a new local service from York or
Darlington to Newcastle via the ECML, the existing TransPennine Express services, the new Teesside
– Tyneside service via the Stillington freight line, or by an extension of the proposed local service
from Northumberland. This proposal is particularly relevant because the roads into
Newcastle from the south are congested at peak times and there are air quality issues to the extent
that the City Council is considering charging arrangements to help limit the traffic flow
These are my thoughts.
Location Of The Station
This map clipped from Wikipedia, shows the location of Low Fell station on the 1911 Railway Clearing House map.
Note.
- The still-open Dunston station in the West.
- Low Fell station at the Southern junction of the triangular junction.
This Google Map shows the same lines today.
Note.
- Dunston station towards the North-East corner of the map.
- The triangular junction can be picked out.
- The Team Valley, where according to Wikipedia, there are 20,000 jobs and large retail stores.
- The East Coast Main Line passing down the Eastern side of Team Valley.
This second Google Map shows, where the station might have been.
Note.
- The giveaway is the road leading to the bridge is called Station Road.
- A Royal Mail site with lots of red vans is in the South-West corner of the map.
- But was the station North or South of Eastern Avenue?
There’s certainly a lot of space.
Reasons For The Station
This Google Map sums up the reasons for the station.
Note.
- The East Coast Main Line running down the East side of the site.
- There are a lot of businesses in Team Valley.
- If 20,000 work at the site, how many visitors does it get in a day?
Several trading estates and large shopping centres have railway stations in the UK. So why not Team Valley?
I can understand why Railfuture said this in their proposal.
This proposal is particularly relevant because the roads into Newcastle from the south are congested at peak times and there are air quality issues to the extent that the City Council is considering charging arrangements to help limit the traffic flow
I certainly can’t fault Railfuture’s desire to see a station at Team Valley
Current Passenger Train Services Through Team Valley
These services currently pass the location of the proposed Team Valley station.
- LNER – London Kings Cross and Edinburgh via York, Darlington. Newcastle and Berwick-upon-Tweed
- LNER – London Kings Cross and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Newark North Gate, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle
- CrossCountry – Plymouth and Edinburgh via Totnes, Newton Abbot, Exeter St Davids, Tiverton Parkway, Taunton, Bristol Temple Meads, Bristol Parkway, Cheltenham Spa, Birmingham New Street, Derby, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Wakefield Westgate, Leeds, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle
- CrossCountry – Southampton and Newcastle via Birmingham New Street, Derby, Sheffield, Doncaster, York, Darlington and Durham
- TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh via Newton-le-Willows, Manchester Victoria, Huddersfield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle and Morpeth
- TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Newcastle via Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Victoria, Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Leeds, York, Northallerton, Darlington and Durham
Note.
- All trains have a frequency of one train per hour (tph)
- All trains call at York, Darlington and Newcastle.
- I have missed out some of the intermediate stations, where trains don’t call at least hourly.
- I have missed out stations South of Birmingham New Street.
- A few Northern Trains services pass through at Peak times or to go to and from depots.
I suspect some of these services could stop and to encourage commuters to and from Newcastle, Durham and Darlington to swap from car to train,
I also suspect that Team Valley station needs a frequency of at least two tph and if possible four! Four tph would give a Turn-up-and-Go service to Darlington, Newcastle and York.
Planned And Possible Future Passenger Train Services Through Team Valley
From various sources, these services are either planned or possible.
High Speed Two
High Speed Two are planning the following services, that will pass through.
- Birmingham Curzon Street and Newcastle via East Midlands Hub, York, Darlington and Durham.
- London Euston and Newcastle via Old Oak Common, East Midlands Hub and York.
- London Euston and Newcastle via Old Oak Common, East Midlands Hub, York and Darlington.
Note.
- All trains have a frequency of one tph.
- All trains call at York, East Midlands Hub, York and Newcastle.
- All trains will be 200 metres long.
It is extemely unlikely, that these trains will stop in Team Valley station, but I would feel, that the platforms should be able to accommodate these trains and other long trains, to future-proof the design and to cater for possible emergencies, diversions or engineering works.
The longest trains on the route would probably be one of the following.
- A pair of five-car Class 800 trains or similar, which would be 260 metres long.
- A High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train, which would be 200 metres long.
Unless provision needed to be made for pairs of High Speed Two Classic-Compatible trains.
East Coast Trains
From next year, East Coast Trains, intend to run a five trains per day (tpd) service between London and Edinburgh via Stevenage, Newcastle and Morpeth.
These will pass straight through Team Valley station.
Northern Powerhouse Rail
Northern Powerhouse Rail has an objective to to run four tph between Leeds and Newcastle in 58 minutes.
At present there are only three tph on this route, two tph from TransPennine Express and one tph from CrossCountry. All three services stop at Leeds, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle.
Northern Powerhouse Rail need to decide the stopping pattern for their four tph between Leeds and Newcastle, some of which could call at Team Valley
In Beeching Reversal – Ferryhill Station Reopening, I did a similar analysis to this for Ferryhill station and concluded that the fourth service should be a London Kings Cross and Edinburgh with just two stops at Newcastle and Leeds.
Railfuture’s Proposals
Railfuture said this in their document about services to Team Valley
The station could be served by a new local service from York or
Darlington to Newcastle via the ECML, the existing TransPennine Express services, the new Teesside
– Tyneside service via the Stillington freight line, or by an extension of the proposed local service
from Northumberland.
There are four services here.
- A local service from York or Darlington to Newcastle via the ECML.
- The existing TransPennine Express services.
- The new Teesside– Tyneside service via the Stillington freight line
- By an extension of the proposed local service from Northumberland.
I shall cover these three services in the next three sections.
A New Local Service From York Or Darlington To Newcastle Via The ECML
This service could have the following characteristics.
- It could call at York, Darlington, Northallerton, the new Ferryhill station, Durham, Chester-le-Street and Team Valley stations.
- It could be hourly or two tph.
- The Southern terminal could be York, Darlington or possibly Leeds.
- The route would be fully electrified, if the route between Leeds and York were to be finally wired.
If the Southern terminal were Leeds this would give Northern Powerhouse Rail, their fourth service between Leeds and Newcastle.
The Existing TransPennine Express Services
TransPennine Express runs these two services through Team Valley station.
- Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh via Newton-le-Willows, Manchester Victoria, Huddersfield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle and Morpeth
- Manchester Airport and Newcastle via Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Victoria, Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Leeds, York, Northallerton, Darlington and Durham
Note.
- You can make arguments for either or both trains to stop at Team Valley station.
- Both trains connect to Manchester Victoria, Huddersfield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle.
- You can argue for direct connections to Edinburgh, Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Airport.
The arguments will be partly settled by the number of tickets purchased.
Tyneside And Teesside Via Ferryhill And The Stillington Freight Line
Will this proposed service call at Team Valley station?
- As this is likely to be the faster service between Tyneside and Teesside, I suspect this service will be a prime candidate to call at Team Valley station.
- It is also favoured to call by Railfuture.
It would be useful to know how many people from Teesside regularly go to Team Valley to work or buy something.
A Service To Northumberland
This would be a new service on a disused freight line to Ashington and Blyth.
Little has been settled yet about this line.
If trains went South of Team Valley, where would they terminate?
Thoughts On The Trains
It is likely, that Cross Country, East Coast Trains, High Speed Two, LNER andTransPennine Express will be running trains capable of 125 mph on the East Coast Main Line through Team Valley station.
In Beeching Reversal – Ferryhill Station Reopening, I said this about the trains for any passenger service that uses the East Coast Main Line between Newcastle and Ferryhill.
I also feel that as some of these services will be running on the East Coast Main Line between Ferryhill and Newcastle, it probably would be desirable for these services to be run by Hitachi’s Regional Battery Trains, which would be capable of maintaining the maximum speed for the route, as all the other passenger services can at present!
Increasingly, in the UK, over the last few years, we have seen increasing numbers of 110 mph local trains working on high speed lines, like the East Coast Main Line, Great Western Main Line, Midland Main Line and West Coast Main Lines, as these increase the capacity and mix better with 125 mph expresses.
But it is my belief that in the future we’ll be seeing more 125 mph services on main lines to increase the capacity.
- Great Western Railway are already running Class 800 trains to Oxford and Bedwyn from Paddington.
- In Call For ETCS On King’s Lynn Route, I wrote about using 125 mph trains to speed up all services into Kings Cross.
- When High Speed Two trains start sharing the East and West Coast Main Lines, all services would probably need to be fast services on the shared lines.
The specification of Hitachi’s Regional Battery Train is shown in this Hitachi infographic.
I am certain, that the train could be built to this specification for high speed routes, like the ones I indicated earlier to Bedwyn, Oxford, Kings Lynn and to share with High Speed Two.
- 125 mph on electrified lines.
- 140 mph on electrified lines with full in-cab digital ERTMS signalling.
- 100 mph on battery power for 56 miles (90 kilometres)
Many places in the UK, will join Bedwyn, Oxford and Thanet in having high speed commuter services to their regional large city.
Could There Be A Combined Service?
As I said earlier, Railfuture are proposing these four services in the North East.
- A local service from York or Darlington to Newcastle via the ECML.
- The existing TransPennine Express services.
- The new Teesside– Tyneside service via the Stillington freight line
- By an extension of the proposed local service from Northumberland.
In the same document, they also say this about a Newcastle and Berwick service via Morpeth.
Developing a North of Morpeth Local Service by extending local Newcastle – Morpeth services to
Berwick offering an hourly service calling at all stations, possibly linking to similar service from
Berwick to Edinburgh. This service need not terminate in Newcastle and could be extended to serve
Team Valley and areas in County Durham that are on electrified lines.
It strikes me, that if you add up all their proposals, Railfuture could be proposing a Berwick and York service with the following characteristics.
Hourly or two tph.
Northern terminus of Berwick or Blyth.
Southern terminus of Leeds, York or Darlington.
Routing via East Coast Main Line to the North of Ferryhill station.
Routing via East Coast Main Line or Stillington Line and Eaglescliffe to the South of Ferryhill station.
Calling at York, Northallerton, Darlington, Ferryhill, Chester-le-Street, Team Valley, Newcastle, Manors, Ceamlington, Morpeth, Pegswood, Widdrington, Acklington, Alnmouth and Chathill.
Trains would be a version of Hitachi’s Regional Battery Train or something like it, with the specification I proposed earlier.
- 125 mph on electrified lines.
- 140 mph on electrified lines with full in-cab digital ERTMS signalling.
- 100 mph on battery power for 56 miles (90 kilometres)
- A four or five car train would probably be sufficient.
It would effectively be a High Speed Metro. And probably, one of the first of many, that will be built around the world.
Conclusion
A new station at Team Valley seems a sensible idea.
As my logic shows, I think that between Berwick and York, is a section of line, that might be able to support a High Speed Metro.
Will The United States Be The Largest Battery In The World?
This article on Renewables Now is entitled Swell Bags Funds For 200 MWh Of Distributed Energy Storage In VPPs.
This is the introductory paragraph.
US distributed energy and grid solutions provider Swell Energy Inc has secured financial backing for up to USD 450 million (EUR 370.6m) worth of virtual power plants (VPPs) to be deployed across the country.
200 MWh a lot of energy storage and it works out at around $450,000 per MWh.
But it was the last paragraph that caught my eye.
Swell expects distributed energy systems in its portfolio to generate more than 3,000 GW over the next 20 years and customers to potentially store 1,000 GWh for later use.
If that should be 3,000 GWh, that will be 150 GWh per year. By comparison Drax, which is the largest power station in the UK, can generate 34,689.6 GWh in a year.
Drax may be 230 times bigger in GWh per year, but the US numbers are impressive and as wind and solar develop in the country, I suspect the United States will become the largest battery in the world.
Watch the US renewable energy sector grow!
How Do We Protect Ourselves From Covidiots Like These?
I had to laugh when I heard this story on the BBC!
They gave a summary on Radio 5 of this story from Reuters, which is entitled London Police Irritated By Makeshift Nightclub In Barbershop Basement.
But I do suspect, that the Soho police were a lot more than irritated.
I certainly am furious at such irresponsible behaviour!
Neutrinovoltaics Are Advancing The Science Of Green Energy
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Cision.
This is the introductory paragraph.
By pioneering the world’s first neutrinovoltaic energy generators, the Neutrino Energy Group believes that it has taken the preliminary steps toward a world fueled by honest green energy. No longer will petty squabbles over limited forms of energy generation rule the planet, and human beings will be free to recapture their interstellar origins and explore the utmost limits of consciousness.
Harvesting the energy of neutrinos is an interesting concept!
The Neutrino Energy Group believe that neutrinovoltaic technology will power the world.
Engineers Go Microbial To Store Energy, Sequester CO2
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Cornell Chronicle.
This is the first two paragraphs.
By borrowing nature’s blueprints for photosynthesis, Cornell bioengineers have found a way to efficiently absorb and store large-scale, low-cost renewable energy from the sun – while sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide to use later as a biofuel.
The key: Let bioengineered microbes do all the work.
This is slave labour, that even the most ardent of Human and Animal Rights activists would approve.
This is technology to watch!
Gore Street Energy’s £60mln Fundraise Significantly Oversubscribed
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Proactive Investors.
Surprise! Surprise!
Well not to me! Or I suspect Which!
This article on Which is entitled Solar Panel Battery Popularity Is Booming: Should You Buy One?
I have read the article and it leaves, the overall impression, that the UK population are thinking seriously about adding batteries to their solar panels.
So if the UK population is thinking seriously about personal energy storage, it would be very surprising if professional fund managers weren’t thinking the same.
After all, I did write World’s Largest Wind Farm Attracts Huge Backing From Insurance Giant, over two years ago.
So if we’re operating and commissioning offshore wind farms like these.
- Dogger Bank – 4.8 MW
- Gwynt y Mor – 576 MW
- East Anglia Array – 7.2 GW
- Hornsea – 6 GW
- London Array – 630 MW
- Walney – 1.7 GW
- Whitelee – 539 MW
We’re going to need some humungous batteries to tide us through calm periods.
As I write this post on a Monday afternoon, the UK is generating 11.5 GW of electricity by wind, which is more than we’re generating by biomass, coal and nuclear combined.
This is a quote from Alex O’Cinneide, who is Gore Street Capital’s chief executive, in the Proactive Investors article.
We are looking forward to deploying this capital against our significant global pipeline of 1.3GW and towards the capital expenditure requirements in the company’s existing 440MW portfolio.
Gore Street certainly seem to be expanding, their portfolio of batteries.
Conclusion
The City of London has discovered renewable energy and found a way to fund it, to the benefit of all investors, from the guy with a pension managed by a reputable company to global insurance companies, funds and other companies, who have billions of pounds, dollars or euros, that needs a profitable home.
The next big development will come, when a company like Gore Street goes Giga and decide to fund Gigawatt batteries being developed by the next generation of energy storage companies, like Gravitricity, Highview Power, Siemens Ganesa and Zinc8.
Railfuture North East – New Station At Gilsland
When I wrote Beeching Reversal – Ferryhill Station Reopening, I used this document from Railfuture, for information.
The document lists a series of campaigns and a New Station At Gilsland was one.
This is their summary of this campaign.
New Station at Gilsland aimed at both improving links to local towns for the residents of the area
and opening up the area to a new and greener form of tourism.
These are my thoughts.
The Location Of Gilsland
Gilsland station was on what is now called the Tyne Valley Line.
The station closed in 1967.
The station towards Carlisle was Low Row, which closed in 1965.
The station towards Newcastle was Greenhead, which closed in 1967.
This Google Map shows the area.
Note.
- The A69 road goes across the map.
- Low Row is close to the A69, in the South-West corner of the map.
- Greenhead is on the Northern side of the A69 at the Eastern edge of the map.
- The blue dot at the top of the map indicates a Hadrian’s Wall site.
- Gilsland is to the East of the blue dot.
- The railway curves between Low Row, Gilsland and Greenhead.
This second Google Map enlarges the area around the village of Gilsland.
Note.
- The blue dots are sites, that are all related to the World Heritage Site of Hadrian’s Wall.
- The red dots are places to spend a night!
- The orange dots are places to eat.
This third map shows an enlargement of the village of Gilsland.
Note.
- The railway running across the map from the North-East corner.
- Two Hadrian’s Wall sites within walking distance of the railway.
- Gilsland station must have had some of the best access to one of the UK’s foremost historical sites.
This must rank as one of the most philistine of the station closures of the Beeching era.
But the Prime Minister of the time; Harold Wilson once said that we won’t need railways in the future, as everybody will have their own car.
A New And Greener Form Of Tourism
The heading for this section is taken directly from Railfuture’s reasons for reopening the station.
They are so right!
Perhaps, I’m being selfish, as I’ve never visited Hadrian’s Wall and as I no longer drive a car, it’s unlikely, I’ll ever do it under my own steam.
But a new station at Gilsland, would make it easy, if I was in the area.
Battery Electric Trains On The Tyne Valley Line
The current train service between Carlisle and Newcastle is two passenger trains per hour (tph) and several freight trains per day (tpd).
It is not a large number of trains, but they will need to be decarbonised, as all are diesel-powered at present.
In The Mathematics Of A Hydrogen-Powered Freight Locomotive, I laid out my view, that as decarbonisation proceeds, we’ll see large numbers of diesel locomotives either replaced with or converted to hydrogen power.
So in this post, I will only deal with the passenger trains.
Consider.
- All the battery electric trains, that I’ve ridden, have been as quiet as church-mice.
- They are very electrically efficient and zero-carbon.
- Hitachi and other manufacturers are claiming ranges for battery electric trains of up to sixty miles and charging of batteries in less than ten minutes.
- Newcastle and Carlisle stations are 61.5 miles apart.
- There is electrification at both ends of the Tyne Valley Line.
- Hexham, which is forty miles from Carlisle and twenty from Newcastle could be used to charge the trains en route.
Diesel trains are so last Century!
This would be one of the easier lines to run with battery-electric trains.
This Company May Have Solved One Of The Hardest Problems In Clean Energy
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Vox.
I found the article about an American company called Hytech Power, very interesting.
The company has developed technology called Internal Combustion Assistance (ICA), that improves the fuel consumption and emissions performance of diesel engines, by injecting small amounts of hydrogen and oxygen into the cylinders at the right time.
This is a paragraph from the article, which gives the performance improvements.
HyTech’s offer to that market is pretty remarkable: it claims that its ICA can improve the fuel efficiency of a diesel engine between 20 and 30 percent, reduce particulate matter by 85 percent, and reduce NOx by between 50 and 90 percent. In concert with a DPF and some SCR, it can yield a diesel engine that meets official California standards for an “ultra-low emissions” vehicle.
Note.
- A DPF is a diesel particulate filter.
- SCR is selective catalytic reduction fluids.
Both are expensive!
This paragraph from the article gives some customer feedback.
The ICA has been listed by the EPA as a candidate for emissions-reduction technology; respected testing firm SGS found that the ICA boosted the fuel efficiency of a FedEx delivery truck by 27.4 percent; FedEx is currently road testing the ICA on a fleet of trucks and finding 20 to 30 percent better fuel economy and substantially reduced DPF maintenance costs. In third-party testing, and in limited local sales around Redmond, the ICA has performed as promised.
It never hurt a company to have FedEx on their side! Later on, the article says that Caterpillar are on board and their engines, generators and equipment features heavily on the Hytech Power web site.
If you look at the Wikipedia entry for Hydrogen Fuel Enhancement, you read a lot of sceptical words about this technology.
I would suggest that you read the Vox article, Hytech Power’s web site and the Wikipedia entry in detail before making your mind up.
My decision has been to file Hytech Power in a box, called Must Watch and set up a Google Alert.
For three of the last ten companies, I did that for, I made an investment in the shares. None are trading badly!
The Anonymous Widower 