Why Do Major Rail Projects Go Over Budget?
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
This is the sub-heading.
Experts from the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) will be questioned by the Transport Committee on their work advising the Government on planning major transport projects this week.
This is the introductory paragraph.
The cross-party Committee will ask witnesses, including NIC Chair Sir John Armitt, why infrastructure projects such as HS2 go over budget, how the Department for Transport can manage them more successfully, and the Government’s ability to learn from mistakes or from positive examples in other countries.
In my time, I have written a lot of project management software and it has generally sold well, especially in the fields of aerospace, construction, defence, oil & gas and vehicles. It has also sold well in Australia, France, Korea, Norway, The Netherlands and the United States.
In the UK, two major areas of Government ; rail and the NHS did not use any of my software, despite having large numbers of suitable projects, whereas nationalised companies like British Aerospace, British Leyland and Ferranti were big users. The Chevaline project, which was the refurbishment of the UK’s nuclear deterrent by the Callaghan Government also used my software.
I do find this split strange. A retired MP once told me, that it is traditional.
But Rail and the NHS always seem to get it wrong! Is it because, they are two government departments that deal a lot with the General Public?
On the other hand, the Inland Revenue seem to do better. But my planning software was used to plan the move to Telford!
Perhaps, there is a lot less traditional thinking in the Inland Revenue.
Have Ocado Run Out Of 0.5 % Alcohol Ghost Ship?
I do my base Ocado order, as soon as I get this week’s order on the Saturday soon after six in the morning. I do fine tune the order, as the week progresses.
Yesterday, I was without two products ; the M & S Liver & Bacon ready meal and Adnams 0.5 % Alcohol Ghost Ship.
The ready meal is often short, but I can get it in the Marks and Spencer’s stores locally on most weeks.
One problem with the liver is that it it is not suitable for freezing.
The beer is not a problem, as I have enough in store and I can drink other brands.
But it does seem to have been a victim of Dry January.
After the end of the month, it will be very interesting to look at the domestic violence figures.
A Funny Sunday Morning
I didn’t sleep that well and I got up about 05:45.
But by 06:30, I’d completed and entered the Sunday Times Prize Sudoku, as I always do.
The odds of winning must be exceedingly long, as I complete it every week and have not won anything yet.
I had my bath and flushed the sleep from my eyes in the hot water as I always do and by 10:15, I was sitting in Leon at the Angel having my usual gluten free Full-English breakfast.
I also went round the corner to the Marks and Spencer to buy a few items I needed.
- Bananas – I can never have too many
- British Strawberries – Strawberries are rich in magnesium and coeliacs can be low, so when I see quality strawberries I usually buy.
- Liver and Bacon Ready Meal for One – I have one a week to keep up my B12 levels and Ocado didn’t have any yesterday.
- Packet of Chocolate Cakes – I am slightly addicted.
The strawberries were from Dyson Farming, which I would have thought was the wrong side of the political spectrum for Islington.
My left knee also had a funny turn, which I was looking for the liver. Was it just reminding me that, if it didn’t get its B12, it would play up something rotten or was my brain using my knee to signal that it was low in B12 after the superb work on the sudoku?
Thirteen years ago I had a serious stroke and two or three serious doctors have said I’ve made a remarkable recovery.
From what I can gather on the Internet in the United States, I would have been given B12 injections for my stroke.
But then I am, as I am coeliac and Addenbrooke’s prescribed the injections, when I was diagnosed as coeliac in the 1990s. So is that behind my excellent recovery from stroke or did the Chinese doctors in Hong Kong diagnose my stroke as worse than it was?
Since I swapped to Ocado for my food purchases about two months ago, I have found it easier to buy the Marks and Spencer’s Liver and Bacon. I now eat one every week to top up my B12 and the arthitis, I occasionally get in my joints has reduced.
So I asked Dr. Google if arthritis gets worse after a stroke.
They pointed me to this paper on the National Library of Medicine. They also helpfully gave me this AI-derived answer to my question.
Yes, arthritis can worsen after a stroke:
Osteoarthritis
A common type of arthritis that can worsen after a stroke. This can be due to spasticity that develops after a stroke. Osteoarthritis can also make it harder for stroke patients to recover during rehabilitation.
Rheumatoid arthritis
Patients with RA may experience worse functional outcomes after a stroke due to pain and swelling in their extremities. RA patients may also have an increased risk of ischemic stroke.
Other types of pain that can occur after a stroke include: Headaches, Tingling sensations, Shoulder pain, and Central post-stroke pain.
Pain after a stroke can range from headaches that resolve on their own to chronic, severe joint pain.
Ic like the answer, as it fits my symptoms. Is artificial intelligence going to do some doctors out of a job?
I certainly get the tingling sensations.
I’ve just prescribed myself Liver and Bacon for a late lunch.
I’ll report back later!
Note, that I’m eating in front of the computer with the new keyboard.
UK Gov’t Says Offshore Wind Backbone Of 2030 Clean Power System, Plans To Procure 12 GW More In Next Few Allocation Rounds
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Electricity generated by renewable sources and nuclear power will be the foundation of the UK’s electricity system by 2030, according to a new action plan the UK government issued in December 2024. Offshore wind, which now accounts for some 17 per cent of the country’s electricity generation, has “a particularly important role as the backbone of the clean power system”, the government said, revealing plans to make part of the path to building offshore wind farms easier as soon as before the Contract for Difference (CfD) round planned for the summer.
These two paragraphs add a few more details to the plan.
The action plan, issued by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), was presented by the UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband on 13 December and is said to be a “major milestone to deliver on the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change which aims to drive economic growth and rebuild Britain with mission-driven government”.
Clean Power 2030 Action Plan is a roadmap to an (almost) fully clean power system in the UK by 2030, with clean sources making up 95 per cent of Great Britain’s electricity generation with gas being used for no more than 5 per cent of total generation.
This Wikipedia entry is a List of Operational Wind Farms in the UK.
Operational Offshore Wind Farms
In October 2023, there were offshore wind farms consisting of 2,695 turbines with a combined capacity of 14,703 megawatts. Strike price based on £/MWh at 2012 prices.
Wind Farms Under Construction
Offshore wind farms currently under construction (offshore), with a combined capacity in December 2024 of 7,792 MW. Strike price based on £/MWh at 2012 prices.
Pre-Construction Wind Farms
Wind farms that have started onshore construction and have been awarded contracts under the UK Government’s Contracts for Difference Round 3 (2019)/Round 4 (2022). Total capacity of 3,932 MW. Strike price based on £/MWh at 2012 prices. These projects re-bid some capacity in Round 6 (2024) with a higher strike price.
Proposed Wind Farms – Contracts For Difference Round 4
Wind farms proposed under the Round 4 (2022) CFD auction,[88] with a combined capacity of 1,428 MW . Strike price based on £/MWh at 2012 prices.
Proposed Wind Farms – Contracts For Difference Round 6
Wind farms proposed under the Round 6 (2024) CFD auction,[88] with a combined capacity of 3,763 MW . Strike price based on £/MWh at 2012 prices.
Proposed Wind Farms – Previously Awarded In The CfD Round 3
This wind farm was proposed under the UK Government’s Contracts for Difference Round 3 (2019), which it decided to withdraw from. It will likely bid in AR6 with a changed specification from the original submission
Proposed Wind Farms – Early Planning
Wind farms that are in an exploratory phase and have not yet secured a Contract for Difference at auction.
Total capacities: England: 18,423 MW – Wales: 700 MW – Scotland: 30,326 MW
Current Totals
- Operational Offshore Wind Farms – 14,703 MW
- Wind Farms Under Construction – 7,792 MW
- Pre-Construction Wind Farms – 3,932 MW
- Contracts For Difference Round 4 – 1,428 MW
- Contracts For Difference Round 6 – 3,763 MW
- Previously Awarded In The CfD Round 3 – 0 MW
- Earlp Planning – England: 18,423 MW
- Early Planning – Wales: 700 MW
- Early Planning – Scotland: 30,326 MW
Adding up these totals gives 81.067 MW
As I’m typing this, the UK is generating and importing a total of 29,330 MW of electricity.
Conclusion
Another 12 GW of new offshore wind will mean that we will have 81,067 + 12,000 – 29330 MW of electricity to put in store or sell to the Germans and other Europeans.
Perhaps we should be investing in industries, that use large quantities of electricity like hydrogen steel-making or zero-carbon cement making.
Silvertown Tunnel Works From The Cable Car – 8th January 2025
I took the pictures in Silvertown Tunnel Works – 1st January 2025 from the Docklands Light Railway.
I took these pictures from the Emirates Air Line or whatever it is called today.
Heights And Me
I find a ride on the Cable Car to be very refreshing.
I also used to like being at height in an unpressurised light aircraft.
Is this unusual? A doctor, who has appeared in mountaineering documentaries on the BBC thinks so, but then doctors have a good laugh about my skin, which doesn’t seem to need a plaster after a blood test or injection.
AI Putin Film Puts Russian President In Nappies
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Patryk Vega has attracted the attention of Kremlin agents with his wild new ‘deepfake’ biopic that is set to be released in Britain
These first three paragraphs add more to the story.
When he is not plotting invasions or political terror, President Putin likes to watch old Soviet war films. Now he has the opportunity to watch himself in a starring role on the big screen, but it’s doubtful he will enjoy what he sees.
A new AI-assisted film that is released this month about Putin’s life features him wearing soiled adult nappies, working as a taxi driver after the collapse of the Soviet Union and cheating on his former wife.
The film, entitled Putin, is the work of Patryk Vega, a Polish director who is best known for his gory depictions of the criminal underworld. He has described it as the world’s “first deepfake” film.
If it is shown near me, I think I’ll go and see it.
There is a trailer on the internet, that looks professional.
When I was growing up in the 1960s, Polish films had an Art House following.
I particularly remember two.
Both films were by Roman Polanski.
Five-Car Class 710 Train On The North London Line
I had my first ride on a five-car Class 710 train on the North London Line, this week.
I just took the train from Stratford to Hackney Central stations, so I could get the 38 bus home.
Is FirstGroup’s Order For Fourteen Trains For Lumo And Hull Trains More Identical Than Is Generally Assumed?
Currently, Hull Trains operate Class 802 trains and Lumo operate Class 803 trains.
Both trains are five-car Hitachi A-Trains and appear to be similar in size, although there are other differences.
- Hull Trains have a two-class layout, whereas on Lumo everybody sits in the same class.
- Hull Trains are a true bi-mode with the 700 kW Rolls-Royce mtu diesel generators.
- Lumo only have a battery for emergency hotel power.
- Hull Trains currently operate a route, where up to a hundred miles in each round trip can be on diesel.
- Lumo’s current route is all electric.
However, the differences in train specification doesn’t stop the two operators using each other’s trains.
This is from an article in the November 2023 Edition of Modern Railways, that is entitled Extra Luggage Racks For Lumo.
The co-operation between sister East Coast mail line open access operators Lumo and Hull Trains continues, with one recent move, being the use of a Hull Trains ‘802’ on Lumo services to cover for a shortage of the dedicated ‘803s’ while one unit was out of action for repairs following a fatality. Although the two types are similar, there are notable differences, most obviously that the Hull Trains units are bi-modes while the Lumo sets are straight EMUs and a training conversion course is required for Lumo drivers on the ‘802s’. There are also challenges from a passenger-facing perspective – The Hull Trains units have around 20 % fewer seats and a First Class area.
A future Chief Executive of FirstGroup might at some future date decide to convert all trains to the same specification.
Drive Systems Of The Five-Car Class 80x Trains
I’m writing them down for all the five-car Class 80x trains to make it easier to understand.
- Class 800 train – DPTS–MS-MS-MC–DPTF – (LNER) 3 x 560 kW or (GWR) 3 x 700 kW diesel generators.
- Class 801 train – DPTS–MS-MS-MC–DPTF – 1 x 560 kW diesel generators
- Class 802 train – DPTS–MS-MS-MC–DPTF – (LNER) 3 x 700 kW diesel generators.
- Class 803 train – DPTS–MS-MS-MS–DPTF
- Class 805 train – DPTS–MS-MS-MC–DPTF – 3 x 700 kW diesel generators.
- Class 810 train – DPTS–MS-MS-MC–DPTF – 4 x 735 kW diesel generators.
Note.
- All these five-car trains have the same drive configuration.
- Traction motors are on cars 2 and 4.
- Trains with one diesel generators have them under car 3.
- Trains with three diesel generators have them under cars 2/3/4.
- Trains with four diesel generators have them under cars 1/2/4/5.
- The traction battery in the Class 802 battery-electric test train was 750 kW, according to The Data Sheet For Hitachi Battery Electric Trains.
It is all a very balanced design.
A Standard Basic Train For Hull Trains And Lumo
This may be possible and could be the following.
- A Class 802 or Class 803 train to the latest specification.
- Five cars.
- Interior to the customers specification.
- Ability to work in pairs.
- A standard size traction battery in car 3.
The battery could be changed according to route.
- Carmarthen – 75.3 miles – See Thoughts On Lumo’s Proposed Paddington And Carmarthen Service.
- Edinburgh – 100 miles – To cover the Lincolnshire Diversion.
- Hull – 100 miles – To cover the Lincolnshire Diversion.
- Paignton – 128.2 miles – See Thoughts On Lumo’s Proposed Paddington And Paignton Service.
- Rochdale – 100 miles to cover reverse at Rochdale.
- Sheffield – 100 miles – To cover Retford and Sheffield both ways.
- Stirling – Possibly no batteries required.
I can see a battery range of 100 miles covering most routes.
There could be two or three batteries close together in cars 2, 3 and 4, driving the traction motors in cars 2 and 4 and being charged by them.
These are my thoughts on individual Hull Trains and Lumo routes.
Beverley And Hull
In Could Hull Station Be Electrified?, I put forward my view that if Hull station were to be electrified, it opens up various possibilities of running battery-electric trains to Hull and Beverley.
Hull Trains services would charge the battery, every time they went through Hull station.
Distances needed on battery power to electrification would be.
- Beverley – 16.7 miles for return trip.
- Bridlington – 31.1 miles
- Doncaster – 40.8 miles
- Scarborough – 53.8 miles
- Temple Hirst – 36.1 miles
Except for Scarborough, a single battery would probably suffice.
Beverley and Hull are handled without a battery at present, but Hull Trains might like to carry sufficient power in batteries to be able to handle the Lincoln Diversion.
Carmarthen
Cardiff and Carmarthen via Gowerton is 75.3 miles, which probably means two batteries would be needed.
See Thoughts On Lumo’s Proposed Paddington And Carmarthen Service, for more details.
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is handled without a battery at present, but Lumo might like to carry sufficient power in batteries to be able to handle the Lincoln Diversion.
Paignton
Paignton is the longest route at 128.2 miles and I doubt, it would be talked about if it wasn’t technically possibly.
See Thoughts On Lumo’s Proposed Paddington And Paignton Service, for more details.
Rochdale
Sheffield
Stirling
Stirling could be handled without a battery, but Lumo might like to carry sufficient power in batteries to be able to handle a small diversion.
Cold Snap Leaves Britain With Less Than A Week’s Worth Of Gas
The title of this post, are the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
The closure of Russian pipelines through Ukraine and recent weather conditions have left gas stores ‘concerningly low’
These are the first two paragraphs.
Britain has less than a week of gas supplies in storage, the country’s largest supplier has warned after plunging temperatures and high demand.
Centrica, the owner of British Gas, said the UK’s gas storage was “concerningly low” after coming under pressure this winter.
The two largest gas storage facilities in this country are both in the Humberside area.
- Aldbrough is in salt caverns North of Hull and is owned by SSE.
- Rough is under the North Sea and is owned by Centrica
Both are being converted to store hydrogen.
Some might thing that is a bit stupid if we’re short of storage, but we need the hydrogen storage for four reasons.
- To store hydrogen created by electrolysers on Humberside, which will enable heavy gas users in the area to decarbonise.
- The hydrogen will also be burnt in a 1 GW hydrogen-fired power station at Keadby to back up the wind turbines, with zero-carbon electricity.
- The hydrogen will also be sold to the Germans to replace Putin’s blood-stained gas. It will be sent to Germany in a pipeline called AquaVentus, which will also deliver Scottish hydrogen across the North Sea. Hopefully, the Germans will pay a good price for the hydrogen.
- The hydrogen will be used for transport.
The mistake the Government is making is not to develop smaller gas fields, so that domestic gas users can continue to use natural gas, until the technology to replace it with zero-carbon sources is fully developed.
‘Europe’s Biggest Battery Farm’ Built On Coal Mine
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Work is under way to create what has been described as Europe’s largest battery storage project at Coalburn in South Lanarkshire.
These three paragraphs add a bit more detail.
Developers say the two huge neighbouring battery farms – one at the site of a former opencast coal mine – will store enough electricity to power three million homes.
Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are being built across the UK to help balance the electricity grid, which is becoming increasingly powered by renewables.
Almost 90% of the electricity generated in Scotland last year was from low carbon sources like wind, solar or nuclear, according to figures from the Scottish government.
A search of the Internet found this paragraph describing the size of the battery.
The CIP BESS portfolio (Coalburn 1, Coalburn 2, and Devilla) will have total power capacity of 1.5GW and will be able to store and supply the grid with a total of 3GWh of electricity, equivalent to the electricity demand of over 4.5 million households, across a 2-hour period.
Note.
- CIP is Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, who are a large developer of energy infrastructure.
- It appears there are three separate 500 MW/ 1 GWh batteries being developed together.
- The batteries can supply electricity for two hours.
This looks like a sensible project in an area, where there could be plenty of spare electricity.
Competition With Highview Power
Highview Power’s web site has a Projects section, where this is said.
Scotland And The North-East, UK
Highview Power’s next projects will be located in Scotland and the North East and each will be 200MW/2.5GWh capacity. These will be located on the national transmission network where the wind is being generated and therefore will enable these regions to unleash their untapped renewable energy potential and store excess wind power at scale.
I can see Highview Power’s 200MW/2.5GWh liquid air batteries and 500 MW/ 1 GWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) competing for the same projects.
However, it does appear at Trafford Energy Park, both types of battery appear to be being installed.
- Carlton Power Secures Planning Consent For World’s Largest Battery Energy Storage Scheme
- Centrica Invests In Renewable Energy Storage Capabilities To Boost UK’s Energy Security And Accelerate Transition To Net Zero
Perhaps the two together give the best response?
The Anonymous Widower 