Is This A Case Of More With Less Electrification?
When asked in the House of Lords about the cost of extending Crossrail to Reading, Baroness Kramer, the Transport minister, said it would save £10million. It’s all reported here in New Civil Engineer. As it has been reported for some time Crossrail and the Great Western Main Line electrification will share some infrastructure like transformers, I don’t think the cost saving is unexpected.
What Do We Do With Four-Four-Two?
I’m not referring to the formation used in football, but the Class 442 trains used on the Gatwick Express from Victoria.
At nearly twenty years old they are still comfortable trains in which to travel and I’ve used them a couple of times to get to or from Gatwick Airport and Brighton from London. As far as I’m concerned, they are not my preferred way to get to the airport, as they leave from Victoria, which is not as easy to get to as London Bridge from Dalston.
But there is nothing wrong with the Class 442 as trains, especially as they are based on the legendary Mark 3 coach and they hold the speed record of 174 kph for third rail electric trains.
The fact that they are third-rail only electric trains, is one of their two main problems. The other is that they weren’t designed as airport trains and are fairly unsuited for loading and unloading heavy cases.
It should be noted, that all of the third-rail electrics trains, built in the last few years are either dual voltage trains or they have a pantograph well, so they can be easily modified, so they can work with 25kV overhead electric lines.
The renewed franchise holder for Gatwick Express is reported as going to acquire a new specialist fleet of trains for the service, which will be delivered in 2016.
So we have the problem of a set of twenty-four five coach trains, with no service for which they are suitable.
They are fast trains, which means that only the suitable lines on which they could run are from Victoria to Brighton and Waterloo to Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth and Weymouth. But they are unsuitable for the Victoria service, and they are not needed on the Hampshire services.
They are probably too old and too difficult to convert to overhead electric. It would seem to me with my engineering hat on, that to convert trains from third rail to overhead, unless that was in mind in the original design, is not a job with a small budget.
So conversion is probably a complete no-no!
So does the scrapyard beckon?
I would think so, but then a new coach costs around £1.5million and there are 120 coaches.
On the other hand, rail engineers have been living off scraps from the government for so long, that they are not short of innovative and oddball ideas. As an example read this article about how the previous Gatwick Express trains, the Class 460, were split up and used to lengthen the Class 458.
There are only two places where the Class 442 could appear to find a home.
The first is the two Coastway lines; East and West, which run from Ashford in the East to Portsmouth and Southampton in the West, via Hastings and Brighton. It would release other trains for use elsewhere, but I doubt it would need many of the twenty-four trains.even if the frequency was increased significantly.
The only other place where they could be used is on an electrified West of England Main Line to Salisbury and Exeter. I found this letter from South West Trains on the Network Rail web site. It states a whole list of advantages of electrying fom Basingstoke to Exeter.
So could the Class 442 find a home here on a third-rail electrified railway to Exeter?
It would probably go against policy to electrify such a long line in the archaic and incompatible third-rail system, but the upgrading does come with a set of fast affordable second hand trains in good condition, with an increasing reputation for reliability.
Another factor is whether Network Rail build a new route to Plymouth, as is outlined here on the BBC. If they do, I would suspect they would electrify it with overhead wires, so to have third rail to Exeter from Basingstoke, wouldn’t be that sensible.
So I still think that the Class 442 will go to the scrapyard.
But I wouldn’t mind being shown to be wrong and that the trains find a good home on somewhere like the West of England Main Line or the Coastways.
Is Electrification The Key To More Diesel Trains?
My two trips on Saturday to Norfolk and Tuesday to Wiltshire, show that sometimes off the main lines, the backbone of the trains are elderly Class 150, Class 153, Class 156 and others, which are totally overcrowded and inadequate for the task. Up North and even more far flung places, it’s even more grim with quite a few dreadful Pacers, which were built as a stopgap in the 1980s with a twenty year lifetime and don’t match the latest disability regulations.
So something drastic needs to be done.
On Tuesday, the crowded Class 150, I used between Salisbury and Westbury, was totally inadequate for the task of running a long distance service between Cardiff and Portsmouth. It was like expected four people with luggage to make the journey between the two cities in an Issigonis-designed Mini. I suppose you wouldn’t do it, unless you were hard up and wanted to get to Glastonbury.
The Class 153 train, that I used between Westbury and Swindon are probably adequate with a bit of refurbishment on branch lines like Ipswich to Felixstowe, but being only a single coach, if traffic continues to grow, they will be totally packed for much of the day.
The Class 156 trains, I used in Norfolk had been updated with new disabled toilets and are probably ideal for the East Anglian branch lines, until traffic means that three carriages are needed.
The Class 153 and 156 trains can probably soldier on reliably for some years after refurbishment, but I doubt there is much future for the Class 150, unless a clever engineer/designer comes up with a solution, that converts them into something completely different. They could certainly be msade good enough to replace the single coach Class 153s on routes like Ipswich to Felixstowe.
When I travel to somewhere like Blackpool, Barnsley or to Sheffield via Doncaster, I sometimes end up on a Pacer, as I did here. The title of the post, which is In Style to Sheffield And Then This, sums up Pacers in my mind.
As a lot of visitors will encounter Pacers, as I did as the last leg of a journey to the area, the managers of such as Virgin, East Coast and the other long distance companies, must despair that their passengers have their journey ruined by the connecting train. How many say go from London to Scunthorpe once by train and never do it again because of the inadequate Pacers?
But hope for the end of these dreadful trains is at hand if Modern Railways is to be believed, with an article with a headline of Pacer Replacement Likely. It is all down to the replacement Northern Rail franchise, which I suspect is unviable financially and possibly illegal with a third of the fleet being inadequate and unable to meet the disability regulations.
London Overground has shown how you replace trains. Until quite recently, the North London Line was served by Class 313 trains built in the 1970s. Al;though even older than Pacers, some are still running on the network after refurbishment, and to travel in one is an experience that is almost twice as good as travelling in a Pacer. But even some of these are destined for the scrapyard in the next few years according to Modern Railways.
London Overground replaced its Class 313s with new Class 378 trains. These were designed to be three coach trains and have been lengthened to four and are now going to five, by just plugging extra coaches in the middle. I’ve no idea what the limit is for trains of this family, but Greater Anglia regularly couple their closely-related Class 379 trains together to make longer trains.
But these trains are electric, although they do have a diesel cousin, the Class 172, which comes in both two and three coach versions. So it would appear that they can be lengthened in a similar fashion to the Class 378 on the Overground.
In a sane and sensible world with money everywhere, you’d have Class 172 or something with a similar nature coming out of the factories to replace the Pacers and Class 150s.
As the Class 172 trains are British-built in Derby by Bombardier, there is surely a strong case to keep the production lines busy there and use them as replacements across the network. As London Overground and other operators have shown, these trains work well and having a type that is widespread must help with Maintenance and staff training.
Wikipedia’s entry for the Class 172, says this about new orders for the type.
As part of its franchise agreement, London Midland has an option to purchase an additional 26 Class 172 vehicles which could potentially allow further cascade of its existing rolling stock.
In 2008, First Great Western applied to the Department for Transport to re-equip its Cardiff to Portsmouth via Bristol services with 11 new four-car DMUs which would potentially allow the existing Class 158 Express Sprinter trains to be transferred to other services. According to the West of England Partnership, these were likely to be “similar to Class 170s”, suggesting that they might be Class 172 Turbostars.
The Government announced in December 2008 that Bombardier, with its Turbostar design, was one of the pre-qualified bidders (along with CSR of China, CAF of Spain and Rotem of South Korea) for the first 200 DMU vehicles of its planned 1300 new carriages. These new trains were intended for use on suburban and inter-urban services operated by First Great Western, First TransPennine Express and Northern Rail. However, with the announcement of the electrification schemes in the North West and on the Great Western Main Line, the DMU order was cancelled, with the needs of the train operating companies planned to be met by transfers of existing stock.
But why do we need to get the new trains built outside of the UK?
The piece talks about the transfer of stock, as lines are electrified. In fact, eight virtually-new Class 172s will become surplus, when the Gospel Oak to Barking line is electrified. According to this article in the Barking and Dagenham Post, this will happen by 2017.
But as my trip to Westbury showed, some of the worst problems are on longer services like Portsmouth to Cardiff, which probably have to be run using diesel trains. But as the extract shows, First Great Western is pressing to get new and better trains on that route.
From personal experience in the last few years, there are a host of services, where more and longer diesel services are required.
One collection of routes, I have talked about for years is the lines from Ipswich and Norwich to Peterborough and on to Birmingham, Nottingham and Liverpool.
Some of the lines within East Anglia , like Cambridge to Norwich and Ipswich, and Ipswich to Lowestoft, could also benefit from more trains. But hopefully,as I pointed out here, electrification is the key and that would release trains to improve the secindary routes and branch lines.
Sheffied to Leeds, Hull and Manchester, are three lines where the trains are a discouragement to travel. Eventually, these three lines will get electrified, but in the meantime. some longer and more modern trains would be very welcome.
Obviously we could just build more trains, but trains are expensive at about £1.5million a coach, if all of the other things are taken into account.
However, we do have electric trains that are being replaced by new trains.
First Capital Connect has a lot of electric trains that will not be needed when the new Class 700 trains replace them. As there is going to be 60, eight-car and 55, twelve-car trains, there will be a lot of Class 319 and Class 377 sets to be moved on.
The Cl;ass 377 are virtually new, whereas the Class 319 are from the late 1980s. I’ve travelled on the Class 377 trains regularly and as multiple units go, there are many worse examples on the UK’s railways.
According to Wikipedia, these are the plans for the Class 319, once they are replaced, by the Class 700.
As part of its announcement of the electrification of both the Great Western Main Line and the Liverpool to Manchester (via Newton Le Willows) route, the Government has announced that when new Class 700 Thameslink rolling stock arrives from 2015-2018, Class 319s will be refurbished, fitted with air-conditioning, and transferred to the following two routes:
Suburban services between Oxford, Newbury, Reading and London
Manchester Airport to Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Victoria to Liverpool Lime Street servicesOn 2 April 2014 it was announced that the first 14 units would be transferred to Allerton Depot in time to enter service between Manchester and Liverpool from the December 2014 timetable change.
So as electrification progresses, these trains will release much-needed diesel trains.
The other big schemes like the Great Western Main Line and Midland Main Line electrification, and Crossrail will also see lots of new trains and push out older electric and diesel sets for other uses.
Probably one of the biggest problem or opportunity is what to do with all the High Speed Diesel Trains. I suspect some will worm their way into all sorts of strange places, where the designer and his team, never dreamt they could ever be used.
No-one makes predictions where these trains are concerned, as they are held in such tremendous affection by staff and passengers alike. Their replacement on the Great Western and East Coast Main Lines, the Class 800 and 801 have a very hard act to follow!
We appear to be going round in virtuous circles. So I think the answer to the question I posed is yes!
A Professional View Of The Problems Of Electrification
Anybody interested in the future of the railways should read this article from Global Rail News.
It is mainly about the electrification of the Great Western Main Line and is full of interesting and sometimes surprising information.
Take the important subject of getting electricity to the wires.
As an electrical engineer by training, I was surprised by the fact that the overhead wire all the way from London to Cardiff is fed from the main 400 kV grid at just four points; Kensal Green, Didcot, Melksham and Cardiff, with Kensal Green to be shared with Crossrail. My intuition and 1960s training said there would have been a lot more.
I think that this gives further credence to the thought behind the interesting snippet from Modern Railways I commented on here.
A project manager’s nightmare is also detailed. If you are connecting your new electric railway to the National Grid, then you have to program your work for one of their shutdowns, as you can’t for example, let London go dead. So as with all projects, good project management is essential.
The article also talks about a variety of issues like creating enough height under bridges, the problems of the Severn Tunnel and heritage problems.
Thoughts About The Dudding Hill Line
A friend, who is an expert on the Dudding Hill line or DHL has just e-mailed me after reading my post about Old Oak Common. He says that one of the conditions of the planning permission given for the Radlett Freight Terminal, is that the DHL is opened up, so it can take container traffic. There is a problem at the bridge-cum-tunnel at Harlesden.
I have traced the DHL on the map from where it starts at Cricklewood to past Old Oak Common and on to Acton.
Significantly, its northern end is by Brent Cross Shopping Centre, which is being expanded to form part of the new Brent Cross Cricklewood town centre, for which it is proposed to add a new railway station.
So the line effectively runs between two of London’s biggest and most-needed housing and commercial developments at Brent Cross and Old Oak Common.
I would suspect that there are opportunities for new stations at several places like Neasden and Harlesden.
This whole area of London is rapidly building up a set of questions about public transport that must be answered.
1. How do freight trains from London Gateway and Felixstowe come along the North London line and reach the Radlett Freight Terminal? It’s not clear if it is possible for trains to switch to the Midland Main line in the area of West Hampstead. If not, then that is a possible new piece of infrastructure, that would allow the movements between the ports and Radlett.
2. It has been proposed to put a station at North Acton on the North London line to link with the Central line. Surely, if Old Oak Common is to be built on the Overground, then the interchange to the Underground, would probably be incorporated in that station.
3. Should the Gospel Oak to Barking service be extended past Gospel Oak? As in a few years, this service will be run by new electric trains, which will probably be the Overground’s Class 378, to terminate these services at either Old Oak Common, Clapham Junction or Richmond, would surely make the running of a more frequent service on the GOB easier.
4. If passenger services are to be run on the DHL, then surely this line must be electrified, as this would allow the Overground to run a unified fleet. It would also enable trains to proceed up the Midland Main line, if that was thought to be a worthwhile thing to do. It would also allow freight trains from the west and eventually Southampton to run to Radlett and the north, without a chanmge of motive power en route.
5. If the DHL is electrified then it would probably be using overhead wires, as it effectively links two lines so equipped. So should the short section of the North London line to the west of Acton Central be changed to overhead wires rather than third rail? It would make for a tidier railway, but as the trains are dual voltage, there is no urgency to re-electrify!
The planners in the London Overground part of Transport for London, must be enjoying themselves playing with the best train set in London.
The more I think about all this, especially after seeing how Hackney has responded to being Overgrounded, I come to one conclusion.
If Old Oak Common and Brent Cross stations go ahead, then the Dudding Hill Line must be electrified to take freight trains and an Overground-style passenger train service.
But then what do I know about running trains?
Burnley To Liverpool Airport On A Sunday
To get to Liverpool Airport from Burnley on a Sunday wasn’t easy.
I first got a train to Preston where I got a train to Ormskirk. There was this unusual end-to-end interchange between one of Northern Rail’s Class 153 scrapyard specials and one of Merseyrail’s smart Class 508s.
Changing Trains At Ormskirk
Merseyrail has been pushing to electrify all the way from Liverpool to Preston, which would remove this change of train. Wikipedia says this.
Electrification from Ormskirk to Preston has been considered in conjunction with the Burscough Curves reopening. It would re-establish the most direct Liverpool-Preston route and is one of Merseytravel’s long-term aspirations.
This whole corner of Lancashire seems either to be sprouting wires or growing third rails. Many of which lead to Liverpool or Manchester.
Once in Liverpool, I alighted at Moorfields station and walked a hundred yards or so to Carluccio’s, where I had a supper to prepare me for the journey.
I did search for a bus to Liverpool Airport, but even at the main bus station, there was no information or anybody to ask.
When will these people learn, that one of the way to get people to use buses is to provide information everywhere as London does.
So I reluctantly took a taxi!
An Interesting Snippet
In talking about rolling stock in the latest edition of Modern Railways this is said.
Observers have recently seen an increasing focus on diesel-operated branches in otherwise electrified networks where small add-on projects could release much needed capacity for use elsewhere during the period of acute shortages (of diesel multiple units) from 2015.
I recently read in an article on the Rail Engineer website, that extending electrification off a fully-electrified main line, is an easier and more affordable project, as some of the expensive pieces of hardware like electrical connections and transformers, are already installed.
So if this became policy, what lines should be electrified?
Here’s a few that will or could be!
The Marshlink Line between Hastings and Ashford is an oddity in that it is lone diesel-operated line in the south east corner of England. Proposals are being worked on to electrify this line, so that Class 395 trains can run through to Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne. Currently, Brighton to Ashford is worked by ten Class 171 trains and some or all of these could be released, if electric trains could run all the way from Brighton to Ashford.
The Marston Vale Line is also scheduled to be electrified as part of the Electric Spine.
The Felixstowe Branch Line needs electrification for freight, but being able to piggy-back to the Great Eastern Main Line may make electrification worthwhile.
The Manchester to Southport Line is one that is being looked for possible electrification according to Wikipedia. They say this!
Additionally Network Rail has identified electrification of Wigan to Southport, together with Ormskirk to Preston Line and the Burscough Curves as a possible source of new services.
In fact the whole of this area of Lancashire northwards from Liverpool, Warrington and Manchester to Wigan, Preston and Blackpool could end up being electrified as extensions to the Northern Hub. Most of the branch lines already have an electric connection at one or both ends.
I wouldn’t bet against the electrification of Preston to Leeds, as a lot of money is being spent on stations on the line, so how about some nice refurbished electric trains for the route.
Slow Train To Liverpool
On Saturday, I’m flying out from Liverpool to Gdansk in Poland to start one of my home runs by train back to London.
You might argue why I’m starting from Liverpool rather than one of the London airports.
It’s because I’m seeing Ipswich Town play their last away match of the season at Burnley and it seems logical to take a flight from the more convenient Liverpool Airport.
I had thought, it would be easy to get a train between Burnley and Liverpool, as I’ve driven the route in the 1960s and it must have taken about two hours in my 1950s-vintage Morris Minor. So surely, there must be a train in about that time to speed me on my way, with a change at Preston.
If I was to do it today, I can do the journey in two hours and eight minutes with just that single change, but on Saturday, it’s a journey of two and a half hours changing at both Preston and Ormskirk. At least I end up in Liverpool at the station nearest to Carluccio’s, so there should be just time for a good late lunch and then a taxi to the Airport, from the rank next to the restaurant.
Fifty years on, we don’t seem to have made much progress!
Although things should get better in the next few years, as the Northern Hub spreads its electric tentacles.
On To Southport And Manchester
I don’t ever remember ever going to Southport and I certainly have never been there by train. I took these pictures as I finished my trip to Manchester after my walk on the beach.
It is a pleasant route and as Merseyrail don’t seem too bothered if you break your journey, it is an interesting excursion, with lots of opportunities for a walk.
Note in the pictures approaching Manchester the new electrification work.
Is this line from Manchester to Southport one of those extra lines that will eventually be electrified under the developing plans for the Northern Hub? It must have strong claims as Southport is a town of 90,000 people and is still a major resort for the beach and golf. It certainly has a clean modernised station, which almost uniquely is in the main shopping street. It also already hosts electric trains, so it might be an easy line to upgrade.
In Wikipedia’s article on the Manchester to Southport line, there is this paragraph.
Additionally Network Rail has identified electrification of Wigan to Southport, together with Ormskirk to Preston Line and the Burscough Curves as a possible source of new services.
So it looks like Network Rail is on the job.
Upgrading the Ormskirk to Preston line would enable better Liverpool to Preston services and the curves would help all services in the area, according to campaigners.
Hauled By A Diesel Locomotive To Birmingham
Since yesterday, I’ve tried to think when was the last time I was hauled around the country by a diesel Locomotive. You may get the occasional diesel multiple unit, but rakes of carriages hauled by a diesel locomotive are pretty rare, and even more so in Europe.
Except for a trip on a sleeper, it must be in the 1980s, when I was last hauled by a diesel locomotive, probably between Ipswich and London.
So yesterday on my trip North to Birmingham, I decided to go from Marylebone for a change.
It was definititely a smoother and more comfortable ride in a Mark 3 Coach hauled by a clean Class 67. Compare the engine, with the blood spattered Class 90, I got for the trip to Ipswich on Saturday.
It was also nice to see Mark 3 Coaches laid out in Standard Class how they had been designed, with a table and a window for all passengers.
If all Standard Class coaches were like this, would anybody pay the extra for First Class?
And when will we be seeing comfortable Mark 3 coaches with sliding doors on London to Norwich?
I wonder how many people, who travel between London and Birmingham on Chiltern Railways, realise that they’re sitting in a coach that dates from the 1970s or 1980s?
What this line now needs is electrification and some appropriate electric locomotives to haul the trains between the two cities and probably on to a few places beyond Birminhgham. If for no other reason, we’ll need extra capacity, if and whilst Euston is rebuilt for HS2.
Next time, I go to Birmingham, I’ll use Chiltern from Marylebone. It is slower at one hour and forty-four minutes, as against one hour twenty-six on Virgin, but it avoids Euston, the trains are more comfortable, wi-fi is free and outside of the peak, I can lay my paper out to read it properly.
The Anonymous Widower 