Are The Class 387 Trains Getting Excited?
I travelled from Blackfriars to St. Pancras on one of Thameslink’s Class 387 trains.
With only a couple of hours to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, are these trains getting excited about visiting places they never thought they would?
Since I wrote Rumours of Battery Powered Trains a few months ago, nothing has been heard. In that article I quoted from Modern Railways, who said this about future orders for Class 387 trains.
Delivery as IPEMUs would allow EMUs to make use of as much wiring as is available (and batteries beyond) while electrification pushes ahead under the delayed scheme, and in the longer term would allow units to run on sections not yet authorised for electrification, such as Newbury to Bedwyn. The use of IPEMUs might also hasten the cascade of Class 16x units to the west of the franchise.
Note that IPEMU is Network Rail’s term for a part-time battery train, that has the same performance as a standard train.
It is a deafening silence!
There has been nothing heard about electrification either, except the award of the contract for the Gospel Oak to Barking Line to J. Murphy and Sons as reported in this article in Rail Technology.
So is it a case of no news is good news for electrification?
I still believe that a fleet of Class 387 IPEMUs could be used to extend electrification by stealth, into areas, where everybody thinks it is impossible to go.
I would use them to run these routes for a start.
- Liverpool to Newcastle – There is one gap of 43 miles between Leeds and Manchester
- Blackpool to Scarborough – There might need to be some electrification at Scarborough
- Liverpool to Hull – There might need to be some electrification at Hull
- Euston to Blackpool
- Euston to Chester
- St. Pancras to Corby
- St. Pancras to Leicester – There might need to be some electrification at Leicester
- Kings Cross to Hull
- Kings Cross to Harrogate
- Kings Cross to Lincoln
- Kings Cross to Middlesbrough
- Kings Cross to Sunderland
- Liverpool Street to Lowestoft
- Liverpool Street to Norwich via Ely
- Ipswich to Cambridge
- Ipswich to Peterborough
- Paddington to Oxford, Newbury and Bedwyn
- St. Pancras to Ashford, Hastings and Eastbourne
- London Bridge to Uckfield
- Assorted Branch Lines to Barrow, Felixstowe, Greenford, Maidenhead, Marlow, Windermere and Yarmouth
On many of these lines, IPEMUs could run as soon as they are built or modified from existing trains!
If anybody doubts the concept, it could be proven on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line in North London.
So how does electrification figure in George Osborne’s statement?
Note these points!
- Electrification cuts carbon emmissions.
- Electric trains are faster and more efficient.
- Electrification needs to be done all over the country, so a lot of areas will benefit.
- It looks like there are upwards of thirty Class 387 trains, that have nowhere to go! But fitted with batteries they do!
- Using battery trains means that the costs and disruption of electrification are reduced.
If electrification is enabled using battery trains, it will be the biggest rabbit any Chancellor has ever pulled!
Battery Trains In Japan
Some think I’m wrong about battery trains and believe they will never catch on! But none of the doubters are engineers or physicists, and perhaps more importantly none rode the amazing Class 379 BEMU, when it was being trialled last year in Essex.
I have just searched for battery trains and found this article on the Rail Journal web site entitled Battery-Electric Trains For Japan’s Oga Line. This is said.
EAST Japan Railway Company (JR East) has announced plans to carry out trials with ac battery-electric multiple units (BEMUs) on the 26.6km Oga Line in Japan’s northern Akita prefecture from Spring 2017.
But this is not an experiment, as this is said later.
The Oga Line will be the second line on the JR east network to benefit from BEMU operation, following the introduction of EV-E301 series trains on the Karasuyama Line in Tochigi Prefecture in March 2014.
If the Japanese use BEMU (IPEMU in the UK!) technology in daily service, it can’t be their version of Mickey Mouse! The train is called an EV-E301, and looks a professional train, even if a bit spartan for use in the UK.
I just wonder when George Osborne makes his Autumn Statement today, will he be announcing new battery-electric trains or IPEMUs for all?
In my view, it’s the only way to electrify large parts of the UK and reduce the costs of electrification!
Is The Cavalry Arriving?
I can’t understand this article on Global Rail News entitled Porterbrook buys more trains from Bombardier. This is said.
Rolling stock company (ROSCO) Porterbrook Leasing has announced that it will purchase an additional 80 Class 387 vehicles from Bombardier.
This deal is in addition to the 256 vehicles in this class already on order. Delivery from Bombardier’s Derby factory will take place between October 2016 and June 2017.
Now I’ve ridden in Class 387 trains many times and they are a very good 110 mph electric multiple unit. In a Future section of their Wikipedia entry this is said.
Once the 387/1s are released from Thameslink they will be cascaded to the Great Western Railway franchise. It will also receive eight new Class 387s, which will be built after the 387/2 order for Gatwick Express. They will replace Class 165 and 166 diesel multiple units on the newly electrified Great Western Main Line from London Paddington to Oxford and Bedwyn. This is scheduled for December 2016, however delays may defer this.
In November 2015, Porterbrook Leasing announced it had ordered a further a total of eighty additional Class 387 vehicles to act as a buffer stock of trains guarding against future demand for electric units, with a number of operators already expressing interest in obtaining the use of them.
At present, the trains are arranged in four-car sets and delivered or on order are 29 for Thameslink, which will be released as the Class 700 trains arrive, 8 for Great Western Railway and now 20 for Porterbrook. In addition there are also another 27 for the Gatwick Express, which can be ignored in this analysis.
So that means we have a total of fifty-seven four-car electric trains to accommodate on the UK rail network. There is one problem on the GWR, where 37 would have been used and that is that the electrification isn’t complete.
So they’ll be parked in sidings!
A couple of months ago, Modern Railways talked about rumours that the extra eight Class 387 trains for the GWR would be IPEMUs. I wrote about it in Rumours Of Battery Powered Trains.
In early 2014, I rode the prototype IPEMU, which was based on a Class 379 train between Manningtree and Harwich.
I was impressed and the prototype is now back in service as a regular Class 379 train.
So it would appear that converting Class 379 trains from standard to IPEMU is not an exercise that needs to completely rebuild the train. Incidentally, Bombardier have told me, that in the upcoming Aventra train, you just add and remove battery modules as required.
These facts lead me to speculate that a cunning plan is emerging.
Consider the following.
- Why would a professional company like Porterbrook buy trains on spec, just to have them sit in sidings? If that was their plan, then imagine the headlines in the Mirror and Mail!
- Changing production at Bombardier from Electrostar to Aventra will introduce a gap in the production of trains. Look at the gap, when Ford bring in a new Mondeo, for example.
- Bombardier has probably got the production of Electrostars down to a fine art, given the numbers of Class 375s, 377s, 378, 379s and 387s, they’ve produced in recent years. So if someone will order Electrostars, they’ll build them!
- Bombardier have proven that the concept of an IPEMU works.
- Everybody is getting fed-up with Network Rail’s performance, from David Cameron and George Osborne down to the passenger on the crowded Leeds-Manchester train.
- There is a need to get rid of a lot of tuly dreadful diesel trains.
- As the Class 700 trains arrive from Siemens, could the replaced Class 387 train be converted to an IPEMU immediately? This would enable the cascade of some diesel trains . It would just be an amusing game of musical trains!
- The new Hitachi factory is coming on stream to deliver Class 800/801 trains. Luckily they can be fitted with diesel engines, but we don’t need too many more high speed diesel trains. There have been rumours that Hitachi have been asked to dliver more electro-diesel version to Great Western.
If you look at all this together we end up with an oversupply of electric trains and a chronic shortage of quality diesel trains.
But suppose that Bombardier is building a virtually new production line for the very different Aventra.
Would it be economic for them to continue building Electrostars at a rate of several a month? You bet it will!
And would it be feasible to produce these trains as IPEMU variants as these could then be used to bridge the gaps in electrification on the TransPennine and Midland Main Lines. Using IPEMUs on these lines would probably release some quality Class 185 diesel trains.
They could also be used to release quality diesel units by running on routes like.
- Gospel Oak to Barking – Class 172 trains leased from Angel Trains
- Marshlink Line – Class 171 trains leased from Porterbrook
- Uckfield Line – Class 171 trains leased from Porterbrook
These three lines alone, would release eighteen two car and six four-car high quality diesel multiple units.
Note the following.
- The leasing company for the Class 171 trains is Porterbrook.
- Southern already operate Class 387 trains.
- Southern gets an all-electric fleet if they replsce the Class 171 trains with Class 387 trains.
So will Porterbrook swap the trains here, to release the Class 171s to serve elsewhere? If it’s profitable of course they will.
It almost looks like you get a free quality diesel train with each new electric IPEMU, without having the expense and inconvenience of putting up the wires or laying more third rail.
Another article in Rail Magazine about the Porterbrook order says this about who might receive the trains.
A number of parties have already expressed an interest in leasing this new fleet, notably Rail for London but also established operators and prospective bidders of upcoming franchises
Rail for London is one of TfL’s operating companies.
Incidentally, I was at Upper Holloway station today and took this picture of a bridge that is being replaced by 2017.
Upper Holloway Bridge
Someone told me, that the bridge will take longer than that. You certainly couldn’t electrify it now!
So I can’t see conventional electric trains running on that line before 2019 at the earliest, thus delaying the cascade of the much-needed Class 172 trains.
But an IPEMU variant of a Class 387 train could run on that line much sooner than that.
Just replacing the Class 172 trains with Class 387 trains would solve one of the major problems on that line, which is a chronic lack of capacity.
There would probably need to be a few platform extensions, but surely the increase in passengers would compensate.
In some ways, the beauty of this approach, is that where you are using IPEMUs to bridge gaps in electrification, when you electrify the gap, you can either convert the IPEMUs to standard trains or replace them with something designed for the line and send the IPEMUs on to another line to work their magic there!
I suspect George Osborne will order the cavalry to charge in the Autumn Statement on November 25th.
Will IPEMU Trains Transform The Greater North-East?
I think before I write this, I should define a few terms.
The Greater North East
By this area, I mean that area of England, that is North of the River Humber and is bordered in the West by those towns and cities that lie on or just to the West of the electrified East Coast Main Line. So they would be working Northwards up the line.
- Doncaster – On the ECML
- Sheffield – Including Meadowhall
- York – On the ECML
- Leeds – On the ECML
- Bradford – Electrified from Leeds
- Darlington – On the ECML
- Newcastle – On the ECML
It would also include those branches that reach to the West to places like Bishop Auckland, Carlisle, Halifax and Hexham.
IPEMU Trains
IPEMU stands for Independently Powered Electric Multiple Unit and is a normal train, that has on-board energy storage which is uses on lines that are not electrified to power the traction and other systems on the train.
To a passenger they would appear to be a normal four-car electric muliple unit. I described my ride in the prototype between Manningtree and Harwich in Is The Battery Electric Multiple Unit (BEMU) A Big Innovation In Train Design?
I was extremely sceptical until I rode the train and looked into the physics.
Bombardier are developing a new train called the Aventra, which will be wired so that it can be converted to an IPEMU, if operators need the capabilities.
An Aventra IPEMU have at least the following properties.
- At least a sixty mile range on the stored energy (Batteries or perhaps KERS?)
- Identical passenger experience to a standard train.
- The energy storage would be charged when the train was running on electrified lines.
- Regenerative braking would also be used to charge the energy storage.
- The energy storage could be used to move the trains around depots and sidings that were not electrified.
These trains sound almost too good to be true!
But as a Control Engineer by training, I have a feeling that the Ultimate Aventra IPEMU might be an impressive beast with a two hundred kilometre per hour top speed under wires, a range greater than sixty miles on energy storage and a very impressive electrical efficiency, which would make the train more affordable to operate.
I would also feel that the trains could use some form of mechanical energy storage like KERS in Formula One. Batteries are rather naff, but using something lifted from Formula One could be rather sexy and high-performance.
IPEMU Hubs
Suppose you were to build a series of IPEMU hubs, where the storage on IPEMU trains could be charged.
In several cases these hubs already exist, as they are stations with electrified platforms.
- Carlisle
- Darlington
- Doncaster
- Leeds
- Newcastle
- York
Some like Carlisle, Darlington and York would only need a couple of extra platforms to be electrified.
There would also possibly be other stations, where some form of charging would need to be provided, so that trains could be topped up with energy before returning to a main hub.
Stations in this category might include.
- Cleethorpes
- Hull
- Scarborough
- Sheffield
- Whitby
Sheffield will get fully electrified under the Midland Main Line electrification program anyway.
Services
The big route that could be run by IPEMUs would be North TransPennine, as IPEMUs would be capable of bridging the gap between Leeds and Manchester.
Also given the right structure of IPEMU hubs, virtually every passenger service in the Greater North East could be run using IPEMUs.
Conclusion
Who needs conventional electrification?
Freight services do!
So eventually the main freight routes will need to be electrified. This will mean that the primary use for the energy storage in the IPEMUs would be to make the trains more efficient.
Progress On The Great Western Main Line – 22nd October 2015
On my way out from Paddington to Greenford to see the new inclined lift, I took these pictures.
As reported in a lot of news media, progress doesn’t seem to be to fast.
Project Management Says No, But Politicians Say Yes
There is a puzzle over rail electrification all over the country.
Take this article in Rail Technology Magazine entitled NR reopens one of final Manchester-Preston electrification bridges four months late.
The headline says it all and there are problems like this all over the United Kingdom. Some are down to incompetence, some are due to poor ground conditions, some are because new equipment is failing to work and some are just because of a shortage of trained staff.
So we are left with the great dilemma, that why is it that electrification in the North and West is in trouble and Crossrail, which is a much more expensive project is supposedly on time and budget?
In my view it’s like comparing apples with oranges.
Crossrail is a mostly new railway built in virgin ground. Most of the reused bits like the lines to Shenfield, Reading and Heathrow have been rebuilt and electrified in the past. Some things need to be beefed-up and brought up to modern standards, but these tend to be a series of small projects like updating most of the stations or a few big construction projects like building Canary Wharf and the other central stations.
On the other hand electrifying existing lines, of which much of the infrastructure hasn’t been touched for years, is a much more difficult business. Especially when you come across places like the bridges in Bolton, Chat Moss and the Farnworth Tunnel.
How many of us have despaired as the bills have come in as we are doing up an old houise and sworn on our father’s grave, that we’ll never buy another old property? I certainly have and now live in a twelve-year-old house, that although it was badly built is easily fixed.
I have heard engineers say that the Victorians Gerry-built a lot of our railways. That may or may not be true! But certainly, it’s not an easy job to electrify Britain’s railways.
So when I read this article on the BBC entitled Network Rail to restart electrification of train lines, which says this.
The electrification of two railway lines is to be restarted after the projects were halted so a review could be carried out, the government says.
Work on the TransPennine Express Railway – between Manchester and York – and Midland Mainline – from London to Sheffield – was paused in June.
Sir Peter Hendy, Network Rail chairman, said the “temporary pause” had “given us the space to develop a better plan”.
How do I square it with reality?
Obviously, Peter Hendy must be off his trolley, as if you put the wires up for electrification, you’ll have problems.
But at Blackpool and Rugeley, which are two part-completed electrification schemes, where everything appears ready for the wires to go up, I think I saw the germs of the new plan. The sites were all tidy, with no evidence of electrification or the detritus that Network Rail commonly leave behind. All the bridges were finished and where needed platforms seemed to have been extended for the new longer trains. Balfour Beatty have even walked away from the electrification contract at Blackpool.
Other clues have been published in the media.
- Northern Rail split their Liverpool to Blackpool service to at least use electric trains to Preston and diesels thereafter.
- First Great Western were rumoured to be buying battery-powered trains or IPEMUs for their services along the Thames Valley
- Hull Trains are also rumoured to be buying electro-diesel trains.
- But I missed the biggest clue. The only section between Liverpool and Newcastle, that is not electrified is the 34 miles between Leeds and Manchester. This had been announced deliberately as being unpaused. An IPEMU would bridge the gap with ease.
- All the Midland Main Line electrification announced as unpaused can be implemented by IPEMUs.
- A study has been anounced into the creation of a second main line to Brighton, which is an ideal route for running using IPEMUs in prime Tory territory. It would also release a number of modern diesel multiple units for use elsewhere.
- In today’s Sunday Times, there is talk of some of the new Class 801 electric trains being built as Class 800 electro-diesel trains for the Great Western. This doesn’t matter in the long-term, as it just means you remove the diesel engines to convert the 801s to 800s, when the wires are working.
Every day seems to bring more and more clues.
I’m getting more and more convinced that this technology that I rode in Essex in 2014, is going to be the solution. IPEMUs as they are now called have a range of about sixty miles on batteries and if the trains are properly engineered with regenerative braking and intelligent control systems, they might even manage further.
I may be totally wrong, but then I can see no other way that electrification can be delivered, in the desired time-scale, than by going for a mixture of Class 800 electro-diesel and IPEMU trains.
The Class 800 electro-diesel can be summarised as follows.
- Proven Hitachi technology with on-board diesel engines for non-electrified sections.
- Built in Japan and Newton Aycliffe in the North East.
- Ideal for main lines, which are not fully electrified.
- 200-plus kph capability
- Highly automated
- Can be converted to a Class 801 electric train by removing the diesel engines.
The Aventra and the IPEMU-variant can be summarised as follows.
- Proven Bombardier electric train technology coming together in a modern lightweight shape.
- Built in Derby.
- Just under 200 kph capability, if required. Normally probably 160 kph.
- Most Aventra trains can be fitted with batteries to work in IPEMU mode.
- Battery technology has been proven in public trial.
- Range is IPEMU mode is sixty plus miles.
- IPEMU trains have regenerative braking, so they are actually more efficient than many trains.
- Highly automated
The approach does have other advantages.
- Many lines can be served by new electric trains with only minimal upgrading.
- Those who object to unsightly overhead electrification, have nothing to complain about.
- Lines can be electrified as fast as new trains can be delivered, provided there is enough electrified route to charge the IPEMUs.
- Depots don’t need to be fully electrified.
- The approach gets round the shortage of overhead electrification engineers.
- If a line like Gospel Oak to Barking is going to be electrified for other purposes like freight, there could be much less disruption to passenger services.
As an Electrical Engineer, who specialised in control systems, at Liverpool University, I do feel a touch of admiration.
I believe that although it doesn’t look feasibly from a project management basis to electrify lines to the stated time-scale, engineers in Japan and Derby have given the politicians their dream.
I shall be watching every word of George Osborne’s Autumn Statement on Wrdnesday, November the twenty-fifth.
Where Does The Borders Railway Go Next?
My Borders correspondent, who lives near Selkirk, says that the Borders Railway has been generally well received. Certainly if you search Google News for Borders Railway, you don’t find many problems or complaints, except one about the singing of the National Anthem for the Queen.
A friend in Edinburgh has just told me, that the trains are too crowded at times. So what’s new? New railways are always crowded, especially if they fulfil a need.
The most common articles on the web, are ones like this one from the Border Telegraph, entitled Next Stop Hawick….
So what will effect this line in the next few years and what do I think will happen?
The Me Too Effect
Now that Galashiels has a reliable half-hourly service to Edinburgh, I suspect that the inhabitants South of Tweedbank, will say that if Galashiels and Tweedbank can have this, why can’t Melrose and Hawick?
Cross Border Co-operation
The Borders area of Scotland and the neighbouring area of England are very similar and probably have the same strengths, problems and needs.
In some ways they are very economically linked now.
- Carlisle is economically tied to the Scottish Borders for shopping and transport links.
- Newcastle is a major airport for the area.
- There is even a rail service between Glasgow and Newcastle, that goes via Kilmarnock, Dumfries, Hexham and the Metro Centre.
- Area rail tickets for North West England include Lockerbie.
- Carlisle and Newcastle are the two major places to catch trains to the South, unless you go North to Edinburgh and Glasgow..
Surely this togetherness should be built on to develop the Borderlands, provided the politicians can be kept out of their way, in their offices in London and Edinburgh.
Increasing Railway Capacity Between England And Scotland
At present, the East Coast Main Line and the West Coast Main Line do not provide enough capacity between England and Scotland, for both passengers and freight.
Tourism And Other Economic Effects
I live in the Dalston area of Hackney, which is an area that has been uplifted by the creation of the London Overground from the rather decrepit railways that used to run through the area.
Unless you have lived through the process, most people will not understand how regular trains, running on a frequency of at least two an hour, can bring economic benefits to an area.
The Borderlands, probably have an economic profile not unlike the areas of East Anglia away from the large towns and cities that I know well.
- Both areas are ringed by a series of large towns and cities
- There is a lot of farming.
- There are a lot of tourism-related businesses of all sizes.
- In the summer, visitors take days out into the areas.
- There is a certain amount of specialist manufacture.
- Housing is being developed for those who have retired, who live and work locally and who commute to major towns and cities nearby.
All of these activities will increase the need for better transport links to the major cities that ring the areas.
The latest East Anglian Rail Franchise will mandate the franchisee to provide much better services all over the area and especially on the branch lines.
I can’t believe that the areas on both sides of the Border would not be worth developing in a similar way to that proposed for East Anglia.
Extending The Borders Railway To Melrose, Hawick And Carlisle
Scottish Borders politicians are all in favour of this extension, as are probably the good citizens of the area. My Borders correspondent and his family certainly appear to be.
Just as I have seen an economic uplift in Hackney because of the London Overground, I think it would be unlikely that the Borders Railway running through Melrose and Hawick, would not increase economic activity in the area.
This extension would certainly happen if Scotland stayed in the United Kingdom, as in some ways, this reopening, would help develop tourism in the wider area of the whole Borderlands, the Lake District and North Yorkshire.
Carlisle is probably the big winner in this activity and becomes a city with important or picturesque railway lines going everywhere.
- The West Coast Main Line, links England to Edinburgh and Glasgow.
- The Glasgow And South Western Line to Glasgow via Dumfries and Kilmarnock
- The Settle and Carlisle Line
- The Cumbrian Coast Line around the Lake District to Barrow and Preston
- The Newcastle and Carlisle Line
- The Borders Railway to Edinburgh
The Borders Railway provides the missing link in the railways of the Borderlands.
So when the Scottish politicians discuss the project, they should take into account, the positive affects a complete line would have on England!
Should The Borders Railway Be Electrified?
This question could legitimately by asked about all the other lines meeting at Carlisle, that are not electrified.
But as Carlisle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle , Preston and Skipton are all electrified, I suspect all of the Carlisle lines have enough electrification to be run by modern four-car Aventra IPEMU trains, charging their batteries where overhead power is available and running on batteries as needed.
Some of the lines, including possibly the Borders Railway, are probably ready for Aventra IPEMUs now, with a bit of modification to platforms, track and signalling! Some like probably the Cumbria Coast Line would need some electrification or other means to charge the batteries en route.
So the answer to the electrification question must be yes, if Aventra IPEMUs are used.
But it would create a local railway network, as good as any in Europe, in an environmentally-friendly but totally affordable way.
It would be a showpiece of British technology and an attraction to rail enthusiasts from all over the world.
The network also connects to four World Heritage Sites and the Lake District, Hadrian’s Wall and the major cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle.
Would An Extended Borders Railway Provide Extra Capacity Between England And Scotland?
The Borders Railway has a limited number of paths for trains and when a steam special is run, one of the diesel multiple units has to give up its slot. Read various criticisms on Wikipedia.
My scheduling experience, does suggest to me, that if the line was run by the faster and better accelerating electric trains, including Aventra IPEMUs, that this might create some extra capacity on the line.
Unless the line was fully electrified, it wouldn’t be a route for using the electric trains that run up the East and West Coast Main Lines.
But it would be able to take services run by Aventra IPEMUs or any diesel-hauled passenger or freight trains.
These capacity arguments would also apply to the Glasgow and South Western Line, so with a bit of selective electrification and Aventra IPEMUs, some extra capacity might be squeezed in.
I certainly think that a railway time-tabling expert could certainly find some extra capacity.
But it might be overnight freight trains?
Are There Any Branches To The Borders Railway That Could Be Created?
The original Waverley route had several branches including to Peebles and Hexham.
Midlothian Council have also thought about a branch to Penicuik.
Extra branches are up to the economics and the politicians.
Conclusion
In my view, not to extend the Borders Railway to Carlisle by way of Melrose and Hawick, would be total stupidity.
The problem is that despite being totally in Scotland, extending the Borders Railway to Carlisle, has substantial benefits for England too!
What will Nicola think?
Is Northern Electrification Going To Use Battery Trains?
This report on the BBC is entitled Network Rail to restart electrification of train lines. This is said.
The electrification of two railway lines is to be restarted after the projects were halted so a review could be carried out, the government says.
Work on the TransPennine Express Railway – between Manchester and York – and Midland Mainline – from London to Sheffield – was paused in June.
Sir Peter Hendy, chair of Network Rail, said the “temporary pause” had “given us the space to develop a better plan”
The Aventra IPEMU
Looking at the electrification of the two lines in posts over the previous few days, I have come to the conclusion that properly engineered battery trains built by Bombardier in Derby called Aventra IPEMUs (Independently Powered Electrical Multiple Units) could charge their batteries on existing sections of electrification and jump the gaps at speeds of up to at least 110 mph and possibly 125 mph, by running on batteries.
If that sounds like something that is too good to be true, I don’t believe it is! I was impressed when as a paying passenger, I rode the prototype train between Manningtree and Harwich.
For those who think that a battery train is just so-much Mickey Mouse-technology, note that the battery supplier; Valence is linked to Tessla; the electric vehicle manufacturer. A review of their latest car is on Autocar. The biggest problem with the car is not the power, range and performance, but the time it takes to charge the car from a typical supply. In addition to the overhead wire or third rail of the railway, an Aventra IPEMU has to charge the battery, the train will also charge the batteries using the regenerative braking system.
The TransPennine Line
On the TransPennine Line from Liverpool to Newcastle, the only gap in the electrification is the forty-three miles between Leeds and Manchester.
Aventra IPEMUs have a range of sixty miles, so Liverpool to Newcastle would be electric all the way and could be faster by up to thirty minutes on the current three hour journey.
Read Jumping The Electrification Gap Between Leeds And Manchester for full details on what it would entail.
The Midland Main Line
On the Midland Main Line, the electrification reaches from St. Pancras to Bedford.
As Corby, Kettering and Leicester are all within an Aventra IPEMU’s range from Bedford, these places could be served by these trains, once a certain amount of track and station work had been completed.
Read Thoughts On Midland Main Line Electrification for full details.
Delivering The Projects
The BBC article says this about the schedule.
The TransPennine upgrade is expected to provide capacity for six “fast or semi-fast trains” per hour between Manchester, Leeds and York , reducing journey times by up to 15 minutes.
The Manchester to York section of the work is now planned to be completed by 2022.
Once completed, the whole line from Liverpool to Newcastle will be fully electrified, the Department for Transport added.
The electrification of Midland Mainline north of Bedford to Kettering and Corby will now be completed by 2019, and the line north of Kettering to Leicester, Derby, Nottingham and to Sheffield will finish by 2023.
My project management knowledge and observations of Network Rail, say that to get electric trains to Kettering and Corby by 2019, would be a very tight schedule to perform on a working railway using conventional electrification!
But if it were needed to replace the current Class 222 trains with Aventra IPEMUs, it would just be a matter of certifying the line for the new Aventra IPEMUs and training the drivers and other staff.
There would be little or no work outside in the elements and all of the electrification would effectively be done in a comfortable warm factory at Derby!
I also feel that if say Network Rail said that the projects would be delivered on a particular date, that the risk of non-delivery would be very small.
Aventra IPEMUs can’t be delivered earlier, as the Derby factory will be jammed solid with production of Aventras for Crossrail.
On the other hand to prove the concept, would Bombardier modify a Class 387 train to create an IPEMU variant to run in passenger service between St.Pancras and Corby. Note that there have already been rumours of Class 387 IPEMU variants for Great Western Railway.
I wouldn’t be surprised if such a train is created, as it would be a superb way to identify any problems, train staff, prove the credibility of battery trains to a sceptical public and even deliver electric trains earlier.
A Cunning Plan
There are twenty seven Class 387 trains running on the Thameslink route at the moment, that will be replaced by Class 700 trains between 2016 and 2018.
As the Great Western Main Line won’t be electrified to Newbury, Swindon and Oxford until 2019 or whatever, there does seem to be the possibility of some very new Class 387 trains going into storage.
But as they are very similar to the Class 379 that was used for the IPEMU demonstrator, I do wonder if those clever engineers at Bombardier could convert some of these 110 mph trains into an IPEMU variant that could be used on services on TransPennine and the Midland Main Line.
If there were any spare Class 379 trains, I’m sure that other train companies would find a use for them! Especially, if Bombardier developed a plug-in battery system for the trains, so they could be used to prove if IPEMUs improved the lot of passengers on secondary lines.
You have to make your assets sweat.
Conclusion
I may be wrong, but I can’t see any other way to meet the schedule that has been published, unless some form of IPEMU is used to bridge the gaps in electrification..
It could be said that the North needs fast electric trains now and George Osborne needs them by 2020, as he has an election to win!
It might not matter much to most people if the trains didn’t run until say August 2020, but George Osborne would be unlikely to win an election in May 2020, if the trains were not delivered and running smoothly.
Jumping The Electrification Gap Between Leeds And Manchester
The Battery High Speed Train
An Aventra uses a modern version of the same bogies that are used in the Class 222 trains, which are capable of 200 kph. As the Class 387 train, which is a version of the Electrostar, can travel at 110 mph, I wouldn’t rule out that the more modern Aventra could run at 200 kph or 125 mph. Obviously, this speed would probably only be attainable in places on the East Coast Main Line.
Example times between York and Newcastle include.
- East Coast InterCity 225 – 56 minutes
- East Coast InterCity 125 – 62 minutes
- Transpennine Class 185 – 67 minutes
So if the performance on the line of an Aventra IPEMU was the same as an InterCity 225, then this would knock eleven minutes of the trip to Newcastle
Acceleration on batteries would be the problem, not maintaining a high speed. that had been built up whilst running under the wires.
When jumping the gap in the electrification between Leeds and Manchester, as the train will have been running from either Liverpool or York, I would suspect that it would set out over the Pennines with a full load of electricity.
Manchester To Leeds Electrification Gap
The Manchester to Leeds electrification has now been paused and it is likely that it will not be completed in the next ten years.
The line has its problems as the three-car Class 185 trains, that work the line, are totally inadequate for the route.
There are two major routes between Leeds and Manchester.
- The Huddersfield Line via Dewsbury, Huddersfield and Stalybridge.
- The Calder Valley Line via Bradford Interchange, Halifax, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and Rochdale.
The shortest distance by rail between Manchester and Leeds is just 43 miles. When I saw this, I didn’t believe it, but it’s all in this article in the Guardian.
So this means that if you want to run an electric train between Liverpool and Manchester to Leeds, York and Newcastle, the Aventra IPEMU would bridge the gap with ease.
The demonstration version of the Aventra IPEMU was a modified Class 379 Train and had a range of sixty miles on batteries.
So even this modified Stansted Express would have been able to bridge the gap on both routes with ease.
A fully engineered production Aventra IPEMU would be unlikely to have a shorter range on batteries.
So Aventra IPEMUs create a fully-electrified TransPennine route from Preston, Liverpool and Manchester in the West to Leeds, York and Newcsastle in the East.
Destinations In The West
These are all current Western destinations for Transpennine Express.
- Barrow – On an unelectrified branch line from an electrified Carnforth.
- Blackpool North – On an unelectrified branch line from an electrified Preston.
- Liverpool – On a direct line from Manchester that is completely electrified
- Liverpool via Warrington – On a direct line from Manchester that is partially electrified.
- Manchester Airport – Electrified from Manchester
- Windermere – On an unelectrified branch line from an electrified Oxenholme.
All could be served by using Aventra IPEMUs.
I suspect it would also be possible to serve Chester.
I’m not sure how Aventra IPEMUs would affect slower services like York to Blackpool North across the Pennines, but I suspect they would be faster than the current diesel multiple units.
With the franchises being reallocated, I suspect that it will be done in such a way, that the trains across the Pennines give a much better service.
Destinations In The East
These are all current Eastern destinations for Transpennine Express.
Cleethorpes – Probably too far, but the Class 185 trains could run the service as they do now!
Hull – Hull is perhaps fifty miles East of the East Coast Main Line and I believe that a solution can be found to do this on an out-and-back basis.
Middlesbrough – This is a few miles from Darlington
Newcastle – Electrified all the way from Leeds
Scarborough – The York to Scarborough Line is forty two miles long and I believe that a solution can be found to do this on an out-and-back basis.
Whether Aventra IPEMUs can do the return trip from the East Coast Main Line on an out-and-back basis to Hull and Scarborough, depends very much on how the range of the trains work out, when the production trains are delivered. I suspect Bombardier know and have either calculated it or proven it on a test rig, but obviously they are keeping it quiet and sticking with the sixty miles total range obtained with the Demonstrator.
If they can’t make it, I suspect that they can provide some form of charging at the Eastern termini.
I do suspect that because of the reorganisation of the two franchises we may see some extra destinations in the East.
Times Across The Pennines
At present times on the major routes are.
Liverpool to Newcastle – 3 hours
Liverpool to Hull – 2 hours 30 minutes with a change at Leeds
As I indicated earlier there is eleven minutes to take off the Newcastle journey and the change at Leeds probably wastes ten minutes on the Hull trip.
Other factors would have an effect.
- The time spent on a stop by the Aventra IPEMU will be less than that of the current Class 185 trains.
- If diesel multiple units on the two TransPennine routes can also be replaced with Aventra IPEMUs, then these trains would be less likely to slow the fastest expresses.
- The Aventra IPEMUs are faster than the current trains.
- Network Rail will probably be able to do some small amount of trackwork to speed trains up in places.
I have no idea what the eventual TransPennine time will be, but it will be a few minutes less than today’s times.
Thoughts On Midland Main Line Electrification
I have been thinking about how the method of electrifying the Midland Main Line might change if the Aventra IPEMU was available.
These are thoughts in no particular order.
The Battery High Speed Train
An Aventra uses a modern version of the same bogies that are used in the Class 222 trains, which are capable of 200 kph. As the Class 387 train, which is a version of the Electrostar, can travel at 110 mph, I wouldn’t rule out that the more modern Aventra could run at 200 kph or 125 mph.
Acceleration on batteries would be the problem, not maintaining a high speed. that had been built up whilst running under the wires.
Also, when the train comes to the end of its northward journey at say Corby, it has to brake. With regenerative braking on the Aventra IPEMU, all of this energy would go back into the batteries.
So does this mean that no charging would need to be provided at say Corby?
I’m not totally sure of the mathematics and physics, but I’m certain that a battery electric train with regenerative braking, would put a significant part of the electricity it would need to accelerate away from a station, into the batteries as it stopped.
This would mean that stops at Wellingborough and Kettering would not stop Corby services from reaching their destination.
St. Pancras to Corby
I estimate that the distance from the end of the electrification at Bedford and Corby station is about thirty five miles.
This would mean that this route out of St.Pancras could be covered by an Aventra IPEMU.
Would this release a Class 222 train for use elsewhere? Or would the Aventra IPEMUs enable East Midlands Trains to offer more capacity or an increased frequency on this service?
St. Pancras to Leicester
I estimate that the distance from the end of the electrification at Bedford and Leicester station is about fifty miles.
This would mean that this route out of St.Pancras to Leicester could be covered by an Aventra IPEMU, especially if it were possible to recharge the train at Leicester, using the sort of short electrification, I wrote about at Rugeley Trent Valley station in Up And Down The Chase Line.
Leicester has problems as a station, as this extract from Wikipedia says.
Train operators using the station include CrossCountry and East Midlands Trains. Due to a 15 mph maximum speed to the south of the station, all passenger trains stop at the station. Up until the winter 2008 timetable, the morning southbound The Master Cutler express from Leeds to London St Pancras was an exception although this now also calls.
Leicester is a bottleneck station as it has only four platforms. All platforms are well utilised, especially platforms two and three which receive freight as well as passenger trains. A freight loop goes to the east of the station alongside the carriage sidings which run adjacent to platform four.
This Google Map of the station shows the platforms and the freight loop.
Leicester Station
It does look that there would be space to expand the station and from this section in Wikipedia, I’m sure Network Rail are working on an upgrade to the area to address all the problems.
It would appear to be stating the obvious to say, that Leicester station must be sorted first before any electrification in the area.
An extra bay platform would probably allow Aventra IPEMUs to run an electrified service to St. Pancras, if East Midlands Trains felt this was needed. Because of the regenerating braking of the train, it might not be necessary to provide a means of charging the trains at Leicester.
Creating A High Speed Route To Chesterfield and Sheffield
A few years ago, much of the Erewash Valley Line was upgraded ready for electrification and high speed running. On the Future of this line, Wikipedia says this.
Network Rail as part of a £250 million investment in the regions railways has proposed improvements to the junctions at each end, resignalling throughout, and a new East Midlands Control Centre.
As well as renewing the signalling, three junctions at Trowell, Ironville and Codnor Park will be redesigned and rebuilt. Since the existing Midland Main Line from Derby through the Derwent Valley has a number of tunnels and cuttings which are listed buildings and it is a World Heritage Area, it seems that the Erewash line is ripe for expansion. As the new signalling is rolled out, train detection is moving away from the traditional Track circuit detection of trains to Axle counting.
So could we see all of the very fastest services from St. Pancras to Chesterfield and Sheffield using this route?
Is the route from Trent Junction in the South to Chesterfield and Sheffield in the North ready for electrification?
Network Rail must ensure that as much of the line is capable of 125 mph running and that all bridges and tunnels have sufficient clearance from London to Sheffield via Chesterfield.
Creeping The Electrification North
From Bedford the electrification would be crept north at a sensible pace, which would be designed to cause minimum disruption to services.
Every mile it went north would increase the reach of the new electric trains, but only after the bottleneck of Leicester was eased to allow high speed running through the station.
The Electric Spine
If the Electric Spine was to be implemented in full from Southampton to Sheffield and Doncaster, then the electrification must be completed North of Bedford.
But as there are a lot of places where the electrification will not be completed elsewhere, will we see a shift towards electro-diesel freight locomotives like the Class 88.
So although freight would take advantage of an electrified Midland Main Line, it may not be as important as many think.
Completing The Electrified Routes to Sheffield, Nottingham and Derby
These three important cities all have extensive local rail networks, that could benefit from an electrified hub, so that Aventra IPEMUs could be used to bring benefits to all the communities served by diesel multiple units and in Sheffield’s case, quite a few Pacers.
So as a minimum, this electrification must be completed.
- East Midlands Parkway to Derby
- East Midlands Parkway to Nottingham
- East Midlands Parkway to Chesterfield and Sheffield via the Erewash Valley Line.
Chesterfield to Derby would probably be filed in the Too Difficult box, but would be an easy run for an Aventra IPEMU.
Note that I would start the electrification from East Midlands Parkway, as this station and the Airport are talked about as destinations for tram-train services.
Obviously to complete the Electric Spine, the following electrification would also need to be done.
- Complete the electrification between Bedford and East Midlands Parkway.
- Sheffield to Doncaster.
But once Sheffield station is electrified none of the many local lines reaching out from the city would need to be electrified, as most services could be run using Aventra IPEMUs. Obviously, if there was a special reason like freight or tram-trains, this wiring would only help the Aventra IPEMUs.
New Elecric Services
Once electrification has been installed up the Erewash Valley Line to Sheffield, lots of important places become within range of Aventra IPEMUs running from St. Pancras.
- Barnsley
- Bradford
- Huddersfield
- Leeds
- Manchester
It would also mean that several existing cross-country services could be run using electric trains.
- Liverpool to Norwich
- Nottingham to Cardiff
- Bristol to Newcastle
Remarkable in some ways as a lot of electrification has been dropped.
The Anonymous Widower 