Bi-Mode Good, Tri-Mode Better
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Engineer.
It is an informative article about the creation of the Class 769 trains.
These are some points.
Class 150 Performance
Class 769 performance on diesel is likely to be as good as that of a Class 150 train, if not better.
When running on electric power, they will still be capable of 100 mph.
Extensive Route And Performance Modelling
Extensive computer modelling has been carried out to make sure the train performs.
Access To The Original Designers
It appears that they were able to call in some of the original designers and that at least some of the iriginal drawings were available.
An Extensive Project
The article quotes these figures on the resources used to design the conversion.
- 60 engineers
- 45,000 engineering hours
- 2,500 drawings
- 3,500 detailed components
I suspect that this could account for the late running of the project.
Approvals
There is a large section on approvals, which is well worth a read. It looks to me, that they are making sure, that these trains fit all regulations and not those that apply to upgrades and improvements.
Noise
They are also going for better noise than a Class 15x train, which must be a good thing.
Raiding The Class 150 Parts Bin
They obviously needed exhausts for the two diesel engines, so in true Colin Chapman fashion, they looked round for something that was readily available and would do the job.
As Class 319 and 150 trains share a lot of components like bogies, the exhausts for the converted trains are from a Class 150 train.
Maintenance Costs
The new trains will obviously cost more to maintain than a Class 319 train, but will probably be cheaper to run than a Class 150 train.
The Ultimate Class 769 train.
The article indicates what could be possible.
- Air cooling
- CCTV – both saloon and forward facing
- At seat USB and power sockets
- Ethernet backbone to support engine control and Wi-Fi
- Interior and exterior rebranding
- Guard’s door control panels.
Not a bad specification for a thirty-year-old train.
Orders
There may be more orders in the pipeline.
Conclusion
I think that these trains will do what they are intended to do in a reliable and quality manner.
Tailpiece – Class 455 Flex
The article finishes with a disclosure about what might happen to the Class 455 trains.
These have been extensively refurbished and have been retrofitted with three-phase AC traction systems incorporating regenerative braking. There would be space on the intermediate trailer coach for batteries that could be charged by the regenerated energy and by the diesel engines. Such a feature could have several benefits such as being able to stop the diesel engines in terminal stations and to supplement diesel engine power when accelerating.
Could this be a four-car efficient runabout for branch lines, as they are only 75 mph trains?
Should The Elizabeth Line Be Extended To Ascot?
The idea for this post came from an article in the October 2018 Edition of Modern Railways, that was entitled Windsor Link Railway Gains Momentum.
The article talks about the benefits of the Windsor Link Railway.
Property Development And Landscaping
Ever since I read about the Windsor Link Railway, I thought it would create or free-up sites in Windsor for property development.
I even wrote about this in Is This One Of The Most Valuable Sites For New Development In The UK?.
The article details or suggests the following.
- Around twenty-one acres, which would include the two existing station sites could be developed.
- The Windsor and Eton Riverside station, which Grade II Listed, could be developeed into a boutigue hotel on the river.
- The gardens in the centre of Windsor could be extended.
The article also suggests that the property development could pay for the whole scheme.
Reducing Traffic In Windsor
Windsor is full of tourist coaches and other traffic.
The proposed railway would have.
- A single sub-surface station in the middle of the town.
- Twelve trains per hour (tph) through Windsor, in a single-track tunnel.
- Areinstated Royal Curve at Slough to create a route between Reading and Windsor.
- A Park-and-Ride by the M4 at Chalvey.
- A journey between Waterloo and Windsor of around fifty minutes, with four tph.
- Slough would be the Northern terminal, either in the current station or West of the town in the Trading Estate.
- It should be noted that six-car Aventras similar to Crossrail’s Class 345 trains, would probably hold a thousand passengers.
If a railway like that didn’t cut traffic going into Windsor, then nothing will.
Western Access To Heathrow
The Windsor Link Railway could also serve Heathrow Terminal 5.
The article states that this would probably need a double-track tunnel, so provision should be made in the initial scheme.
Crossrail trains could also use the link to extend Crossrail to Reading via Windsor.
- The Royal Curve at Slough would be rebuilt.
- The new Windsor station would need to be able to handle two hundred metre long trains.
- Trains would serve both Heathrow Central and Terminal 5.
- Trains wouldn’t need a terminal platform at Heathrow Terminal 5 station.
But the biggest benefit (or even curse!) would be to connect Windsor to Central London.
Wider Connectivity
George Bathurst; the scheme’s proposer envisages trains from Windsor to the following places.
- Heathrow
- High Wycombe via Bourne End.
- Reading
- Waterloo
- Woking
In one throwaway remake this is said.
The WLR connection to Heathrow could also be used (with dual-voltage stock) for extending the Elizabeth Line westwards, to Ascot for example.
This would need a chord at Staines, which I wrote about in Heathrow Southern Railway’s Proposed Chord At Staines.
Hence the title of this post!
The Heathrow Southern Railway And The Windsor Link Railway
I wrote about the interaction of the two proposals to access Heathrow from the West and South in Heathrow Southern Railway And The Windsor Link Railway.
This was my original conclusion.
Co-operation could be beneficial to both projects.
I have not changed my conclusion, although I have updated the related post.
Heathrow’s Destinations In The West And South
Taken together the two proposals; Heathrow Southern Railway and Windsor Link Railway, will or could offer the following destinations.
- Basingstoke – Heathrow Southern Railway – Extension to Heathrow Express
- Guildford – Heathrow Southern Railway – Extension to Heathrow Express
- High Wycombe – Windsor Link Railway – Possible via Bourne End!
- Reading – Windsor Link Railway – Possible Extension to Crossrail!
- Slough – Windsor Link Railway – Possible Extension to Crossrail!
- Staines – Heathrow Southern Railway – Extension to Crossrail
- Weybridge – Heathrow Southern Railway – Local Service
- Windsor – Windsor Link Railway – Possible Extension to Crossrail!
- Woking – Heathrow Southern Railway – Extension to Heathrow Express
I can see two high-capacity stations at Terminal 5 and Windsor capable of handling upwards of ten tph in both directions, feeding services all over the area, bringing passengers, workers and freight to Heathrow.
A Crossrail Extension To Ascot
I’ll now look at this in detail.
The Route
As I said earlier this would need the reinstatement of the chord at Staines station.
This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows former route of the chord as a dotted line.
Would it be possible to get one of Crossrail’s two hundred metre long trains around a rebuilt chord?
From Staines, it would be an easy run up the Waterloo-Reading Line, with calls at the following stations.
- Egham
- Virginia Water
- Longcross
- Sunningdale
All appear to be stations capable of taking long trains.
Current Service
Currently, there are two services on this route.
2 tph – Waterloo and Reading
2 tph – Waterloo and Weybridge, which branches off at Virginia Water.
Benefits Of Extending To Ascot
At present Heathrow Terminal 5 is planned to get just two tph from Crossrail. But as Terminal 5 is the busiest terminal at Heathrow by a large margin, surely it needs more services than this.
I also think, that the ideal number of services between Staines and Ascot should be at least four tph.
If two tph ran through Heathrow Terminal 5 to Ascot, this would mean the following.
- There would be at least four tph on services between Staines and Ascot.
- Travellers would have a wider choice of London terminals.
- Travellers would be have direct access to all terminals and HS2 at Old Oak Common.
There would also probably be less road traffic into Heathrow.
Why Stop At Ascot?
Although, George Bathurst suggested Ascot as a terminus, why not continue all the way to Reading station?
Stations on the route are.
- Martins Heron
- Bracknell
- Wokingham
- Wnnersh
- Winnersh Triangle
- Earley
Note that Reading station has three third-rail electrified platforms to handle trains from Ascot, Guidford, Staines and Waterloo.
Note the train in the platform is a Great Western Railway train to Gatwick, which in a couple of years will be run by tri-mode Class 769 trains.
As the platforms only handle four tph, there is plenty of capacity to turn extra trains.
I can’t see any reason, why if Crossrail is extended to Ascot, it shouldn’t be extended to Reading.
Especially, as all the benefits I talked about earlier to Ascot would also apply to terminating at Reading.
Conclusion
I believe that an extension of Crossrail to Ascot would be worthwhile, but that it should continue to Reading.
Piccadilly Capacity Study Commissioned
The title of this post is the same as that of an article in the October 2018 Edition of Modern Railways.
This is the first paragraph.
New NR Chief Executive Andrew Haines has commissioned work to understand options for capacity through platforms 13 and 14 at Manchester Piccadilly.
It was originally planned to build two extra tracks, with additional platforms between Manchester Piccadilly and Deansgate stations, to improve the capacity over the Ordsall Chord.
But various engineers and politicians have suggested that Digital Signalling may be an alternative solution.
Speaking to the House of Commons Transport Committee, Mr. Haines said.
We might be better off replacing some of those fleets of trains with trains which have more doors.
Boarding is slow all across the North and I suspect Mr. Haines has studied the problem.
He also added.
He had commissioned work to understand if 15 trains per hour could be delivered through platforms 13 and 14 without major infrastructure works.
I don’t think that Network Rail would waste money on a study, if they didn’t think that 15 trains per hour (tph) were not possible.
Consider.
- Thameslink and Crossrail will soon be running 24 tph through Central London in four directions.
- The East London Line currently runs 16 tph in a tunnel that was opened only thirteen years after the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
- Trains designed for short dwell times and easy boarding and unloading, as suggested by Mr. Haines would obviously help.
Platforms and the related access at Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Oxford Road and Deansgate stations would need to be improved.
But that would be a smaller number of affordable projects.
Conclusion
I do think Andrew Haines has a mind that doesn’t believe in boxes, so his ideas won’t go down well with those with big-spending conservative ideas like most rail union leaders, some rail company bosses and the Mayor of Manchester.
Prototype Overhead Line Structure Revealed
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Global Rail News.
This is the first paragraph.
A prototype overhead line structure (OLS) designed to be quick to install, easy to maintain and more attractive to look at has been unveiled by its creators, Mott MacDonald and Moxon Architects.
Searching the Internet, I found this press release about the structure, which is entitled Moxon and Mott MacDonald unveil prototype for innovative Integrated Overhead Line Structure.
This picture is from the press release.
Various advantages are claimed.
- Reduced visual impact.
- Complete interoperability with existing overhead systems.
- Reduced number of components.
- Ease of installation.
- No additional engineer training.
- Reduced maintenance costs.
I like the concept, but is it too radical for Network Rail to give its blessing?
Perhaps the most radical feature is the use of laminated wood in the structure.
Conclusion
This is a very good design, but I doubt we’ll see it installed on UK railways.
£18.75m Halton Curve Project Delayed A Further Six Months
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology News.
I could just blame politicians for the latest project to be delayed, but it is not wholly their fault.
Train companies all over the UK, Europe and the Rest of the World have been ordering new trains at an unprecedented rate for the following reasons.
- The replacement of clapped-out trains like Pacers.
- Extra trains to provide extra services.
- Faster trains to provide faster services.
- Bigger or longer trains to provide more capacity.
- New electric trains for newly electrified routes.
- New trains often cost less to service and maintain.
- Affordable finance for quality new trains is available in billions of pounds, euros and dollars of all kinds.
In addition a lot of trains are being updated with new technology like signalling, automatic systems and high-technology interiors.
All of these factors mean that there is a high level of train testing that needs to be done.
These test tracks are in Europe and listed in Wikipedia.
- Czech Replublic – Velim railway test circuit – Two circuits of 4 and 13 km.
- France – Centre d’essais ferroviaires – Near Alstom Valenciennes factory site in Raismes, includes 2.75 km for testing at 100 km/h, a 1.85 km loop for endurance testing at 80 km/h, and a loop for testing driverless trains.
- Germany – Test and validation centre, Wegberg-Wildenrath – Near Wildenrath in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Several loops of standard gauge and metre gauge track with various electrification systems.
- Poland – Test Track Centre near Żmigród – Operated by Warsaw Railway Institute. 7.7 km standard gauge loop, 160 km/h maximum allowed speed.
- Romania – Railway Testing Center Faurei – Total length of lines: 20,2 km, maximum speed 200 km/h.
- United Kingdom – Old Dalby Test Track
- United Kingdom – High Marnham Test Track
Note that Italy and Soain, who build substantial numbers of trains, don’t have a specialist testing centre.
I have read somewhere that each individual train has to be run for so many hours before it can be certified for service.
Consider
- Bombardier is building 412 Aventras with lengths between three and ten cars.
- CAF is building trains for Calodonian Sleeper, Keolis Amey Wales, Northern, TranPennine Express and West Midlands Trains.
- Hitachi is building 182 Class 800/801/802 trains with length of five or nine cars.
- Hitachi is building 80 Class 385 trains with lengths of 3/4 cars.
- Siemens are building trains for Govia Thameslink Railway.
- Stadler is building trains for Greater Anglia, Keolis Amay Wales and MerseyRail.
I haven’t done a detailed calculation must it must be at least 700 trains.
In addition there are various rebuilt and existing trains that will need to be tested.
- ScotRail’s shorterned InterCity 125s
- Porterbrook’s Class 769 trains.
- Vivarail’s Class 230 trains.
- Alstom’s Class 321 Hydrogen trains.
- Crossrail Class 345 trains need further testing.
And there will be new orders for the following franchises and lines.
- East Midlands.
- London Underground Piccadilly Line.
- South Eastern
- West Coast Alliance
I haven’t done a detailed calculation but we must be talking of nearly a thousand new trains of which probably six hundred will be delivered in the next five years.
I’m no expert, but I feel that two short test tracks and short lengths of improvised test tracks in factories, isn’t enough to test all these trains and certify them for service.
I should also blow my own trumpet and I know that when I wrote project management software, I was probably the best programmer in the World, at automatically scheduling resources.
So I tend to know, an impossible scheduling problem, when I see one!
Conclusion
We do send trains to Europe to specialist centres like the one at Velim in the Czech Republic. But these centres are also used by other European manufacturers.
I am led to the inevitable conclusion, that we need more train testing facilities, in both the UK and mainland Europe.
The Welsh Government has come to the same conclusion and are planning a test track at Neath, which I wrote about in £100m Rail Test Complex Plans For Neath Valley.
What would help, would be if Chris Grayling oiled a few wheels with some money. It might even result in some Continental trains coming to Wales for specialist testing like curing them of dracophobia.
I would also have felt that CAF would be happy with a test track fifty miles away from their new factory in Newport.
Come on, Wales! Fire up the dragons and get started!
Will Alstom Use The Buxtehude To Cuxhaven Route As A Test Route For The iLint Train?
I think there are various factors that could make the route between Buxtehude and Cuxhaven stations an ideal test route for hydrogen-powered iLint trains.
Bremervörde Depot
This Google Map shows the area of Bremervörde station.
There appears to be a lot of space.
In this article on Railway Technology, which is entitled iLint: The World’s First Hydrogen-Powered Train, this is said.
As part of the deal, Alstom will provide maintenance for the trains over a 30-year period. Meanwhile, leading gas company Linde will supply hydrogen for the new trains and erect the first-ever hydrogen filling station for trains in Bremervörde. The plan is that hydrogen will be produced onsite via electrolysis and wind energy at a later stage of the project.
As I passed through Bremervörde station, on my trip to the line at the weekend, I took this picture.
There would be plenty of space for the proposed hydrogen plant and to stable both the working fleet and any other trains, that were being tested for other places in Europe.
Linde would would only have to ensure that the hydrogen plant was sized for all future needs.
The Buxtehude To Cuxhaven Route
The route between Buxtehude and Cuxhaven has the following characteristics.
- It is about a hundred kilometres long.
- It is mainly single track except for the section through Bremerhaven, where it has at least two electrified tracks.
- There are passing places.
- The scheduled service is one train per hour (tph) in both directions.
- The line appears to have reasonably new signalling.
- There are numerous level crossings.
- I didn’t see any other traffic on the line, but I suspect there must be extra paths for freight, service trains, empty stock movements and a heritage service that uses part of the route.
I suspect that it could make an ideal test route, if extra trains could be squeezed in between the scheduled service.
Distance From the Salzgitter Factory
The Lint trains are built at in a factory at Salzgitter, which is between Hanover and Bruaunwieg, which is about four hours away.
The iLint trains could do this making their own small amounts of steam, but they would probably be dragged by a diesel locomotive.
Testing An Electric iLint
I think that we’ll eventually see a pantograph on the iLint, for one of three reasons.
- It would allow running on overhead electrification to charge the battery and reduce hydrogen consumption.
- It would allow creation of a diesel/electric hybrid version, that might be a lower capital cost alternative for shorter lines.
- It would create a battery.electric hybrid for short extension routes.
Alstom could possibly create a range of solutions for a wide range of applications.
The Buxtehade To Cuxhaven route includes a section of electrified line, which would surely be ideal for the testing of these trains.
Conclusion
I think that Alstom will use the route to test hydrogen-powered trains.
A Sighting Of The Two Coradia iLint Hydrogen Trains
I finally got to see the two Coradia iLint trains, parked at Bremervörde station.
On bahn.de they were talking about weather warnings, so perhaps Alstom and the operator were just being prudent. After all they didn’t want another Hindenburg disaster!
Not that there’s much chance of that these days when modern materials are used to build safe methods of hydrogen storage.
A Full-Barrier Level Crossing For Pedestrians And Cyclists At Bremervörde Station
I photographed this full-barrier level crossing For pedestrians and cyclists At Bremervörde station.
I watched the crossing for several minutes as my train waited for a green signal and pedestrians and cyclists crossed safely at times when the barriers were up. The barrier were also lowered, so that a train could proceed into the nearby depot.
Nobody seemed to disregard the barriers.
Perhaps, though the Germans are better than obeying orders than we are? Although, walking about Hamburg, I did feel that German pedestrians cross in more dangerous ways, than Londoners do.
Surely, if the Germans can put in this level crossing under the same European Health and Safety rules as we use, then we can do the same?
Think Again, If You Think We Have Too Many Level Crossings!
These are some pictures of the level crossing on the route between Buxtehude and Cuxhaven stations.
Some seemed to be very busy, but others were just on a concrete farm track.
I think with the exception of in the electrified Bremerhaven section, I didn’t see any bridges over the route.
The other feature visible from the line, was the large number of wind turbines.
A Brief Glimpse Of A Hydrogen-Powered Coradia iLint
On my early morning journey between Hamburg and Bremerhaven stations, with a change at Buxtehude station, I caught the first train of the day.
At Bremervörde station, my train stopped alongside a hydrogen-powered Coradia iLint and this was the best of the pictures I tried to take in the bad light and pouring rain.
I saw passengers sitting on the train, but by the time we left, they all seemed to have taken other means of transport.
The Anonymous Widower 