Electrification In East Anglia
East Anglia is very much a backwater as regards rail investment. Of the main lines only the Great Eastern Main Line is fully electrified and the trains on that line are not in the best of states. At least the line is going to be updated to allow refurbished trains to get to Norwich in ninety minutes and Ipswich in under the hour from Liverpool Street.
This speeding up of the easternmost line coupled with the improved links of Cambridge and Peterborough with Thameslink and Shenfield with Crossrail, will show up the rest of East Anglia’s railways for the crap they are.
Yesterday’s tiresome journey to and from Ipswich, illustrated how when there is major work or problems on the Great Eastern Main Line, the secondary routes can’t cope and bus replacements have to be used.
Suppose that the Ipswich to Ely Line together with the Cambridge branch had been electrified, as it should have been some years ago, when the bridges were opened up to take the larger freight containers.
This would have enabled passengers between Ipswich and London to have done the journey a lot easier with a change at Cambridge. Or for planned closures like yesterday, perhaps an hourly service could be run between London and Ipswich via Cambridge. As the part of the Great Eastern Main Line between Ipswich and Norwich was open, they could even have done the full trip with a reversal at Ipswich.
Electrification of the line from Ipswich to Ely and Cambridge, would give other benefits other than the broad one of flexibility, when a need for diversions arises.
1. More and more freight trains are going across Suffolk to and from the port of Felixstowe. At present all are diesel hauled, mainly by noisy and smelly Class 66s.
If there was an all-electric route from Felixstowe to Peterborough, then many of these trains could be hauled by environmentally-friendly and quieter electric locomotives. But that would mean electrifying the Felixstowe branch and the the port.
However, before this extra electrically eventually happens, we will see the arrival of the Class 88 locomotive. This locomotive which can run either using electric or diesel power will probably have sufficient diesel range and power to bridge the non-electrified gaps from Felixstowe to the East Coast Main Line.
2. Capacity on the routes between Ipswich and Cambridge and Ely is severely limited and electrification would enable something a bit larger than the current trains to be used.
3. Cambridge is overflowing with ideas, investment and jobs. But there is a shortage of space for housing where all the people drawn to the area can live.
So an increased capacity line to Ipswich, with hopefully a more frequent service, would surely help out with some of Cambridge’s space problems.
4. An efficient and good rail service between Ipswich and Cambridge, would certainly help development along the line and especially at Bury St. Edmunds and Newmarket. Both towns need stations to fit their increasingly important status.
5. Cambridge is getting a new station at the Science Park, This will not generally effect the line from Ipswich to Cambridge unless an extra curve is built at Ely to allow a direct connection between Ipswich and the new station.
6. Cambridge and possibly Ely are going to become more important rail interchanges, because of Thameslink, the new East West Rail Link and probable improvements in services direct to the Midlands and the North. Difficult journeys like Ipswich-Gatwick will possibly be easier with a simple change at Cambridge.
On the technical side, electrification of the Ipswich to Cambridge Line has a lot going for it, to make it not the most difficult electrification project. There’s no tunnels and the line has recently been upgraded to make the erection of overhead wires fairly easy compared to some other places. The line runs between two electrified main lines across fairly flat country.
There is probably a suitable resource of refurbished trains, like Class 317 or Class 365 that could be used on the line. Concerning the Class 365, which currently only run the Kings Cross to Cambridge, Kings Lynn and Peterborough services, many of which will be replaced by the extended Thameslink, where will these trains end up?
If Ipswich and Cambridge are joined together by an electrified railway, you can just hear the loud cries of unfairness from Norfolk, where the belief is that Norwich always takes precedence over Ipswich. After all Norwich is a city and Ipswich and Bury St. Edmunds are not!
But to be fair, a lot of the reasons for electrifying the Ipswich to Ely Line also apply to the Breckland Line, that links Cambridge and Norwich via Ely.
1. It would give the opportunity to run services direct to London, if the Great Eastern Main Line has to be closed for some reason.
2. It would enable capacity and frequency of trains to be increased.
3. It would help take the pressure off Cambridge.
4. It would help development all along the line.
5. The new Cambridge Science Park station is on the line.
6. Connecting Norfolk to Cambridge for all those ongoing services, would probably be a good thing.
The only factor which is not important on the line is freight.
If Norwich and Ipswich are fully connected to Cambridge and Ely by electrified railways, that only leaves one major line in East Anglia not electrified; the Ely to Peterborough line.
With all that freight going to and from Felixstowe, I can’t believe that this line will not be electrified.
The Rail Projects Keep Coming
I’ve just been reading the rail news sites like Modern Railways and Global Rail News and over the last few days some substantial projects have been announced.
The project that will affect me most is an upgrade to the Great Eastern Main Line.
It’s not any new features, but an upgrading of track, overhead wires and signalling. Network Rail say this.
As part of the upgrade, one of NR’s ‘high output’ machines will begin replacing ballast along the route to ensure the track bed is safe and well-drained. The machine is currently being used to upgrade the Great Western main line, and will move to the GEML in the New Year.
It will also upgrade one track at a time, so it’s unlikely there will be substantial blockades. Traditionally, this sort of work would have meant weekend closures and buses. So Network Rail seem to be doing sometime better.
Network Rail are also replacing the Scarborough Bridge on the Scarborough Branch Line. The work is described here and this is a paragraph.
The bridge, which was originally built in 1845 and then rebuilt in 1875, is now life-expired. Work will see the bridge decks and tracks replaced and a new walkway installed to improve safety for railway workers. The work is part of a £6 million investment by Network Rail.
So it’s only a small project, but I’m sure it’s important to a lot of travellers.
The extending of Chiltern’s network to Cowley has also been announced. I think we’ll see a lot of projects like this, where old lines are given something to do in the next couple of decades.
Network Rail has also announced a £200million project to do more work on the improvement of lines between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
As with the electrification across the North of England, electrification is another prime example of the failure of Central government to do the right thing to create infrastructure and fuel jobs, businesses and growth. This describes the scope of the work.
The companies will work with Network Rail to electrify the main line between the cities, complete route clearance works at Winchburgh Tunnel, infrastructure works at Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley stations and extend platforms at Croy, Falkirk High, Polmont and Linlithgow.
What will fast electric trains running between Scotland’s two major cities, do for the area? Wikipedia lists several benefits including this one.
Service frequencies between Edinburgh and Glasgow Queen Street increased from four trains per hour to six per hour, with the fastest journey time being reduced to 35 minutes. This would have resulted in a total of 13 trains per hour between the two cities across all routes;
Currently, services take from about 50 minutes to an hour and a quarter.
Global Rail News has announced that funding is in place to extend the Manchester Metro to the Trafford Centre.
An aside here is to look at the list of proposed changes and expansions to the Manchester Metrolink. Every council in the area seems to have its own pet ideas and surely this must be best argument for a peacemaker and decision taker in Manchester, like TfL are in London.
I wonder how many more of these projects will be announced before the General Election in May.
What Will A Reopened March And Wisbech Railway Mean?
It was mentioned in the blog on Rail News, that a study will look at the reopening of the route from March through Wisbech.
The main reason is that it will allow freight trains between Felixstowe and the North to totally bypass the East Coast Main Line by using the upgraded GNGE.
But will it create better opportunities for passenger services around East Anglia and the Fens?
Getting between Ipswich, Norwich and Cambridge and the North of England and Scotland is not easy, as it means a slow train across East Anglia to Peterborough or a long detour via London.
As an example, going from Ipswich to Manchester takes over four hours and routing is via London. I know a lot of keen Ipswich fans use that route to get to away matches, as the cross country routes are totally inadequate and very crowded.
In a few years time, the TransPennine routes will be electrified, so to get to Liverpool and Manchester from Ipswich, it might be quicker to travel via Doncaster, perhaps changing at Peterborough.
Opening up the route from March to the GNGE would allow direct passenger trains from Ipswich and Norwich to go via Ely and Lincoln to Doncaster.
Lincoln is getting better connections to Nottingham according to the blog in Rail News, so these direct trains might give East Anglia better connections to the East Midlands as well.
But of course, all of this thinking is pie-in-the-sky, as where is the money for shiny new trains?
On the other hand, there might be a glut of hand-me-down InterCity 125s from the Great Western and East Coast Main Lines, as they get replaced by Class 800/801 trains.
So will we see these trains working cross country routes and giving much needed extra capacity out of East Anglia and the Fens?
It’ll be a bit like your mini-cab company saying we couldn’t send the new Nissan, so we sent this immaculate 1970s Jaguar instead. Although the lines wouldn’t be high speed ones, they wouldn’t be slow and mountainous ones, like those through the North of Scotland, where these trains show how good they are.
Repening the line through Wisbech could be unlocking a real box of delights for the East.
Should Scottish Islands Be Given More Independence?
The BBC this morning is running a report about more independence from Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael has promised to deliver greater powers for the Northern and Western Isles.
The Orkney and Shetland MP said government from Edinburgh had been “just as bad and just as dangerous” for the islands “as it is from London.”
He hopes to deliver “genuine and long lasting reform,” and said an agreement should be in place by midsummer.
Why not?
It could be argued that a greater degree of independence hasn’t done the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands any harm!
But if we look at giving this independence to any area of the UK, giving them control of their strengths and natural resources and such things as infrastructure, education and planning could only be positive.
I probably know most about infrastructure and especially railways than anything else and if we look at Scotland and London, where transport policy has been partially devolved, we’ll see a lot more rail projects than say in the North East or South West, so I’ll look at one example.
If East Anglia had control of its transport, they would have probably dualled the A47, A11 and A140 by now and would be seriously thinking about improving the London to Norwich and the Peterborough to Ipswich rail lines. The latter is probably needed to be electrified, to enable Felixstowe to compete with the London Gateway.
This type of local control could only be good for an area.
But as I said in this article on Mayors, central government doesn’t like to give up power.
Travelling In Style
I travelled up to Newark for Lincoln in First Class in one of East Coast’s Inter City 225 trains.
I’ve head a rumour that in a few years time, we’ll be seeing these units working from Liverpool Street to Norwich and Ipswich.
Yet again East Anglia will get a hand me down, but what a high class one!
They are so much roomier and more comfortable than the Pendelinos used by Virgin on the West Coast Main Line.
I doubt though, the lines to Norwich will allow these trains to reach there full speed of 200 kph.
Hospital Reorganisation
There have been a couple of stories on the news about hospital reorganisation in the last week or so. There was a story last week about the reorganisation of A & E units in North West London. Today, there’s a story about a trust in South East london, that might merge with one in North West Kent.
As when the closure of Barts was mooted some years ago, the locals are against it. For instance someone has said this morning, that those in South East London prefer to travel to the teaching hospitals in Central London.
I lived for a long time in East Anglia and now, the number of big hospitals, is probably down to just two; Cambridge and Norwich, with some local General Hospitals in between. Some like Bury St. Edmunds will disappear fairly soon.
And then of course, there was the retired doctor, who got elected to Parliament over the closure of Kidderminster Hospital, a few years ago.
Modern medicine means we need less hospital beds and more specialist consultants and because paramedics are so much more advanced in what they can do, we need less A & E units.
But try selling this to the locals.
