My Faithful Servant
The picture shows the plastic shopping bag that I have used to bring my shopping home for at least the last five years.
Note.
- It folds up in my brief case.
- It carries the small amount of shopping, I buy on the odd day.
- My major shopping comes from Ocado and is placed in my hall by a usually cheery van driver.
- It is the right size to carry home dry cleaning.
- Unlike its paper replacement from Marks and Spencer, it doesn’t cut my hand.
Sometimes being 100 % green, isn’t the right way to go.
AI Forecast To Fuel Doubling In Data Centre Electricity Demand By 2030
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
International Energy Agency predicts that artificial intelligence could help reduce total greenhouse gas emissions
These are the first two paragraphs.
Data centres will use more than twice as much electricity by 2030 than they do today as artificial intelligence drives demand, the International Energy Agency predicts.
The agency forecast that all data centres globally will use about 945 terawatt-hours of electricity each year by 2030, roughly three times as much as the UK’s total annual demand of 317 terawatt-hours in 2023.
I am very much an optimist, that here in the UK, we will be able to satisfy demand for the generation and distribution of electricity.
- Our seas can accommodate enough wind turbines to provide the baseload of electricity we will need.
- Roofs and fields will be covered in solar panels.
- SSE seem to be getting their act together with pumped storage hydro in Scotland.
- I am confident, that new energy storage technologies like Highview Power with the packing of companies like Centrica, Goldman Sachs, Rio Tinto and others will come good, in providing power, when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.
- Hopefully, Hinckley Point C and Sizewell C will be online and soon to be joined by the first of the new small modular nuclear reactors.
- Hopefully, Mersey Tidal Power will be operating.
- There will be innovative ideas like heata from Centrica’s research. The economical water heater even made BBC’s One Show last week.
The only problem will be the Nimbies.
Checking The Traffic In The Blackwall Tunnel
In A Return Journey Through The Silvertown Tunnel On A 129 Bus, I observed that there wasn’t much traffic in the Silvertown Tunnel, but that it might be in the Blackwall Tunnel.
So this morning, I went through the Blackwall tunnel to check and took these pictures.
Note.
- I caught the 108 bus from bus stop F, which is opposite the taxi rank at Stratford station.
- The bus went round parts of the Olympic Park to pick up passengers.
- There was quite a bit of traffic slowing my journey before the Blackwall Tunnel.
- I went Southbound first in the modern tunnel buiult in the 1960s.
- I turned round at North Greenwich station, as the bus was crowded and I wanted a good seat from on return, from which to take pictures.
- I came back in the Northbound tunnel, which dates from the 1890s.
But I achieved my objective and found that the Blackwall Tunnel was taking more vehicles than the Silvertown Tunnel. Even the buses were taking more passengers!
I have further thoughts.
I Don’t Like The Blackwall Tunnel
Consider.
- We were going to my Uncle Bert’s house in Broadstairs one day, when I was about eight.
- In those days of the 1950s, there was only one bore of the tunnel and we got stuck in it, for a couple of hours.
- I don’t remember using the tunnel again and I suspect we probably used Tower or London Bridge.
The last time I used it in a car, was coming back from Gatwick to when we lived just North of Ipswich and the Dartford Crossing was blocked. So I cut through South-East London, drove through the Blackwall Tunnel and up the A12.
If I Was A Driver I’d Probably Take The Silvertown Tunnel
Unless of course there was a problem!
Offshore Grid For Irish, Celtic and North Seas Closer To Delivery
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Irish Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Joint development can be ‘key step for Europe’s energy future’ and climate neutrality
These paragraphs add detail.
EirGrid and other leading European power transmission system operators (TSOs) have backed moves to develop an offshore electricity grid for the Irish, Celtic and North seas.
The next stage in a collaboration, being undertaken by nine system operators under the Offshore TSO Collaboration (OTC), was announced at the WindEurope annual conference in Copenhagen on Wednesday.
It followed the initial results of a pilot study evaluating how the grid could be established.
The report supports Europe’s goal of establishing a “green power plant” offshore that will play a crucial role in the Continent securing an independent, affordable and climate-neutral energy supply.
If you open the article, there is an excellent map of the various interconnectors, that will be in place by 2040.
Conclusion
This is all good stuff and can only lead to energy security for the participating countries.
Could The Silvertown Tunnel Handle More Buses?
In A Return Journey Through The Silvertown Tunnel On A 129 Bus, I took these pictures inside the Silvertown Tunnel when the bus was coming North.
Note.
- The left lane is marked Bus Lane.
- Only one car is visible in the right lane.
- The tunnel seems well-lit.
I have some thoughts
Where’s The Traffic?
It does appear that two apparently empty lanes in each direction, don’t carry a large number of vehicles.
- Have the tolls and arguments frightened traffic away?
- Are the tolls too high?
- From the full set of pictures in the linked post, it would appear more vehicles were using the Blackwall Tunnel.
- Could it be that drivers are frightened of getting a speeding ticket?
- Are drivers frightened of sharing the tunnel with buses and heavy trucks?
Both bores of the Silvertown Tunnel seem to have similar traffic levels.
What’s The Capacity Of A Bus Lane?
In the Wikipedia entry for bus lane, this is said.
The busiest bus lane in the United States is the Lincoln Tunnel XBL (exclusive bus lane) along the Lincoln Tunnel Approach and Helix in Hudson County, New Jersey, which carries approximately 700 buses per hour during morning peak times an average of one bus every 5.1 seconds.[ In contrast, the Cross-Harbour Tunnel in Hong Kong carries 14,500 buses per day, or an average of about 605 an hour all day (not just peak times), but the bus lane must give way to all the other road users resulting in long queues of buses.
Perhaps a more realistic example of tunnel capacity from the UK, would be the Victoria Line, which handles thirty-six * eight-car trains per hour (tph) in both directions in two tunnels.
I would certainly expect that if Dear Old Vicky can manage 36 x 8-car trains per hour, then the Silvertown tunnel could handle thirty-six buses per hour.
Especially, if the buses had a distance keeping capability, as many trains do.
How Many Buses Per Hour Are Planned to Use The Silvertown And Blackwall Tunnels?
This handy map from Transport for London, shows the three bus routes passing through the Silvertown and Blackwall Tunnels.
Click the map to show it to a larger scale.
The map gives these frequencies for the three bus routes using the tunnels.
Bus Route SL4
Operates once every 8 minutes or at seven buses per hour.
Bus Route 108
Operates once every 10 minutes or at six buses per hour.
Bus Route 129
Operates once every 8 minutes or at seven buses per hour.
Silvertown Tunnel Bicycle Shuttle
Google AI says this.
The Silvertown Tunnel cycle shuttle bus runs approximately every 12 minutes, operating daily from 6:30 am to 9:30 pm, except for Christmas Day, offering a safe and quick way for cyclists to cross the Thames.
This operates at five buses per hour.
Number Of Buses Through The Tunnels
There will be around nineteen buses per hour, through the Silvertown Tunnel and six through the Blackwall.
The Silvertown Tunnel looks like it has been designed to accept more buses.
One thing this means, is that if the Blackwall gets shut, then the 108 can use some of the spare capacity in the Silvertown Tunnel.
Could A Coach Station For Europe Use Some Of The Spare Capacity?
In Development To The West Of The North Entrance Of The Silvertown Tunnel, I displayed this.
This Google Map shows the site to the West of the North entrance of the Silvertown Tunnel.
Note.
- The red arrow indicates City Hall.
- There is a large site between the DLR and the river.
- The Docklands Light Railway separates the site from the North entrance of the Silvertown Tunnel.
- The CEMEX Thames Aggregate Wharf seems to occupy part of the site.
This picture shows the North entrance of the Silvertown Tunnel from the cable-car.
It is surely a site with development potential, as Roy Brooks would say.
It will probably be used for more tower blocks along the Thames.
But could it be used for a coach station to handle the increasing number of coaches between London and the Continent?
- A Docklands Light Railway station could be built to serve the site.
- Thames Clippers could also serve the site.
- Coaches could use the Silvertown Tunnel to start their journey out of the capital.
It is certainly a possibility.
Could The Silvertown Tunnel Be Used For Route-Proving For The Docklands Light Railway?
In TfL Considering Extending DLR As Far As Abbey Wood, I discussed extending the Docklands Light Railway to Thamesmead or Abbey Wood.
This map from Ian Visits shows the area.
Running a four buses per hour service through the Silvertown Tunnel, would be an ideal way of proving what is the best route.
Extending The Docklands Light Railway To The West
No matter how the Docklands Railway is extended to the East, either by physical means like extra branches or by virtual means like connecting to bus routes, this will mean that there will need to be more terminal capacity in the West, to take the pressure off Bank and Tower Gateway stations.
In A Connection Between City Thameslink Station And The Docklands Light Railway, I described a proposal to extend the Docklands Light Railway to Euston, St. Pancras and Victoria.
In the Wikipedia entry for the Docklands Light Railway, there is a section describing a proposed Euston/St. Pancras Extension.
This is said.
In 2011, strategy documents proposed a DLR extension to Euston and St Pancras. Transport for London have considered driving a line from City Thameslink via Holborn north to the rail termini. The main benefit of such an extension would be to broaden the available direct transport links to the Canary Wharf site. It would create a new artery in central London and help relieve the Northern and Circle lines and provide another metro line to serve the High Speed line into Euston.
This map from Transport for London, shows the possible Western extension of the DLR.
With all the problems of the funding of Crossrail 2, that I wrote about in Crossrail 2 Review Prompts Fresh Delays, could this extension of the DLR, be a good idea?
Consider.
- Victoria, Euston and St. Pancras are prosposed Crossrail 2 stations.
- It would link Canary Wharf and the City of London to Eurostar, Northern and Scottish services and High Speed Two.
- It would give all of the Docklands Light Railway network access to Thameslink.
- A pair of well-designed termini at Euston and St. Pancras would probably increase frequency and capacity on the Bank branch of the system.
- The DLR is getting new higher capacity trains.
- Bank station is being upgraded with forty percent more passenger capacity.
- Holborn station is being upgraded and hopefully will be future-proofed for this extension.
- One big advantage at City Thameslink, is that Thameslink and the proposed DLR extension will cross at right-angles, thus probably making designing a good step-free interchange easier.
- The Bank Branch of the DLR currently handles 15 tph, but could probably handle more, if they went on to two terminal stations at St Pancras and Victoria..
- Waterloo and City Line can run at twenty-four tph.
Cinderella she may be, but then she always delivers, when there is a desperate need, just as she did magnificently at the 2012 Olympics.
Something is needed to handle the extra passengers at Euston, that will be brought to London by High Speed Two. Cinderella is the only way to deliver a connection in a reasonable time.
The only problem with this extension of the DLR, is that compared to the rest of the system, the views will be terrible.
For myself and all the others living along the East London Line, with a step-free change at Shadwell, we would get excellent access to Euston, St. Pancras and Victoria.
But could the line still be called the Docklands Light Railway, as it spreads its tentacles further?
A Return Journey Through The Silvertown Tunnel On A 129 Bus
This morning, I did a return journey through the Silvertown Tunnel on a 129 bus.
These pictures summarise the journey.
Note.
- I started at Pontoon Dock station on the Docklands Light Railway.
- The Pontoon Dock bus stop is difficult to find at the moment, as they are landscaping the bus stops to incorporate a cycle lane.
- The 129 bus stops at Gallions Reach, London City Airport, Pontoon Dock and West Silvertown stations on the Docklands Light Railway.
- I turned round at North Greenwich station.
- I finished my journey at London City Airport.
- The bus route turns round at Lewisham.
This could be a very useful cross river route, if you live close to the 129 bus route.
Level Boarding Included In Rail Innovation Funding Competition
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in Railway Gazette.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Innovate UK has opened the latest calls for grant funding proposals under the First of a Kind programme, which supports the demonstration of innovative technologies to give them a better chance at being deployed by railway companies.
What annoys me about boarding trains (and some buses for that matter!), is how variable it is.
- Trains in East Anglia, Merseyside and Switzerland are particularly good, but then they have the common Stadler factor.
- Will the Newcastle Metro and the Glasgow Subway be as good?
- Some European countries, including Germany, could do much better!
- Once at Leipzig, I helped four hefty Germans lift a guy and his wheel-chair out of the bottom-deck of a double-deck train.
- In London, the Docklands Light Railway, the Elizabeth Line and some parts of the Overground are acceptable, but there is need for improvement.
- Southeastern, including the HighSpeed is particularly dodgy and I need help at some stations like Clapham Junction and Lewisham.
- Bank has a notorious platform on the Central Line.
- Perhaps the worst in London are some stations on theBakerloo Line, where it shares with the Watford DC Line.
All passengers on buses and trains deserve the best access that designers and bus and train manufacturers can devise.
In one incident, a slight, elderly Indian lady in a sari, was having difficulty getting down from an Overground train on the Watford DC Line at Willesden Junction station.
I was the only person on the platform, so I called out. “Can You Jump?”
Which she did and landed safely on her feet! I caught her and it was smiles all round!
I suspect she’d done that before.
So is one idea to give all passengers, lessons in jumping on and off buses and trains?
Seriously though, could Lego devise a large-scale engineering version of their product, that could be used to create steps and humps, which could be glued together for strength.
Alternatively, 3D printing could be used to create gap-fillers.
I think this challenge from Innovate UK will bring forward some good solutions.
A Step-Free Adventure Under The Thames Between Moorgate and Grove Park
I am assembling this post, as a number of sub-posts, so it will not make sense until it is finished.
From Moorgate Station To East India Station
I started this adventure from Moorgate, but I could have started it from any Central London location that is well-connected to Bank station.
As I had had a full English breakfast in a pot, at Leon on Moorgate, it seemed to be a good place to start.
My route started simple, in that I took the Northern Line to Bank station and then took the Docklands Light Railway to East India station.
This first gallery of pictures shows my journey until I caught the SL4 bus at East India station.
Note.
- The first few pictures show getting to East India station on the Docklands Light Railway.
- Moorgate station has a high step into the Northern Line train.
- All the others are more or less level.
- East India station is then shown in detail.
East India station is fully step-free with lifts.
Southbound Through The Silvertown Tunnel
This second gallery of pictures shows my Southbound journey approaching and through the Silvertown Tunnel.
Note.
- The dual-carriageway leading to the tunnel wasn’t busy.
- The bus was in the inside lane all the way through.
- I don’t think anybody passed the bus.
- There appeared to be more traffic coming out of the Blackwall Tunnel.
The traffic from the two tunnels seemed to merging well.
Blackheath Station
This third gallery of pictures shows Blackheath station.
Note.
- Blackheath station has a good number of useful shops for a worthwhile pit-stop.
- There was even a fish and chip shop.
- Blackheath station has a lift to one platform and a ramp to the other.
- The bus stop I used was only a small step into the bus.
The transfer between bus and train would not be as easy as East India station, but I don’t think it would be difficult for say someone in a wheel-chair.
Lee Station
This fourth gallery of pictures shows Lee station.
Note.
- The station was a stiff uphill walk from the bus stop.
- Both platforms had their own uphill walk.
If I was in a wheel-chair, I’d give this Lee station a miss.
Grove Park
The route ends at Grove Park bus station.
This fifth gallery of pictures shows, where the bus terminated.
Note.
- It wasn’t the most interesting of places.
- I couldn’t even find a decent cafe for a coffee.
- In the fifteen minutes I was at Grove Park, I must have seen five SL4 buses.
- I’d hoped it would be near to Grove Park station, but I couldn’t see any signs to it and the two people I asked didn’t know where it was.
- In the end I had to walk about five hundred metres to get the SL4 back to Central London.
My mother always advised you take a posse with you, when you venture into South London. She was right!
When I got home, I looked up, where I’d been on Google Maps.
Note.
- Baring Road running North-South down the Eastern side of the map.
- The Esso filling station and the bus station are at the top of the map.
- Grove Park station is at the bottom of the map.
My mother would have said, this is why you need a posse.
Return To East India Station
This sixth gallery of pictures shows the run up the dual-carriageway approach and the run through the tunnel.
Note.
My First Trip Through The Silvertown Tunnel – 7th April 2025
These pictures show my first trip through the Silvertown Tunnel.
Note.
- The two S4 Bus Stops are not far from the Waitrose At Canary Wharf.
- I picked up the S4 Bus in the North Collonade At Canary Wharf at stop H.
- Coming North I would have been dropped at Stop J, which is close to the plaza of the famous clocks.
- Unfortunately, I was given bad information by station staff and I took a roundabout route to stop H, but a helpful security guard put me right.
- One of the first stops of the bus was East India station, which looks a good accessible interchange with the Docklands Light Railway.
I got out of the bus at Blackheath station, which was a short walk across the road from the bus stop.
I have some thoughts.
Who Chose The Chinese Buses?
On a prestige project like this it is a classic opportunity to show off, the best of British design and technology.
So undoubtedly, it was a mistake that the buses through the tunnel are Chinese.
I doubt the French, German or Spanish would have chosen Chinese buses on such a project.
Are There Enough Stops At Stations Close To The River?
There seem to be quite a few small hotels between the Silvertown Tunnel and Blackheath and I wondered if there were enough stops.
There also doesn’t appear to be a stop by Westcombe Park station.
Thirty mph Seems Fast Enough In The Tunnel
Everything seemed to be going smoothly in the tunnel.
Conclusion
I shall be writing more about the Silvertown Tunnel.
But from a first ride-through, it looks a well-built tunnel.
How Many Cars Can You Get In A Station?
This morning, I took this sequence of pictures in Denmark Hill station.
Note.
- The train had started at Toton
- The train was going to Dollands Moor in Kent.
- The train would then be transhipped through the Channel Tunnel.
- It will be a distance of 207.4 miles in the UK. Will that be classed as delivery mileage only?
I did think about calling this set of pictures – Japanese-designed cars, built in Derby, going between Toton and Europe, via Denmark Hill.
The Anonymous Widower 