Would High-Speed Trains With Onboard Energy Storage Enable Environmentally-Friendly High-Speed Lines?
If you stand on the platform at Stratford International station, when a Eurostar Class 373 train comes through, it is a very noisy experience.
For this and other reasons high-speed trains usually have their own fenced-off tracks, well away from centres of population.
High-speed trains like Eurostar tend to have a journey profile, where they accelerate to line speed and then run at this speed, until they stop at the next station.
High speed lines are also designed, so that trains don’t lose energy on gradients and curves for energy efficiency.
I’d love to see an energy use profile for a modern high-speed train like a Class 374 train, as it goes from London to Paris.
Onboard energy storage is rather primitive today, but who’s to know how far the next generation of battery technology will take a train in say ten years time.
Say a high speed train has to go through an area that is highly-sensitive with respect to visual and/or audio intrusion!
If the section was not electrified, which would cut the visual intrusion to just the trains passing through and reduce the pantograph noise to zero, how far would a mix of battery power and the kinetic energy of the train power it until it could get electric power on the other side of the electrification gap?
We could be closer than anybody thinks to the use of batteries on high-speed trains.
The Midland Main Line is being electrified and Ian Walmsley in Modern Railways has speculated that 125 mph Aventras could be used between London and Sheffield. I wrote about this in A High-Speed Train With An IPEMU-Capability.
Could we see sections of the fast lines deliberately built without wires, so that noise is reduced?
Leicester station is a serious bottleneck, so could track be arranged there with two quiet fast lines without wires, through the centre of the city and the station?
It’s an interesting possibility to both reduce the effects on the environment and cut the cost of electrification.
I also think there are other reasons why trains will increasingly have on-board energy storage or in the case of electric locomotives, a small diesel engine.
- A get-to-the-next-station capability for when electric power to the line fails.
- Depots could be without electrification.
- Complicated stations could be electrically-dead.
It is a technology, that will have a large number of positive effects in the coming years.
I Get Struck By The DOO Lurgy
The DOO (Driver Only Operation) Lurgy has generally been limited to Southern, Gatwick Express and ScotRail trains.
But today, when coming back from IKEA, I was unable to get a train on the Great Northern Route at Highbury and Islington to Essex Road, as the train was cancelled.
The station-man upstairs said it the DOO Lurgy and I walked off to catch a bus.
This row over DOO has gone on long enough and from what I wrote about in Design For Safety In A New Station, I would suspect that the solution I saw at Lea Bridge station, is as good as its going to get!
Design For Safety In A New Station
I took these pictures at the new Lea Bridge station
Note.
- There is a series of cameras, that display images of the complete train on the screens for the driver.
- Speakers and CCTV cameras are everywhere along the platforms.
- Very little seems to have been left to chance.
I doubt, even a driver, who was in the midst of some unfortunate personal emergency would miss anything untoward happening on the platform.
But even if they collapsed, it would be hoped that other safety systems on the train, would cut the power.
As a passenger and engineer, the setup of the platform, certainly reassured me.
Should we make sure, that the safety systems at all stations are as comprehensive as this?
Are You Annoyed By Noisy Trains At The Bottom Of Your Garden?
I have just found this document on the European Parliament web site, which is entitled Reducing Railway Noise Pollution.
It is a fascinating document and this is the abstract.
12 million EU inhabitants are affected by railway noise during the day and 9 million during the night. This study lists measures, funding and regulations to reduce it. The introduction of modern rolling stock will lower noise most significantly. In the short run, the replacement of cast iron by composite brake blocks on rail freight cars is most important. Developing a regulation scheme for a staged process towards low-noise rolling stock is the heart of a rail noise abatement strategy.
Many of us in the UK, would think that we suffer badly from the noise of trains, but it would appear that Germany and other Central European countries suffer badly from all freight trains passing through. The Rhine Valley which has over 400 freighs trains a day, suffers badly from noise.
So how can we reduce noise?
- As the abstract says new rolling stock is the best way to reduce noise and many of our trains have been replaced with new or refurbished ones in the last few years.
- The report says that most (approximately 75%) of UK freight wagons have disc brakes or composite brake blocks. So that is good.
- In my view one of things that gets most complaints is noisy and smelly diesel locomotives, like the dreaded Class 66 locomotives. They may be liked by the freight companies, but they are not favourites of drivers and those living by the railway. More friendly types of diesel locomotives like the Class 68 are starting to appear and it can’t be too soon.
- Surprisingly, with electric trains, pantograph noise is a problem. I’d hand that and any other aerodynamic problems over to the engineers in Formula One and aircraft design. I have read that Bombardier’s new Aventra will be very clean aeodynamically, which must make for a reduction in noise.
Let’s hope that these small improvements continue to reduce the noise by trains.
The report also says this about physical noise barriers.
Noise barriers are a visual intrusion, particularly since they are a target for graffiti; they have a high cost, and cause problems for track access. Their effectiveness depends on their absorption properties, their height, and the proximity of the barrier to the noise source and/or to the receiver.
I am not a fan, as they ruin my taking of photographs.
After The Northern Hub, Is Network Rail Planning A Midland Rail Hub?
The study on Network Rail’s web site is entitled West Midlands and Chilterns Route Study, proposes a concept of a Midland Rail Hub.
By adding the following infrastructure.
- Bordesley Chords and new platforms at Moor Street
- More tracks through Water Orton
- Kings Norton upgrade
- Snow Hill Platform 4
- Begin rollout of Digital Railway
Network Rail feel, it will bring the following benefits.
- Up to 10 extra trains every hour
- More freight trains
- New journey opportunities between East and West Midlands
- Unlocking new jobs
- Maximising benefits of HS2.
It doesn’t appear to be as radical as the Northern Hub.
These are my notes and thoughts on the various proposals.
Bordesley Chords
This Google Map shows the Bordesley area of Birmingham.
Bordesley Chords
In the top-right or north-eastern corner of the map is Birmingham City Football Ground.
In the middle of the map is Bordesley Circus, which is a roundabout, that is one of the most dangerous for pedestrians in the country. When I was last there, it was being improved and I wrote My Least Favourite Roundabout Gets Pedestrian Lights. I hope they’re working on Tuesday, 13th December, when I’ll be going to see Ipswich play.
Bordesley station, which is one of the worst stations in the UK, lies to the South-West of this roundabout and is on the Chiltern Main Line into Birmingham Moor Street station, although services don’t stop.
Running almost North-South across the map is the Camp Hill Line, which incidentally passes behind the stands at the football ground.
Where it crosses the Chiltern Main Line, there is a chord allowing limited connection between North and East.
I would assume that as the report says Bordesley Chords, that there will be some extra connectivity between these two lines.
Under the future of the Camp Hill Line on Wikipedia, this is said.
The reinstatement of local rail services to the former Camp Hill Line has been a long term aspiration of the City, and during 2007, Birmingham City Council announced that they were looking into the possibility of reopening the line between Kings Norton and Birmingham Moor Street via the construction of a railway viaduct from Sparkbrook to Bordesley, where trains would be taken into the “old” Birmingham Moor Street station. In October 2007, a 1500-name petition was handed in to the council asking for the line to be re-opened. In 2013 the proposal was shelved indefinitely.
As Kings Norton is to the South, this would need a West to South connection at Bordesley.
These pictures show the area from a Chiltern Train going into Moor Street.
Salubrious it is not! There is certainly a lot of space on the North side, but there might be less on the South. This Google Map shows the area between the station and where the two lines cross.
Bordesley Station And Chords
Note the double-track chord between the Camp Hill Line to the North and the Chiltern Main Line to the East. This chord gives services from the Chiltern Main Line to access Birmingham New Street station. If you take a train from Oxford to Birmingham New Street, it will take this chord, if it doesn’t go via Coventry.
From what I have seen in Manchester and some parts of London, the area could surely be put to a better purpose, perhaps driven by a rebuilt Bordesley station, with regular services to Moor Street, Kings Noton and Solihull. The area does have the added factor of water in the shape of one of Birmingham’s numerous canals.
Hopefully, the first piece of development in a very run-down area, the sorting of a decent walking route between Bordesley station and Birmingham City Football Ground has been completed.
New Platforms At Birmingham Moor Street Station
This Google Map shows Birmingham Moor Street station.
Birmingham Moor Street Station
The most northerly pair of platforms in the station are numbered 1 and 2 and are for the through lines to Birmingham Snow Hill station.
Over the last few years, work has opened the next pair of bay platforms 3 and 4. On my last trip to Birmingham in June, I arrived in Platform 4.
A Chiltern Main Line Train In Platform 4 At Birmingham Moor Street Station
Platform 5 on the other side of Platform 4 may have been reinstated, but there doesn’t seem to be any trains using it, as yet!
The map shows that there would appear to be space to open Platforms 3, 4 and 5, but could a clever architect squeeze in a Platform 6?
These pictures show the space for a possible Platform 5 and 6.
There would certainly appear to be space to shoe-horn two tracks and a new Platform 6 between the current Platform 5 and the retaining wall.
As the pictures show, Platform 5 is a platform that is long enough for any train currently envisaged that might call at Moor Street station.
Looking at the map of the station, it might even be possible to make Platform 6 even longer, if this were thought to be needed.
More Tracks Through Water Orton
This Google Map shows Water Orton station and the lines through it.
Lines Through Water Orton Station
If you look up services from Water Orton and Coleshill Parkway stations, they are certainly of the turn-up-and-wait-forever variety.
Water Orton has one train every two hours to Birmingham, but at least Coleshill Parkway has a train every half-hour.
Perhaps more lines through Water Orton will enable more trains through the area.
Looking at the rail map of Birmingham, it would be possible to go from Water Orton via the Camp Hill Line to Kings Norton and if the North to West chord was built at Bordesley to Moor Street.
It would certainly be the view of many, including myself, that a Parkway station needs a train or tram every fifteen minutes.
Kings Norton Upgrade
If the Camp Hill Line is reopened to passenger trains, then Kings North station will be the terminus.
This Google Map shows the station.
Kings Norton Station
It is a large station with an unused island platform in the middle.
These pictures show Kings Norton station.
There is certainly work to be done.
But the station also has a lot of potential and space that can be utilised. It might even be possible to fit in a bay platform to turn trains back to Moor Street and New Street.
Birmingham Snow Hill Platform 4
Wikipedia says this about platforms at Birmingham Snow Hill station,
The present Snow Hill station has three platforms for National Rail trains. When it was originally reopened in 1987 it had four, but one was later converted in 1999 for use as a terminus by Midland Metro trams. The original tram terminus closed in November 2015, in order for the extension of the Midland Metro through Birmingham city centre to be connected. This includes a dedicated embankment for trams alongside the station, and will also include a new through stop serving Snow Hill. This will eventually allow the fourth platform to be returned to main-line use.
As the Midland Metro now has its own new platform outside the station, the fourth platform can soon be converted back to heavy rail use.
These pictures show the current state of the closed tram platform.
I don’t think that converting it back to heavy rail will be the most difficult of jobs.
Birmingham Station Connectivity
Although, not on the Network Rail infrastructure list, I feel that to gain the full benefits of HS2, then the line must be properly connected to Moor Street and New Street stations.
I can easily walk between Moor Street and New Street stations, but I do feel that Birmingham’s solution of using the Midland Metro as a link and to the Curzon Street HS2 station, is not the way to do it.
It needs some form of people mover. Perhaps a travelator would be better.
City Centre Ticketing
In Liverpool, a ticket to Liverpool stations, allows you to use the Underground to any of the other stations in the City Centre.
In London, many visitors by rail, add a Travelcard to their rail ticket.
Perhaps, in Birmingham, a ticket to Birmingham stations, should include the Midland Metro in the City Centre? Or a simple add-on for the Metro between Jewellery Quarter and Five Ways could be added for a few pounds.
At present, you have to buy a separate ticket. How visitor-friendly is that? At least a short journey is only a pound
If Birmingham is to make the most out of the opportunity of HS2, then they must use easy and understandable ticketing.
Chiltern’s Superb Trains
My trip down to Birmingham was in a Class 168 train, which although was a good experience for a diesel multiple unit, was spoilt as one engine went AWOL and we were late in to Moor Street.
But going home to London, I rode in what I think are one of the best long distance trains anywhere in Europe; Chiltern’s rakes of Mark 3 coaches pulled and pushed by a modern Class 68 locomotive.
- Nearly every seat gets a table and a window aligned to it.
- The seats are spcious and comfortable.
- The ride is the superb one, you always get from a Mark 3 coach.
- Trolley-service of drinks and a buffet on most services.
- Free wi-fi.
- London to Birmingham return for £19.20 with a Railcard.
- I’ve never travelled on Chiltern’s Mark 3 coaches and been unable to read my paper flat in front of me on the table.
The experience may be slower than Virgin’s, but give me Standard Class on Chiltern against First on Virgin every time between London and Birmingham.
The only problem, is that Marylebone station, isn’t as accessible as Euston from where I live. However, when Crossrail opens, times will be within a few minutes.
I can’t help feeling that Transpennine’s decision to use Class 68 locomotives and rakes of new CAF Mark 5 coaches across the Pennines, was influenced by the success of Chiltern’s flagship service and its superb rolling stock.
I’m looking forward to riding the CAF coaches in a few years, to see how they stand up to an almost forty year old British Rail coach.
I wonder how many Spanish engineers have ridden Chiltern’s trains?
I also feel that the Class 68 locomotive is an asset to a passenger service, in that so many diesel locomotives look dirty and smelly, but Class 68s seemed to have been designed to keep clean and also look how a locomotive should; powerful, purposeful and sleek.
For those, who don’t like that the trains are still diesel-hauled, there is even a Spanish solution for that, if the lines ever get electrified, in the shape of the new Class 88 electro-diesel locomotive, which is a sister of the Class 68 locomotive.
And of course, if Chiltern need some more trains and can’t find the Mark 3 coaches, they can always buy some new coaches from CAF.
Conclusions
It’s a very sensible plan and it will open up all sorts of possibilities for Birmingham.
The chords at Bordesley and the extra tracks through Water Orton would seem to open up a new route for trains across the city from Moor Street band Kings Norton to Water Orton and Nuneaton.
- New subsurban services could link Nuneaton and Kings Norton to Moor Street.
- Cross-country services might use Moor Street with a reverse, rather than New Street.
- Extra services from Moor Street to Nuneaton might take pressure off the heavily-loaded New Street to Birmingham route.
- How would the new station at Kenilworth station fit in?
But there are railways all over this area and I’m sure that the Bordesley and Water Orton improvements, will not be the last.
Already there is talk of reopening, the Sutton Park Line and the Stonebridge Railway.
I asked about Kenilworth station. I don’t know, but after Bordesley and Water vOrton are upgraded, there would be the possibility of a Warwickshire Circle, starting and finishing at Moor Street.
- Moor Street
- Solihull
- Warwick Parkway
- Warwick
- Leamington Spa with a reverse.
- Kenilworth
- Coventry
- Coventry Arena
- Bedworth
- Bermuda Park
- Nuneaton
- Coleshill Parkway
- Water Orton
- Moor Street
It would be a route, where several stations could be reopened or built from scratch. Leamington Spar incidentally already has a bay platform for the reverse.
I also think, that one of the biggest beneficiaries of all this will be Chiltern Railways.
Consider.
- Their two Birmingham termini of Show Hill and Moor Street are getting extra capacity.
- Moor Street will become a big terminal with two through and four bay platforms, all of which will be able to handle the longest Chiltern trains.
- Birmingham New Street station lacks capacity.
- The Birmingham New Street to Coventry route is seriously crowded.
- In Will Chiltern Railways Get A Second London Terminal At Old Oak Common?, I talked about Network Rail’s ideas to link the Chiltern route to the new station.
- Banbury station has been upgraded for more traffic.
- Chiltern will be running to Oxford station by the end of this year.
- Chiltern have plans in hand to run to Milton Keynes station.
We’ll certainly see extra services from London to Birmingham and possibly beyond, but will we see a triangular route going between London – Oxford – Birmingham – London?
It will depend on whether the passengers want it, but from Chiltern’s point of view, it might mean that their platforms in London, Oxford and Birmingham, and their trains, saw higher utilisation.
I suspect too, that the Oxford -Birmingham leg has more paths available and that Chiltern’s capacity problems are mainly at the London end of the Chiltern Main Line, especially now, that Banbury has been remodelled.
Chiltern Railways are an ambitious company and if they get a second terminal in London at Old Oak Common, they will certainly use it profitably.
I think that the Network Rail report shows that a few simple improvements, when thought through and executed with care can produce improvements not suspected in the original plans.
But all rail planning has to discount the London Overground Syndrome, where new stations, routes and trains, attract more passengers than originally expected.
Does Sheffield Need A Super High Speed Line To London?
I ask this question because HS2 was put forward in the days, when brute force and high speed was the only way to get fast journey times.
In this article on the BBC, which is entitled HS2 South Yorkshire route change threatens new estate, the following is stated.
- 120 mins – Fastest existing Sheffield to London service
- 79 mins – Fastest Sheffield to London service via HS2
I have not seen any details as to how fast conventional trains could do Sheffield to London, but we do have some useful figures from the Great Eastern Main Line, which I wrote about in Could Class 387 Trains Do Norwich In Ninety And Ipswich In Sixty? I came to the conclusion that a 200 kph Aventra with modest track improvements could reduce the current 120 minutes to ninety.
Compare the Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) with the Midland Main Line (MML)
The GEML is about 180 km long and fully electrified, with only two tracks except South of Shenfield and a 160 kph line speed.
The MML is about 250 km long and not electrified past Bedford, with generally more than two tracks and quite a bit of 200 kph running.
The MML has a lot of potential for improvement.
- In several places there is space to add extra tracks and improve junctions.
- A fully-developed Erewash Valley Line, could possibly be used as a higher-speed diversion, avoiding the line through the Derwent Valley, which is a World Heritage Site.
- The MML is currently being electrified.
- Modern electric trains with regenerative braking would speed stops on the MML.
- Some of the stations on the MML, could be rebuilt to speed trains through.
- This is just the sort of line for which the Digital Railway could have a large positive affect.
I feel that after the line is fully electrified and upgraded between London and Sheffield, that there could be a big improvement in journey times.
I do wonder if the revised plan for HS2 to serve Sheffield, , has come about because engineers have been able to devise a plan to improve the MML, that has created enough capacity from Clay Cross to Sheffield, to allow HS2 to share.
In HS2 Does The Right Thing In Sheffield, I postulated that if the MML from Clay Cross, where it bis joined by HS2 to Sheffield, were to be built to HS2 standards, when it was electrified, then this would have benefits for both lines.
- HS2 trains could approach Sheffield, using the sort of speed profile, they’d use into other stations.
- 200+ kph trains on the MML would knock a few minutes off schedules.
- Any extra tracks would probably fit on railway land.
- Chesterfield station could be rebuilt to accept HS2 trains.
There would be a large saving in costs, as only two tracks would be built. They would also be built when the MML is electrified.
We might not see trains on the classic route between London and Sheffield do the trip in the 79 minutes of HS2, but they would certainly be some minutes quicker than the two hours of today.
HS2 Does The Right Thing At Sheffield
In HS2 Does The Right Thing At Leeds, I put my case for HS2 stations to be in City Centres, so that when passengers arrived, they could use all the current and often well-developed local trains and trams to get to their ultimate destination.
I said this.
I don’t like the concept of most of the HS2 stations.
Euston, isn’t too bad, as the HS2 platforms are alongside those for the main station and I suspect that when and if I see it in reality, I will be able to arrive in the station on perhaps a London Midland train from Bletchley or Tring and just walk across to the HS2 platforms.
At some of our better interchange stations like Reading, to change trains, you go up escalators to a wide overbridge and then walk across to the escalator for the platform of your departing train. The design also allows seats and cafes in a totally non-claustrophobic environment. I have a feeling that the new London Bridge will raise the bar of this type of station even higher!
To my mind the designs for HS2 station at Birmingham is absolute rubbish and truly terrible. Birmingham is developing a local train, tram and bus network centred on New Street station, so instead of HS2 arriving into this hub, it arrives at a separate station some distance away and many passengers will have to get a tram to connect to their ongoing service.
After seeing the light at Leeds and proposed something much more sensible, HS2 has now done a similar thing at Sheffield.
This article on the BBC explains it all.
- HS2 will now serve the main Sheffield station.
- HS2 will now pass to the East of Rotherham.
- HS2 will reach Sheffield on classic lines from a junction near Clay Cross and via Chesterfield.
- Sheffield City Council say the new route will create 6,500 more jobs in Sheffield.
- The old route might have created congestion around Meadowhall.
This map shows the new and the old routes.
HS2 Through South Yorkshire
The yellow route is the old one and the blue one is the new one.
Note how the on the map it says “Link to Sheffield Midland on Existing Railway”
I have followed this route on Google Maps and with the exception of perhaps Chesterfield station, there would appear to be space to get four tracks from the junction at Clay Cross to Sheffield station. There also appears to be few houses close to the line, which seems to be in a wooded corridor between industrial premises.
Good planning says that this line should be upgraded and Chesterfield station should be remodelled, when the Midland Main Line (MML) is electrified.
Is this one of the reasons, that HS2 has chosen this route and moved the station from Meadowhall to Sheffield?
Clay Cross to Sheffield is about twenty miles and if two tracks were rebuilt or added to the MML, to HS2 standards, it would have the following benefits.
- HS2 trains could approach Sheffield, using the sort of speed profile, they’d use into other stations.
- 200 kph trains on the MML would knock a few minutes off schedules.
- Any extra tracks would probably fit on railway land.
- Chesterfield station could be rebuilt to accept HS2 trains.
There would be a large saving in costs, as only two tracks would be built. They would also be built when the MML is electrified.
Unfortunately, this change of route will cause problems as the BBC article explains.
It’s a pity they didn’t lay down a few objectives at the start of the detailed design of HS2.
One of which would have been, that HS2 should access existing well-developed stations if possible.
How To Move 100,000 Containers A Year Between Germany And China
This article on Global Rail News is entitled DB and Georgian Railways to cooperate on new Silk Road rail corridor.
It described how Deutsche Bahn and Georgian Railways have signed an agreement to develop a new rail freight route between the Far East and Europe.
This map from the article, shows the various rail routes across Eurasia and how the new Silk Road will fit in.
DB transports more container by train between China and Germany
I think the most interesting thing about the new route, is that it doesn’t go through Russia.
Vladimir Putin will not be amused!
If you read the Wikipedia entry for Georgian Railways, it does list a few problems, but it would appear that the route across Georgia is being upgraded to Standard Gauge all the way from the Turkish border to Almaty in Kazakhstan.
With Germany, Turkey and Europe at the Western end and China at the Eastern end both predominately Standard Gauge, I think that this route will be all the same gauge.
When this happens, trains will be able to go straight through, with perhaps just a change of locomotive.
How long will it be before, an enthusiastic entrepreneur starts to run a passenger service between Europe and China. Trans-Siberian Express eat your heart out!
Vladimir Putin will be even less amused!
If DB can build the Standard Gauge railway through to China via Georgia, it will give the following benefits.
- Services will be faster than the Russian routes.
- There will no change of gauge, which means unloading one train and loading another.
- If the line is electrified, this will make the route more efficient.
- Freight will move smoothly across Asia avoiding the pariah that is Russia.
- The route avoids the more volatile parts of the Middle East.
- Countries on the route like Serbia, Turkey, Georgia and Kazahkstan will surely benefit.
- The route will surely be more accessible to Southern European countries, than the current Russian routes.
It is undoubtedly a good plan.
I Am Totally Against Brexit, But Read This!
York Potash are developing a potash mine in you’ve guessed it! – Yorkshire.
This article from the Gazette Live is entitled Work on York Potash mine which could employ 1,000 due to start in September.
This can’t be bad news, as every new job on Teesside is needed. This is also said.
Costs for the project “have moved in our favour”, Mr Fraser told the newspaper. “We are a dollar asset but a big part of the costs will be [paid in] sterling [for] labour… With lower sterling, we will be in a stronger position.”
In the end, I suspect that whether or not we leave Europe, the result will not be a disaster for the country.
The dollar will continue to call the shots, as it moves towards being the universal world currency.
Help From The Germans
I want to go to Sudbury today, so to find the times of the trains, I tried to look them from Shenfield to Sudbury on the National Rail web site.
But the site was having an off day.
So I used the alternative of the Deutsche Bahn web site.
Shenfield To Sudbury By Deutsche Bahn
As you can see it worked. As it does with all European trains!
So if you want to go from Zaragosa to Geneva say, it will give you the route and details.
It even has Llanfairpwll station in the database and looking up the journey to there for Cologne, it even estimates twenty-five minutes for the walk between St. Pancras and Euston.
It is a very comprehensive free service.
The Anonymous Widower 