Would A Lumo-Style Service Work Between King’s Cross And Norfolk?
This is a bit of a fantasy and you’ll never know the real reason why I have written it!
With the upgrade of the East Coast Main Line to full digital signalling, there will be a problem South of Hitchin with 140 mph Azumas and Hitachi Class 802 trains and similar from Grand Central , Hull Trains and Lumo hogging the fast lines to and from King’s Cross. I first wrote about it in Call For ETCS On King’s Lynn Route.
One solution would be to replace the current Class 387 trains with a 140 mph train , such as a Hitachi Class 802 variant. This would enable these fast King’s Lynn and Cambridge trains to join the 140 mph trains on a fast run to and from King’s Cross.
The Future Of Cambridge
Cambridge is one of the UK’s four world cities, with its heritage and lately its high position in any technology league table.
The Current Rail Service Between London And Cambridge
Currently, it has a good service into King’s Cross, Liverpool Street and St. Pancras.
- Great Northern – two tph to King’s Cross – A stopping train using Class 700 or Class 387 trains.
- Great Northern – one tph between Ely and King’s Cross – A fast train using Class 387 trains.
- Great Northern – one tph between King’s Lynn and King’s Cross – A fast train using Class 387 trains.
- Thameslink – two tph to Brighton – A semi-fast train using Class 700 trains.
- Greater Anglia – two tph to Liverpool Street – A semi-fast train using Class 720 or Class 379 trains.
Note.
- tph means trains per hour.
- The similar Class 387 and Class 379 trains are both late-model Bombardier Electrostars with sensible seats and a large number of tables. Both train types can or could be modified to run at 110 mph.
- The Class 700 trains are unsuitable for the route, as they have ironing-board seats and no tables. These are only 100 mph trains.
- The Queen’s bottom doesn’t like the Class 700 trains.
A large proportion of the passengers and commuters between to and from Cambridge work in high-tech or information-rich businesses and I believe if the trains were more geared to this market they would attract passengers away from the roads.
The Cambridge Employment Problem
Fast-growing Cambridge is taking over the region and it is always looking for towns and villages to develop as places for dormitories and to build premises for the hundreds of high-tech businesses.
This is one of the reasons why Greater Anglia acquired new Stadler Class 755 trains to run services from Cambridge to Bury St. Edmunds, Ipswich, Norwich, Peterborough and Stansted Airport.
If you’re going to lure Cambridge’s well-paid high-tech commuters out of their cars, you must give them an equivalent seat to their car. The Class 379, 387 and 755 trains do this.
Living In Norfolk And Suffolk And Working In Cambridge
This has always been the choice of many who work in Cambridge, but using rail into Cambridge didn’t really take-off seriously until modern three-car Class 170 trains replaced the single-car Class 153 trains.
Greater Anglia have followed the upward trend in passenger numbers, by running hourly four-car Class 755 trains from Cambridge to both Ipswich and Norwich.
Before the pandemic, it was starting to look like Norwich and Cambridge would soon need a second service, especially with the planned opening of the new Cambridge South station in 2025.
Addenbrooke’s Hospital And The Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Cambridge South station is being built to serve Addenbrooke’s Hospital and Cambridge Biomedical Campus, which intend to be create the foremost medical research cluster in the world.
Staycations And Holiday Homes In East Anglia
Life is changing because of the covids and more people are taking staycations or buying holiday homes.
And many are following the example of the Queen and going to Norfolk for their relaxation.
The Undoubted Need To Improve Rail Services Between London King’s Cross And Norfolk Via Cambridge
These factors convince me that there is a need for a new or repurposed rail service between London King’s Cross and Norfolk via Cambridge.
- The need to provide a high-class commuter service between London and Cambridge.
- The need to bring workers into Cambridge from Norfolk.
- The need to provide a fast high-class rail link to Cambridge South station with all its medical research.
- The need to provide a comprehensive working environment on the trains.
- The need to cater for all those people relaxing in Norfolk after a hard week in London.
It is my view, that a radical design of train is needed for this route.
- It would need to have a high-class interior.
- It would need at least a 125 mph capability, so that it can use the fast lines between Hitchin and King’s Cross.
- The train may need the ability to split and join.
- It would need an independent power capability for running on the Breckland Line between Ely and Norwich.
- Because of Cambridge and because East Anglia is easy country for cycling, it would need a sensible capacity for cycles.
I also believe that because of the need to decarbonise, the train should be zero-carbon.
These are my thoughts.
Operating Speed
Because of running on the fast lines between Hitchin and King’s Cross with the 140 mph trains from the North, I suspect that an operating speed of at least 125 mph is needed. But if the Hitachi trains of LNER, Hull Trains, Lumo and in the future possibly other operators like Grand Central, will be capable of 140 mph, this speed could be desirable.
Speed limits once the trains have left the East Coast Main Line at Hitchin North junction are as follows.
- Hitchin and Cambridge – 90 mph
- Cambridge and King’s Lynn – 90 mph
- Ely and Norwich – 75-90 mph
I can see Network Rail using their expertise to raise the speed limit on sections of these lines.
Flighting Of Trains On The East Coast Main Line
To increase capacity on the East Coast Main Line, I believe that at some point in the not too distant future that trains will be flighted. This will involve two or more trains leaving King’s Cross in a sequence and proceeding with all trains at a safe distance from each other.
I can envisage a flight like this from King’s Cross.
- An Edinburgh train with York as the first stop – Leaves at XX.00
- A Leeds train with Doncaster as the first stop – Leaves at XX.03
- A Lincoln train with Peterborough as the first stop – Leaves at XX.06
- A Cambridge train with Stevenage as the first stop – Leaves at XX.09
Note.
- The Edinburgh train would set the speed.
- Trains would maintain their time behind the lead train.
- Everything could be controlled by the digital signalling.
- Gaps between the trains would be sufficient for a safe stop.
- No train in the flight would make a station stop unless it was the last train in the flight.
- The last train in the flight would drop off and go to their destination.
As there are at least two tph to Edinburgh, Leeds and Cambridge, there would be two main flights per hour leaving King’s Cross, with the second flight perhaps incorporating a service to Hull.
Digital signalling and precise driving would enable the flights to be built in the opposite direction into King’s Cross.
The big advantage would be that instead of needing eight paths per hour on the East Coast Main Line, only two would be needed.
All trains would need to have similar performance, so this is another reason why the Cambridge trains need to be at least 125 mph trains.
Train Interiors
Lumo has broken new ground in train interiors.
- It is one class.
- Everybody gets a decent seat.
- Everybody gets good legroom.
- Everybody gets some form of table.
- There are decent-sized overhead racks for hand-baggage and coats.
- There is space for bicycles and heavy luggage appropriate to the route.
This can be built on to provide a good working and playing environment suited to the passengers who would use a fast King’s Cross and Norfolk service via Cambridge.
- Lots of tables for four, as in the high-class Electrostars.
- Better bicycle storage.
- Better alignment of seats with windows.
Hitachi could obviously produce a train to this specification.
But what about other manufacturers.
Stadler’s Class 755 trains are surely a possibility.
- A senior driver from Greater Anglia told me that the design speed for a Class 755 train is 200 kph or 125 mph.
- They have good seats.
- They have flat floors.
- They have large windows.
- They have step-free access between train and platform.
- Like the Hitachi trains, they are in service.
I believe the closely-related Class 745 trains are probably the best commuter trains in the UK and are the only alternative to the Hitachi trains on a125 mph fully-electrified route.
Bridging The Electrification Gap Between Ely And Norwich
Between Norwich and Ely stations is 53.8 miles and this section is not electrified, although both stations have full electrification.
The line is not heavily used with typically only two passenger trains and the occasional freight trains in each direction in an hour.
This Hitachi infographic describes the Hitachi Regional Battery Train.
A 90 km. range could be sufficient to cover the gap between Norwich and Ely.
Could Hitachi build a Class 802 train or similar with a battery range of 90 km or 56 miles?
Certainly, a speed of 100 mph would probably be sufficient to bridge the gap in a decent time.
Improving The Breckland Line
The Breckland Line is the route between Cambridge and Norwich.
- Cambridge and Norwich is 68.5 miles
- Only the sixteen miles between Cambridge and Ely North junction is electrified.
- There are thirteen stops between the two cities.
- A typical time is 79 minutes
- This is an average speed of just 52 mph.
- The operating speed is 75-90 mph.
I am sure that Network Rail can squeeze a few minutes here and there to get the operating speed up to the 100 mph of the Great Eastern Main Line.
But the big problem at Norwich is the Trowse swing bridge.
It is only single track and it is likely that this bridge will be replaced soon.
This Google Map shows Trowse junction, a short distance South of the swing bridge.
Note.
- The electrified double-track of the Great Eastern Main Line goes across the map from North East to South West.
- The double-track railway to the East of the main line is the unelectrified Breckland Line to Cambridge, which turns West and goes under the main line.
- On the West of the main lines are the Victoria sidings that I wrote about in Greater Anglia Completes Directly-Managed Norwich Victoria Sidings Project.
As the replacement of the swing bridge will require some work to be done to the electrification, I wonder if at the same time Network Rail would electrify the Norwich end of the Breckland Line.
There must be a balance point adding electrification or batteries to the trains.
As the Breckland Line has few freight trains, electrification is not needed for freight.
Ticketing
A high-speed high-capacity service as I’m proposing must be easy to use.
It is a classic route, where nothing short of London-style contactless ticketing will do, as I’m certain this encourages people to use the trains.
As East Anglia is self-contained and has few services that don’t terminate in the area or in London, I am certain that this could be achieved.
If you remove First Class as Greater Anglia has done on many services, you actually simplify the ticketing, so a Lumo-style mid-class is ideal.
High Speed Train Services
Currently Great Northern run two tph from King’s Cross to Ely via Cambridge.
- One service is extended to King’s Lynn.
- I could see the second service extended to Norwich.
Both services would need to be run by 125 mph trains because of the speed of other trains on the East Coast Main Line.
Conclusion
I think duch a system would be possible.
The Anonymous Widower 