Hydrogen Can Be Transported By Rail, German Railway Company Says
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on PV Magazine.
This is the introductory paragraph.
A study by DB Energie shows that technically and legally there is nothing to be said against the transport of hydrogen by rail. However, there is still a lack of suitable transport containers.
I suppose though the lack of suitable transport containers makes it a bit difficult.
Beeching Reversal – Reinstatement of Bolton-Radcliffe / Bolton – Bury
This is one of the Beeching Reversal projects that the Government and Network Rail are proposing to reverse some of the Beeching cuts.
This article in the Bury Times is entitled Plans For Bolton Metrolink Route To Radcliffe See New Bid Submitted. This is the introductory paragraphs.
A bid to secure funding for a tram link between Bolton and Radcliffe has been submitted to the government.
Mark Logan, the MP for Bolton North East, hopes to secure part of the Department for Transport’s £500m Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund to connect the town to the major public transport network.
The proposal submitted shows Metrolink connecting Bolton, Radcliffe and Bury by reviving an existing disused track bed; bridging the gap between some of the more deprived areas along the route.
This Google Map shows the triangular area between Bolton, Radcliffe and Bury.
Note.
- Bolton is just off the Western edge of the map.
- Bury is in the North East corner of the map.
- Radcliffe is at the Southern edge of the map, close to the point of the triangular green space.
- There is already a Metrolink line between Bury and Radcliffe.
If you look at this map on a larger scale, you can see the scars of old railway lines between Bolton and Bury and Bolton and Radcliffe.
I will take a more detailed look at this proposal.
Bolton
This Google Map shows the Western point of the triangle, where it connects towards Bolton.
Note.
- The disused railway appears to run South of the Bradley Fold Trading Estate.
- It then split into two branches in the middle of the map.
- The Northern branch goes off in a North-Easterly direction to Bury.
- The Southern branch goes off in a South-Easterly direction to Radcliffe.
I’ve followed the route of the disused railway to the West and it goes all the way to the centre of Bolton.
This Google Map shows between Bolton and Bradley Fold.
This railway used to be part of the Liverpool and Bury Railway. This map, which has been clipped from Wikipedia, shows the route.
This information came in a comment from FS (Thanks!) and there are some interesting bridges and viaducts on the route.
Looking at the route from my virtual helicopter, much of the route between Bolton and Radcliffe, is now a walking and cycle route, so there will have to be some careful design to get shared use right.
Radcliffe
This Google Map shows the Radcliffe point of the triangle.
Note.
- The Bury Line of the Manchester Metrolink runs down the Eastern side of the map.
- The Radcliffe tram stop, with its Park-and-Ride is in the South-East corner of the map.
- The disused railway from Bolton joins the map in the North-West corner.
This Google Map avows the Radcliffe tram stop.
I don’t think it would be the most challenging of projects to connect the Radcliffe tram stop to a tram branch to and from Bolton.
- There seems to be plenty of space on both sides of the main road.
- Extra platforms could probably be added for Bolton trams if required.
Although, there could be problems threading the route, through the new housing and over the viaducts and bridges.
Bury
This Google Map shows the South-West approaches to Bury.
Note.
- Bury Interchange is in the North-East corner of the map.
- The tracks and sidings of the East Lancashire Railway can be seen running South-West from the centre of Bury.
- The proposed line from Bolton enters the map in the South West corner.
Where will the new line terminate, as getting across the town might be expensive?
New Tram Stops
There is a Wikipedia entry, which is entitled Proposed Developments Of Manchester Metrolink, which says nothing about the Bolton – Radcliffe and Bolton – Bury Lines.
But it does indicate, there may be two new stops between Bury Interchange and Radcliffe tram stop.
Buckley Wells
The Wikipedia entry for Buckley Wells tram stop says this.
Buckley Wells is a proposed tram stop on the Bury Line of Greater Manchester’s Metrolink light rail system. It is to be between Bury Interchange and Radcliffe Metrolink station, in the Buckley Wells area of Bury, north of Fishpool and south of Bury town centre.
The proposed site of Buckley Wells stop, by the A56 road, is owned by Transport for Greater Manchester, was proposed in 2003, offering (in addition to the Metrolink stop and services for southern Bury) a park and ride facility, and opportunity to provide an interchange with the East Lancashire Railway.
This Google Map shows the wider area of the site.
Note.
- The Bury Line of the Manchester Metrolink runs SW-NE across the map.
- The A56 Manchester Road runs roughly North-South and crosses over the Bury Line.
- The tracks and sidings of the East Lancashire Railway, can be seen in the North-West corner of the map.
- The main route of the East Lancashire Railway can be seen crossing the Bury Line in the North-East corner of the map.
If you follow the Bury Line back towards Manchester, there is a connection between the Manchester Methrolink and the East Lancashire Railway.
Elton Reservoir
The Wikipedia entry for Elton Reservoir tram stop says this.
Elton Reservoir, also known as Warth, is a proposed tram stop on the Bury Line of Greater Manchester’s Metrolink light rail system. It is to be located between Bury Interchange and Radcliffe Metrolink station, southeast of Elton Reservoir and south of Bury town centre.
This Google map shows the wider area of the site.
Note.
- The Bury Line runs North-South from the North-East corner of the map.
- The stop is being proposed for new housing, that might be built in the area.
It should be noted that the proposed Bolton – Bury tram line would run on the reservoir side of the houses in the North-West corner of the map.
Infrastructure
On a quick look, the two new lines and the two new tram stops, don’t appear to be too challenging.
The only parts that appear difficult might be.
- Running the trams between Bolton Town Centre and Bradley Fold.
- Running the trams into Bury Town Centre.
- Some of the Radcliffe route seems to have been built on.
But there doesn’t seem to be any bridges over major roads or waterways.
Conclusion
There is a lot to like about these two new tram routes.
Freight Tram-Train To Be Tested In Karlsruhe
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Trials with a prototype freight tram or tram-train are to start in Karlsruhe and the surrounding area in 2022. The concept is being drawn up with a view to improving urban life by reducing road traffic and the emissions it generates.
There are other cargo trams in Germany, like the CarGoTram in Dresden and I think it is a concept, we’ll see in other places.
In High Speed Urban Freight Logistics By Rail, I wrote about Rail Operations Group’s plans to run freight services between London Gateway and Liverpool Street station.
It may be different technology, but it has similar objectives.
Liverpool’s Forgotten Tunnel
The Wapping Tunnel in Liverpool was designed by George Stephenson and was the first tunnel in the world to be bored under a city.
It used to take goods trains between Liverpool Docks and the Liverpool and Manchester Line.
During the 1970s preparations were made to connect the Wapping Tunnel to Merseyrail’s Northern Line, so that trains could run between the Northern Line and the City Line, which would have connected the North and East of the City.
But the project was never completed.
It now appears, the project is on the agenda again.
This article on TransportExtra is entitled Liverpool CR Develops Plan To Boost City Centre Rail Capacity.
The plan outlined is as follows.
- At present, as many as two thirds of trains on the Northern Line turn back as Liverpool Central station.
- Between four and eight trains per hour (tph) could be diverted into the Wapping Tunnel to serve places like St. Helens, Warrington Central and Wigan.
- This would free up platforms in Liverpool Lime Street station for Inter-City and Inter-Regional services.
It is also pointed out, that a 2016 study, didn’t find any serious technical problems with the project.
I do have my thoughts on this project.
Services That Could Be Connected
Local services running from Liverpool Lime Street station include.
Manchester Oxford Road Via Warrington Central
This service is run by Northern.
- It has a frequency of two tph.
- One service calls at Edge Hill, Mossley Hill, West Allerton, Liverpool South Parkway, Hunts Cross, Halewood, Hough Green, Widnes, Sankey For Penketh, Warrington West, Warrington Central, Birchwood, Irlam, Urmston and Deansgate.
- The other service calls at Mossley Hill, West Allerton, Liverpool South Parkway, Hough Green, Widnes, Warrington Central, Padgate, Birchwood, Glazebrook, Irlam, Flixton, Chassen Road (1tp2h), Urmston, Humphrey Park, Trafford Park and Deansgate
- Both trains appear to take the same route.
- Some stations like Liverpool South Parkway, Warrington West and Deansgate have lifts, but disabled access is patchy.
- The service has a dedicated terminal at Manchester Oxford Road, which is without doubt Manchester’s worst central station for location, access to the Metrolink, onward travel and step-free access.
- It takes seventy-two minutes. which is an inconvenient time for train operators.
- The route is electrified with 25 KVAC overhead electrification at both ends.
I’ve used this route several times and usually pick it up from Deansgate, as it has a convenient interchange to the Metrolink.
I am fairly certain that Merseyrail’s new Class 777 trains running on battery power in the middle could handle this route.
- They would charge the batteries at the electrified ends of the route.
- They would join the route at Edge Hill station.
- They would offer step-free access between train and platform.
- These trains are built for fast stops, so could all services call at all stations?
- On Merseyrail’s principles, the service would probably be at least two tph, if not four tph.
I estimate that these trains are fast enough to do the return trip between the Wapping Tunnel portal at Edge Hill and Manchester Oxford Road in under two hours.
- A two-four tph stopping service between Liverpool and Manchester City Centres, that took less than an hour, would be very convenient for passengers.
- The service would be well-connected to local tram, train and bus services in both City Centres.
- The service would also very easy for train schedulers to integrate with other services.
Liverpool and Manchester would have the world’s first battery-powered inter-city railway.
Other than the connection of the Wapping Tunnel no extra infrastructure works would be needed.
Wigan North Western Via St. Helens Central
This service is run by Northern.
- It has a frequency of two tph.
- The service calls at Edge Hill, Wavertree Technology Park, Broad Green, Roby, Huyton, Prescot, Eccleston Park, Thatto Heath, St Helens Central, Garswood and Bryn
- The route is fully-electrified with 25 KVAC overhead.
- It takes fifty-one minutes. which is a very convenient time for train operators.
Merseyrail’s new Class 777 trains could handle this route, if fitted with pantographs for 25 KVAC overhead electrification.
- They would join the route at Edge Hill station.
- They would offer step-free access between train and platform.
- On Merseyrail’s principles, the service would probably be at least two tph, if not four tph.
I estimate that these trains are fast enough to do the return trip between the Wapping Tunnel portal at Edge Hill and Wigan North Western in under two hours.
- A two-four tph stopping service between Liverpool and Wigan, that took less than an hour, would be very convenient for passengers.
- Wigan North Western has good connections using the West Coast Main Line.
- The service would also very easy for train schedulers to integrate with other services.
Other than the connection of the Wapping Tunnel no extra infrastructure works would be needed.
Blackpool North
This service is run by Northern.
- It has an hourly frequency.
- The service calls at Huyton, St Helens Central, Wigan North Western, Euxton Balshaw Lane, Leyland, Preston, Kirkham & Wesham and Poulton-le-Fylde
- The route is fully-electrified with 25 KVAC overhead.
- It takes seventy-seven minutes. which is a reasonable time for train operators.
This is a service that could continue as now, but would probably be timed to fit well with four Merseyrail trains between the Wapping Tunnel and Wigan North Western.
Manchester Airport Via Warrington Central And Manchester Piccadilly
This service is run by Northern.
- It has an hourly frequency.
- The service calls at Liverpool South Parkway, Warrington West, Warrington Central, Birchwood, Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Piccadilly and Mauldeth Road
- The route is partially-electrified with 25 KVAC overhead.
- The service is operated by diesel trains.
- The service uses the overcrowded Castlefield Corridor.
- It takes sixty-nine minutes, which is an inconvenient time for train operators.
This is one of those services, which I think will eventually be partially replaced by other much better services.
- Northern Powerhouse Rail is planning six tph between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly via Warrington South Parkway and Manchester Airport, which will take just twenty-six minutes.
- Two-four tph on the route between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Oxford Road via Warrington Central would be a better service for the smaller stations. Passengers going to and from Manchester Airport would change at Liverpool Lime Street, Deansgate or Manchester Oxford Road.
Continuing as now, would definitely be possible.
Crewe And Manchester Airport Via Newton-le-Willows And Manchester Piccadilly
This service is run by Northern.
- It has an hourly frequency.
- The service calls at Edge Hill, Wavertree Technology Park, Broad Green, Roby, Huyton, Whiston, Rainhill, Lea Green, St Helens Junction, Earlestown, Newton-le-Willows, Patricroft, Eccles, Deansgate, Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Piccadilly, Mauldeth Road, Burnage, East Didsbury, Gatley and Heald Green.
- The route is fully-electrified with 25 KVAC overhead.
- The service uses the overcrowded Castlefield Corridor
- It takes eighty-five minutes, which is an inconvenient time for train operators.
This is one of those services, which I think will eventually be partially replaced by other much better services.
- Northern Powerhouse Rail is planning six tph between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly via Warrington South Parkway and Manchester Airport, which will take just twenty-six minutes.
- Two-four tph on the route between Liverpool Lime Street and Wigan North Western would be a better service for the smaller stations. Passengers going to and from Manchester Airport and Crewe would change at Liverpool Lime Street or Wigan North Western.
Continuing as now, would definitely be possible.
Warrington Bank Quay Via Earlstown
This service is run by Northern.
- It has an hourly frequency.
- The service calls at Edge Hill, Wavertree Technology Park, Broad Green, Roby, Huyton, Whiston, Rainhill, Lea Green, St Helens Junction and Earlestown.
- The route is fully-electrified with 25 KVAC overhead.
- The service takes forty-three minute, which is a convenient time for train operators.
Merseyrail’s new Class 777 trains could handle this route, if fitted with pantographs for 25 KVAC overhead electrification.
- They would join the route at Edge Hill station.
- They would offer step-free access between train and platform.
- On Merseyrail’s principles, the service would probably be at least two tph, if not four tph.
Other than the connection of the Wapping Tunnel no extra infrastructure works would be needed.
Three Possible Routes Through Wapping
Summing up this section, these are possible routes that could be replaced by services through the Wapping Tunnel.
- Two tph – Manchester Oxford Road
- Two tph – Warrington Bank Quay
- One tph – Wigan North Western
Increasing the Wigan North Western service to two tph, would increase the frequency between Edge Hill and Huyton to a very passenger-friendly four tph.
If eight tph could be accommodated in the Wapping Tunnel, the frequency could also be doubled to Manchester Oxford Road.
This would give the following services through the Wapping Tunnel.
- Four tph – Manchester Oxford Road
- Two tph – Warrington Bank Quay
- Two tph – Wigan North Western
The only local services that would need to run into Liverpool Lime Street would be.
- One tph – Northern – Blackpool North via Wigan North Western.
- One tph – Northern – Manchester Airport and Crewe via St. Helens and Newton-le-Willows.
- One tph – Northern – Manchester Airport via Warrington Central.
- One tph – Trains for Wales – Chester via Runcorn
I can understand, why so many seem to be enthusiastic about using the Wapping Tunnel to connect the Northern and City Lines.
Echoes Of The Brunels’ Thames Tunnel
George Stephenson’s Wapping Tunnel may be the first tunnel under a city, but the Brunels’ Thames Tunnel was the first under a navigable river.
The Brunels’ tunnel was built for horses and carts, but today it is an important rail artery of the London Overground, handling sixteen tph between Wapping and Rotherhithe.
I would expect that the Wapping Tunnel could do for Liverpool, what the Thames Tunnel has done for East London.
Modern signalling techniques probably mean that the theoretical capacity of the Wapping Tunnel is way in excess of the planned maximum frequency of eight tph.
High Speed Two Between Liverpool And London
The latest High Speed Two plans as laid out in the June 2020 Edition of Modern Railways, say that there will be two tph between Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston.
- Both trains will call at Old Oak Common, Crewe and Runcorn.
- Both trains will be 200 metres long classic-compatible High Speed Two trains.
- One train will split and join with a similar service between London Euston and Lancaster.
Will these High Speed Two services replace the current Avanti West Coast services?
Northern Powerhouse Rail Between Liverpool And Manchester
In Changes Signalled For HS2 Route In North, I looked at Transport for the North’s report, which is entitled At A Glance – Northern Powerhouse Rail.
This report says that Northern Powerhouse Rail between Liverpool and Manchester Piccadilly will be as follows.
- Services will go via Manchester Airport.
- There could be a new Warrington South Parkway station.
- Six tph between Liverpool and Manchester via Manchester Airport and Warrington are planned.
- Journey times will be 26 minutes.
I would assume that several of the six tph will continue across the Pennines to Huddersfield, Bradford, Leeds, York and Hull.
Will these Northern Powerhouse Rail services replace the current TransPennine and some of the Northern services?
Northern Powerhouse Rail Trains
Nothing has been said about the trains for Northern Powerhouse Rail.
I suspect they will be versions of the 200 metre long classic-compatible High Speed Two trains.
I do wonder, if Avanti West Coast have already ordered a prototype fleet of these trains,
Look at the specification of the Class 807 trains, they have ordered to boost services on the West Coast Main Line.
- 7 x 26 metre cars.
- 182 metres long. Shorter than an eleven-car Class 390 train.
- All-electric, with no diesel engines or traction batteries. Are they lightweight trains with sparkling acceleration?
- 125 mph operating speed. All Class 80x trains can do this.
- 140 mph operating speed with ERTMS digital signalling. All Class 80x trains can do this.
- Ability to work in pairs. All Class 80x trains can do this, up to a maximum length of twelve cars in normal mode and twenty-four cars in emergency mode. I doubt fourteen cars would be a problem!
To be classic-compatible High Speed Two trains, they would need to be able to cruise at 205 mph, whilst working on High Speed Two. I suspect that Hitachi have got some higher-capacity electrical gear and traction motors with lots more grunt in their extensive parts bin!
If these are a prototype fleet of classic-compatible High Speed Two trains, they will certainly get a lot of in-service testing even before the order is placed for the trains for High Speed Two.
Northern Powerhouse Rail will need trains with a slightly different specification.
- As they won’t generally work on high speed lines, for most trains an operating speed of 140 mph will be sufficient.
- For serving some destinations like Cleethorpes, Harrogate, Hull, Middlesbrough and Redcar an independently-powered capability would be desirable. Sixty miles on batteries would probably be sufficient!
Nothing would appear to be out of Hitachi’s current capabilities.
Liverpool Lime Street Station After Remodelling
Liverpool Lime Street station has two groups of platforms.
- Platforms 1-5 on the Western side
- Platforms 6-10 on the Eastern side.
These pictures show some views of the platforms at Liverpool Lime Street station after the remodelling of 2017-2019.
Note,
- The platforms are not narrow!
- It appears that the five platforms in the Eastern group are all long enough to take an eleven-car Class 390 train, which is 265.3 metres long.
- TransPennine Express trains can use the Western group.
I have looked at a whole day’s traffic on Real Time Trains and it appears that the new track layout allows almost all services to use any available platform.
This flexibility must make operation of the station much easily than it was!
Liverpool Lime Street Station As A High Speed Station
It would appear that the Eastern Group of Platforms 6-10 will all be capable of the following.
- Handling a 182 metre long Avanti West Coast Class 807 train.
- Handling a 200 metres long classic-compatible High Speed Two train.
- Handling a 130 metre long TransPennine Express Class 802 train.
- In the future, handling a Northern Powerhouse Rail train, which will probably be less than 200 metres long.
But they won’t be able to handle High Speed Two’s full-size trains.
Currently, these services capable of over 125 mph are running or are planned from Liverpool Lime Street station.
- 2 tph – Avanti West Coast – Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston
- 1 tph – TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Newcastle
- 1 tph – TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Scarborough
- 3 trains per day(tpd) – TransPennine Express – Liverpool Lime Street and Glasgow
This totals to four tph.
High Speed Two will add two classic-compatible High Speed Two trains.
Will these replace the two Avanti West Coast services?
- They will be run by the same company.
- They will take different routes.
- The current service takes 134 minutes.
- The High Speed Two train will take 94 minutes.
I can see Avanti West Coast running a one tph slower train via stations with difficult connections to Liverpool Lime Street. Think Watford Junction, Milton Keynes, Rugby, Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent.
This would bring the total to five tph.
Northern Powerhouse Rail will run six high speed trains to Manchester and beyond.
If they replaced the two TransPennine Express services, that would bring the maximum number of 200 metre long high speed trains to nine tph.
Could Liverpool Lime Street station handle nine high-speed tph?
Comparison With Birmingham Curzon Street Station
Birmingham Curzon Street station on High Speed Two will handle high speed trains from three directions, as will Liverpool Lime Street station.
The Birmingham station will handle nine tph on seven platforms.
As Liverpool Lime Street station will have ten platforms and also need to handle nine tph, I think it will be able to handle the trains.
Will There Be A Station In The Wapping Tunnel?
Just as London has its clay, which makes excavating for the Underground easy, the Centre of Liverpool has its sandstone, which has been honeycombed with tunnels. In addition to the Wapping Tunnel, there are two other tunnels from Edge Hill station to the Docks; the Waterloo Tunnel and the Victoria Tunnel.
Liverpool has plans for a Knowledge Quarter based on the Universities on Brownlow Hill.
As part of the development, it is intended to develop an area called Paddington Village.
Wikipedia says this about the village.
Paddington Village is a site at the eastern gateway to the city centre and has been earmarked as 1.8m sq ft of science, technology, education and health space.
This is also another paragraph.
Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson announced that the council were looking into a new Merseyrail station to serve the site. A mention of a station is made in the October 2017 Liverpool City Region Combined Authority update to the Long Term Rail Strategy. Merseytravel commissioned a feasibility report into re-opening the Wapping Tunnel in May 2016 which found that it was a valid proposal which would allow for a new station to be built that could serve the Knowledge Quarter.
Someone has thought up a proposal for a Lime Line, which would be a tram or bus system, linking the Knowledge Quarter and the City Centre.
This map shows how their proposal fits in with all the other rail systems in Liverpool City.
Note the Wapping Tunnel is shown on the map, as a dotted blue line.
- It connects to the Northern Line to the South of Liverpool Central station.
- It connects to the City Line to the West of Edge Hill station.
- A station named University/KQ is shown.
A new St. James station is also shown
Conclusion
Using the Wapping Tunnel to increase capacity in Liverpool City Centre could be used if required to improve capacity for the high speed network in the city, by removing local trains from Liverpool Lime Street station.
Substance In Beirut Blast ‘was intended for explosives firm in Mozambique’
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
If ever any disaster was waiting to happen, this was it!
1-in-11,000 Chance Of Contracting COVID-19 On Trains
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Magazine.
That looks like a chance I’ll take!
Plans For Cable Cars Between Bristol Temple Meads And Clifton Suspension Bridge
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Bristol Live.
The title only says half of it, as this is only the first route.
Conclusion
I like the idea!
I also think we should have more!
World’s First Hydrogen-Powered Double Decker Buses To Be Launched In Scotland
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Herald.
This introduction says a bit more.
A fleet of hydrogen-powered double decker buses that is claimed to be the world’s first is due to be launched in Scotland later this year in what is seen as a major step forward in the use of hydrogen as a fuel.
First Aberdeen will be running fifteen hydrogen-fuelled buses.
Hamburger Hochbahn Launches Tender For 50 Hydrogen Fuel Cell Buses
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on H2 View.
The title says it all!
But it does show how hydrogen buses are proliferating around the world.
This makes the third hydrogen or energy project from the German city, that I have detailed.
Beeching Reversal – Reopening Golborne Railway Station
This is one of the Beeching Reversal projects that the Government and Network Rail are proposing to reverse some of the Beeching cuts.
Golborne station was known as Golborne South station in its later years and this Google Map shows the station’s location in the village of Golborne.
I don’t want to disappoint anybody, but I don’t think a station here is a practical idea.
- The proposal would mean adding a new station between Wigan North Western and Warrington Bank Quay stations. Would this slow Avanti West Coast services by an unacceptable amount?
- High Speed Two services will use these tracks. Will that be acceptable to the new route’s engineers.?
- Platforms for the West Coast Main Line and High Speed Two will need to be at least two hundred metres long. Is there enough space?
- Where will the cars be parked in the village?
But the biggest problem, will be the disruption caused by constructing the station in the middle of a village.
Conclusion
I shall be very surprised if this station is reopened.
The Anonymous Widower 