Barnsley Dearne Valley Station « The Anonymous Widower

Improving The Cross Country Route

The Cross Country Route is one of the UK’s forgotten railway lines.

It runs between York and Bristol Temple Meads.
Intermediate stations include Leeds, Wakefield Westgate, Rotherham Central, Meadowhall, Sheffield, Chesterfield, Derby, Burton-on-Trent, Tamworth, Birmingham New Street, University, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire Parkway, Cheltenham Spa and Bristol Parkway.
At the Northern end trains can swap to the electrified East Coast Main Line and can extend services to Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
At the Southern end trains can swap to the Great Western Main Line and extend services to Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance.
Trains can also swap to the South Wales Main Line in the Bristol area, to serve Cardiff and South Wales.
Operating speeds are generally around 100 mph, but there are sections of 125 mph running.
Some sections of the route have 25 KVAC overhead electrification.

I very much believe that it is a route that is ripe for improvement.

These are my thoughts.

Extra And Rebuilt Stations

Recently, Worcestershire Parkway station has been opened on the route.

Bromsgrove station was rebuilt and reopened in 2016.

Derby station was remodelled in 2018.

In addition, there are aspirations for other mew stations and station improvements on the route.

University station is being rebuilt for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Sheffield Region are proposing a station at Barnsley Dearne Valley. I wrote about this in Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 – A New Station At Barnsley Dearne Valley.
Sheffield Region may be creating a new station in Rotherham.

I can see more station improvements and additions on the Cross Country Route.

New Trains

Most services are run by CrossCountry, who only use diesel trains.

Their core services are as follows.

Plymouth And Edinburgh uses the route between York and Bristol Temple Meads. The service runs under wires North of Leeds and at Bristol Parkway and at Birmingham New Street.

Southampton Central And Newcastle uses the route between York and Birmingham New Street. The service runs under wires North of Leeds and at Reading and at Birmingham New Street.

Bournemouth and Manchester Piccadilly uses the route at Birmingham New Street. The service runs under wires North of Birmingham New Street.

Bristol Temple Meads and Manchester Piccadilly uses the route between Bristol Temple Meads and Birmingham New Street. The service runs under wires at Bristol Parkway and North of Birmingham New Street.

Cardiff Central and Nottingham uses the route between Gloucester and Derby. The service runs under the wires West of Bristol Parkway and at Birmingham New Street.

Birmingham New Street and Nottingham uses the route between Birmingham New Street and Derby. The service runs under the wires at Birmingham New Street.

Birmingham New Street and Stansted Airport does not use the route. The service runs under the wires at Birmingham New Street and around Cambridge and Peterborough.

Birmingham New Street and Leicester does not use the route. The service runs under the wires at Birmingham New Street.

Note.

Several services run under wires for sufficient time to charge a battery-electric train.
Several services turn in stations for sufficient time to charge a battery-electric train.
At least six or possibly seven of the services run for at least fifty miles on tracks that can handle 125 mph running. Some of this track will be upgraded to 140 mph with digital signalling.

This Hitachi infographic shows the Hitachi Intercity Tri-Mode Battery Train.

I believe that Hitachi could produce a version of this train, that would partially meet CrossCountry’s need for a new fleet to reduce their carbon footprint.

For the purpose of this analysis, I will assume this about the trains.

Battery power will always be used in stations.
The trains have a battery range of around forty miles at 100 mph.
Running at 125 mph will need 25 KVAC overhead electrification.

This table shows the current electrification status of the Cross Country Route.

York and South Kirby junction- 45.4 miles – Electrified
South Kirby junction and Birmingham New Street – 96.6 miles – Not Electrified
Birmingham New Street and Bromsgrove – 16 miles – Electrified
Bromsgrove and Bristol Parkway – 69.8 miles – Not Electrified
Bristol Parkway and Bristol Temple Meads – 4.8 miles- Not Electrified

The trains would appear to still need to use diesel on some parts of the route.

Or Hitachi ABB Power Grids could install short lengths of 25 KVAC overhead electrification to top up the trains’ batteries in appropriate places.

I believe CrossCountry could decarbonise this route using battery-electric trains and discontinuous electrification.

This would surely refresh the line and attract passengers, but would the trains speed up the service?

Birmingham New Street and Leeds is 116.4 miles and currently takes just under two hours at an average speed of 59.3 mph in a Class 221 train.
Several sections of line between Birmingham New Street and Leeds can sustain 125 mph running.
London Liverpool Street and Norwich is 114.5 miles and has regularly been achieved by British Rail-era electric trains in ninety minutes on a 100 mph line, which is an average speed of 76 mph.
Averaging 76 mph between Birmingham New Street and Leeds would give a time of 92 minutes.

For these and other reasons, I am fairly sure that a battery-electric train capable of running at 125 mph with fast acceleration could run between Birmingham New Street and Leeds in under ninety minutes, with the addition of some discontinuous electrification.

There is currently one tph between Birmingham New Street and Leeds, which also serves Sheffield.
There is also one tph between Birmingham New Street and Sheffield by a different route.
There is two tph between Birmingham New Street and Nottingham.
My calculations indicate that the Nottingham and Sheffield services would take under an hour to and from Birmingham New Street, with the Leeds service taking thirty minutes longer.

In normal circumstances no diesel would be used.

Track Improvements And Discontinuous Electrification

This table shows the current electrification status of the Cross Country Route.

York and South Kirby junction- 45.4 miles – Electrified
South Kirby junction and Birmingham New Street – 96.6 miles – Not Electrified
Birmingham New Street and Bromsgrove – 16 miles – Electrified
Bromsgrove and Bristol Parkway – 69.8 miles – Not Electrified
Bristol Parkway and Bristol Temple Meads – 4.8 miles – Not Electrified

Solutions will have to be found to decarbonise a lot of the route.

I have flown my virtual helicopter from Tamworth to Sheffield and this part of the route seems to the sort of route that could be upgraded to a full 125 mph line, as it is fairly straight and some sections already allow trains to travel at this speed.

As the 15.5 miles between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield will be updated and electrified for High Speed Two’s spur into Sheffield sometime in the future, I would feel that as updating this section benefits High Speed Two, the Midland Main Line, the Cross Country Route and the Hope Valley Line, that this section should be rebuilt as necessary and electrified, as soon as is practically possible.

I believe that Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield is one of the most important routes in the country to be electrified, if not the most important.

This table shows the electrification status of the Cross Country Route after electrification of Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield.

York and South Kirby junction- 45.4 miles – Electrified
South Kirby junction and Sheffield – 18.8 miles – Not Electrified
Sheffield and Clay Cross North junction – 15.5 miles – Electrified
Clay Cross North junction and Birmingham New Street – 62.1 miles – Not Electrified
Birmingham New Street and Bromsgrove – 16 miles – Electrified
Bromsgrove and Bristol Parkway – 69.8 miles – Not Electrified
Bristol Parkway and Bristol Temple Meads – 4.8 miles – Not Electrified

It looks that by electrifying the 15.5 miles between Sheffield and Clay Cross North junction, the gap of 18.8 miles between South Kirby junction and Sheffield could be easily bridged by a battery-electric train.

The section between Clay Cross North junction and Birmingham New Street can be split into three.

Clay Cross North junction and Derby – 20.9 miles
Derby and Tamworth – 23.9 miles
Tamworth and Birmingham New Street – 17.3 miles

If Hitachi ABB Power Grids installed discontinuous electrification at Derby and Tamworth, this should bridge the gap to the electrification at Birmingham.

As some of this section can sustain 125 mph running, it may be better to fully electrify part of the route.

This table shows the electrification status of the route would become

York and South Kirby junction- 45.4 miles – Electrified
South Kirby junction and Sheffield – 18.8 miles – Not Electrified
Sheffield and Clay Cross North junction – 15.5 miles – Electrified
Clay Cross North junction and Derby – 20.9 miles – Not Electrified
Derby and Tamworth – 23.9 miles – Not Electrified
Tamworth and Birmingham New Street – 17.3 miles – Not Electrified
Birmingham New Street and Bromsgrove – 16 miles – Electrified
Bromsgrove and Bristol Parkway – 69.8 miles – Not Electrified
Bristol Parkway and Bristol Temple Meads – 4.8 miles – Not Electrified

I have also flown my virtual helicopter from Bromsgrove to Westerleigh junction, where the Cross Country Route joins the electrified Great Western Main Line, about 4.5 miles East of Bristol Parkway station.

It looks to me that this Southern short section of electrified line would be able to charge a battery-electric train so that it could reach Bristol Temple Meads station.

But the sixty-plus miles of route without electrification between Bromsgrove and Westerleigh junction would be too far to travel without some electrification.

This could either be full electrification or discontinuous using the methods proposed by Hitachi ABB Power Grids.

It certainly looks to me, that Hitachi’s technology or similar, that I talked about in Solving The Electrification Conundrum could be used to run battery-electric trains between York and Bristol Temple Meads on the Cross Country Route.

Digital Signalling

I would assume this will be installed on the route, to give more precise control of trains on the more complicated sections of the route.

East Coast Main Line Improvements

There are several improvements to the North of York, that will reduce journey times on all services using the East Coast Main Line.

These could contribute time saving of up to ten minutes, according to High Speed Two’s Journey Planner and current timetables.

Comparison With The Proposed Eastern Leg Of High Speed Two

With all the talk about possible cancellation of the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two could an improved Cross Country Route be used in the interim?

I will look at a few timings from Birmingham.

Birmingham And Leeds

A fully-developed High Speed Two is claiming forty-nine minutes, as against the one hour and fifty-eight minutes today.

I have stated that ninety minutes is an attainable time on a 116.4 mile journey, where a good proportion of 125 mph running will be possible, sustained by electrification.

But with full electrification, more 125 mph running and even some 140 mph running under the control of digital signalling, I suspect that ninety minutes is only an upper limit to the journey time between Birmingham and Leeds.

High Speed Two are saying they will run two tph between Birmingham and Leeds, which is twice the current frequency.

I could see that an improved frequency on the Cross Country Route could be very convenient, if it increased the frequency between the two cities to four tph.

Is it going to annoy passengers, that services will leave from two different stations in Birmingham and if you go to the wrong one, you’ll have to wait thirty minutes for the next train?

Birmingham And Middlesbrough

Times between Birmingham and Middlesbrough will be determined by adding a Leeds and Middlesbrough time to the Birmingham and Leeds times.

The best time between Leeds and Middlesbrough today is one hour and 23 minutes, which I suspect will lose a few minutes due to East Coast Main Line improvements North of York.

This gives using High Speed Two to Leeds a time of two hours and eight minutes, as against two hours and forty-nine minutes using an improved Cross Country Route.

Birmingham And Newcastle

A fully-developed High Speed Two is claiming one hour and fifty-seven minutes, as against the three hours and twenty-six minutes today.

Based on the current and possible times between Birmingham at Leeds using CrossCountry, I feel times to stations North of Leeds will be reduced by at least twenty-eight minutes, putting the Birmingham and Newcastle time a few minutes under three hours.

Birmingham And Nottingham

A fully-developed High Speed Two is claiming twenty minutes to East Midlands Hub, which when adding in the tram to Nottingham City Centre will be thirty-five minutes..

,Current services are one hour and ten minutes today.

On an improved Cross Country Route, with with battery-electric trains and some 125 mph running, I can see this time shrink to under an hour, even with the reverse at Derby.

Midlands Connect are also proposing a high speed service between Birmingham Curzon Street and Nottingham station, which will take thirty-three minutes.

High Speed Two are saying they will run three tph between Birmingham and East Midlands Hub, which compares with two tph using the Cross Country Route.

Birmingham And Sheffield

A fully-developed High Speed Two is claiming fifty-seven minutes, as against the one hour and fifteen minutes today.

I have stated that an hour is an attainable time on this route, with battery-electric trains and some 125 mph running.

A time of an hour would be very competitive with the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two.

High Speed Two are saying they will run two tph between Birmingham and Sheffield with a change at East Midlands Hub, which compares with two tph using the Cross Country Route.

Conclusion

A fully developed East Coast Main Line will give High Speed Two a good run for its money on services between London and Yorkshire, North East England and Scotland. I indicated my thoughts and conclusions in What Is Possible On The East Coast Main Line?.

I also believe that an improved Cross Country Route could give the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two a very good run for its money.

Perhaps, we should safeguard the route of Eastern Leg of High Speed Two for building later to increase capacity when it is needed, but in the interim we should upgrade the following routes.

Cross Country Route
East Coast Main Line
Midland Main Line
Northern Powerhouse Rail
West Coast Main Line

These routes should have at least these minimum standards.

All passenger trains electric or battery-electric.
All freight locomotives electric, battery-electric or hydrogen-electric.
Where possible all lines should allow 125 mph running.
Universal in-cab digital signalling
There should be sections of 140 mph running, where possible.

We will need the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two in the future, but we don’t need it in the next few years.

August 26, 2021 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Barnsley Dearne Valley Station, Clay Cross North Junction, Clay Cross North Junction And Sheffield Electrification, Cross Country Route, CrossCountry Trains, Decarbonisation, Discontinuous Electrification, Electrification, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, Hitachi Intercity Tri-Mode Battery Train, Hope Valley Line, Midland Main Line, Worcestershire Parkway Station | 4 Comments

Is The Eastern Leg Of High Speed Two Under Threat?

This page on the High Speed Two web site is entitled HS2 Phase 2b Eastern Leg.

These are the opening three paragraphs.

Earlier this year the government made clear in its response to the Oakervee Review its commitment to Phase 2b of HS2, ensuring we boost capacity, improve connectivity between our regions and share prosperity.

As part of this, the government plans to present an Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands by the end of the year, informed by an assessment from the National Infrastructure Commission, which will look at how to deliver HS2 Phase 2b, Northern Powerhouse Rail, Midlands Rail Hub and other rail programmes better and more effectively.

In the meantime, the government has asked HS2 Ltd to pause work on the Eastern Leg. We recognise that this causes uncertainty and our Eastern Leg community engagement teams remain in place to support you.

The page then says that the work on the Western Leg should proceed, with the aim of a Western Leg Bill in early 2022.

In Northern Powerhouse Rail – Significant Upgrades Of The East Coast Main Line From Leeds To Newcastle (Via York And Darlington) And Restoration Of The Leamside Line, I showed that the current and future upgrades to the East Coast Main Line, required by the East Coast Main Line, Northern Powerhouse Rail and High Speed Two, will greatly reduce the times on services from London Kings Cross to Doncaster, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland.

I said this on timings on the East Coast Main Line.

London Kings Cross and Doncaster could be around an hour.
London Kings Cross and Leeds could be around one hour and thirty minutes, using the current Doncaster and Leeds time, as against the one hour and twenty-one minutes for High Speed Two.
London Kings Cross and York could be around one hour and twenty-three minutes, using the current Doncaster and York time, as against the one hour and twenty-four minutes for High Speed Two.
Timings between York and Newcastle would be the same fifty-two minutes as High Speed Two, as the track will be the limitation for both services.
High Speed Two’s timing for York and Newcastle is given as fifty-two minutes, with York and Darlington as twenty-five minutes.
London Kings Cross and Darlington could be around one hour and forty-nine minutes
London Kings Cross and Newcastle could be around two hours and sixteen minutes.
London Kings Cross and Edinburgh would be under three-and-a-half hours, as against the proposed three hours and forty-eight minutes for High Speed Two.

LNER’s Azuma cavalry will hold the fort for as long as is needed.

I’ll now look at how various stations, will be affected if the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two is not built, until a couple of decades in the future.

Leeds

Current Long Distance Services At Leeds Station

Leeds station has the following long distance services in trains per hour (tph)

CrossCountry – 1
LNER – 2
TransPennine Express – 5

It is a bit thin compared to say Birmingham or Manchester.

Northern Powerhouse Rail And Leeds

Northern Powerhouse Rail has plans for Leeds with these services to other Northern cities.

Hull – two tph in 38 minutes
Manchester – six tph in 25 minutes
Newcastle – four tph in 58 minutes
Sheffield – four tph in 28 minutes.

From what they have written, the following could also be possible.

Bradford – six tph in a few minutes
Liverpool – four or more tph in 51 minutes
Manchester Airport – four or more tph in 35 minutes

It is an ambitious plan.

High Speed Two And Leeds

High Speed Two is planning to run the following trains to Leeds in every hour.

Birmingham Curzon Street and Leeds – 200 metre train
Birmingham Curzon Street and Leeds via East Midlands Hub – 200 metre train
London Euston and Leeds via Old Oak Common and East Midlands Hub – 200 metre train
London Euston and Leeds via Old Oak Common and East Midlands Hub – 400 metre train
London Euston and Leeds via Old Oak Common, Birmingham Interchange and East Midlands Hub – 400 metre train

Timings will be as follows.

Birmingham Curzon Street and Leeds – 49 minutes.
London Euston and Leeds – One hour and 21 minutes.

There will be about 1000 seats per hour between Birmingham Curzon Street and Leeds and 2500 seats per hour Between London Euston and Leeds.

High Speed Two And Leeds Via Manchester

This report on the Transport for the North web site, is entitled At A Glance – Northern Powerhouse Rail.

This map shows Transport for the North’s ideas for connections in the West linking Crewe, Liverpool, Manchester, Manchester Airport, Warrington and Wigan.

A black line goes East from Manchester to link it to Leeds via Huddersfield and Bradford.

This is proposed as a route shared between High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail.
High Speed Two are promising that London Euston and Manchester will be timed at one hour and eleven minutes.
London Euston and Manchester will have a frequency of three tph and will all be 400 metre High Speed Two Full Size trains, with about a thousand seats.
Northern Powerhouse Rail have an objective of a twenty-five minute journey time between Manchester and Leeds.

I would also build the Manchester and Leeds route with the following characteristics.

As a full-size tunnel capable of taking High Speed Two Full Size trains and the largest freight trains.
Intermediate and underground stations at Huddersfield and Bradford.
It could be built as a base tunnel, like the similarly-sized Gotthard base tunnel in Switzerland.
The Swiss tunnel has a maximum operating speed for passenger trains of 125 mph.

If it can be built for a reasonable cost and in a reasonable time-scale, it could be a way of doing the following.

Creating a straight 150 mph plus route across the Pennines, with a capacity of 18 tph.
Running high-capacity fast trains between London Euston and Leeds via Manchester Airport and Manchester.
Running freight trains between the two sides of the Pennines.
Creating a high frequency route between Liverpool and Hull via Manchester Airport, Manchester, Huddersfield and Bradford and Leeds.

The passenger service between Liverpool and Hull could be the world’s first high speed metro.

If the London Euston and Manchester trains, were to be extended to Leeds, London Euston and Leeds would take one hour and thirty-six minutes, which would only be fifteen minutes slower, than is promised for the route going via the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two.

London Kings Cross And Leeds

When the in-cab digital signalling is complete between London Kings Cross and Leeds, I am fairly confident that with a few other improvements and more zoom from the Azumas, that a London Kings Cross and Leeds time of one hour and fifty minutes will be possible.

But will two nine-car or pairs of five-car trains per hour (tph), be enough capacity? Especially, as pairs of five-car trains will split and join to serve a wider catchment area, which will harvest more passengers.

LNER will in a couple of years have an extra path every hour into Kings Cross.

I would feel that best use of this path would be to run between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh via Leeds and Newcastle.

Leeds and Newcastle could be the only intermediate stops.
Leeds would be the ideal place to change to Northern Powerhouse Rail for anywhere in the North of England.
My estimates, say it could run between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh in around three-and-a-half hours.
It would run non-stop between London Kings Cross and Leeds, Leeds and Newcastle and Newcastle and Edinburgh.

It would increase capacity, between the four major destinations on the route; London Kings Cross, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

It could start running, once the digital signalling and current improvements to the East Coast Main Line are complete.

London St. Pancras And Leeds

I discussed, Northern Powerhouse Rail’s plan for Sheffield and Leeds in Northern Powerhouse Rail – Connecting Sheffield To HS2 And On To Leeds.

This could see the following new infrastructure.

Electrification between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield station of the route shared by the Midland Main Line and High Speed Two.
Electrification through Sheffield and on to Leeds, via the Wakefield Line
New stations for High Speed trains at Rotherham and Barnsley Dearne Valley.

I could see East Midlands Railway taking advantage of this route, with their new Class 810 trains and running a regular Leeds and St. Pancras service.

It would call at Wakefield Westgate, Barnsley Dearne Valley, Rotherham and Meadowhall. between Leeds and Sheffield stations.
It would take twenty-eight minutes between Leeds and Sheffield, if it met Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objective.
Perhaps one of the two tph between London St. Pancras and Sheffield could be extended to Leeds.

As the current time between London St. Pancras and Sheffield, is a few minutes under two hours, I can see a time of comfortably under two-and-a-half hours between London St. Pancras and Leeds.

A Summary Of Journey Times Between London And Leeds

I can summarise my estimates, between London and Leeds.

High Speed Two – Direct via Eastern Leg – One hour and twenty-one minutes.
High Speed Two – via Manchester – One hour and thirty-six minutes.
East Coast Main Line – via Doncaster – One hour and thirty minutes.
Midland Main Line – via Derby and Sheffield – Two hours and twenty minutes.

The direct High Speed Two route is the fastest., but others could be viable alternatives for some passengers.

Bradford

Consider.

Under current plans Bradford won’t be getting any high speed service from High Speed Two.
The best it can get under current plans is several direct services per day, between Bradford Forster Square and London Kings Cross in perhaps two hours.
The layout of the city and its two stations doesn’t give good connectivity.

Bradford, Harrogate, Huddersfield and Skipton could probably be served by trains to and from London Kings Cross that join and split at Leeds.

But if Northern Powerhouse Rail goes for a tunnel between Manchester and Leeds with Bradford as an underground station, it could be served by High Speed Two services going between London Euston and Leeds via Manchester.

I would estimate that if London Euston and Leeds via Manchester took around one hour and thirty-six minutes, London Euston and Bradford could take around an hour-and-a-half.

Darlington

I can summarise my estimates, between London and Darlington.

High Speed Two – Direct via Eastern Leg – One hour and forty-nine minutes.
High Speed Two – via Manchester and Leeds – Two hours and six minutes.
East Coast Main Line – via Doncaster – One hour and forty-nine minutes.

Improvements on the East Coast Main Line, needed to enable and speed-up High Speed Two services to York, Darlington and Newcastle; will speed up East Coast Main Line services to Darlington.

Edinburgh

I can summarise my estimates, between London and Edinburgh.

High Speed Two – Direct via Western Leg – Three hours and forty minutes.
High Speed Two – via Manchester and Leeds – Three hours and forty-eight minutes.
East Coast Main Line – via Doncaster – Three hours and thirty minutes.

Improvements on the East Coast Main Line, needed to enable and speed-up High Speed Two services to York, Darlington and Newcastle; will speed up East Coast Main Line services to Newcastle.

Harrogate

Consider.

Under current plans Harrogate won’t be getting any high speed service from High Speed Two.
The best it can get under current plans is several direct services per day, between Harrogate and London Kings Cross in perhaps two hours.

Bradford, Harrogate, Huddersfield and Skipton could possibly be served by trains to and from London Kings Cross that join and split at Leeds.

Huddersfield

If Huddersfield is served by underground platforms beneath the current Huddersfield station, a lot of what I said for Bradford would apply to Huddersfield.
The timings would probably be around an-hour-and-a-half from London Euston.

Bradford, Harrogate, Huddersfield and Skipton could possibly be served by trains to and from London Kings Cross that join and split at Leeds.

Hull

Hull is an interesting destination.

Reaching Hull from the current High Speed Two network will need a change at Leeds or another station.
Using Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objectives on timings, London Euston and Hull via Manchester on High Speed Two, would be a few minutes under two-and-a-half hours.
I strongly feel, that London Kings Cross and Hull via Selby could be reduced to below two hours.

Hull would also make a superb Eastern terminal station for both Northern Powerhouse Rail and a High Speed Two service from London via Manchester and Leeds.

You pays your money and takes your choice.

Middlesbrough

Reaching Middlesbrough from the proposed High Speed Two network will need a change at York or another station.

But a time of two hours and twenty minutes, should be possible using the East Coast Main Line via Doncaster.

Improvements on the East Coast Main Line, needed to enable and speed-up High Speed Two services to York, Darlington and Newcastle, will speed up East Coast Main Line services to Middlesbrough.

Newcastle

I can summarise my estimates, between London and Newcastle.

High Speed Two – Direct via Eastern Leg – Two hours and seventeen minutes.
High Speed Two – via Manchester and Leeds – Two hours and thirty-four minutes.
East Coast Main Line – via Doncaster – Two hours and sixteen minutes.

Improvements on the East Coast Main Line, needed to enable and speed-up High Speed Two services to York, Darlington and Newcastle; will speed up East Coast Main Line services to Newcastle.

Nottingham

I will compare average speeds on the Midland Main Line between London St. Pancras and Nottingham and on the East Coast Main Line, between London Kings Cross and Leeds.

Currently.

London St. Pancras and Nottingham services, over the 126 mile route, take one hour and fifty minutes. which is an average speed of 69 mph.
London Kings Cross and Leeds services, over the 186 mile route, take two hours and thirteen minutes, which is an average speed of 94 mph.

Note.

The two routes are of similar character and are fairly straight with large sections of 125 mph running and quadruple tracks.
The East Coast Main Line to Leeds is fully electrified, whereas the Midland Main Line is only partially electrified.
Both routes have a small number of stops.
In a few years time, services on both routes will be run by different members of the Hitachi AT-300 train family.

I don’t feel it would be unreasonable to assume that a London St. Pancras and Nottingham service could be run at an average speed of 94 mph, if the Midland Main Line were upgraded to the same standard as the East Coast Main Line.

This could mean a time of around one hour and twenty-one minutes between London St. Pancras and Nottingham, or a saving of twenty-nine minutes.

Is that possible?

The new Class 810 trains, will have four engines instead of the normal three for a five-car AT-300 train. Will they be able to be closer to the 125 mph line-speed on diesel power, where it is available on the Midland Main Line.
The trains will be able to use electrification between London St. Pancras and Market Harborough.
There have been hints, that more electrification may be installed on the Midland Main Line.
Hitachi have announced a battery electric version of the AT-300 train called an Intercity Tri-Mode Battery Train, where one or more of the diesel engines are replaced by battery packs.
The new trains will be ready to accept in-cab ERTMS digital signalling, so they could be able to run at up to 140 mph, if the track were to be upgraded.

I certainly feel, that substantial time savings could be possible between London St. Pancras and Nottingham.

Eighty-one minutes would be very convenient, as it would comfortably allow a three hour round trip, which would mean just six trains or more likely pairs of trains would be needed for the current two tph service.

Eighty-one minutes would not be the fifty-two minute service promised by High Speed Two!

But!

The new trains are planned to be introduced from 2023.
Who knows, when High Speed Two will arrive at the East Midlands Hub station?
They won’t need any new substantial infrastructure to replace the current trains.

I also suspect the new trains will have more seats, but, the capacity of the Class 810 train, has not been published.

Nottingham could also be served by a high speed service from London Kings Cross via Grantham, which I estimate would take about one hour and twenty minutes.

Sheffield

A lot of what I said for Nottingham can be applied to Sheffield.

Currently, London St. Pancras and Sheffield services, over the 165 mile route, take two hours, which is an average speed of 82.5 mph.
High Speed Two is promising a journey time of one hour and twenty-seven minutes.
An average speed of 90 mph, would mean a journey time of one hour and fifty minutes.
This would allow a four hour round trip, which would mean just eight trains or more likely pairs of trains would be needed for the current two tph service.

It would be very convenient for the operator.

It looks like if pairs of trains were to be run on both the Nottingham and Sheffield routes, that twenty-eight trains would be needed to run both services.

This fits well with a fleet size of thirty-three trains.

The only caveat, is that to get the required journey times, it might be necessary to rebuild and electrify the tracks, between Sheffield and Clay Cross North Junction.

These tracks will be shared with the future Sheffield Branch of High Speed Two.
It would only be 15.5 miles of double-track to rebuild and electrify.
It could be rebuilt to allow 140 mph running. Several minutes could be saved!

The electrification could allow Hitachi’s Intercity Tri-Mode Battery trains to be able to run the Sheffield service.

These trains would certainly be a way of avoiding the tricky electrification of the Derby and Clay Cross section of the route, which goes through the World Heritage Site of the Derwent Valley Mills.

Sheffield could also be served by a high speed service from London Kings Cross via Doncaster, which I estimate would take about one hour and thirty minutes.

Skipton

Consider.

Under current plans Skipton won’t be getting any high speed service from High Speed Two.
The best it can get under current plans is several direct services per day, between Skipton and London Kings Cross in perhaps two hours.

Bradford, Harrogate, Huddersfield and Skipton could possibly be served by trains to and from London Kings Cross that join and split at Leeds.

Sunderland

Reaching Sunderland from the proposed High Speed Two network will need a change at York or another station.

But a time of two hours and thirty minutes, should be possible using the East Coast Main Line via Doncaster.

Improvements on the East Coast Main Line, needed to enable and speed-up High Speed Two services to York, Darlington and Newcastle, will speed up East Coast Main Line services to Sunderland.

York

I can summarise my estimates, between London and York.

High Speed Two – Direct via Eastern Leg – One hour and twenty-four minutes.
High Speed Two – via Manchester and Leeds – One hour and forty-two minutes.
East Coast Main Line – via Doncaster – One hour and twenty-four minutes.

Improvements on the East Coast Main Line, needed to enable and speed-up High Speed Two services to York, Darlington and Newcastle; will speed up East Coast Main Line services to York.

I believe strongly, that York would be about as fast from London, by either of the direct routes, but both would serve different intermediate destinations.

Conclusion

My first conclusion is a surprising one, but the promised timings from High Speed Two and the current timings in the timetable make it clear.

To achieve the required timings for High Speed Two, major improvements must be made to existing track and these improvements will mean that existing services will be competitive with High Speed Two on time.

These improvements fall into this category.

Improving the East Coast Main Line between York and Newcastle, will make East Coast Main Line services to York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle competitive with High Speed Two services.
Improving the East Coast Main Line between York and Newcastle, may also mean that London Kings Cross and Edinburgh will be faster than the High Speed Two service between London Euston and Edinburgh.
Electrifying the route shared between Sheffield and Clay Cross North Junction, will speed up London St. Pancras and Sheffield services and make them more competitive with High Speed Two.

I suspect there may be similar mutual improvements on the Western leg of High Speed Two.

Other smaller conclusions from my analysis of the improvements include.

These improvements will create some extra capacity on the East Coast and Midland Main Lines, by removing bottlenecks and improving line speeds.
Electrification, even if it is only partial or discontinuous, will improve services on the Midland Main Line.
Some places like Harrogate, Middlesbrough and Skipton will never be served directly by High Speed Two, but are easily served by East Coast Main Line services from London Kings Cross.
Northern Powerhouse Rail is very much part of the North-South capacity for England.
In-cab ERTMS signalling will play a large part in increasing capacity and line speeds.

Perhaps in our planning of High Speed Two, we should plan all the routes in the North and Midlands in a much more holistic way.

If we look at the capacity between London and the North, I feel that with the addition of Phase 1 of High Speed Two to Birmingham in 2029-2033 and hopefully Phase 2a soon afterwards, that Phase 2b will not be needed for reasons of speed and capacity until years later.

So, I would pause most construction of the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two until Phase 1 and Phase 2a are complete.

I would make exceptions for the following.

Improvements to the shared section of the East Coast Main Line and High Speed Two, between York and Newcastle.
Building a high speed connection between Leeds and York for the use of Northern Powerhouse Rail and the East Coast Main Line.
Rebuilding and electrification of the shared section of the Midland Main Line and High Speed Two, between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield.
Improve and electrify the route between Sheffield and Leeds.

But I would continue with the design, as I feel that East of Leeds is very much sub-optimal at the present time.

The route of the Eastern leg of High Speed Two would be safeguarded.

But the biggest problem with the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two to Leeds, is that however it is built travellers to and from Leeds, York and further North will not see any improvements for some years, but improving the East Coast Main Line wouldn’t exactly see jam tomorrow, but tons of it by 2024.

December 7, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Azuma Train, Barnsley Dearne Valley Station, Class 810 Train, East Coast Main Line, East Midlands Hub Station, East Midlands Railway, Euston Station, High Speed Two, Hitachi Intercity Tri-Mode Battery Train, Hitachi Regional Battery Train, HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail, Kings Cross Station, Leeds Station, Midland Main Line, Newcastle Station, Sheffield Station, St. Pancras Station, Trains, Wakefield Line | 2 Comments

Northern Powerhouse Rail – Connecting Sheffield To HS2 And On To Leeds

In this article on Transport for the North, which is entitled Northern Powerhouse Rail Progress As Recommendations Made To Government, one of the recommendations proposed for Northern Powerhouse Rail is connecting Sheffield to High Speed Two and on to Leeds.

Northern Powerhouse Rail’s Objective For The Sheffield and Leeds Route

Wikipedia, other sources and my calculations say this about the trains between Leeds and Sheffield.

The distance between the two stations is 39 miles
The current service takes around 40 minutes and has a frequency of one train per hour (tph)
This gives an average speed of 58.5 mph for the fastest journey.
The proposed service with Northern Powerhouse Rail will take 28 minutes and have a frequency of four tph.
This gives an average speed of 84 mph for the journey.

This last figure of 84 mph, indicates to me that a fast route will be needed.

But given experience of 100 mph lines in other parts of the UK, 100 mph trains and infrastructure could make this demanding objective of twenty-eight minutes between Sheffield and Leeds a reality

Connecting Sheffield To High Speed Two

Sheffield is to be accessed from a branch off the Main High Speed Two route to Leeds.

This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, shows the route of the Sheffield Branch, from where it branches North West from the main Eastern Leg of High Speed Two.

Note.

Orange indicates new High Speed Two track.
Blue indicates track that High Speed Two will share with other services.
The orange route goes North to Leeds, along the M1
The blue route goes North to Chesterfield and Sheffield, after skirting to the East of Clay Cross.
The orange route goes South to East Midlands Hub station.

This second map, shows where the Erewash Valley Line joins the Sheffield Branch near the village of Stonebroom.

Note.

Red is an embankment.
Yellow is a cutting.
The Sheffield Branch goes North-West to Clay Cross, Chesterfield and Sheffield
The Sheffield Branch goes South-East to East Midlands Hub station.
The Sheffield Branch goes through Doe Hill Country Park.
The Sheffield Branch runs alongside the existing Erewash Valley Line, which goes South to Langley Mill, Ilkeston and the Derby-Nottingham area.

The Sheffield Branch and the Erewash Valley Line appear to share a route, which continues round Clay Cross and is shown in this third map.

Note

Doe Hill Country Park is in the South-East corner of the map.
The dark line running North-South is the A61.
Running to the West of the A61 is the Midland Main Line, which currently joins the Erewash Valley Line at Clay Cross North junction.

High Speed Two and the Midland Main Line will share a route and/or tracks from Clay Cross North junction to Sheffield.

This fourth map, shows where the combined route joins the Hope Valley Line to Manchester to the South West of Sheffield.

Note.

Sheffield is to the North East.
Chesterfield is to the South East,
Totley junction is a large triangular junction, that connects to the Hope Valley Line.

These are some timings for various sections of the route.

Clay Cross North Junction and Chesterfield (current) – 4 minutes
Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield (current) – 17 minutes
Chesterfield and Sheffield (current) – 13 minutes
Chesterfield and Sheffield (High Speed Two) – 13 minutes
East Midlands Hub and Chesterfield (High Speed Two) – 16 minutes
East Midlands Hub and Sheffield (High Speed Two) – 27 minutes

As Class Cross North Junction and Sheffield are 15.5 miles, this means the section is run at an average speed of 53 mph.

Can I draw any conclusions from the maps and timings?

There would appear to be similar current and High Speed Two timings between Chesterfield and Sheffield.
The various junctions appear to be built for speed.

The Midland Main Line will be electrified from Clay Cross North Junction to Sheffield, so that High Speed Two trains can use the route.

What will be the characteristics of the tracks between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield?

Will it be just two tracks as it mainly is now or will it be a multi-track railway to separate the freight trains from the high speed trains?
Will it have a high enough maximum speed, so that East Midland Railway’s new Class 810 trains can go at their maximum speed of 140 mph?
Will it be capable of handling a frequency of 18 tph, which is the maximum frequency of High Speed Two?

Surely, it will be built to a full High Speed Two standard to future-proof the line.

Before finishing this section, I will answer a few questions.

Would It Be Possible For Class 810 Trains Fitted With Batteries To Run Between London St. Pancras And Sheffield?

East Midlands Railway’s new Class 810 trains could be fitted with batteries to become Regional Battery Trains with the specification, given in this Hitachi infographic.

Note.

This would give the trains a range of 90 kilometres or 56 miles on batteries, if a number of diesel engines were exchanged for batteries.
The trains would only be a few mph slower on batteries, than the current Hitachi trains on diesel.
The Class 810 trains have four diesel engines. Is this to enable 125 mph running on diesel?

By perhaps replacing two diesel engines with batteries and using the remaining two diesel engines as range extenders or some other combination, I feel that Hitachi might be able to obtain a longer self-powered range for the train.

Consider.

Between Sheffield and Clay Cross North Junction will be fully-electrified and at 15.5 miles, it will be long enough to fully-charge the batteries on the train.
Between London St. Pancras and Market Harborough will be fully-electrified and at 83 miles, it will be long enough to fully-charge the batteries on the train.
The section between Market Harborough and Clay Cross North Junction is not electrified and is 66 miles.

I feel that Hitachi and their partner; Hyperdrive Innovation can design a battery electric Class 810 train, that can travel between London St. Pancras and Sheffield, without using a drop of diesel.

A great advantage of this approach, is that, as more electrification is added to the Midland Main Line, as it surely will be, the trains will be able to use the wires to reduce journey times.

I believe there are two sections on the Midland Main Line. where traditional electrification is less likely.

The bridge at the Southern end of Leicester station is low and would need to be rebuilt causing immense disruption to both road and rail in the city.
Between Derby and Alfreton is the World Heritage Site of the Derwent Valley Mills. Will electrification be fought by the heritage lobby?

Both sections may eventually be electrified at some far off date in the future.

Why Is There A Spur Of Electrification At Totley Junction?

This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, shows the Southern Leg of Totley Junction, where the Hope Valley Line joins the Midland Main Line.

Note that a short length of electrification is shown, between the Midland Main Line and a tunnel on the Southern leg.

This Google Map shows the same area.

Note, that the line disappears into a tunnel.

In Northern Powerhouse Rail -Significant Upgrades And Journey Time Improvements To The Hope Valley Route Between Manchester And Sheffield, I indicated, that running battery electric trains between Manchester and Sheffield would be a possibility and could be a way of meeting Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objectives for the route.
A short length of electrification might help battery electric trains turn out to go South.
I don’t think any passenger trains ever go that way now, but I have seen articles and heard complaints from passengers, that want a better service between Derby and/or Nottingham and Manchester.
It might also help with the decarbonisation of freight trains to and from the quarries.

I also suspect, that if building High Speed Two in Manchester temporarily reduced the capacity of Manchester Piccadilly station, trains could use the Hope Valley Line to get to the city, as they have done previously, with Project Rio.

Accessing The Infrastructure Depot At Staveley

This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, shows the location of the infrastructure depot at Staveley.

Note.

Chesterfield is shown by the large blue dot.
High Speed Two’s Sheffield Branch runs North from Chesterfield station.
High Speed Two’s Eastern Leg runs down the Eastern side of the map.
Two spurs from East and West go towards each other and would meet to the North of the town of Staveley.

The infrastructure depot will be located where they meet.

The route from the Sheffield Branch uses the Barrow Hill Line, which might be reopened as another passenger route between Chesterfield and Sheffield.

I wrote about this idea in Reinstatement Of The Barrow Hill Line Between Sheffield And Chesterfield.

If the line is being upgraded and electrified as far as Barrow Hill for the Infrastructure Depot, would it be worthwhile to create a new electrified route into Sheffield?

I also wrote in Could East Midlands Railway’s Liverpool And Norwich Service Avoid A Reverse At Sheffield By Using the Barrow Hill Line?, that the Barrow Hill Line might be an alternative route for the Liverpool and Norwich service.

When the railway routes in the area of the Infrastructure Depot are developed, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some routes changed.

Between Sheffield And Meadowhall Stations

One of the original designs for High Speed Two had it calling at Meadowhall station.

This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, clearly shows High Speed Two running across Sheffield.

Note.

Sheffield station is the big Blue dot in the South-West corner of the map.
The M1 runs across the North-East corner of the map.
The railway between Sheffield and Meadowhall stations already exists.
Sheffield and Meadowhall stations are 3.5 miles apart and trains take seven minutes.

Is there any reason, why High Speed Two trains shouldn’t serve both Sheffield and Meadowhall stations, by just taking the existing line across the city?

Taking The Wakefield Line Towards Leeds

In extending to Meadowhall, High Speed Two’s route seems to be taking the current Wakefield Line.

This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, clearly shows High Speed Two passing through Sheffield and Rotherham and then going towards Leeds.

Note.

Orange indicates new High Speed Two track.
Blue indicates track that High Speed Two shares with other lines.
The Wakefield Line is shown in blue and has stations at Meadowhall, Swinton, Bolton-upon-Dearne, Goldthorpe and Thurscoe.
The main High Speed Two leg to Leeds is shown in orange.

It looks to me, that High Speed Two are aiming to provide a route, so that trains going to Sheffield can extend the journey to Leeds.

As Leeds will have three tph to and from London, why is this service being extended to Leeds?

I will explore a few reasons why in the next few sub-sections.

It’s Convenient For Running Trains

Consider.

High Speed Two are saying London and Sheffield will be one hour and twenty-seven minutes.
Northern Powerhouse Rail have an objective of Leeds and Sheffield in twenty-eight minutes.
One hour and fifty-five minutes could be a convenient time for a London and Leeds service, as it could be a four hour round trip.

But High Speed Two are saying London and Leeds will be one hour and twenty-one minutes.

It looks to me, that it is a convenient way to serve Meadowhall, Rotherham, Bolton-upon-Dearne, Goldthorpe and Thurscoe stations

High Speed Two Through Rotherham

This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, clearly shows High Speed Two passing through Rotherham to the North of the Parkgate Shopping Park.

Note.

High Speed Two is the bright blue line running North-East from the Western edge of the map.
The grey blocks are the stores in the Shopping Park.
The Rotherham Parkgate tram-train stop is marked.

This Google Map shows a similar area.

To the East of the Parkgate Shopping Park, is a large brownfield site, as this Google Map shows.

Could Rotherham have a station on the line North of this site?

The rail line running SW-NE across this map is drawn in blue on High Speed Two’s interactive map.
Rotherham Masborough station used to be in this area.

If High Speed Two is supposed to be a railway for all the people, or at least as many as possible, surely there should be a station in the town.

High Speed Two Through Bolton-upon-Dearne

In July 2019, I wrote a post called Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 – A New Station At Barnsley Dearne Valley.

So have High Speed Two taken on this feature of the Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019, to add another station to their list of destinations?

Approach To Leeds

This map clipped from High Speed Two’s interactive map, clearly shows route High Speed Two will take to approach Leeds from the South East.

Note.

Leeds station is the blue dot in the North West corner of the map.
High Speed Two is shown in orange and continues North to York, where it joins the East Coast Main Line.
Wakefield is in the middle at the bottom of the map and is on the Wakefield Line and the current route for LNER’s expresses from London.

It looks to me, that Leeds and Sheffield will eventually end up with two faster routes between the two cities.

An upgraded Wakefield Line
A route based on the Southern section of the Wakefield Line and the Eastern leg of High Speed Two route to Leeds.

If High Speed Two’s trains are to be able to get across Sheffield and call at Sheffield, Meadowhall, Rotherham and Barnsley Dearne Valley stations, then these conditions must be met.

The trains must be High Speed Two’s Classic-Compatible trains or a train to a similar specification.
Some platform lengthening might be needed to allow the two hundred metre long trains to call.
The Wakefield Line must be electrified between Sheffield and just North of Goldthorpe station, where it will be able to join the link to the Eastern leg of High Speed Two.

It would probably be sensible to electrify the Wakefield Line all the way to Fitzwilliam station, from where the line is electrified all the way to Leeds.

This would enable the following.

Electric trains to run between Sheffield and Leeds via Wakefield Westgate station.
Would Northern Powerhouse Rail’s objective of a twenty-eight minute journey be achieved?
East Midlands Railway could run their Class 810 trains between London St. Pancras and Leeds under electric power.
High Speed Two could serve Leeds before the Northern infrastructure of the Eastern leg of High Speed Two is complete.
High Speed Two could offer services to Wakefield, Barnsley and Rotherham via Sheffield.

I can see reasons for early upgrading of the Wakefield Line.

Conclusion

It appears that High Speed Two are planning an electrified route through Sheffield between Clay Cross North Junction on the Midland Main Line and Goldthorpe station on the Wakefield Line.

Once complete it would enable the following.

Rotherham and Barnsley to have direct electric services to and from the capital.
When East Midlands Railway introduce their new Class 810 trains, the electrification North of Clay Cross North Junction would mean faster services and less running on diesel power.
I believe these Class 810 trains could run between London and Sheffield, if their four diesel engines are replaced with batteries, which would power the trains between Clay Cross North Junction and Market Harborough.
The electrification at Sheffield would allow battery electric trains to work between Manchester and Sheffield as I outlined in Northern Powerhouse Rail -Significant Upgrades And Journey Time Improvements To The Hope Valley Route Between Manchester And Sheffield.

I think it is a good plan.

Project Management Recommendations

It is my view that the following projects should be started as soon as possible.

Electrification between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield station.
Electrification of the Wakefield Line between Sheffield and Fitzwilliam stations.
Provision of new stations at Rotherham and Barnsley Dearne Valley on the Wakefield Line.

These projects could deliver worthwhile improvements in services in a couple of years, rather than the tens of years for High Speed Two.

November 24, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Barnsley Dearne Valley Station, Chesterfield Station, Class 810 Train, Clay Cross North Junction, Clay Cross North Junction And Sheffield Electrification, East Coast Main Line, East Midlands Hub Station, East Midlands Railway, Electrification, High Speed Two, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, Hope Valley Line, HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail, Leeds Station, Meadowhall Station, Midland Main Line, Northern Powerhouse Rail Recommendations - November 2020, Rotherham, Rotherham Parkgate Tram Stop, Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019, Sheffield Station, Wakefield Line, Wakefield Westgate Station | 3 Comments

Beeching Reversal – Sheaf Valley Stations

This is one of the Beeching Reversal projects that the Government and Network Rail are proposing to reverse some of the Beeching cuts.

Stations To Be Rebuilt

As you approach Sheffield station, you pass four station sites, three of which are demolished and the fourth is just a shadow of its former self.

Dore & Totley

Dean & Totley station used to have four platforms and this Google Map, shows what is left after British Rail’s vandalism in the mid-1980s.

Note.

The station has only one platform.
The single track in the platform handles all trains to and from the Hope Valley Line.
At present it appears to be two trains per hour (tph) in both directions.
The two tracks at the right are the Midland Main Line.

Transport for the North wants to run four tph between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield through here, that will take forty minutes between the two cities.

Updates planned for the station include.

A second platform for Manchester-bound trains.
A new bridge with lifts.
Platforms long enough to take a pair of Class 185 trains or a five-car Class 802 train.
A full hourly service.

There certainly seems to be enough space for another platform and track through the middle of the station.

At some point in the near future, the two Midland Main Line tracks will be electrified, as part of the upgrade for High Speed Two.

Between Dore & Totley And Beauchief

This Google Map shows a typical section of the line between Dore & Totley and Beauchief stations.

Note the two Midland Main Line tracks on the right and single-track to the Hope Valley Line on the left.

It would appear that the fourth track can be squeezed in between the single track and the Midland Main Line.

Beauchief

Beauchief station used to have four platforms before it was demolished.

This Google Map shows the station’s former location.

Note.

The building with the red dot is the former Beauchief Hotel. which was by the station.
On a larger screen you can see three tracks going into Sheffield.

I’m fairly certain that four tracks and two platforms for a station can be fitted into this narrow trackbed.

Millhouses & Eccleshall

Millhouses and Eccleshall station used to have four platforms before it was demolished.

This Google Map shows the station’s former location.

Note.

Wikipedia says the station was accessed from the Archer Road bridge, which is in the South East corner of the map.
It looks like there are three tracks with space for four.
The road to the North-West of the railway is called Old Station Road.

As at Beauchief, it will be tight.

Heeley

Heeley station used to have four platforms before it was demolished.

This Google Map shows the station’s former location.

Note.

The red arrow indicates Heeley Bridge, which Wikipedia says is near the station site.
There appears to be only two tracks through here.

It is easy to follow the tracks from here to Sheffield station.

Could A Four Track Railway Be Rebuilt Between Dore & Totley And Sheffield Stations?

I’ve not seen anything that says that building a four-track railway through here is not possible.

In a few years, there could be the following tracks and platforms, on this section.

Two fast tracks for High Speed Two, Midland Main Line and CrossCountry trains, that will be electrified with 25 KVAC overhead electrification, between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield station.
The High Speed Two trains will be classic-compatible and up to 200 metres long.
The two fast tracks will not have any platforms.
Two slow tracks for local services, that will be appropriately electrified.
The slow tracks will have step-free platforms, that will be long enough to take a five-car Class 802 train or a pair of Class 185 trains.

I can’t for the life of me understand, why this stretch of four-track main line between Dore & Totley and Sheffield stations was ever simplified, as at other places on the UK network, extra tracks were being added to the main lines, at the same time.

Future Services On The Fast Lines

Currently, the following services take the fast lines between Sheffield and Chesterfield stations via Dore & Totley station.

East Midlands Railway – Sheffield and London St. Pancras – 2 tph
East Midlands Railway – Sheffield and Norwich via Nottingham – 1 tph
CrossCountry – Edinburgh/Newcastle and Derby/Birmingham and the South – 2 tph
Northern – Sheffield and Nottingham – 1 tph

That is a very modest six tph.

High Speed Two are currently planning to run two tph between Sheffield and London Euston.

There may or may not be other changes.

As Birmingham Curzon Street and Sheffield will be just forty-seven minutes by High Speed Two all the way, will these destinations have a direct high speed classic-compatible service? There’s plenty of space capacity on High Speed Two.
I don’t think the Sheffield and St. Pancras services will be dropped, but they might be.
CrossCountry will probably be running intelligent multi-mode trains capable of 125 mph running and up to 140 mph in places.
Northern’s service between Sheffield and Nottingham might go via a reopened Barrow Hill Line.

But the biggest change will be that these two fast lines will be to High Speed Two standards.

Sheffield and Chesterfield will be electrified.
There will in-cab digital signalling, which theoretically could probably allow eighteen tph on the route.
High Speed Two Trains between Sheffield and Chesterfield will take twelve minutes.
Sheffield station will have been modified as required, to be able to handle all trains very efficiently.

But it would still be carrying a modest eight tph.

If required Sheffield would have the capacity to accept more trains from the South.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see, the following trains added.

An extra tph to and from London Euston via High Speed Two.
Two tph to and from Birmingham Curzon Street via High Speed Two.

I also wouldn’t be surprised to see CrossCountry using classic-compatible High Speed Two trains and switching to High Speed Two between Birmingham New Street and Sheffield. But these trains would still use the same tracks to access Sheffield station.

But I am led to the conclusion, that Sheffield will have more than enough capacity linking the City to Chesterfield and the South.

Future Services On The Slow Lines

Or should I use lines connecting to the Hope Valley Line rather than slow lines?

Currently, the following services take the slow lines between Sheffield and Dore & Totley stations.

East Midlands Railway – Liverpool Lime Street and Sheffield – via Manchester Piccadilly – 1 tph
TransPennine Express – Manchester Airport and Cleethorpes via Manchester Piccadilly – 1 tph
Northern – Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly – 1 tph

Transport for the North aims to run a four tph service with a forty minute journey time between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield.

Consider.

100 mph TransPennine Express trains take fifty-three minutes between Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly without a stop.
Classic-compatible trains with a battery capability could easily handle the route.
Northern’s services on the Hope Valley Line are timed for 75 mph trains.
Dore & Totley and Hazel Grove stations are twenty-nine miles apart.

If between Dore & Totley and Sheffield stations were to be electrified and track improvements like passing loops were to be made to the Hope Valley Line, I believe that to achieve a forty minute all-stops timing between Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly, would need a train with the following specification.

Electric train with batteries.
Four cars
100 mph or faster operating speed.
Step-free access between platform and train.
Sparkling acceleration and deceleration.
Ability to run under in-cab digital signalling to keep out of the way of freight services.

Looking at Crossrail between London Paddington and Maidenhead stations, the London route is probably as difficult as the Hope Valley Line and it has been designed as a forty minute service with ten stops, using a modern electric train.

If TransPennine fitted batteries to their Class 802 trains, these trains would fit the Northern Powerhouse Rail requirements.

East Midlands Railway and Northern would find that the following trains could be used.

Bombardier – Aventra with batteries
Bombardier – Class 377 train with batteries
Bombardier – Class 379 train with batteries
CAF – Class 331 train with batteries
Hitachi – Class 385 train with batteries
Porterbrook – Battery/FLEX train based on Class 350 train
Stadler – Flirt with batteries

All would need that between Dore & Totley and Sheffield stations be electrified.

After the upgrades and the new or refurbished trains are running, this would mean that between Dean & Totley and Sheffield would be handling four tph, which would be semi-fast trains between Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly. Although to current passengers on the line, they would seem to be fast services of a much higher standard.

It would not be very different to how the slow lines into Paddington also handle about four tph of other services, including GWR services and freight.

I believe that to provide an adequate service to the reopened and rebuilt stations of Dore & Totley, Beauchief, Millhouses & Eccleshall and Heeley, that a Turn-Up-And-Go service of at least four tph should be run between Dore & Totley and Sheffield stations.

A Turnback At Dore & Totley

This Google Map shows Dore & Totley station and the area to the South.

Note.

There would appear to be a lot of space between the Midland Main Line and the single track, that leads between Dore & Totley station and the Hope Valley Line.
Flying my helicopter, as low as I dare, it looks like the area is either a rubbish dump or very low grade businesses.
Crossrail has designed turnbacks at Abbey Wood and Paddington stations, that will handle twelve tph.

I believe that it would be possible to design a turnback at Dore & Totley station, that would handle eight trains per hour, if not twelve tph.

It might even be possible to squeeze in some overnight stabling.

Trains Or Tram-Trains Between Dore & Totley And Sheffield Stations

In my view, it doesn’t matter.

Crossrail’s 12 tph turnbacks can handle a 205 metre long Class 345 train, so I’m sure a well-designed turnback at Dore & Totley could handle a mixture of any trams or tram-trains below a defined maximum length of say 140 metres, which would be defined by a pair of Class 185 trains, which might have to be turned back during service disruption.

Where Would The Services Terminate in The East?

It is my view that cross-city services like Birmingham’s Cross-City Line, Liverpool’s Northern Line, London’s Crossrail and Thameslink, Newcastle’s Metro and Paris’s RER are efficient for both passengers and train operators.

So Dore & Totley station could be one end of a Sheffield cross-city line, with a frequency of at least eight tph through Beauchief, Millhouses & Eccleshall, Heeley and Sheffield stations.

So where would services go on the other side of Sheffield? Wikipedia gives these as services to the East of Sheffield.

Leeds via Barnsley and Wakefield (fast) – 2 tph
Leeds via Meadowhall, Barnsley, Wakefield and Castleford (stopping). – 1 tph
Leeds via Meadowhall, Moorthorpe and Wakefield. – 1 tph
Scarborough via Meadowhall, Doncaster, Hull and Bridlington. – 1 tph
Lincoln Central via Worksop and Retford – 1 tph
Gainsborough Central via Worksop, three trains per week continue to Cleethorpes via Brigg. – 1 tph
Huddersfield via Meadowhall, Barnsley and Penistone – 1 tph
Doncaster via Meadowhall and Rotherham, with one train per hour continuing to Adwick – 2 tph
York via Moorthorpe and Sherburn-in-Elmet. – 3 trains per day (tpd)

For much of the day, that is a frequency of 10 tph, with 5 tph calling at Meadowhall, 2 tph calling at Worksop and two fast tph passing Meadowhall without stopping.

But there are other rail projects under development.

High Speed Two will enable a new fast service between Sheffield and Leeds via Meadowhall and a new station in the Dearne Valley.
The Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 envisages a new station at Barnsley Dearne Valley. See Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 – A New Station At Barnsley Dearne Valley.
The Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 envisages tram-trains running between Sheffield and Doncaster-Sheffield Airport See Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 – Tram-Trains Between Sheffield And Doncaster-Sheffield Airport.
The Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 envisages a new Station at Waverley. See Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 – A New Tram-Train Route To A New station At Waverley.
High Speed Two might enable a fast classic-compatible service between Sheffield and Scarborough via York.
The possible opening of the South Yorkshire Joint Railway to passenger traffic, may open up further opportunities. See Beeching Reversal – South Yorkshire Joint Railway.
The possible reinstatement of the Barrow Hill Line. See Reinstatement Of The Barrow Hill Line Between Sheffield And Chesterfield.
The development of the Stocksbridge Railway for passenger services.

I can see classic-compatible High Speed Two trains serving the following places to the East of Sheffield.

Leeds
Hull via Doncaster
Scarborough via York
Cleethorpes via Doncaster, Scunthorpe and Grimsby.

A train like a five-car Class 802 train would probably be enough for most routes except Leeds.

I can see the following terminals for tram-trains to the East of Sheffield.

Doncaster and Doncaster-Sheffield Airport
Waverley station, which could be on a loop from the Sheffield and Lincoln Line.
Barnsley Dearne Valley

There may well be others.

If Sheffield were Karlsruhe in Germany, the tram-trains would probably serve the following routes.

Huddersfield via Penistone.
Lincoln via Worksop and Gainsborough.
Manchester via the Hope Valley Line.

But the Germans have a much larger electrified core, than Sheffield will have, even if High Speed Two electrifies between Dore & Totley and Thurnscoe stations via Sheffield.

I can make a table of destinations and distances and how they could be served.

Barnsley – 16 miles – Possible return trip from Sheffield for a battery electric train.
Barnsley Dearne Valley – 8 miles from Rotherham Parkgate – Possible return trip from Sheffield via Rotherham Parkgate for a battery electric tram-train.
Doncaster – 11 miles from Rotherham Parkgate – Possible return trip from Sheffield via Rotherham Parkgate for a battery electric tram-train.
Chesterfield via Barrow Hill – 17 miles – Possible return trip from Sheffield for a battery electric tram-train.
Doncaster Sheffield Airport – 10 miles from Doncaster – Possible return trip from Sheffield via Rotherham Parkgate and Doncaster for a battery electric tram-train.
Gainsborough Lea Road. – 32 miles – See Lincoln Central.
Huddersfield – 36 miles – Possible battery electric train with charging at Huddersfield.
Hull – 59 miles – Possible battery electric train with charging at Doncaster and Hull.
Lincoln Central – 48 miles – Possible battery electric train with charging at Lincoln and/or Gainsborough Lea Road. Otherwise diesel.
Penistone – 23 miles – Possible return trip from Sheffield for a battery electric train, using Newton’s friend on the way back.
Retford – 23 miles – Possible return trip from Sheffield for a battery electric train.
Waverley – About 6 miles – Possible return trip from Sheffield for a battery electric tram-train.
Worksop – 16 miles – Possible return trip from Sheffield for a battery electric train.

It looks to me like a mix of battery electric trains and tram-trains could run most of the services from Sheffield, if services that used new High Speed Two infrastructure used classic-compatible trains or trains like the existing Class 802 trains, that have been converted to battery electric operation.

Note.

I am assuming, that a battery electric train has a range of 56 miles on a single charge.
Rotherham Parkgate station is changed to a through station.
Tram-trains passing through Doncaster can recharge on the station’s 25 KVAC overhead electrification.
Charging can be provided as required at other stations.

There are lots of possibilities.

Consider, this for tram-train extensions to Barnsley Dearne Valley, Doncaster and Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

Extend the tram-train service at Rotherham Parkgate to either Doncaster and Doncaster Airport or Barnsley Dearne Valley stations.
Run tram-trains between Dore & Totley and Rotherham Parkgate via Sheffield, Meadowhall and Rotherham Central.

This would give a double-ended route across Sheffield and Rotherham between Dore & Totley and the existing Supertram network in the West and Barnsley Dearne Valley, Doncaster and Doncaster Sheffield Airport in the East.

Consider how to connect the branch to Waverley station to the Supertram network.

Waverley station will be either on or on a loop from the Sheffield and Lincoln Line.
The Sheffield and Lincoln Line has no obvious connection with the Supertram network.
The Sheffield and Lincoln Line goes straight in to Sheffield station.
Trains to Lincoln always appear to use Platform 4 in Sheffield station.
Sheffield station has four through platforms.

This Google Map shows where the Sheffield and Lincoln Line passes behind the Supertram Depot at Nunnery.

Note.

The Nunnery Square Park and Ride is in the South West corner of the map.
The Supertram depot is to the East of the Park-and-Ride, with the Nunnery Square tram stop to the South.
The Woodbourn Road tram stop is in the North East corner of the map.

This second Google Map shows the lines around the Park-and-Ride.

I suspect that a connection between the Supertram system and the Sheffield and Lincoln Line, could be built to the North of the Nunnery Depot.

But would it be easier to continue to Sheffield station or pass through the station and terminate at Dore & Totley station?

I can’t be sure looking at the maps, but it could be logical that trains to and from Lincoln use the Southern pair of tracks past the Nunnery Depot, as they would be on the right side of the tracks for Lincoln.

This would make it easier to do the following.

Create a connection between the Nunnery Depot and the Sheffield and Lincoln Line, which would surely be needed for efficient maintenance and operation of tram-trains running to and from Waverley.
Allow tram-trains used to serve the proposed Waverley station to return to the Depot every night.
Allow tram-trains working between Sheffield and Meadowhall to use the Lincoln and Sheffield Line to enter the Nunnery Depot.
Build a tram stop/station by the Park-and-Ride.

There would also be less need to build another depot.

Looking at the maps, could there be space to extend the Nunnery Depot?

Conclusion

This could be a very good project.

It fits in well with the plans and needs of High Speed Two.
It connects the new Waverley station to Sheffield station.
It fits well with the Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019.
It connects Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster to Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
It opens up the Hope Valley Line to improve services between Manchester and Sheffield.

I also don’t think, there’s any great risk!

July 12, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Barnsley Dearne Valley Station, Beauchief Station, Beeching Reversal, Clay Cross North Junction And Sheffield Electrification, Dore and Totley Station, Heeley Station, High Speed Two, Manchester Piccadilly Station, Midland Main Line, Millhouses & Eccleshall Station, Sheaf Valley Stations, Sheffield, Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019, Sheffield Station, Sheffield Supertram, Sheffield Tram-Train, Sheffield Waverley Station, South Yorkshire Joint Railway, Transport for the North | 3 Comments

Ambitious Transport Plans Unveiled For Sheffield Region

The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Rail News.

I will split the points made in the article into separate posts.

I have also been helped by this report published by the Sheffield City Region.

July 19, 2019 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Barnsley Dearne Valley Station, High Speed Two, Leeds, Sheffield, Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 | Leave a comment

Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 – A New Station At Barnsley Dearne Valley

This station will be to the East of Barnsley in the vicinity of the village of Goldthorpe.

In Changes Signalled For HS2 Route In North, I used this map of the proposed High Speed Two and Northern Powerhoiuse routes in East Yorkshire.

Note, these points about High Speed Two.

It by-passes Sheffield and Barnsley and enters Leeds from the East, via Junction 2.
It goes via Junction 1 to link up with the East Coast Main Line to York, Newcastle and Edinburgh.
It links to the Leeds and Hull route at Junction 1.
It has a Southern route via Chesterfield directly into Sheffield.

The current main route between Sheffield and Leeds is the Wakefield Line.

It is thirty nine miles long.
It is not electrified, except North of Wakefield Westgate station
Trains stop at Meadowhall, Rotherhall Central, Swinton, Bolton-on-Dearne, Goldthorpe, Thurnscoe, Moorthorpe, Fitzwilliam, Sandal & Agbrigg, Wakefield Westgate and Outwood.
Services take an hour and thirteen minutes
The route is not very busy, with only, a total of around 4-6 trains per hour (tph) in both directions.

The Northern Powerhouse Rail improvements will see four tph between Sheffield and Leeds

Journey times will be twenty-eight minutes.
Some trains will extend past Sheffield to London St. Pancras.
These fast services will probably stop less often.
They will probably be backed up by stopping trains at perhaps two tph.
I suspect the trains will be 125 mph bi-mode trains with batteries.
I doubt there will be full electrification, as train developments will achieve the same objectives, in a more affordable manner.
There will be full digital signalling to increase the capacity.

So where does the proposed Barnsley Dearne Valley station fit in?

It will be on both the Wakefield Line and High Speed Two.
It will have fast local trains between Leeds and Sheffield at four tph.
It will have High Speed Two services between London and Leeds via East Midlands Hub at a frequency of at least two tph.
It will have High Speed Two services between London and Newcastle via East Midlands Hub and York at a frequency of st least two tph.
As I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Turn-Up-And-Go service on major legs of High Speed Two, will Barnsley Dearne Valley have four tph?
Stopping trains to and from Sheffield could be at a frequency of four tph and be tram-trains.

The station would be a quality one, with ,lots of parking.

Barnsley would be welcomed to the Twenty-First Century.

I also believe, that the Wakefield Line could be improved, sooner rather than later.

I have flown my virtual helicopter along the route between Rohterham Central and Fitzwilliam stations.

It is at least double-track all the way.
It would appear to be fairly straight.
There is plenty of room on either side, so third and possibly fourth tracks could be added.
There are no level crossings and very few bridges.
The stations are simple, but could be easily upgraded to full step-free access.
Electrification could be a lot easier than some of the TransPennine routes.

So one way to give early benefits could be.

Electrify between Sheffield and Fitzwilliam.
Improve line speed to at least 100 mph and possibly 110-125 mph.
Make all stations step-free.
Build the Wakefield Line station at Barnsley Dearne Valley.
East Midlands Railway could run two tph between Leeds and Sheffield using 125 mph bi-mode trains, with stops at Barnsley Dearne Valley, Swinton and Rotherham Central.
Perhaps one tph could be between Leeds and London.
Extend the Sheffield tram-train to Barnsley Dearne Valley.

I don’t think much of the engineering would be difficult and an opening date of 2023 would probably be possible.

The proposal would give these advantages.

Twenty-eight minutes journeys between Leeds and Sheffield at a frequency of four tph.
One or possible two tph between Leeds and London calling at Barnsley Dearne Valley and Rotherham Central.
Extension of Leeds local electric trains to Barnsley Dearne Valley.
A four tph tram-train service between Sheffield and Barnsley Dearne Valley.
A direct service between Barnsley Dearne Valley and Doncaster is also a possibility.

The idea of a station at Barnsley Dearne Valley is a brilliant idea.

July 19, 2019 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Barnsley Dearne Valley Station, East Midlands Railway, High Speed Two, Leeds, Rotherham, Sheffield, Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 | 6 Comments

Changes Signalled For HS2 Route In North

The title of this post is the same as that as this article on Rail News.

This is the first two paragraphs.

The government is reconsidering the route of HS2 between Crewe and Manchester and also between Birmingham and Leeds, which are jointly known as Phase 2b.

A consultation has been launched on proposals to use HS2 as a regional route, by providing two new junctions so that Northern Powerhouse Rail services could use HS2 to reach Manchester.

The Times also has a news item entitled HS2 To Link With Northern Powerhouse Line, that adds some other details to the story.

This is the start of the news item.

HS2 trains will be able to run across Northern England under plans for a fully-integrated high-speed network.

The government said yesterday that HS2 would connect into a proposed east-west route across the Pennines, enabling trains to run directly between more cities.

Four years ago, I wrote Whither HS2 And HS3?, which argued for greater integration of the two routes and more tunnelled stations under major cities to build High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail with less disruption.

Part of that post was deliberately over the top, but it seems that others have been thinking in a similar way.

The Times also says the following.

Two junctions near High Legh will connect High Speed Two and the East-West line.
High Speed Two will be realigned between Nottingham and Derby to avoid a year-long part-closure of the M1.
The government has insisted that both High Speed lines are necessary.
Northern Powerhouse trains would be able to use High Speed Two.
High Speed Two trains may be able to run at speed direct to Liverpool, Bradford and Hull.
The CBI are quoted as liking the proposal.

The Times also has a map that shows the proposed routes of the High Speed railways.

At A Glance – Northern Powerhouse Rail

This is the name of this report on the Transport for the North web site.

I will use information from this report , when it is relevant and the best available.

My Thoughts

These are my thoughts on the project taking information from the two articles and the Transport for the North report.

Preamble – Line Speeds On High Speed Two, The West Coast Main And The East Coast Main Line

High Speed Two is being designed for running at a speed of 225 mph with a capacity of eighteen trains per hour (tph)

The West And East Coast Main Lines are designed for 125 mph running for most of their lengths.

In the future, with the addition of in-cab digital signalling, it is intended that these two lines will be upgraded to allow running at 140 mph.

A Liverpool and Manchester High Speed Line

Looking at the map and the position of High Legh, it appears that a new High Speed line could be built Vaguely along the route of the M56 between Liverpool and Manchester.

It appears to cross the Mersey to the West of Warrington.
It appears to go South of Warrington, where there could be a station.
It would call at Manchester Airport.

From this article in the Knutsford Guardian, which is entitled Government Releases New HS2 Plans For High Legh And Ashley, I suspect there will be a lot of opposition from local politicians and residents.

I seem to remember, a lot of opposition to the building of the M56.

This could be a difficult route to persuade the local people to accept.

This Google Map shows Manchester Airport.

Note how the M56 motorway passes across the North-West of the Airport.

Could the Liverpool and Manchester High Speed Line be alongside the motorway or even in a tunnel underneath?

This second Google Map shows the area around High Legh.

Note.

The M56 going across the top of the map.
The spaghetti in the North-East corner of the map is Junction 8 on the M56, where it joins the A556.
The new A556 by-pass route to the West of the original route.
The M6 running diagonally across the map.
High Legh village is just to the North-West of the middle of the map.

This clip of a map from the Transport for the North report shows a schematic of the current and possible rail links in the area.

High Speed Two would appear to come North and split into two routes.

One continues North to join the existing West Coast Main Line just South of Wigan.
Another goes through Crewe station.

North of Crewe, the two routes join and then split into three at the Junction labelled 6.

To Warrington and Liverpool
To Wigan, Preston and Scotland
To Manchester Airport and Manchester.

A second Junction labelled 5, allows Northern Powerhouse Rail trains to run Liverpool-Warrington-Manchester Airport-Manchester.

This is a new layout and has the following advantages.

I estimate that trains could save 7-8 minutes on services running between Crewe and Wigan because of the longer running at High Speed Two operating speeds at 225 mph.
,If they don’t stop at Crewe and Runcorn, further minutes could be saved.
Trains between London and Preston and London and Glasgow could skip the stop at Warrington to save further minutes.
There could be an advantageous reorganisation of stopping patterns.
London and Liverpool services and Liverpool and Manchester services could stop at Warrington, which would give Warrington very good connections.
The Liverpool-Manchester and Liverpool-Crewe Lines could be built to High Speed Two standards, which could allow 225 mph running.

I also think the track layout can be run alongside or underneath the various motorways in the area for a lot of the route between Liverpool, Crewe, Warrington and Manchester Airport.

It would appear to be a very good solution to a complex problem and overall, I suspect it gives better connectivity, at a more affordable cost, whilst creating a railway that can be built with less disruption and will ultimately produce less noise.

The Transport for the North report, also says the following.

There could be a new Warrington South Parkway station.
Six tph between Liverpool and Manchester via Warrington are planned.
Journey times will be 26 minutes.

The Twenty-first Century will finally get a modern and fast Liverpool and Manchester Railway.

Liverpool And Manchester Timings To And From London

The High Speed Two entry on Wikipedia gives the following timings after Phase Two is completed.

London and Liverpool – One hour and thirty-six minutes
London and Manchester – One hour and eight minutes

The Liverpool timing is slower, as for these timings, it runs on 125 mph lines between Crewe and Liverpool with a possible stop at Runcorn.

I feel that the proposed route to a new station in Liverpool city centre will reduce the Liverpool timing.

There will be more running at 225 mph.
There will be no slow local traffic.
There will only be a stop at Warrington in a new purpose-built station.

I would not be surprised to see very similar sub-seventy minute times for both services.

It would dampen any rivalry between the two cities and if London and Wigan could be achieved in a similar time, it would surely ease train scheduling for the future operator of High Speed Two.

The Liverpool Lime Street Capacity Problem

This article on the Liverpool Echo is entitled New High-Speed Rail Station For Liverpool City Centre Takes Step Forward.

This is an extract.

A plan to build a completely new high-speed rail station in the CENTRE of Liverpool is taking a major step forward today – and Everton’s chief executive will be leading it.

Transport leaders want to build a new high-speed line into Liverpool to connect with HS2 to London and the planned Northern Powerhouse rail line across the north.

That means an entirely new “architecturally stunning” station in Liverpool city centre as Lime Street is too small to cope with the extra traffic.

So why is Lime Street station still too small, as it has been increased in capacity in the last couple of years?

I will look at the direct Virgin services between Euston and Liverpool Lime Street.

Northbound trains leave at XX:07 and take two hours and 12-14 minutes for the journey.
Trains wait for 26-28 minutes in the platform at Liverpool Lime Street station.
Sorthbound trains leave at XX:47 and take two hours and 12-16 minutes for the journey.
Trains wait for 4-8 minutes in the platform at Euston station.

It looks to me, that Virgin are using the platform at Lime Street station to balance the service. It does mean that trains probably keep more reliably to the timetable, but it hogs the platform at Liverpool Lime Street

Virgin want to increase the frequency to two tph and the London and Liverpool timing of around two hours and 12-16 minutes, means that a second platform is needed at Liverpool Lime Street station.

The station has now been remodelled and at least one extra platform has been added.

The problem could also be solved if the classic Virgin services took say one hour and 52 minutes between Euston and Liverpool.

This would enable the following.

Trains would leave Euston and Liverpool Lime Street at the same time.
Trains would have eight minutes to turn round at each end of the journey.
There would be a very passenger-friendly journey time of under two hours.

I think this will happen at some time in the future.

Digital signalling and track improvements will allow a high proportion of 140 mph running.
New trains will have faster dwell times at stations.

, Competing against High Speed Two will drive faster services on the classic route.

High Speed Two is currently saying that London and Liverpool services will take one hour and thirty-six minutes and run at a two tph frequency.

This will probably mean that a clock-face timetable will be difficult without trains waiting in platforms at each end of the journey for a long time.

It will certainly mean that High Speed Two between London and Liverpool will need two platforms at the Northern end.

Even if the proposed one hour and thirty-six minutes was reduced to my estimate of seventy minutes to the new station, there would still be a need for two platforms. Liverpool is just a little bit too far away from London.

In addition Northern Powerhouse rail is saying that it will be running six tph between Liverpool and Manchester.

It would be difficult to fit all the platforms needed into Lime Street station.

A New Liverpool City Centre High Speed Station

This Google Map shows Liverpool Lime Street station and the surrounding area.

Consider.

Lime Street station has a well-developed network of local rail lines going North, East, South and West under the Mersey, which are being updated with new trains and extra destinations.
Liverpool Lime Street station is a Grade II Listed building.
It is surrounded to the North and West with a cluster of historically and culturally important buildings including the Grade I Listed St. George’s Hall.
Close to and alongside the North and South sides of the station are buildings that few would mourn if they were demolished.
Between the station and the University of Liverpool to the East, there is a lot of land, that is mainly surface car parking and more low-grade buildings.

I think designing a High Speed station close to the current Lime Street station could be the sort of challenge many world-class architects will relish.

How Many Platforms And What Capacity Would Be Needed For A New Liverpool City Centre High Speed Station?

We already know that the following High Speed services are planned.

Two tph between Liverpool and London.
Six tph between Liverpool and Manchester and beyond.
Would extra services to Glasgow and Birmingham be needed?
There could also be long turnround times, which need extra platforms, as I indicated earlier.

It should also be noted that according to Wikipedia, Birmingham’s City Centre High Speed station; Birmingham Curzon Street station is being designed with seven platforms.

I could see an eighteen tph High Speed station with at least eight platforms.

Two platforms would be for London services
Three or four platforms would be for Manchester and beyond services
Two or three platforms would be for other and future services and service recovery.
All platforms would be able to accept maximum length High Speed Two trains.

The capacity of the station must be large enough for all future eventualities

I could envisage the following Northern Powerhouse Rail services, sometime in the future.

Four tph -Liverpool and Hull via Manchester Airport, Manchester and Leeds
Two tph -Liverpool and Edinburgh via Manchester Airport, Manchester, Leeds, York and Newcastle
Two tph -Liverpool and Sunderland via Manchester Airport, Manchester, Leeds, York and Middlesbrough
Two tph – Liverpool and Sheffield via Manchester Airport and Manchester

There could also be two tph to each of Birmingham, Glasgow and London.

The absolute limit between Liverpool and High Legh Junction would probably be eighteen tph, which is the design capacity of High Speed Two.

I am assuming that the High Speed sections of Northern Powerhouse Rail will be built as near as possible to High Speed Two standards, as regards train capacity, track, electrification, signalling and stations.

How Would Trains Access The New Liverpool City Centre High Speed Station?

To the East of Lime Street station is the campus of Liverpool University. There are a large number of buildings and to make things more difficult there is a cathedral, a brand-new hospital (Hopefully!) and several Listed buildings.

There is also no obvious route for a new High Speed Railway into a new station close to the current Lime Street.

I feel that the only solution is to bore a tunnel to bring the High Speed Railway to the city-centre. from perhaps six miles to the East of the city.

The tunnels would be only for High Speed services.
I suspect the preferred route would include tunnelling under some existing rail lines or motorways.
This would mean that High Speed services would be unhindered by local traffic, when approaching or leaving Liverpool.
Speed would be at least 140 mph.

This is only following a similar philosophy to that used to bring High Speed One into St. Pancras under East London, where the tunnels are under the North London Line.

Would The New Liverpool City Centre High Speed Station Be On The Surface Or Underground?

Recently, two semi-underground stations linked to deep tunnels have been built in the UK; Stratford International and the Paddington station for Crossrail. Crossrail and London’s Northern Line Extension have also shown how stations, that are deep underground, can have large developments on top.

I know the area around the Lime Street station well and I have a strong three-dimensional sense and feel that there is a solution that could be developed.

The final solution would be one for architects, council planners, engineers , politicians and accountants.

Between Manchester Airport And Manchester Piccadilly

Most current trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport stations take between 15-18 minutes.

I don’t believe that these times are compatible with a 26 minute time between Liverpool and Manchester Piccadilly.

So I am fairly certain that to achieve the planned time in the Transport for the North report, that an almost direct tunnel between Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly stations is necessary.

Could the tunnel pass through underground platforms at Manchester Piccadilly station, which run across the station and then surface to connect with the chosen route to Leeds?

In an earlier plan, referenced under Manchester City Centre (Phase 2b) in the Wikipedia entry for High Speed Two,, this is said.

The route will continue from the airport into Manchester city centre via a 7.5-mile (12.1 km) twin bore branch tunnel under the dense urban districts of south Manchester before surfacing at Ardwick.

Under the earlier plan, trains would have gone into a rebuilt Manchester Piccadilly station.

This Google Map shows the tracks between Manchester Piccadilly station and Ardwick, where Siemens have a train care facility.

Note.

If the tunnels emerged at Ardwick after passing under Manchester Piccadilly station, they would be pointing in more of less the right direction to emerge at Ardwick and continue on the way to Leeds, via the Huddersfield Line
Under the earlier plan, I suspect the tunnels would go in a wide loop around South Manchester.

This tunnelled approach to new underground platforms at Manchester Piccadilly has the following advantages.

High Speed services between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport stations would have their own dedicated High Speed line.
Much of the tunnelling to the East of Manchester Piccadilly station could be under existing railway infrastructure.
Through and terminal platforms as needed would be provided under the current Manchester Piccadilly station.
Escalators and lifts would connect the underground platforms to local services and the Manchester Metrolink.
By choosing the right orientation for the tunnel and position for the underground platforms, it may be possible to have a second entrance to the underground station from Piccadilly Gardens.
The current Manchester Piccadilly station would only need refurbishing, rather than a total rebuild.

Manchester would have the fastest conventional airport link in the world. Who needs Hyperloop or Maglev?

Would Any High Speed Services To And From London Terminate At Manchester?

If London and Manchester trains have a sub-seventy minute journey time, trains would need to wait for some minutes in a terminal platform. It is the Liverpool problem all over again.

These would need to be long enough for a full-length train.
They would be expensive to build, as they would be underground.

So I suspect that providing services to cities beyond Manchester would actually reduce the complication and cost of the underground station.

Services at the underground station at Manchester Piccadilly would be as follows.

Northern Powerhouse Rail – Six tph between Liverpool and Manchester Piccadilly
High Speed Two – Three tph between Manchester Piccadilly and London
Northern Powerhouse Rail – Six tph between Manchester Piccadilly and Leeds.

Surely, this means that three tph must terminate in the underground platforms!

If trains emerge at Ardwick, they could also continue on the Hope Valley Line to Sheffield.

If two tph could go to Sheffield, this means that the service pattern through the underground platforms could be.

High Speed Two – Two tph between London and Hull via Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly nd Leeds
High Speed Two – One tph between London and Edinburgh via Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds, York and Newcastle.
Northern Powerhouse Rail – One tph between Liverpool and Edinburgh via Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds, York and Newcastle.
Northern Powerhouse Rail – Two tph between Liverpool and Sheffield via Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly
Northern Powerhouse Rail – Two tph between Liverpool and Hull via Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadillyand Leeds
Northern Powerhouse Rail – One tph between Liverpool and Sunderland via Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds, York and Middlesbrough.

I have shown that it is possible to design a schedule, where no High Speed services need to terminate in Manchester Piccadilly station.

So all the underground station would need is two through platforms.

A turnback could be provided at Ardwick for service recovery.

Overall services from the underground stations would be as follows.

Two tph – Edinburgh
Four tph – Hull
Nine tph – Leeds
Six tph – Liverpool
Three tph – London
Nine tph – Manchester Airport
One tph – Middlesbrough
Two tph – Newcastle
Two tph – Sheffield
One tph – Sunderland
Five tph – York

This was only after a few minutes juggling. I’m sure a professional could be better.

The only reason to add bay platforms to the underground station would be, if high speed regional services like those at St. Pancras were to be run terminate in Manchester.

The through station concept also means that if demand was such, that Manchester needed four or more tph to or from London, Manchester is future-proofed.

Could Island Platforms Be Built At Manchester Piccadilly And Manchester Airport High Speed Stations?

Some of London’s Jubilee Line stations, with the highest capacity like Canada Water, Canary Wharf, London Bridge, Waterloo and Westminster, have theor Jubilee Line platforms designed to the following rules.

Tracks perhaps twenty or thirty metres apart.
A wide concourse between the two platforms, so travellers and staff can freely circulate.
Escalators and lifts in the concourse..
Platform-edge doors for safety.

It is a very good starting point, but it could be taken further.

Step-free access between platform and train, through wide doors..
Large numbers of information displays.
Tickets would indicate the door number to use.
Toilets and kiosks
Lots of visible staff, rather than the North’s usually few invisible versions.

Everything would be geared to a quick and easy boarding and leaving the trains.

Liverpool And Manchester Timings To And From London

The High Speed Two entry on Wikipedia gives the following timings after Phase Two is completed.

London and Liverpool – One hour and thirty-six minutes
London and Manchester – One hour and eight minutes

The Liverpool timing is slower, as for these timings, it runs on 125 mph lines between Crewe and Liverpool with a possible stop at Runcorn.

I feel that the proposed route to a new station in Liverpool city centre will reduce the Liverpool timing.

There will be more running at 225 mph.
There will be no slow local traffic.
There will only be a stop at Warrington in a new purpose-built station.

I would not be surprised to see very similar sub-seventy minute times for both services.

It would dampen any rivalry between the two cities and if London and Wigan could be achieved in a similar time, it would surely ease train scheduling for the future operator of High Speed Two.

Liverpool And Manchester Journeys

I also suspect that nearly all Liverpool and Manchester passengers would use the High Speed services running between the city centres and Manchester Airport every ten minutes, which would take twenty-six minutes.

One estimate on the Internet says it takes fifty minutes to drive!

As both cities have extensive and interconnecting local rail, tram and bus networks, would this mean simplification of the other services between the two cities?

The Castlefield Corridor

Hopefully something will be done to sort out this route between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria stations.

I am very surprised that freight trains for Trafford Park Freight Terminal still use the Castlefield Corridor.
Will there still be a need to provide as many services to Manchester Airport, as surely passengers will use the High Speed route, which will be running every ten minutes and will probably be a escalator or lift away?
Would there be any need for long distance services to run through the route?
Manchester Airport to Edinburgh, Hull, Leeds, Newcastle and York would go via Northern Powerhouse Rail under Manchester Piccadilly and the City Centre.
Manchester Airport to Liverpool and Warrington would leave the Airport to the West and go direct.
Manchester Airport to Blackpool, Glasgow, and Preston would leave the airport to the West and would take the West Coast Main Line at High Legh.
Manchester Airport to Birmingham, and London would leave the airport to the West and would take High Speed Two at High Legh.

I think the Castlefield Corridor end up as a series of train or tram-train routes across Manchester.

Consider.

Merseyrail’s Northern Line is a series of routes across Liverpool.
The Cross-City Line is a series of routes across Birmingham.
The Tyne and Wear Metro is a series of routes across Newcastle.
Thameslink is a series of routes across London.
The East London Line is a series of routes across East London.

Note that the last two routes, have been planned to handle in excess of 20 tph.

Why should the Castlefield Corridor routes be any different?

It’s just another cross-city line!

If there was a direct escalator and lift connection from Platforms 13 and 14 at Manchester Piccadilly station, the routes through the Castlefield Corridor would be a superb system connecting passengers to High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail.

The Future Of The West Coast Main Line

Consider.

It appears Crewe and Warrington will be by-passed by new High Speed tracks.
A new Warrington station with calls from High Speed Two services, will have good rail links to Chester, East Liverpool, North Wales and West Manchester.
Wigan station is well-connected with commuter lines to Kirkby, Liverpool, Manchester and Southport, which would bring passengers to High Speed Two services stopping in the station.
Preston station will connect passengers from Blackpool and North West Lancashire to High Speed Two services.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the West Coast Main Line between Crewe and Preston converted into quadruple track all the way.

Two High Speed tracks with at least 140 mph running and only one stop at Wigan.
Two slow tracks for freight and local services, with stops as necessary.

Separation of High Speed services on 140 mph tracks with perhaps a capacity of at least fifteen tph, raises the possibility of using 140 mph electric multiple units running High Speed regional services.

Northern terminals could be Blackburn, Blackpool and Burnley.
Southern terminals could be Crewe, Liverpool, Manchester and Stoke.
Liverpool services would terminate in the new High Speed platforms.
Manchester services would call at Manchester Airport.
Manchester services would terminate in bay platforms in the underground High Speed station underneath Manchester Piccadilly, with quick and easy access to the High Speed services.
All High Speed local services would call at Preston and Wigan.

Trains would have the following characteristics.

Capable of 140 mph running.
High capacity, quality interiors.
Step-free access between train and platform.
Able to use platform-edge door used by the High Speed trains.

Think of a modernised Class 195 train, used for high speed commuter services between St. Pancras and Kent.

If a battery-electric capability could be added, the towns and cities served could increase dramatically.

Northern terminals could be Barrow, Hebden Bridge and Windermere.
Southern terminals could be Chester.
Carlisle could be served using the Cumbria Coast Line via Barrow, Sellafield, Workington and Whitehaven.

I can see a large High Speed regional network developing around a 140 mph West Coast Main Line between Crewe and Preston.

North of Preston, the West Coast Main Line will become a double-track line with the passenger trains travelling at 140 mph.

A Manchester And Leeds High Speed Line

In Lord Adonis On Crossrail Of The North, I compared the current route between Leeds and Manchester with the Ipswich and Norwich route, that I know well.

Both routes are roughly the same length.
Ipswich and Norwich has a 100 mph line speed, with usually just two stops.
Manchester and Leeds has a much slower line speed, with umpteen stops.
The fastest trains between Manchester Victoria and Leeds take forty-nine minutes, with a stop at Huddersfield, and are just 1 train per hour (tph).
Norwich and Ipswich in a couple of years, will take 30 minutes at a frequency of 3 tph.

This clip of a map from the Transport for the North report shows a schematic of the rail links to the East of Manchester.

Two alternative routes are proposed.

The black route would be created by upgrading the Huddersfield Line.
The yellow route would be a new route via Bradford.

The Transport for the North report says this about the Leeds-Manchester service.

There will be six tph.
The journey will take 25 minutes.

The next two sections give my thoughts on these options.

Upgrading The Huddersfield Line

It will be a tough ask to upgrade this line so that a twenty-five minute time can be achieved.

I suspect though, it wouldn’t have been suggested unless it were possible.

Manchester And Leeds Via Bradford Low Moor

The Transport for the North report indicates that this could be via Bradford Low Moor station.

To get a twenty-five minute time between Leeds and Manchester with a ten minute frequency, which I believe is the minimum service the two cities deserve, would be like passing a whole herd of camels through the eye of a single needle.

The Swiss, who lets face it have higher hills, than we have in Northern England would create a new route mainly in tunnel between the two cities, with perhaps an underground station beneath the current Grade I Listed; Huddersfield station.

The transport for the North report suggests Bradford Low Moor station, as an intermediate station, so why not Bradford Low Moor and Huddersfield stations?

Note that the Gotthard Base Tunnel, which opened a couple of years ago, deep under the Alps, is about the same length as a Leeds and Manchester tunnel, and cost around eight billion pounds.

It would be expensive, but like Crossrail in London, the tunnel would have big advantages.

It could be built without disrupting current rail and road networks.
It would have a capacity of up to thirty tph in both directions.
Unlike Crossrail, it could handle freight trains.
It would unlock and join the railway systems to the East and West.

I believe, it would be a massive leap forward for transport in the North of England.

Upgrade Or Tunnel Between Manchester And Leeds?

Obviously, the tunnel would take several years to bore.

So to get Northern Powerhouse Rail up and running, the Huddersfield Line would be upgraded first.

At a future time, the tunnel would be constructed.

Hopefully, it could be built, when the finance became available, without disrupting existing train services.

After the tunnel was built, there could be a division of services.

High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail services would use the tunnel.
Stopping services would use the Classic route on the Huddersfield Line.

All passengers would get the service they need.

Freight would have an extra route, if it could use the High Speed tunnel.

High Speed Lines East Of Leeds

I’ll repeat the map I included earlier, which shows the route of High Speed Two and the two Northern Powerhouse Rail routes to the East of Leeds.

The three Junctions labelled on the map are.

Junction on High Speed Two mainline for Leeds – North East services.
Junction on High Speed Two Leeds spur to facilitate through services via existing Leeds station.
Junction on High Speed Two mainline for Sheffield – Leeds services.

The two main Northern Powerhouse Rail routes East of Leeds are.

A connection to the East Coast Main Line for York, Newcastle and Edinburgh.
An extension Eastwards to Hull.

Having ridden around these lines in the last few weeks, I believe that these routes could be upgraded to a High Speed standard.

The East Coast Main Line is mainly four-track and could be capable of 140 mph running, with in-cab digital signalling.
An electrified link between Leeds and the East Coast Main Line has been promised for years.
Replace the Selby swing bridge and the line between Leeds and Hull could probably be upgraded to an electrified 125 mph line with 140 mph available with in-cab signalling.

The Northern Powerhouse Rail report gives these proposed details of services East of Leeds.

Leeds and Newcastle -four tph in 58 minutes.
Leeds and Hull – two tph in 38 minutes

If all the lines East of Leeds were electrified, local services could be run by 140 mph electrical multiple units, likethose I proposed for Liverpool and Manchester High Speed regional services. These would not delay the High Speed services.

Liverpool and Hull Timings

The Northern Powerhouse Rail report doesn’t give a timing for this route across Northern England, but it does give the intermediate timings

Liverpool and Manchester – 26 minutes
Manchester and Leeds – 25 minutes
Leeds and Hull – 38 minutes

This gives a time of 90 minutes between Liverpool and Hull, which compares with the current fastest time of 2:32 hours.

In addition, the frequency of the service would certainly be at least two tph and possibly as high as four tph.

Hull Station As A High Speed Terminal

Hull station has been earmarked for some time as an Eastern terminal for Northern Powerhouse Rail.

This Google Map shows the station.

The station is large, with six platforms, and would have no problem accommodating long High Speed Two trains.

Could using Hull station as a terminal for a London-Birmingham-Manchester Airport-Manchester-Leeds-Hull service be a sensible response to saving costs and reducing disruption in the building of High Speed Two to Leeds?

Northern Powerhouse Rail will need a High Speed link across or under the Pennines, but Leeds station is congested.
The new Junction 2 on the Northern Powerhouse Rail map, has been designed to allow services through Leeds station.
Leeds station probably would not be able to turn round a High Speed servicefrom London, without the previously planned substantial rebuilding.
Could the passengers at Leeds cope with all the disruption?
One extra High Speed service in both directions between Manchester and Hull every hour, could probably be accommodated using modern digital signalling.
The train might even split and join at Leeds to serve both Newcastle and Hull.

Using Hull as a terminal probably has other advantages.

There is probably space to add a stabling facility close to the station.
Upgrading the route between Hull and Selby, would speed-up London to Kings Cross services via the East Coast Main Line.
Electrification between Hull and Leeds would allow substantial improvement in local services around Hull.

If you look at the whole High Speed Two route between London and Hull via Manchester and Leeds, the route would be as follows.

High Speed Two between London and Crewe.
New High Speed railway between Crewe and Manchester via High Legh and Manchester Airport
New High Speed route across or under the Pennines to Leeds.
Upgraded line between Leeds and Hull.

I believe that it would be possible to run between London and Manchester at 225 mph and up to 140 mph on all the rest of the route.

Manchester Airport Connectivity

If High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail are developed as laid out in the Transport for the North report, the following cities will be connected to Manchester Airport.

Birmingham – High Speed Two
Blackpool – Northern Powerhouse Rail/West Coast Main Line
Bradford – High Speed Two/Northern Powerhouse Rail
Carlisle – Northern Powerhouse Rail/West Coast Main Line
Edinburgh – Northern Powerhouse Rail/East Coast Main Line
Glasgow – Northern Powerhouse Rail/West Coast Main Line
Hull – High Speed Two/Northern Powerhouse Rail
Leeds – High Speed Two/Northern Powerhouse Rail
London – High Speed Two
Newcastle -High Speed Two/Northern Powerhouse Rail
Preston – Northern Powerhouse Rail/West Coast Main Line
Sheffield – Northern Powerhouse Rail
Sunderland – Northern Powerhouse Rail
York – High Speed Two/Northern Powerhouse Rail

Manchester Airport will probably become the most important station in the North with High Speed connections to a large part of England and Scotland.

The Big Advantage Of Route Sharing

Suppose you have arrived in Manchester Airport and need to get home in Hull.

Because both High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail will run between the Airport and Hull, the frequency will be increased.

There could be the following services.

High Speed Two – 2 tph between London and Hull
Northern Powerhouse Rail – 2 tph between Liverpool and Hull

Giving a train every fifteen minutes.

High Speed East Coast Between London and Yorkshire, the North East Of England and Edinburgh

The East Coast Main Line is not mentioned in either of the articles, I have quoted in this post.

This line will see big changes in the next few years.

All services from East Coast Trains, Hull Trains and LNER and some services from TransPennine Express will be run by 140 mph-capable Class 800/801/802 trains.
ERTMS will be installed between London and Doncaster.
Extra tracks will be added in places.
Werrington Junction will be improved.

Large sections of the line will be capable of 140 mph running.

Currently, the fastest non-stop trains between London and Doncaster take a few minutes over ninety minutes. With 140 mph trains, I think the following times are easily possible.

London and Doncaster – 80 minutes
London and Hull – A few minutes over two hours, running via Selby.
London and Leeds – A few minutes less than two hours, running on the Classic route.

For comparison High Speed Two is quoting 88 minutes for London Euston and Leeds, via Birmingham and East Midlands Hub.

I think we may have the making of a railway race between London and Leeds

London Kings Cross via Peterborough, Wakefield and Doncaster
London Euston via Birmingham and East Midlands Hub
London Euston via Birmingham, Manchester Airport, Manchester and Bradford.

In addition, if the Leeds and Hull Line via Selby were to be upgraded to a High Speed route capable of running at up to 140 mph, I believe that by 2024 or 2025 could see London and Hull covered in under two hours.

The East Coast Main Line will be a High Speed Line in all but name.

The improvements and the 140 mph operating speed will create more capacity and I believe services from Kings Cross could be something like.

London and Bradford – Two tph
London and Edinburgh – Three or four tph – One or two tph via Leeds
London and Hull – Two tph
London and Leeds – Three or four tph
London and Lincoln – Two tph
London and Middlesbrough – Two tph
London and Newcastle – Four tph
London and Scarborough – One tph
London and Sunderland – Two tph
Leeds and Edinburgh – Two or three tph

Selective joining and splitting could be used to make better use of paths South of Doncaster.

I haven’t proven it, but my gut feeling for the numbers, is that LNER with their fleet of Azumas, will be capable of running a Turn-Up-And-Go service of four tph between London Kings Cross and Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

I suspect, that hey’ll have to buy a few more trains.

With the open access operators providing extra services, I suspect that there will be at least two tph between London Kings Cross and Bradford, Harrogate, Hull, Middlesbrough, Scarborough and Sunderland.

It would be the ultimate High Speed service based on a route that was designed by Victorians.

To make the most of the East Coast Main Line improvements, the following Northern Powerhouse Rail improvements should be done.

Leeds to Hull
Leeds to the Northbound East Coast Main Line

I’ve already discussed the first, but the second would do the following.

Speed up services between Leeds and Newcastle and Scotland.
Allow LNER to run electric trains between London and Scotland via Leeds.
Create an electrified route between Neville Hill Depot and York.
Create an electrified diversion through Leeds for the East Coast Main Line

High Speed East Coast is on the way.

High Speed Services To Sheffield

This clip of a map from the Transport for the North report shows a schematic of the rail links in East Yorkshire.

I can remember, when the Master Cutler used to run to Sheffield via the East Coast Main Line in the 1960s.

Even if a train took thirty minutes to go between Sheffield and Doncaster, it will still be a journey time of under two hours between London Kings Cross and Sheffield.

But note that on the map the route between Sheffield and Doncaster is shown as to be improved for Northern Powerhouse Rail.

If the route were to be electrified, it could give Sheffield and Rotherham a High Speed route to London Kings Cross.

The Classic route to Sheffield via the Midland Main Line is being upgraded.

It will be electrified as far North as Market Harborough.
Much of the route will have a 125 mph operating speed and perhaps 140 mph with in-cab signalling.
It will share the 15.5 mile Northern section of the spur between High Speed Two and Sheffield, meaning it will be electrified between Clay Cross North Junction and Sheffield.

So when the new 125 mph bi-mode trains start running between St. Pancras and Sheffield, I would suspect that timings on this route could be below the two-hour mark.

Sheffield will get a much improved train service to and from the South.

Sheffield And Hull

The map in the Northern Powerhouse Rail report, shows a route between Sheffield and Hull via Doncaster as improved Northern Powerhouse Rail.

It includes Sheffield and Doncaster, which could be improved to a High Speed electrified line.
Part of the route between Doncaster and Selby is the East Coast Main Line, which should be able to sustain 140 mph running in a few years.
Selby and Hull, is another route to be improved by Northern Powerhouse Rail.

Northern Powerhouse Rail are planning two tph in fifty minutes between Sheffield and Hull.

They could be 125 mph electric multiple units, which are a bit better than the current Pacers.

Some local services use a second route via Doncaster, Thorne, Goole, Gilberdyke and Brough.

Between Doncaster and Gilberdyke is not planned for improvement in the Northern Powerhouse Rail report, but at only twenty-five miles, it could easily be run by using 125 mph battery-electric trains, which would charge their batteries whilst running at both ends of the route.

I wonder if it would be best to electrify the Thorne/Goole first, to give diversion for trains between Doncaster and Hull, whilst the Selby Swing Bridge is electrified.
I have just read on this page of the Historic England web site, that the Selby Swing Bridge was Listed as Grade II ion the 23rd April 2015. So is this the reason why the electrification between Leeds and Hull has stalled?
An electrified Thorne/Google route, might be used for local trains, whilst expresses used the Selby route.
Selby has a couple of useful West-facing bay platforms.

There certainly seems to be some innovative Project Management at work

After all, train operators wouldn’t probably want to cut off one of their markets, whilst upgrading and electrification are underway.

Sheffield and Grimsby Via Doncaster and Scunthorpe

This route is shown on the Northern Powerhouse Rail map.

There is an hourly TransPennine Express service between Cleethorpes station and Manchester Airport via Scunthorpe, Doncaster and Sheffield.
There are a few sundry local services.
The route serves the important Port of Immingham.
A large renewable energy industry is developing in North Lincolnshire.
British Steel has just folded at Scunthorpe.

The route doesn’t really fit the Northern Powerhouse ideal and it has a totally inadequate passenger service.

Could this route be improved to provide better rail services to the area, that sometimes, the rest of the UK forgets?

Electrification might be needed to handle the heavy freight from Scunthorpe and Immingham.
Would an LNER service between London Kings Cross and Cleethorpes be welcomed?
Cleethorpes and Manchester Airport needs to at least be doubled in frequency.

With all the energy projects going on in North Lincolnshire, this area could become the Lincolnshire Powerhouse.

Sheffield And Leeds

Long-terms plans for traffic between these two cities will probably be by Junctions 2 and 3 on the map in the Northern Powerhouse Rail report.

The Northern Powerhouse Rail report, suggests that the trains will use High Speed Two and some infrastructure improvements and will run at a frequency of four tph and take 28 minutes.

This is a good service and compares well with what is planned between Ipswich and Norwich.

In the meantime, the main route is the Hallam Line, where trains take eighty minutes for the forty-five miles

Let’s hope Northern’s more powerful new Class 195 trains, bring the journey time under the hour.

Barnsley and Rotherham mustn’t be left out of the benefits of Northern Powerhouse Rail.

In Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 – A New Station At Barnsley Dearne Valley, I discuss Sheffield’s plans for Barnsley Dearne Valley station on the Dearne Valley Line.
There are also plans for a new station on the Dearne Valley Line at Rotherham.
These two stations will be served by an extended East Midlands Railway London and Sheffield service to Leeds.
One tph between London and Leeds via Rotherham, Barnsley and Wakefield would surely be welcomed.

Is this the beginning of Yorkshire Powerhouse Rail?

Sheffield And Manchester

The Northern Powerhouse Rail map has this route marked as Northern Powerhouse Rail.

As a lot of freight traffic is generated along the Hope Valley Line, which is the only route between the two cities, will this route be upgraded for a faster speed and greater capacity.

Will the Hope Valley Line be electrified?

At the Western end, it is electrified as far as far as Hazel Grove station.
At the Eastern end, High Speed Two will mean there will be electrification at Dore Junction.
The distance between Dore Junction and Hazel Grove station is about thirty miles.
My helicopter didn’t show that many bridges or level crossings.
There are three long tunnels on the route, which are a total of eight miles long. Depending on their condition, these could be easy or difficult to electrify.
Much of the electrification at the Western end looks in need of replacement.

This is one for the project engineers and accountants, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this route electrified.

High Speed Two Routes

From the map it appears that in addition to the current proposed routes for High Speed Two trains.

London-Birmingham-Liverpool (96 mins from 128)
London-Birmingham-Manchester (68 mins from 128)
London-Birmingham-Wigan and then on the West Coast Main Line to Glasgow. (218 mins from 248)
London-Birmingham-East Midlands Hub-Sheffield-Leeds (82 mins from 132) and then on the East Coast Main Line to Newcastle 138 mins from 172)

Two new routes would be added via the new High Legh junctions.

London-Birmingham–Manchester Airport-Manchester-Leeds-Hull
London-Birmingham-Manchester Airport-Manchester-Leeds-Newcastle

In addition Liverpool would be served via the High Legh junctions.

This page on The Guardian is a useful guide to current and HS2 tomings, which I have used here.

My best estimates for the new layout are as follows.

London-Birmingham-Liverpool via High Legh – 66 mins

London-Birmingham-Manchester Airport-Manchester via High Legh – 66 mins

London-Birmingham-Manchester Airport-Manchester-Leeds via High Legh – 92 mins

London-Birmingham-Manchester Airport-Manchester-Leeds-Hull via High Legh – 130 mins

Note.

To avoid problems, Liverpool and Manchester will probably end up with the same scheduled times.
I suspect that the High Legh route may save more time, than I have estimated.
Any savings South of High Legh will benefit all routes.

As under the new proposals London and High Legh will be continuous High Speed line, with High Speed spurs to Liverpool, Manchester Airport and Manchester, it would appear that the proposals offer faster journey times to the area.

Building High Speed Two And Northern Powerhouse Rail

There is an old Project Management phrase about

Getting All Your Ducks In A Row!

I think, that someone has been thinking hard as it appears the building of the second phase of High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail together can offer a lot of benefits.

These are my thoughts on the project order.

Devise An Intelligent Electrification Philosophy

Transport for Wales and their contractors are devising an intelligent discontinuous electrification philosophy for the South Wales Metro.

The Hallam, Hope Valley and Huddersfield Lines will be tricky to improve and electrify.

They run through picturesque countryside.
There are a large number of overbridges and some level crossings..
There could be objections.
There are some long tunnels.
Access could be difficult.
Speed limits will need to be increased.

Every trick will need to be employed.

Instead of rebuilding overbridges, electrification could be discontinuous as in South Wales.
Trains would have enough energy storage to bridge gaps in electrification.
Tunnels will be electrified using rails on the roof or as third-rail.
Intelligent fast-charging for trains with batteries will be deployed.

Less obtrusive electrification could also be used, as I described in Prototype Overhead Line Structure Revealed.

It does seem to be a good attempt to reduce the clutter of girders, gantries and wires!

Leeds And Sheffield Improvements

Leeds and Manchester is a difficult rail journey, but so is Leeds and Sheffield.

This route can be improved, by doing what I indicated earlier.

Complete the electrification.
Improve the track and signalling where necessary.
Build new stations at Barnsley Dearne Valley and Rotherham.
From 2022, East Midlands Railway should run at least one tph between St. Pancras and Leeds via Sheffield, Meadowhall, Rotherham, Barnsley Dearne Valley and Wakefield Westgate.
Add extra trains between Sheffield and Leeds to give Northern Powerhouse Rail’s promised four tph in twenty-eight minutes

This would introduce competition and options for travel to and from Leeds.

Conclusion – This upgrade would bring large benefits to the area and should have the highest priority.

Lines East Of Leeds

These are the lines East of Leeds.

A connection to the East Coast Main Line for York, Newcastle and Edinburgh.
An extension Eastwards to Hull.

These would not be the most expensive sub-project, but they would give the following benefits, when they are upgraded.

Electric trains between Hull and Leeds.
Electric trains between Hull and London.
Electric access to Neville Hill Depot from York and the North.
An electric diversion route for the East Coast Main Line between York and Doncaster.
The ability to run electric trains between London and Newcastle/Edinburgh via Leeds.

Hull and Humberside will be big beneficiaries.

The trains that the train operators have ordered can run all the services.

Once ERTMS is installed on the East Coast Main Line, train travel between London and Hull could be under two hours.

Conclusion – These lines should be improved sooner rather than later.

Midland Main Line Between Clay Cross Junction And Sheffield

This section of track will be shared between High Speed Two and the Midland Main Line.

It is 15.5 miles long.
It will be electrified.
The only intermediate station is Chesterfield, which will need to be substantially rebuilt.
It will have a high line speed, perhaps even in excess of 140 mph.
Currently, the line carries about ten tph in both directions.

Completing this sub-project early would give benefits.

The bi-mode trains due to be introduced on the Midland Main Line in 2022, would benefit from the improved electrified line.
Timings on services between London and Sheffield would be reduced to under two hours.

An electrical supply for the electrification would have to be provided in Sheffield, which would be useful, if other electrification projects were to be started in the area.

Conclusion – This line should be improved and electrified, sooner rather than later.

Electrification Of The Hope Valley Line

Work is already planned to upgrade capacity on the Hope Valley Line.

Having looked at several electrification projects in the last few years, it is my belief that delays can occur because of bad surveys and preparation work done too late and in great haste.

So why not do as much of this work, whilst the capacity is upgraded?

Electrification of what would be a well-surveyed and prepared railway, with an immaculate track, must be a lot easier to plan, install and deliver on time.

Conclusion – This line should be improved and electrified, sooner rather than later, especially as it could be a test project for other lines through the hills.

Improvement And Possible Electrification Of The Huddersfield Line

Improvement of this line could probably give a large benefit to services between Leeds and Manchester via Huddersfield.

Current services on the line would be speeded up.
More services could be possible.

On the down side, it is a busy route and improvement will be very difficult.

Conclusion – This important route should be improved as soon as possible.

Building The Liverpool And Manchester High Speed Line

This will be a large and complex project.

It will involve building the following.

Around thirty miles of new railway.
New platforms and/or stations in Liverpool, Warrington, Manchester Airport and Manchester.
A Tunnel between Manchester Airport and Manchester.
Diversion of the West Coast Main Line through or around Crewe and Warrington.
Building of the two junctions at High Legh.
Connection to High Speed Two towards Birmingham and London.

It is my opinion, that the diversion of the West Coast Main Line should be opened at the same time as High Speed Two reaches Crewe, in 2027.

Conclusion -The diversion of the West Coast Main Line should be given priority, but the Liverpool and Manchester High Speed line can be done later.

Good Project Management Is Needed

I am sure, that Northern Powerhouse Rail and High Speed Two can work together to produce a schedule that delivers benefits in a steady stream.

They must be bold and not allow the politicians to derail the project or move it in an unsustainable direction, based on pressure from their constituents.

Conclusion

Linking the building of Phase Two of High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail would appear to be a sensible solution to expanding the economy of Northern England.

June 9, 2019 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Barnsley Dearne Valley Station, Class 800 Train, Clay Cross North Junction, Clay Cross North Junction And Sheffield Electrification, East Coast Main Line, ERTMS, High Speed East Coast, High Speed Two, HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail, Hull, Leeds Station, LNER, Sheffield | 27 Comments

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Northern Powerhouse Rail – Connecting Sheffield To HS2 And On To Leeds

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Ambitious Transport Plans Unveiled For Sheffield Region

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