First Qatar Airways Flight From Doha Lands In Cardiff
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
The story is also reported in the Business section of The Times under a title of Direction Of Travel Brings Qatar Airways To Cardiff Airport.
This is the first paragraph from the latter article.
Trade winds from the Middle East have brought a whiff of what a successful Brexit might look like: a 300-seat, state-of-the-art Qatar Airways jetliner carrying a full business-class cabin and several tonnes of freight that has travelled from the 35C of Persian Gulf heat to 10C of Welsh drizzle.
To some it might seem to be a surprising new route.
As a former private pilot, who knew many of the UK’s airports pretty well, Cardiff Airport has many advantages.
- It has a long runway.
- It is not very busy.
- Air traffic control and other services are top class.
- It has a terminal capable of handling a large number of planes.
- British Airways have a large maintenance centre at the Airport.
- Ground transport to Cardiff includes buses and a railway station at Rhoose Cardiff International Airport station.
It could be an airport, that just needs more airlines and passengers to take advantage of its facilities.
The two articles suggest various reasons, why Qatar are going to run a service, that will be daily by July.
- It gives Cardiff a direct link to the world’s fastest growing hub airport at Doha.
- Qatar have lots of investments all over the UK.
- Doha gives direct access flights to to Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand, to give six examples.
- Cardiff Airport wants to develop as a warehousing hub and Qatar Airways is big in freight.
- The export market for Welsh food and other perishables could be transformed.
- The Times reminds us there are nine million sheep in Wales.
The Times also has this memorable phrase.
Quite why the flights have been launched has as much to do with Welsh lamb as it does with not being Bristol.
But I think there are other reasons.
New Routes For Qatar Airways To North America
Look at Qatar Airways routes to North America.
- They serve mostly Eastern seaboard destinations from Doha.
- Chicago and Los Angeles are also served from Doha, but they are long flights of over sixteen hours.
- San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver are not served.
So would Cardiff with its top-class facilities make an excellent hub for Qatar Airways?
Would a pos-Brexit UK be free to allow Qatar Airways to run services from Cardiff to selected destinations in North America?
Remember, it’s also about freight!
Improved Rail Access
This Google Map shows the Airport.
Note.
- Rhoose Cardiff International station is South of the Airport at the bottom of the map.
- The main terminal is on the North side of the Airport.
- The Vale of Glamorgan Line through the station and then skirts past the Eastern end of the runway on its way to Cardiff.
- The Vale of Glamorgan Line is double-track with sections of single-track.
- The Vale of Glamorgan Line was scheduled to be electrified.
It would appear that providing better passenger and freight access would not be the most challenging of problems, if they were to become needed in the future.
Improved Passenger Services
The current service at Rhoose Cardiff International station is as follows.
- An hourly service to Bridgend.
- An hourly service to Cardiff Central, Cardiff Queen Street and Aberdare.
- On Sundays the service is only two-hourly.
The service needs to be improved.
It would be possible to run a service from Cardiff to Swansea along the Vale of Glamorgan Line.
- The service would call at Rhoose Cardiff International station.
- The service could be run by trains designed for an airport service.
- The service would connect to all the Cardiff Valley Lines at Cardiff Central station.
- The service could be extended at the Western end to Llanelli and Fishguard.
- The service could be extended at the Eastern end to Newport, Bristol Parkway and Bristol Temple Meads.
If bi-mode or diesel trains were to be used no new infrastructure would be needed.
Two trains per hour are needed and may be possible, but it might be necessary to find a solution to the two single-trac sections of line.
Freight Services
After reading, the two articles, I’m convinced that both Cardiff Airport and Qatar Airways are backing the use of the airport as a freight hub.
But all freight would have to leave the airport by truck, as there is no rail connection.
Because of the closeness of the Vale of Glamorgan Line to the airport, it would be possible to create a high-quality cargo-handling facility, with rail access.
In The Go-Anywhere Express Parcel And Pallet Carrier (HSPT), I proposed using four-car Class 321 trains as parcel and pallet carriers.
- These could serve anywhere in the UK from Cardiff Airport.
- If from the Airport to Cardiff were to be electrified, electric freight could go fast to London and the South East.
- Cardiff could be used as an alternative freight hub,, for an over-crowded Heathrow.
I shall be interested to see how Cardiff Airport develops a cargo terminal..
Conclusion
Qatar Airways may have more money than Croesus, but they seem to be spending it wisely, in developing a route to Cardiff.
Birmingham International Station Set For £286m Revamp
The title of this post, is the same as that, of this article on Railway Technology Magazine.
This paragraph, explains the objectives of the revamp.
The plans would see the existing station be transformed into a multi-modal transport exchange, bringing together existing rail, future high speed rail, air, trams, buses, rapid transit, private vehicles, taxis, bicycles by 2025.
Birmingham seems to be growing in ambition.
This Google Map shows Birmingham Airport, the National Exhibition Centre and Birmingham International station in the middle.
Transport hubs based around an international airport will become increasingly common.
- Heathrow Airport is improving rail access with Crossrail and a possible Western rail access.
- Gatwick Airport is improving rail access as I wrote about in The Rise Of Gatwick Airport.
- Manchester Airport is improving, rail and tram access.
But we still need more.
To get to many airports, the only convenient way is to drive. Which in these days is not acceptable.
Will TSB Exist In A Couple Of Months?
I am seventy and I have been programming computers and using them since I was eighteen.
I also worked for Lloyds Bank in the 1970s, although not on their computing side, but as a high level consultant, where I was using data extracted from the main computer system to calculate bank costs, through a program I had written that was effectively a giant spreadsheet.
So I have heard a lot of stories from the 1960s, of when banks were first computerised, over drinks with bank e,employees.
One was about an absolutely brilliant fraud, that would make a good film.
None were as horrific as what TSB have inflicted on their customers over the last few weeks.
I like to check my bank account every morning, as in my view, that is the best way to pick up any fraud.
So if I had been a TSB customer, I would already have long ago moved my account.
It would be in everybody’s interest, if all TSB account holders moved to other banks.
As that would hopefully, close TSB!
This would surely mean, all banks and other financial institutions made sure they got their computing right.
From my computing knowledge, I do wonder whether the TSB problems are being caused by an evil programmer!
The chaos undoubtedly, could have been created deliberately.
But for what purpose?
- There is always a rogue state or organisation, wanting to create mischief.
- Banco Sabadell, who are TSB’s parent, are a publicly-quoted company. Their share price appears to have been falling recently. Could someone have placed a big bet on the share price?
- Chaos is a good smokescreen for fraud.
Hopefully, the truth will come out in the end!
How The Class 717 Trains Are Financed
This is a paragraph in an article in Rail Technology Magazine, which is entitled Brand-New £200m Class 707s Undergo Testing Ahead Of Autumn Roll-out.
The 25 six-car trains, financed by Rock Rail Moorgate, will be the first to be introduced in the UK using a new model for financing rolling stock. In an unprecedented move, the trains will be financed through long-term investment from pension and insurance companies.
So many of us will own a portion of these trains, through our pensions and insurance policies!
Great Northern’s Class 717s Under Test
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Global Rail News.
The title also says it all and it would seem that the aim of having Class 717 trains in service this year on the Northern City Line is feasible.
The article also says that twelve trains have been completed and another twelve are being built.
I suppose Siemens had an advantage, in that except for the end doors, they are probably very similar to the Class 707 trains.
From Lea Bridge Station To Coppermill Junction – 1st May 2018
I walked to the footbridge to the North of Lea Bridge station, before I took a train North.
I took some pictures around the bridge and some from the train.
Lea Bridge Junction was the old name for the junction and has been shown on carto.metro.free.fr.
It would appear there are gaps in the track, so will these be used to put in points to link to possible fourth track or even the Hall Farm Curve, which would link the Chingford Branch Line to Stratford.
One thing that puzzles me about Lea Bridge Junction, is that the crossing appears to be unwired. Does this mean that trains will cross using a mixture of Momentum and/or battery power.
A Good Timetable Change In May For De Beauvoir Town
I live in the North of an area in London called De Beauvoir Town.
On the map, I live close to the junction of Mildmay Park/Southgate Road and the Balls Pond Road of Round the Horne fame!
The junction is a major bus interchange, with buses going regularly in all directions.
- North to Manor House, Turnpike Lane and Wood Green.
- South to Old Street, the City and London Bridge
- West to Highbury and Islington station, the Angel and the West End.
- East to Hackney, Waltham Forest and the River Lea.
All these buses was one of the reasons I moved here.
But note the railway stations ringing the area.
- Canonbury station is to the North-West about fifteen minutes walk away
- Dalston Kingsland station with its new M & S Food is a similar distance in the North-East corner of the map.
- Dalston Junction station is also in the North East corner.
- Essex Road station is in the South-West corner of the map.
But that is not all!
- Haggerston station is within walking distance on a good day, off the map to the South-East.
- Highbury and Islington station is a short bus ride off the map to the West.
- Angel station is a short bus ride off the map to the South-West.
- Manor House station is a short bus ride off the map to the North.
- Hackney Downs station is a short bus ride off the map to the East.
I can also get direct buses from local stops to Euston, Kings Cross, London Bridge, St. Pancras, Victoria and Waterloo.
From December 2018, I’ll be able to get a bus from the junction to the new Crossrail station at Moorgate/Liverpool Street.
Is there a better place to live for public transport?
On the twentieth of May, the date of the rail timetable change, things will get better.
An article on the timetable change in the May 2018 Edition of Modern Railways says this.
London Overground’s East London Line services are being recast in conjunction with the new Thameslink timetable. On the North and West London Lines, the off-peak timetable is being enhanced to match broadly the peak service, providing 8 tph between Stratford and Willesden Junction for most of the day seven days a week, with four continuing to Clapham Junction and the other four to Richmond.
London’s ugly duckling of the last century, is turning into a whole bevy of swans.
The service on the North London Line has improved several-fold since I moved here and will now be eight tph or a train every seven and a half minutes.
The East London Line will be recast, with another two tph this year to Crystal Palace station and two more next year to Clapham Junction station.
And then there’s the Northern City Line to Moorgate, that calls at Essex Road and Highbury and Islington stations!
In First ‘717’ In UK In June, I wrote about what will be happening in the May 2018 timetable change.
I said this.
From the May 2018 timetable change, the service levels will become.
- Four tph to Welwyn Garden City
- Five tph to Hertford North, with two tph extended to Stevenage or Watton-at-Stone.
- No direct services will run to Letchworth Garden City. Change seems to be a cross-platform interchange at Finsbury Park.
The service termination at Watton-at-Stone station is only temporary until Network Rail build a new bay platform at Stevenage station.
These changes mean that there will be nine tph between Alexandra Palace and Moorgate stations.
This represents a fifty percent increase in service frequency.
SJ Invests In Thriving Sleeper Trains
The title of this post is the same as that on this article on Global Rail News.
This is said.
Over the last five years, passenger numbers on its Malmö to Stockholm services have increased by 100 per cent.
There has also been growth on the Gothenburg-Stockholm-Umeå-Luleå-Kiruna-Narvi route, where passenger numbers have risen by 25 per cent.
That sounds like thriving to me!
So why is it that sleeper trains are thriving in the UK and Sweden, but countries like Germany have given up?
Malmö to Stockholm
These factors probably help this service
- Malmö is Sweden’s third-largest city.
- The frequent trains between Malmö and Stockholm take four and a half hours.
- Stockholm and Malmö are a very similar distance apart as London and Glasgow or Edinburgh.
- Malmö is only thirty-five minutes from Copenhagen by train.
As the Caledonian Sleeper works between London and Edinburgh/Glasgow, why shouldn’t a quality service work on a similar distance in Sweden?
Gothenburg-Stockholm-Umeå-Luleå-Kiruna-Narvi
These factors probably help this service
- The service effectively goes from the South-West of Sweden right up to the North.
- The distance as 1,600 kilometres
- I have been recommended to take this train to go to see the Northern Lights. So perhaps, it is useful for tourists.
- The service probably appeals to train enthusiasts.
- It is probably a reasonably civilised way to go to the North of Sweden.
I would certainly use it in winter to get to see the Northern Lights at Abrisko.
No ‘Ironing Board seats’ For Greater Anglia’s New Trains
The title of this post is the same as the title of this article on Rail Magazine.
The proof will be in the sitting, but the article encourages me, that comfort will be better than some recent new trains.
The Scotsman Gives A Warm Welcome To The Class 365 Trains
This article on the Scotsman is entitled New ScotRail Trains To Ease Crush On Edinburgh-Glasgow Line.
The article also has a rather interesting picture of a lorry-mounted train negotiating heavy traffic in Glasgow.
It broadly welcomes the Class 365 trains, and this is a comment from a rail group.
Andrew Stephen, of rail lobby group RailQwest and the Cumbernauld Commuters Association, said: “The Class 365s are perfectly serviceable and comfortable trains – and it is fortunate more than a few four-car sets are available.”
The article also confirms that ten trains will be going North.
As there are a total of forty of the Class 365 trains, that will be replaced by Class 387 trains and new Class 700 trains, I wonder where the others will be deployed.
The Anonymous Widower 